Hello everyone,

And welcome to the Meta update for December 2012!

Well Christmas is nearly upon us and hasn’t this year just FLOWN by? We’re all working so hard, and so fast… barely time to breathe is there? And yet are we really getting more done? Are we feeling fulfilled in our work?

For many organisations right now, the mantra, is “MORE.. FASTER!” but what are we really achieving? Other than a fast track to ill health!

Here at Meta we are seeing a lot of our customers and friends suffering more and more with work-related illnesses. It’s just impossible for people to keep up with the workloads and the demands that are being made on them by their businesses.

What’s interesting is that when you look at the etymology of the word business.. guess what it means?

Yep… “a place where you are busy!”

So we reckon at Meta its about time that we reverted to being ”companies” – company means “a place where you break bread with people” – literally a place where we have lunch, share stories, and dare we say it.. have fun?

As you know, at Meta we are on a mission. It’s a mission to change the world! Admittedly it’s in an odd place.. the workplace! But since that where we spend most of our time isn’t it about time that we changed the way we worked?

We are all currently working our ways to an early grave… More isn’t better, and faster doesn’t mean more efficient or more effective. We’re on a fast-track to nowhere in particular, and we’re not even clear where or why we’re doing what we’re doing!

So over the festive period, take a little time to yourself. To think of your relationship to work. How does your organisation treat you? Are you just a commodity? Just another small cog in the big machine? Do they treat you fairly? Do they love you?

What do you get from your work? Do you get a sense of happiness, a feeling of purpose? Do you feel you’re making a difference? Or are you just getting a pay packet and a lot of stress and pressure?

We’ve just been on our annual retreat to Maui, to visit our teacher there.. it’s made us stop and think, and maybe it’s time that we all stopped and thought.. what am I doing? What am I working for? Why am I doing this? And what do I really want from work and from life?

If you just spend a little time this Christmas to ask yourself these questions, we think it might make 2012, that BIT more easy for you.

We are delighted to announce that we have created an amazing end to the Journey to Mastery Programme that we run. We have created “meta-life” which will be running in a beautiful venue outside Bath in June 2012. We have brought together some amazing teachers from across the world to help facilitate the programme, and we really hope that you’ll take the time out to join us. Invitations have been sent out to you all, but if your invitation has been eaten by the email inbox monster, then just drop Jo a line and he’ll send you the brochure!

And finally we WILL be having another Meta Spirit Day in March. The date will be announced very shortly, and the very special guest will be Emmanuel, who will be leading the entire day – dates to follow, keep an eye on your inbox for that very special event’s details! 

So happy Christmas all!!

And if you didn’t figure it out already, we love you lot!!

And we hope that in 2012, we’ll get to see a whole lot more of you!

Much love

Jo and Di xxx