Retreat fosters a tender heart and a stable mind.
What a tender act it is to be on retreat. To tend to one’s self gently….
What just happened when you read that first sentence, that word tender?
What belief did you automatically invoke without even trying, as truth?
To tend to something means to pay attention to it and take action to care for it.
In dialogue we might say, I tend to agree with … in the way of inclined. I am leaning this way or that, my pattern is like this. It’s a softer way than saying absolutely.
From the French tendre and from Latin tenere, tenderness is soft, gentle, kind, like a child – young.
In medicine, tender to touch might give different indications to pain reported by a patient. Is there any tenderness if I touch here, comes with an awareness that there may be a reaction, so go softly, gently, handle with care.
A decision to retreat, is a decision to create time to tend to ourselves, tenderly. For that we need a safe space. A place to retreat from some of the unpredictability in the world.
Our doctor participants arrive on retreat with kindness and curiosity, willing, actively choosing to give some time and care to tend to themselves. In this intention they also create a space together, that enables tenderness for each other.
An experience of tenderness in retreat helps us explore our soft underbelly in a safe bubble created for this express purpose, for exploration. Our strong back is needed too, supporting us while we learn and grow.
The resonance of the shared experience in community is a powerful way to been seen, heard and valued. To share in creating this tender space of trust, learning and growth is a gift to one’s self, and to the others present.
To be in community over time deepens the well, strengthens the trust, fortifies individuals and groups, to be in the world, better able to tend to others.
Just as doctors learn their technical expertise by doing, reflecting and seeking feedback. The same learning process applies to interpersonal skill and self awareness development. Without reflection and other perspectives, we can be repeating behaviours poorly executed and have no awareness at all that it could be better.
How do you know if you are emotionally intelligent?
How do you know if you could shift your self criticism to self compassion?
How do you know if your communication is actually effective or not?
How do you know what is triggering you to be reactive or how to stop it?
Retreat offers an environment that allows your strong back and your soft belly the space to learn and grow. A place to be on your learning edge, your growth edge, tenderly. For your own benefit first. A place to experiment with ideas and feelings and sensations in the stillness and the quiet.
Undistracted the mind, heart and body can experience themselves, their own truths, their own tenderness. Having reconnected tenderly to what most matters to you, in the company of others doing their own work to take care tenderly, enables the best kind of medicine outside the retreat bubble.
It all starts with you. If you want to be a leader others respect and want to follow, you cannot skip this reflective work. Bring your tenderness, respond in kind. Build the structure around you that enables and enriches this awe inspiring work.
Regular retreat fosters a tender heart, firmly connected to a stable mind.
Recalibrate in 2025
Immersion Development Program for Doctors
Restore Balance and Joy: Build your intra and interpersonal skills.
6 x 1:1 Coaching sessions with Psychologist Coach, Sharee Johnson
24 hrs Masterclasses with a closed group of doctors (max 12)
Develop in ways that will help you reconnect to your purpose.
The Thriving Doctor
Sharee Johnson’s book The Thriving Doctor is available in all good bookstores or online.
Sharee has been coaching doctors since 2014, find out more about her work