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Scanner's Retreat in Italy |  |
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| • | Who you really are and why you're lucky to be a Scanner; |
| • | What's behind your 'hit and run obsessions' (There's a good reason for them!) |
| • | How (and when) to finish what you start; |
| • | What tools you need to do your very best work at everything you love; and |
| • | How to find the career that you'll never grow tired of. |
First
described in her 1994 New York Times Best
Seller “I
Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What it
Was” and followed last year by her exciting
new book “Refuse to Choose”, 'Scanners'
--Renaissance men and women, eclectic experts,
happy amateurs and delighted dilettantes now
come into their own with this four-day intensive
retreat in the magical Puglia region of southern
Italy.
Last April, Barbara and son Matthew (of Corfu fame) scouted out some new sites for the next retreat and discovered a gorgeous 17th century country estate in the midst of miles of olive tree orchards in southern Italy.
Matt and his family had discovered this area a few months ago. They ferried over from Corfu for a vacation and visited the coastal medieval towns and modern cities in the boot of Italy. That's when he discovered Ostuni, a small, lovely town that's a few kilometers inland up on a hill with a view of the sea. He was so taken with the place I joined him in April to go searching for a location for next Scanner's Retreat in September. I saw what he meant. The town is peaceful and simply beautiful. The main park and the little side streets (for walkers only) are charming and full of restaurants serving fabulous food at reasonable prices. But the surrounding countryside is even better. We drove miles on small dirt roads, seeing few other cars, moving through olive groves with ancient trees, creating a lovely atmosphere of order and peace. We stopped the car, turned off the engine and walked quietly on the road in the calmest silence you can imagine. Olive trees are special, they say. I now believe it. Our search took us through more farm country, past charming little houses with cone roofs, clustered together by the side of the road (they're called 'Trulli') that looked like the houses of gnomes. And then we found our Masseria. They translate 'Masseria' to mean 'large farm house' but this is no farm house; it's a gorgeous country estate built entirely of stone, with main houses and side houses, courtyards and hidden gardens, and its own beautiful church. We were shown through kitchen gardens and flower gardens with bowers and stone benches and a fountain. Then we entered the building that holds the huge olive press with its massive millstones and cauldrons sitting in their stone enclosures, all of it now transformed into a dining room takes your imagination back to a raucous scene straight from the middle ages, with flagons of mead and joints of meat being torn apart. Matt and I looked at each other and asked the woman who showed us around, "What's it like in September?" "Like now," she said. "You'll have the place to yourself." We didn't ask "How much," until later and the answer was just as surprising: you can stay in one of the lovely rooms (many with antique beds and arched stone walls) for under 30 euros a night. Dinner was inexpensive, too, and hearty. Like the restaurants in Ostuni, it gave new meaning to the word "antipasto." No 'olives and sliced salami' here, but up to 12 different and delicious hot dishes -- before the main course! (Don't worry, you won't get fat because you won't be able to stop walking in the towns or swimming in the sea during the midday break and in the evenings.) The people who run the Masseria are so nice and we're told we can have the use of a minibus, too, to travel to the nearby towns. I'm not usually a shopper, but Italy might change me. The elegant shops for clothing, purses, shoes in the Puglia towns and cities will bring out your inner Material Human (and I found some great bookstores, too). Enough. You can see endless gorgeous photos on Flickr.com. Just look up 'Puglia Italy Ostuni' when you get there. If you click the link below, I'll show you a few of ours, too. |
The schedule includes:
• Breakfast in
the gorgeous 17th C. courtyard of the Masseria. Morning
meetings with Barbara defining your Scanner
identity (or identities!), designing completely
original, customized time and project management
tools (think "Avocation Stations" and "Quarterly
Creative Projects") and creating the Life
Design Model that will allow you to do whatever
interests you at any given time, while having
the career that suits you to a T.
• Afternoons spent mingling with your fellow Scanners, learning and teaching new subjects, walking on the beach or working on a personal project--or all of the above.
• At Evening Meetings we'll talk of your successes and use Barbara's special techniques to overcome any resistance to action that has surfaced. (If you're going after real dreams, resistance is almost certain to make an appearance and she welcomes it!). We'll explore the corners of your Scanner nature, and develop paths to your wishes and dreams or brainstorm solutions to your obstacles.
• Night time is for fun: Wander through the lovely, historic town of Ostuni or one of the neighboring villages. One night we'll eat at the tavern of my new friend Stefano, called the Seven Deadly Sins. It's wonderful (and sinful!)
There's plenty to see in the area, so we'll arrange the schedule to make room for at least one half-day tour.
Some special features of this workshop:
| • | A small group of no more than 15 people. |
| • | All sessions taught by Barbara Sher herself. |
| • | Plenty of 'face-time' to help you target your exact talents—and put you on the path to your dreams |
| • | Ongoing contact with your fellow Scanners afterthe seminar: bi-weekly telephone meetings for three months, capped by a 90 minute joint teleconference with Barbara to keep you on track with your dreams. |
| • | Your own, tailor made 'Scanner Planner' (designed by you), as well as all the tools and Life Design models you need to make sure you never get stuck again. |
What if you're not a Scanner (or at least, not sure about it)? Do you belong in this Retreat? Let me answer with a resounding Yes! You, too, have been trying to find your purpose, to pursue a dream, but can't seem to make it happen. Scanner or not, you need to discover the unique gifts that make you different from any other person so you can shape a life that's deeply satisfying. You need to move from wishing to action, just like we all do. And you need to create a Life Design Model that will allow you to work and play in the way that suits who you are.
You'll love the scheduling and project management techniques I'll be teaching at the Retreat. Every one of us has more things we want to do (or have to do!) than we know how to fit into our lives. And too many of us limit what we do in our lives because we're not sure it's okay to want so much. (In this Retreat, you'll change that viewpoint forever!) You see, to find your most profound and satisfying purpose, I believe you must find what you love and do it. What you love is what you were designed to do, and using what's inside you--to the fullest degree possible-is the best way to create a life full of joy and purpose.
And where better to find it than with people who have tried just about everything and plan to try everything else in the near future! :-)
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