“This workshop far exceeded my expectations, and I’m incredibly grateful for the support that allowed me to explore myself and reconnect with others,” said a participant in the recent Life Matters workshop at Armagh, the IofCA centre in Melbourne, over the Labour Day long weekend 7-10 March. She added, “In the last two weeks after the workshop, I’ve developed stronger friendships with the people I care about, improved my relationship with my partner, and learned to connect better with colleagues.”
Life Matters is three-day residential program that takes participants on an inner journey of discovery about their identity, values, relationships and capacity for making changes in themselves and in the wider community. Part of what make the program work is the space given for inner reflection and discussion in small groups, so that participants are not spending long periods listening to a speaker. Most sessions are run by former participants who have come back to volunteer their time.
At the opening evening session Tom Duncan, CEO of Earthbanc spoke about attending a Life Matters course over 20 years ago and the impact it has had on his life since, including making international connections through IofC, and founding an organisation that has so far raised over $100 million to address climate change through planting trees in NorthEast India and in Kenya.
Many participants spoke positively about the practice of inner listening introduced during the course.
“Quiet Time is incredibly useful. I realised that it has been a font of inspiration for me and I will definitely practice it routinely in the future.”
“I started practicing Quiet Time whenever I faced challenges at work or in life, and I feel things are improving day by day. Before this, I struggled with prioritization, training, and writing reports. But during Quiet Time, I focused on my inner voice, rediscovered my motivation, and found that good ideas started coming to me naturally.”
“I’ve learnt that there are so many voices around me and distract me from connecting with my inner-self. Practising being still is a good way for me to actually listen to my own voice, hence to understand myself better, to know who I am”
Photo credit: Andrew Flynn
“Incorporating daily moments of reflection has reduced my anxiety and improved decision making. I now approach challenges with a calmer mindset, prioritizing intentional action over reactive impulses.”
Another participant concluded, “this experience was more than a workshop—it was a catalyst for living intentionally. The lessons in empathy, self-reflection, and community have become pillars of my daily life.
- Find out more about what Life Matters has to offer at this link – https://iofc.au/programs-life/.
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