Right, first off the disclaimer, pendulum dowsing is not an exact science. There are all manner of nuances and contradictions that will effect your results and my purpose here is not to suggest that a pendulum can give you every answer to any question or guarantee clear open access to your higher self BUT that I believe it to be a very useful tool in developing ones intuitive senses. The idea is not to give your power away to the whims of a pendulum but rather to use a pendulum to further empower you to understand yourself more deeply.

Anything hung from a string will work as a pendulum there’s need to purchase some “super fandango, channelled from Atlantis, mega crystal pendulum” or any of the myriad other products on offer online unless you really want to. Just hang a small weight (paper clips, a ring etc.) from a piece of thread and away you go.

Hold the thread lightly between your fingers, relax, calm your mind and think or say “Show me a yes” or ask a question to which you know the answer is yes and see how your pendulum moves. Next repeat that with a “no” and see what you get.

Now having played with this a bit you can go on and practice asking questions about any subject you like, including lottery numbers, but be warned that any topic that is highly emotive may result in an incorrect answer because your heightened emotions can oh so easily override the result. To achieve the best results you need to develop a sense of complete detachment where you have no vested interest in any particular outcome.

Its is very easy to get a yes or no when all you want is a simple yes or no but as soon as you add any degree of ego gratification into the mix things become a little more clouded and challenging but that just adds to the fun.

I encourage you to explore your subtle, felt, inner senses, your right brain intuitive side, and develop it because doing so brings greater peace, joy, abundance and ease to our experience of life.

Enjoy,

Ok so how do I approach this………………….?

It was an average kind of Cornish afternoon, 80% cloud cover 50% of which is dark grey with the remainder a soft comforting cotton wool style offsetting the threat of more early spring rain. A stiff breeze is blowing form the west, a perfect day for our outing. Would Christ join me for the drive to the gym or would I meet him there? Yes, invite him along for the drive, he probably does not get to ride in cars very often.

Initially its tricky sitting next to one of the greatest spiritual teachers of known history without turning into an “I’m not worthy” tongue tied buffoon but the wondeful thing is how friendly he is, and so good at putting you at ease. Sensing my discomfort he immediately adjusted and I fealt a great joyous, loving, calm acceptance, this was going to be fun!

At this juncture words and talking seemed frivolous to me, it was just great to be there, so I started the engine and set off on the twenty minute (one of few disadvantages to country living) drive to my fitness club. After a while I noticed a curious intensity in the face of my passenger, he seemed to be listening intently to the engine. “Err, whats up? I asked. “Have you noticed the pleasure the engine is experiencing?” He said. I reflected on that for a moment or few and replied wisely “You mean how it enjoys fulfilling its purpose?” “Well yes, but particularly I mean the way all the parts and the fuel work together harmoniously and how they love this to be recognised.” I had wondered about this, often times feeling a split about the pollution from my vehicle whilst also enjoying the passion and precision of its design and engineering.

“Do you mean that the energy consciousness of the fuel and components feels greater joy when it’s existence is confirmed by our conscious connection to it?”

“Exactly, you may want to reflect on that at the gym” I started reflecting right then and drove on contentedly.

On arrival the receptionist swiped my membership card oblivious to the wondrous presence accompanying me, I went to get changed, JC went exploring.

1. Step machine.

I programmed the machine with my requirements and began dutifully stomping up stairs to nowhere. Tuneless dance music filled the room and three TV monitors offered me the subtitled choices of Oprah Winfrey, Countdown or Happy Days. Oh I remember the days when I had that much exercise in my daily life that I did not have to go to gyms. I reflect back to my times as a windsurfing instructor, hanging out on the beach and getting payed to play in the ocean. Something always seems lacking within this manufactured exercise environment. Gym, fitness club, health club call it what you may but nothing alters the basic fact that they are places we go to time efficiently mechanically exercise our muscles as our time pressed lifestyles do not permit enough hours walking, surfing, climbing etc., so we make do with the occasional trip to the hills or ocean and top up in the gym.

Two minutes up the stairway and I feel the familiar presence of Christ “You’re not enjoying yourself?”, “No, not so much, I like the feel of my body working but I don’t feel the passion or freedom of windsurfing”, “There can be passion in all things, sharpening a pencil or working a step machine. May I?” I nodded and with that he merged into my heart, “Lets PLAY!” Rang through my being.

I felt an immediate shift in perception. I sensed the life force within all the components of the machine. The strength and power of the steel, the receptive yielding quality of the rubber on the foot pads, but most of all the purpose of the machine. This wasn’t just a machine it was a creation born of the Earth, created by divine inspiration through the workings of humankind. I closed my eyes and felt the love in my heart radiate out through every cell of my body and merge into the step machine. We could be one, we could journey together passionately. All at once I was in my body as never before, I felt the tension and release of my muscles, the in breath of oxygen into my blood, the joy of creation as I metabolised more energy to feed these muscles. We were off climbing from star to star, from cell to cell, from atom to atom, then slow motion, a stream of energy pulsing with each step so alive, alive, alive, I AM ALIVE, I AM.

My breath raced in and out of my lungs, into my cells and I felt a shift within, I was lead down, down deep into my anger and pain. A fresh wave of energy surged through me but Christ was still within holding, witnessing, being. FUCK YOU I cried silently to the harsh fearful world that holds me back and stepped again with all my might I shall live, I c h o o s e to LIVE in hope not in fear.

Then again I felt the pain of my little boy within, so unseen, so misunderstood, so lonely, so lonely. “Invite him with us” says Christ. So I hold my hand out and this small boy maybe three years old emerges from the depths of my pain and smiles a shy smile. We embrace hearts warm, eyes wet, and I pop him on my shoulders. Together we ride the step machine into the light of love and hope…… “Chris”, “Yes Chris”, “Where have you been?” “Looking for you actually, I just didn’t know it”…

What Do You Value Most?

Consider someone who really values their health and well being and how they will naturally and seemingly effortlessly put a good deal of thought and energy into maintaining their health and well being through diet and exercise etc. even if they are perhaps neglecting other areas. On the other hand someone who really values playing computer games and watching TV will effortlessly spend hours on those activities, and quite possibly to the expense of their general health and well being. Simply put, you tend to get more of what you value because you direct more energy and desire towards it. Energy follows consciousness.

Conversely you can also get more of what you don’t want when you focus upon the things you don’t want. For instance if you start considering the shortcomings of your job or partner for any length of time you will then find ever more things to complain about and be critical of until you could end up feeling miserable and depressed.

It is very useful to practice recognising where your value system is working well for you and noting how that feels in contrast to an aspect of your life that does not seem to be going or flowing quite so well.

Time And Money

In my life for instance I have always highly valued my time and because I value my time I make an effort to enjoy everything I do. I also seem to have an innate ability to spend little time at all doing anything I do not like. On the occasions that I feel I have to complete an uninspiring, onerous task then I can generally re-frame my approach to it so that I enjoy it. I enjoy life, plain and simple, because I value my time and I value my life. On the other hand I do not care for people wasting my time by being indirect or dishonest with me or by using a 1000 words when 100 would have done fine.

By contrast though when explore how I value money I begin to notice some subtle differences. Yes, I enjoy money and manifest a very comfortable living, I also recognise that I really do not value it in anything like the way I value my time. This may account, in part at least, for my erratic cash flow situations over the years. My money approach has always been a bit “easy come easy go” even if it hasn’t necessarily come easily by any stretch. I’m just not that bothered by money, so money can’t always be bothered with me?

I don’t care for a miserly penny pinching approach to money at all and aspire to being generous wherever possible. However I have come to recognise some things through my many dealings within the superyacht industry and particularly how much the super rich value their money. Yes, they can afford to spend huge sums on ostentatious luxuries but they will only do that if they feel they are getting good value in return. They’ll haggle over prices until they are sure they know they are getting good value.

Certainly some are simply on an ego driven power trip to see how much they can chisel off a price just because they can but as a whole it is still always about getting value for money. These guy’s always want the very best for the best price and they manage their money to extract the best return in all areas. This may mean they value money more than the well being of their suppliers and staff and it may mean they spend so much time valuing and pursuing money that their personal and family lives suffer. One thing remains though, they value money and thus they have money even if they do not always have a wholly happy or “balanced” life.

T Harv Eker, for instance, makes this point quite bluntly in his book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth “…money is extremely important in the areas in which it works, and extremely unimportant in the areas in which it doesn’t. Anyone who says money isn’t important doesn’t have any!”

Now you can read any number of books or articles and none of it will make a blind bit of difference until you actually apply the principles therein to your life, which can be a struggle because we always tend to resist change. If you’ve read this far though it is fairly certain you have some commitment to personal growth. Bravo! Here goes, try this.

Look And Learn

By drawing from what you already know in another area of your life you can bring more flow and ease to the process of transforming less productive thought and behaviour patterns because you are simultaneously changing whilst holding an awareness on comfortable, positive, familiar territory.

• Identify one key area that you consider to be working well in your life.

• Examine how that really feels, study the felt quality or energetic of it, the levels of ease, joy or resistance.

• Now compare this with an area you are struggling with. How does it feel different to you? Compare the relative sensations of gratitude for instance.

• Next, explore your options for making this difficult area feel more like the successful area. How could you think differently and adjust your values about, food, love, money or whatever? How can you can transform your thinking so that you feel similar sensations when reflecting on an area that previously wasn’t working so well in comparison to an area that is working?

Change your thoughts and you change you life, step by baby step, moment by moment, day by day…

Enjoy!

The Community Of The Self

Do you find your mind and thoughts filled with contradictions? One part of you wants more money but another thinks wanting that is immoral? Part of you loves risks but another craves security? Part of you feels insecure and needy whilst another feels noble, resolute, certain and secure? Part of you wants to be busy and work whilst another wants to be idle? Yep, everybody feels that way to some degree some of the time and it can be highly debilitating if you become overly caught in internal squabbling dialogues resulting in the sense that all choices are wrong.

Well there is an easier way. Work more consciously to unify these disparate aspects of your mind AND seek to meet, greet and integrate previously hidden voices of the mind self. Its an exercise I call “Harnessing The Community Of The Self” and I’ve found it to be most powerful and effective. Its useful as a daily meditative and or journalling practice and most particularly when things seem to be going “wrong” or out of whack.

Our spiritual, energetic or higher self knows only abundance and fulfilment, at that level all is always very well in its world. But our limited separated ego self, or selves, experiences a world of conflict, struggle and separation much of the time. To the limited ego self there is always a feeling of separation from the outer world of things and other people. Its a case of I am me, you are you, this is this, that is that, and if you behave in ways that threaten my sense of me or anything else, then I feel weakened and start wanting revenge and to threaten you so I can feel strong again. Its this sense of fear, limits, and separation that lies behind all wars and violent disputes.

Now, these disparate “voices” in your mind can be likened to a collection of micro egos or selves. We can give them handy names like “inner child” or “past life residues” some may even be “spirit guides” and “ancestors” but overly dwelling on or feeding energy to formally identify these fragments of self only serves to strengthen their identity and make them appear stronger, more “real” and less integrated into the greater “you”, which often may not be very useful at all.

The thought to really ponder is, that if you are conscious enough to actually notice these “voices” and their differing demands, rather than blindly reacting erratically to all and everything, then who is it that is doing the witnessing? Its your dominant or “adult ego” the aspect of you that is really much clearer about who you are and much less concerned by threats to it’s identity. This is the you that genuinely has no care or concern as to whether someone calls you a liar or accuses you of something you did not do because it knows itself securely enough to no longer feel threatened by the behaviour or accusations of others. This is a useful state of self but care must be exercised to ensure that this “adult self” does not get too rigid and attached to its limited identity either.

Here we have it then, your adult ego witnessing the “lesser egos” squabbling, its a bit like managing a football or any other type of team. If you can recognise, nurture and harmonise the strengths of your players into a cohesive, unified and mutually supportive team then you will be an extremely successful team. On a personal level though we are looking towards integrating our “selves” into a more unified “self”, we want to assimilate our “team” into our greater being because then, rather dealing with protracted inner dialogues, we will find a quiet inherent wisdom that makes clear choices with ever greater ease and confidence.

Here We Go

My version is set around a tribal campfire, perhaps in the Australian bush, meditatively I am experiencing / visualising the following:

• The adult ego me is the watcher or witness viewing the event and directing proceedings telepathically. My “higher” spirit self is with this adult me in the form of a still quiet confident feeling or energy that holds the space for the exercise, offering insight and confidence as needed (my higher self is acting as my therapist so to speak). We know we are one yet we also sense our individuality when such a contrast of perception feels useful.

• Circled around this campfire sit the many aspects of me that I have yet to integrate fully into my greater being and many times I am aware of further less distinct circles of figures behind. These are vague visual forms rather than defined identities from past lives or some such. (Be careful, trawling around for specifics really can be highly distracting and unproductive from the task at hand, which is Integration)

• As a daily practice you could just call “your” circle together and see what is present and needs to be addressed but if you are wrestling with a specific problem or decision then you simply call your circle together and invite the “self” with the strongest or most urgent need to “speak” to you and the rest of the group first.

• Once this gets started you’ll find things really begin to flow and that as the first “self” speaks then other “self’s” become eager to have their say also. Once a “self” has had its voice fully heard you’ll feel a remarkable, profound, sense of relief because its not that these “selfves” are so much right or wrong but more that they simply want to be heard. In many instances they’ve been denied, quashed and shut away from our consciousness for so long that it feels deeply isolating and painful. Its this that contributes to that empty unfulfilled feeling you may feel now and again.

• When a “self” has had it’s say invite it to join and merge into you, your unified being. This will happen auto-magically when what needs to be expressed has been expressed. Allow this process to be ongoing until you sense the time is right to stop.

I guarantee you will be amazed by the results of this exercise. The hard part is summoning the determination to actually practice it because a strong part of you wants to keep things exactly as they are, nice and familiar…

A Brief Example

A recurrent issue I have is that of being paid late by my business customers. I hope for the situation to change but my experience so far has been that it never does for very long. I’m aware that I am now not fully clear in my belief or expectation that it actually can change without a change of business or planetary consciousness and ethics etc. Every business owner I’ve spoken to experiences the same issue, time and again, we all get paid late and therefore end up paying late ourselves. My current reality includes a world of delayed payments. What happens if I invite my community of self to explore the issue?

So, firstly I notice my resistance to actually doing this which takes me nicely to the voice of that resistance and my campfire.

I am also aware of resistance to sharing this issue in public, part of me sees it as weakness; “its a failure for someone extolling the abundance of life to experience or admit to cash flow issues.” But how better to demonstrate than by example?

Back at the resistance to exploring my payments issue. “Why should I be any different? Why should I be paid on time when others aren’t? Why bother with any of it anyway, why not get out of it all and live a simpler life? Its just the price you pay for mixing with such low vibrational people.” Say some of the errant voices of my mind.

Ok now settle down everyone, now lets see what lies deeper here in my community, who truly wishes to speak now? “Well, you only really call a gathering when there is a problem and I think you wear problems as badges of noble suffering. You’re proud of your problems as if they give you more worth, and you like to feel the victim as if it makes you more special in some way.”….. “Maybe you’re correct, what else do you have to contribute?”….. “I think that pattern sucks, its no help, no solution, and only holds the issue in place. There’s nothing special about having big problems, wouldn’t it be better to create and offer big solutions?”…..“Well, don’t I need a big problem in order to have a big solution? Aren’t the two always connected?”…..“Yes, I suppose they are, but couldn’t you generate more flow by releasing your attachment to these problems or challenges?”…..“Yes, I suppose so, but how do I do that?”…..“I’d suggest that by now being conscious of this tendency to embolden your sense of self through the size of your challenges you are free to release or transform that habit”…..“Your right, I feel a shift already! I’m glad I made time to listen to you, I wasn’t so aware of that but how does it relate to not being paid?”

“Could it be that because of your discomfort regarding the ethics of wealth that you are happier to feel “righteously important” about being owed a lot of money than to actually having a lot of money. Basically part of you likes the problem so you keep attracting it”….“Right, who here likes this problem?”…..“I do”…“Go ahead.”….“As long as I or we are short of money because of others then things stay nice, slow and familiar and we get to be the good guy. I like that, I really do.”….“What? So you wouldn’t rather have the freedom that having the money would bring?”….“Nope!” ….“Isn’t that a little self destructive?”…“Who cares, its just how I feel”…“Fine, but picture this. Imagine being paid fully, regularly, on time, imagine having all the money you need, paying everyone else well and when due, being the “good” business and person that always pays promptly.”…“Never happen, the worlds not like that”…“Well how can it be if we don’t believe it can first?”…“How can I believe it without any evidence, people like to use the power of money over others, always have always will?”…“Maybe, but your way is leaving us stuck, can’t we try something new?”…“Ok, I’ll give something a try”…“So lets now settle into deeply feeling how it would be, to be fully paid on time.”………

…and so the dialogue continues whilst issues and insights are identified, integrated and reconciled.

Do you see the idea? It is just a way to bring greater order to the random mental chaos and gain new useful insights that directly relate to you along the way. All you need is the clear intention to commit to such an exercise and a little practice.

Sometimes when practising this you’ll meet some hateful, angry, vindictive aspects of the self that you may find quite disturbing but by letting them have their voice, without acting out or harming anything or anyone, you can release that powerful energy into your field of being for positive use.

We all have a great deal of insight and innate wisdom available to us if we’ll just make the effort to access it but we also have to own our darker side and that should not be disowned either.

The resistance you may feel to actually practising this exercise is simply the ego’s innate fear of change but change is coming regardless so isn’t it better to get with the program and embrace change consciously, proactively?

It simply requires a little extra act of willpower to get you started.

Enjoy,

This feeling is particular important and useful during these times of banking panic, job losses and assorted monetary and environmental fears. Abundant, connected feelings allow us to remain calm, balanced and focused even as we sail through the stormiest waters of life. It is hard, if not impossible, to convey such an experience through a simple written article so instead I offer you this guided meditation that can really help you to become more centred and present to the abundant nature of your very being. I hope you enjoy. It can be streamed online or downloaded.

Guidance Notes

• Listen to and practice this when you are certain not to be disturbed in any way. This will allow you to be ever more present and less distracted. (Oh, and never when driving!)

• Sit upright in a comfy chair or on a meditation stool etc. with your lower back supported, your feet flat on the floor and with the palms of your hands facing the floor. Laying down is not recommended as it is just too easy to drift and fall asleep but if it works for you then do it that way.

• It is also a good idea to start with your eyes open just a touch and loosely focused on the floor in front of you. We are seeking a fully “in body” experience here that expands out of body whilst still remaining deeply grounded and connected to the physical world. The feet down, palms down and upright body position all help support this.

• My words are guidance only, a starting point from which you are encouraged to explore and change as you see fit. We are each totally unique in our perspectives and experiences so what works for one may not be ideal for another. You will benefit enormously from gaining ever greater insight into what works for you, so having listened to and experimented with my offering here I really encourage you to create your own unique version and play around with all of it.

• Remember to have fun, that’s why I gave it a silly title.

It runs for 36 minutes, play it here:~

Download low quality 6.2mb mp3 file here: PanGalacticAbundanceMeditationS.mp3

Download high quality 16.5mb file via YouPublish here: PanGalacticAbundanceMeditationL.mp3

I am living the life of my dreams and sometimes I inwardly “pinch” myself and wonder how it is that I’m so lucky, why me? Its not that I am hugely “successful” with a massive income and business or career empire or some such it is rather that I simply live a deeply happy and contented life for the greatest part of the time. Yes, I do have problems or difficulties to deal with but no, life as a whole is good, very good indeed. I work from home mostly and am responsible overall for a business that is now largely self sustaining leaving me free to pursue other interests and spend quality time with my wife, kids and pets.

I used to routinely work 70+ hours a week, I did that for many years, but as it became an increasingly unacceptable way to live life somehow twisted and turned in such a manner as to allow me to live much more quietly, happily and peacefully. I did not manipulate or engineer my life circumstances this way by following through on set targets and goals, rather it seemed life moved to accommodate my changing desires as I aged and they changed. The hardest part has been allowing myself to become freer and less fearful or controlling. To allow life to provide for me.

A great many successful businesses are owned and/or managed by “control freaks” certain of the rightness of their decisions, what needs to be done and who needs to be doing it. They are not afraid to make decisions and choices or be unpopular in the face of opposition and criticism either. However, these types are not necessarily any happier than the rest of us. Clear goal setting works very well for these task orientated conquering types but not everyone. Goal setting tends to shift one’s focus towards the steps and how’s of achievement whereas dreamers readily have the magnificent visions but often struggle to follow through and ground these into physical reality.

Targeted goal setting is not such a successful approach for the more fluid, vague, dreamy, timid and less action orientated kind of person but we all have goals even if we do not necessarily recognise them as such. We all want to be happier and more fulfilled in some way do we not? We all envisage some kind of improvement in our lives be that health, wealth, spiritual, relational. The key question is what do you really and I mean really want, what is your core goal or dream?

Know who you are ~ Know what you want

A quick google-ing suggest that our top new years resolution are a mix of these:

• Lose Weight

• Manage Debt

• Save Money

• Get a Better Job

• Get Fit

• Eat Right

• Get a Better Education

• Drink Less Alcohol

• Quit Smoking Now

• Reduce Stress

Why would you want to achieve any of these? Because you think that then you’ll feel better about yourself, happier, confident, more at ease, healthier, safer. We also know that a great many people fail to follow through on their goals or resolutions. Why?

Because they’ve got them back to front, there using the goal of quitting drink or smoking etc. as a target their sense of well being depends upon whereas right now they feel anxious about their health, finances and well being, happiness is continually being postponed until a goal is reached. Then, if it isn’t, its highly likely that they will smoke, eat or drink more etc. as a comforter against their sense of failure. However underneath all that lays the simple humble desire to feel deeply fulfilled, safe and contented.

What we really want is to feel different or better but our minds like to suggest that we have to do or change something in order to feel that way but in truth we don’t.

Try it now:

Just breathe, relax and simply allow yourself to feel better right here, now, regardless. Feel anything? Even a hint? I hope so.

Practice this first, then achieving any of your other goals will happen a great deal more easily because you are continually getting an inkling of what you really want deep down at a core level. A state that your greater being (who you really are) already knows but your limited human self has forgotten.

Dream, achieve, realise and expand feelings of well being first and foremost rather than repetitively focusing on what you consider is wrong with you or your life and pushing to change it. Use the thought of the completed goal as a tool to increase your feelings of well being now. You need to feel good first.

Become a happy changeling. So simple, but only as easy or hard as we choose to make.

Enjoy

See also : Goals Without Controls

Finding peace with God

God is a highly emotive term that evokes a host of different reactions from each of us. Everyone has an opinion and an “issue” with “God” for some its a beautiful, deep, personal blessed, relationship and for others the term alone evokes feelings of anger and frustration born from the association of God with dogmatic religions, holy wars, fundamentalism and all things “irrational”, unscientific and illogical.

Sooner or later we are all called to question our relationship with God or the Divine and reach some conclusions for ourselves; to embark upon our spiritual path more consciously.

Is God some highly judgemental bearded authority figure looking down upon us sinful, unworthy, human beings and condemning us to heaven or hell as he sees fit? I don’t think so, that sounds like very low grade human behaviour to me and not an enlightened God like way to carry on at all.

Is one religion’s God better or more valid than another’s? Only if that happens to be your religion.

Can science answer the God issue or is science simply the God of no God? Not so far, science has yet to answer the big questions such as. What happened before the big bang and before that and before that?

Can religion tell us what happened before God, where God came from? Not that I can see, God just is, always was and always will be.

Do we need to answer that question anyway? Well I don’t, it does not trouble me much, I’m rather more concerned with the here and now.

I perceive an unseen hand operating in my life that provides me with opportunities, coincidences, solutions and problems that trim out and punctuate my life in ways beyond my rational understanding. Life unfolds regardless, no matter how I may attempt micro manage it with the view to achieving certain results. In fact it has been through my largely fruitless attempts at managing life into certain prescribed results that finally brought me some years ago to surrender to the workings of life and simply relax. What a relief…

God is the term we use to describe all that we cannot explain and to account for the reverential feelings we encounter at profound moments in our lives be that the birth of our children, the magnificence of a star filled sky, the beauty of nature or the light in the eyes of another, we feel spirit, and we know spirit through a felt intuitive sense rather than the rationality of the mind.

Did you notice any difference in how you felt when I used the term spirit rather than God, just then?

Well I do. The God term triggers my authority issues and does not sit well with me. It is not that I do not have a profound, personal and tangible experience of God, it is simply that I find God a very limiting term by virtue of the myriad ways in which God’s name is and has been used, evoked and blamed for all manner of happenings and beliefs. “God” represents dogmatic judgements, polarities and absolutes. Spirit simply is. Life simply is.

I’ve played around with the term the Universe but that did not work either, after all we know or increasingly suspect that there are many universes so the Universe becomes a limiting term also. Spirit is a good term but tends to suggest the unseen worlds more than the material worlds. So I have found peace with the simple term Life.

Life, Spirit and God is present in all things, indeed is the very base energy substance of all things and as such is fully omnipresent if not as yet fully measurable.

Life underpins the existence of all things and no things, Life is the energy of both the formed and the formless, the loved and the loveless, the hated and the adored. Life just is, it exists without judgement or retribution and when we feel into the energy of Life we feel love, joy reverence and well being. When we draw away from Life we feel fear doubt, discomfort, uncertainty and worry. Our feelings are our guides, Life communicates with us non verbally in a felt intuitive manner.

Life and abundance

It is easy to look at Life, nature, our planet and the night sky and see the abundance of Life and energy all around us. Everywhere we look there is energy, life, birth, death, decomposition, rebirth. Life prevails at the bottom of the oceans, in the deserts, the mountains, the air, sky and in the very energy of everything. Life is abundance.

Our trouble as humans is that we seek to control and manipulate Life, to label and judge. We want the “good” but not the “bad” yet Life is as equally present in the “bad” as it is in the “good”. Life offers no judgement, Life is.

Life could be likened to the weather and oceans. We have good weather and bad weather, rough or calm seas, that is just the nature of such things. Rough seas or bad weather is not personal it is just Life being Life through those mediums, good, bad, rough or calm, Life expresses through contrast. We would not know or understand anything without duality, contrasts and opposites, life would simply be all as One with no contrast or mirrors from which to gain a perspective on what is. Yet life is still One even with the contrasts it is just few of us recognise it as such.

What so many of us still fail to realise as we turn from, hide and resist our unwanted is that we are in that very moment also turning away from Life, from the abundance of all experiences.

Life is the source of all things, Life gave us life, our parents, children, jobs, careers, friends, cars, homes, bank accounts, toys, illnesses. We are merely expressers of Life, Life clothed in a human form.

A Leap in Understanding

Consider and dwell on this carefully. Life is the source of your abundance and every blessing, not you, your job, your parents, not your government or anything else. The greater your understanding of this, then the greater your ability will be to allow Life to provide for you.

Yes you earn money through whatever work you do but the source of those earnings is ultimately Life expressing through you and the organisation you work in or run. You are not the true source of your abundance and well being, nor is your job. Life is, as it moves and expresses through the uniqueness that is you. You and your job etc. are just part of the wiring, a medium through which the current of Life flows. You need Life and Life needs you in order to create and express. You are a co creator with Life and the more you allow Life the more Life allows you.

This means being open and curious about whatever comes your way because it is all Life communicating with and through you, its all good. All the coincidences, chance encounters, trials and tribulations that have lead you to be exactly where you are now are the result of Life expressing Life.

Your task is simply to choose what to do now, moment by moment with clarity and confidence. There are no wrong choices, Life simply Is.

Enjoy

Its late November as I write this which brings the season of giving ever nearer for those of us that celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, it also happens to be “credit crunch” time due to some reckless behaviour by the banking industry. The story being that money is now harder to borrow and that people are much more cautious with their spending and investments which is further slowing the economy. The flow of money through the global financial plumbing has contracted creating increased uncertainty for us all.

Fine, law of attraction wise you can readily feel the contraction as you read those words, difficult times are with us, be prudent and cautious, exercise all due diligence. Sensible advice but what is the energetic beneath that feeling of prudence. Is it the “positive” desire to feel safe and secure or is it the “negative” fear of uncertainty? Does it matter anyway?

I suggest that it does matter because those two approaches, though similar, may evoke a very different feeling or vibration. The proactive desire for safety and security is personally empowering and motivates you to take whatever steps you deem necessary to support your financial and general well being. Law of Attraction wise this is offering a vibration resonant more towards what you want than what you are afraid of or do not want. You can recognise if you are operating in this frequency because you’ll be feeling a degree of confidence and certainty about how you are conducting or creating your life.

Under the more fear based approach you will be feeling greater levels of anxiety and doubt and feeling rather more the victim of life than a creator of life. Such an outlook resonates more with fear and uncertainty and will likely draw more fear and uncertainty into your life experience.

Most of us will be swinging between those two points of attraction through the course of our days but that does not have to be of any great concern as long as we use that awareness as a guide that it is time to shift our attraction point. This is the key to all positive change; the simple recognition that change is needed, that different choices must be made.

How does this relate to debt?

Well lets consider Christmas. In our western society it is a time of giving, of exchanging gifts. One could view it as a religious festival that has morphed into a festival of consumption but either way we enjoy buying our loved ones gifts. What if you don’t have money though, should you pay for Christmas with a credit card?

I do not see a hard and fast answer to that one, it absolutely depends on the individual. Debt and borrowing is just another form of purchase. You are buying money to use for buying other products which effectively means that the products you buy cost somewhat more than their marked price, how much more is defined by how much your bought money costs which depends on the interest rate and the speed at which you pay it back.

Law of attraction wise this is more difficult territory because you think “…well if the Universe is so benign and abundant why do I even need to consider a credit card and buying money to pay for Christmas?” thoughts such as that resonate with feelings of lack rather than abundance. But its true you say and indeed it is in a way, but is that truth any solution?

Not much, if you or I really wish to experience the benign abundance of the Universe then maybe we should be deeply grateful for the opportunity to buy money very cheaply and enjoy it? Perhaps debt could be a celebration of abundance if we can just choose to re-frame it that way? I think it can but only if you are able to make that shift in perception and resonate with the bountiful options for buying money that are still available in spite of the current credit squeeze.

I think that part is fairly easy for most of us to manage, its the paying back of the money that is harder to feel abundantly optimistic about.

Yes, it can be a challenge. If you’ve lost your job and are living on savings or benefits then it probably is unwise to finance Christmas with credit until you’ve manifested yourself a job, unless of course that debt and your commitment to pay it back acts as a positive incentive or motivator to get you earning again. Its your choice always.

Life, God, the Universe will provide for you as long as you provide for yourself. In law of attraction terms this means attending to your thoughts, feelings or vibration which then propels you to act and present yourself in such a manner that life moves supportively through you. This could mean clearing your debts OR creating more debts on your path to greater abundance and well being.

Debt is not bad in itself any more than money is; consider the many positive opportunities and benefits that microfinance is bringing to the poor around the world. Why do you want to borrow or buy money? How will that help, short term and long term? What do you really want? You decide, you choose no matter what your situation is now.

If you spend all day lying on the sofa watching tv or casually web surfing then it is highly unlikely that you are really attending to your thoughts, feelings and vibrations very consciously. We’re creative beings seeking to express and offer forth in life in our own unique ways. Vedging out in front of the tv is generally an escape and a rather less than creative pastime. After all its the people who star in and create the shows that tend to be the wealthy ones.

If I sit about thinking about writing this article it is of little use to anyone until I’ve written it out and posted it online. Life wants to express though us and I suggest that the more connected we are with life then the more our desire to create and express grows.

The worst thing you can do about your debt is worry about it. You debt just is, accept it and move on. Can you imagine feeling completely at ease with debt and money the way you do with breathing? Can you bless your debts, feel grateful for them and the ease they brought to your life at the time you committed to them? Can you foresee a point where you live fully debt free and are paid dividends and interest by others as thanks for your investment? Or can you imagine being such a secure, certain asset that banks and others will readily lend you 100’s of thousands of pounds, dollars, euro etc.?

What sort of financial freedom do you dream of? I must say I am feeling a little bored lately with my debts and my creditors. Operating a business with 60 and 90 day credit terms feels a bit ethereal, there is so much money that only exists on paper as a commitment to pay or be paid. I miss dealing in cash and yet I don’t, all this virtual money can just serve as a reminder of how temporary and silly it all is anyway.

• Rule 1 enjoy!

• Rule 2 enjoy rule 1.

• Rule 3 don’t worry be happy.

• Rule 4 only borrow if you are fully committed to paying it back.

• Rule 5 enjoy rule 4.

• Rule 6 make your own rules.

• Rule 7 enjoy the rules of others.

• Rule 8 the above rules are just guidelines.

• Ruke 9 don’t forget rule 4.

• Ruke 10 there is no rule 10 unless you create one…

On a personal level, how do you want to live? Do you want to micro manage your every waking hour to get more stuff done? Does being more productive lead to an increased sense of well being or does increased well being lead to increased productivity? If our days were 30 hours long would we really have more “free” time or would we just fill it with more stuff to do?

I remember loving a BBC TV show called Tomorrows World when I was a young lad, it was full of exciting ideas and fascinating new technology. I recall being particularly struck by the often expressed idea that we’d work less and have a great deal more leisure time in the future due to the increased level of automation provided by technology. So whilst I didn’t particularly dislike school (which I associated as being like “work”) I certainly did prefer weekends and holidays. The idea that I was born into a world moving towards a 3 or 4 day working week was pretty hopeful for me. The notion that “work” could be a satisfying, playful, pleasurable experience in itself had not occurred to me then. Certainly, no adults around me seemed to experience it that way.

How naive that prediction was even if you can see the logic – as we can get more done in less time we’ll have more time for other things – it makes perfect sense until you factor in human survivalist competition. The apparent need to do more before the next guy out does you.

Certainly average working times have reduced considerably since the 1800’s but through collective bargaining and legislation rather than because of productivity gains. Looking at the list below we can see that average working hours have tended to reduce. In the less productive 13th and 14th centuries however we worked similar or fewer hours.

Annual hours over eight centuries: Year Type of worker Annual hours 13th century Adult male peasant, UK 1620 hours 14th century Casual laborer, UK 1440 hours Middle Ages English worker 2309 hours 1400-1600 Farmer-miner, adult male, UK 1980 hours 1840 Average worker, UK 3105-3588 hours 1850 Average worker, U.S. 3150-3650 hours 1987 Average worker, U.S. 1949 hours 1988 Manufacturing workers, UK 1855 hours 2000 Average worker, Germany 1362 hours (Compiled by wikipedia)

However we now live in a 24/7 society with people working all manner of different shifts and days. Companies are open for ever longer periods and here in the UK many if not most supermarkets are open 24 hours. Senior management and professionals typically work ever longer hours. (Businessweek)

Not much sign of the 4 day week just yet and there continues to be an awful lot of talk about increased productivity and efficiency.

Now I’d suggest that what gives us the greatest life satisfaction is our relationships first and our creativity second. Our lives are enriched through our interactions and by adding value to the lives of others through our creative expression, generally our work. This could mean designing, building or crafting something, teaching, health care, just about everything really.

If you’ve ever experienced the loss of a loved one or being dumped by someone you didn’t want to be dumped by then you’ll have had first hand experience of the deep need we have to relate lovingly with others. During times of grief the once vitally important stuff of working etc. suddenly seems rather empty and meaningless and we may have little interest in getting much done at all as we mourn our loss. The real stuff of life is who we are not what we do.

Under more typical circumstances though we may well feel that “if I can just finish this then I’ll be free to do that” but somehow as soon as “this” is finished something else fills in the space and “that” gets postponed yet again. You think, if I could just get everything done then I’d be free to relax and do what I want to do for a bit….

That is the “rat race” the spinning treadmill to nowhere and a common motivator for endless efficiency gains. If we could just do more then we’d be free to be more. I suggest that if we focused on being more then we’d be more productive and content.

What do I mean by that? Well, you are you, complete with all your unique gifts, aptitudes qualities and perceptions. If you are living your life one step ahead of yourself in an attempt to get everything done then you are less present in you and the world gets less of your uniqueness in what you do. You are less productive, less satisfied, more stressed and we all lose.

An extreme example.

• Take a simple menial task like sweeping the floor.

• Take two cleaners.

• One cleaner is wearing his iPod and dreaming of going to a bar later with his friends. He cannot wait for the end of his shift and keeps glancing at the clock to see how much longer he has to wait until home time. He’s going through the motions of cleaning up but paying little real attention and doing a poor job of it.

• The other cleaner is thinking about sweeping the floor well, is focused on the job at hand. He is working out his best route round the floor and allowing for any drafts that may disrupt his sweeping. He is evaluating which of his brooms works best with the differing floor surfaces and rubbish sizes. He is trying different sweeping motions to see what works best and now and again he may even dance a little jig with his broom, just for the fun of it. He happily knows he is meeting the other guy and some friends in the bar later and is not clock watching.

Who would you rather be and who would you rather employ? The second one right?

The second guy is wanting to get more done but is also applying more of himself to that task and thus experiencing more pleasure and satisfaction in the process.

The moral of the tale:

• Bring more you to everything you do and you’ll not only get more done but you’ll also get more, life, enjoyment and satisfaction no matter what it is that you do.

BUT as you’ll never get it all done slow down, chill out, and enjoy what you are doing right now!

We’ll all feel better for your happy, productive, presence.

Holograms

To make a hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light of a laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern(the area where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film. When the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of light and dark lines. But as soon as the developed film is illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the original object appears.

The three-dimensionality of such images is not the only remarkable characteristic of holograms. If a hologram of a rose is cut in half and then illuminated by a laser, each half will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose. Indeed, even if the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.

The “whole in every part” nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new way of understanding organization and order. For most of its history, Western science has laboured under the bias that the best way to understand a physical phenomenon, whether a frog or an atom, is to dissect it and study its respective parts. A hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart some thing constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes.

In practical terms as a human being living it the western world it is very easy, if not normal, to feel separate from each other and the workings of life.

We may feel misunderstood by our parents, children, partners, employers, employees and anything else you care to think of. Life serves up challenge after challenge and we feel thwarted, stressed and like escaping from the endless frustration of fighting against a life that apparently, ceaselessly, remorselessly resists bending to our wishes or giving us what we want. Life’s a bitch, you marry one, then you die… how sad that saying is.

Once we get a sense of Oneness however this all changes. Instead of feeling resistant to life we now feel connected to it, at one with it. We can recognise that our prior resistance to what is, was simply a manifestation of our disconnection from what is.

What the hell does that mean?

• Ok, lets say you’ve just lost your job unexpectedly. Immediately you feel, fearful for the future and perhaps angry or depressed about your situation. You feel life has dealt you a dirty, and you feel separate from life because of this apparent harshness.

However with the same event experienced under an awareness of Oneness you feel or respond a little differently.

• Initially you’ll may still feel shocked but as you also feel deeply connected to life you recognise that you have no other choice than to accept this situation and make the best of it. You feel “response able” because you hold an underlying felt sense that you have created this very set of circumstances exactly because it is what you need to experience. You stop separating from and blaming the harshness of life and instead get on with consciously living with whatever life delivers.

Life becomes your ally along your personal voyage of self discovery because now you are life and life is you. Life has become a co-creative journey of self discovery and personal development, not something to fight and resist.

The positive benefits of this manifest as an easier more joyous life experience because you are so much more conscious or aware of your thoughts and feelings and thus able to direct your energy creatively in the direction of the type of life you seek to live. Thoughts and feelings create, so choose useful ones.

How to experience oneness?

Well the very first step is recognising that you want to and I suggest that the next step is to spend much time alone and close to nature.

Practice allowing yourself to become calm, still and fully present in the moment and allow Oneness to become present and greet you.

Very simple, not necessarily very easy.

Enjoy