“Our modern-day lifestyles are frequently out of balance, with enormous numbers of people experiencing increasing levels of stress and chronic disease. Many of us have lost our essential connection with Mother Nature, and therefore also, with our own inner nature. In the last few decades we have created a digital world that is characterized by greed, individualism, breakdown of community and our earthly biosphere is being increasingly ravaged. More than ever before, we are being called to question our purpose here on planet Earth, and the answer can often appear to be elusive.”
So begins my book “Wake Up and SOAR”.
I believe that we are living at a fascinating and defining moment in human history. Do we turn left, or do we turn right? Do we choose the red pill or the blue pill? By which I mean, are we part of the solution, or are we actually, unwittingly, a part of the problem?
Over the last couple of centuries, science has eclipsed both religion and nature. This has heralded an exceptional time in human history, where groundbreaking technological developments have been emerging at an accelerating rate. So much so, that we really have little idea of what the future looks like. There has never been such a pantheon of choice available to us, and a richness of life to explore.
But, if we take an objective look at human beings today, many of those living in the so-called developed world, seem to be obsessed with acquiring evermore in their belief that “out there”, something will magically make them feel happy and fulfilled. This is in spite of the fact that everything about our life experience so far would seem to suggest the opposite – nothing “out there” has ever yielded enduring happiness!
So two things are clear. Firstly, many of us are unconsciously subscribing to an erroneous doctrine of well-being. Secondly, real success, by which I mean peace of mind and enduring happiness, has little to do with reaching ever higher levels on a linear scale of money, possessions, power, or any other form of material gain.
Fortunately, as is always the way with Mother Nature, clues to the resolution of our predicament are always close at hand. If we observe the flow of Mother Nature, we see that every aspect of life on planet Earth is gently surrendered to serving the good of the whole, or as I said in the book –
“Mother Nature is a self-regulating web of life in a myriad of forms, where each part plays its role within the grand plan to maintain the health of the whole”
Indeed, throughout the ages, wise beings have informed us that “real success” is about depth of experience. This means simply that we stay inwardly connected to whatever we are doing. The more that we live life from this deeper dimension, the happier we will be. Why? Because we will come to realize that our true purpose here is to serve one another. Since although we all seem to be individuals, and therefore separate from one another, we are in fact ALL ONE.
So, how do we rise to this mighty challenge that stands before us? How can we be happy and healthy in a world where separation and competition, rather than unity and cooperation, seem to be the norm?
Simply put –
Self-responsibility
So what exactly do I mean by this?
For sure, self-responsibility requires a level of awareness across the whole of our human lifestyle, but it begins with something far more fundamental…
Normal vs Natural
In the book, I tell the story “Taming The Lake Monster”, which is about a restless monster that disturbs the waters of a beautiful lake. The monster is a representation of the human mind, and how it tends to seduce us into being lost in thought. He’s not a bad monster, just one who is poorly educated. So the message of the story is that we learn to “tame our lake monster” – our unruly mind.
Because of our monster’s habit of swimming about randomly, it’s often the case that we can’t see our own inner beauty; and, whether you believe it or not, the beauty is there within us all. The fact that this is sometimes not evident in certain people, is merely a reflection of how busy and distracting their lake monster is.
When the monster is allowed to behave in his normal, bothersome way, we are not very happy. Since happiness and health go hand in hand, when we’re not very happy we tend not to be very healthy either. So the biggest problem that we face in life today is not global warming, challenging relationships, or having less money than we would ideally like to have, but rather that our mind is racing out of control.
I would like to suggest, however, that this is a huge and magnificent opportunity, since if we can tame our own lake monster, and we can, then we become the masters of our own health and happiness.
For much of the time, we give most of our attention to the monster, allowing him to disturb the calm waters of our being. This is, for many of us, what we might call the normal state.
Yet this is not our natural human state. Our natural state is to be vibrantly alive, neither stressed nor causing stress to others. It’s natural to take good care of ourselves and therefore want to give of ourselves to others. But due to life’s circumstances, many of us have, to a greater or lesser extent, been programmed into the normal state, where we’re frequently lost in thought and are prone to shallow breathing, and are careless with the needs of our body. Because of our own inner unease, or stress, we tend to be less compassionate towards others.
Your life experience, and every aspect of your well-being, begins with your quality of mind (normal or natural), and this begins with your predominant thoughts. Whatever you focus your mind on, you enliven it with your life force and generate a vibration that is transmitted throughout your being, and out into the world. So if you continually believe that the programmed thoughts and emotions that arise in your body-mind are who you are, then you attract and gradually become, their likeness. As Buddha said:
‘The mind is everything. What you think you become.’
In other words, in every single moment of every single day, week, month, yea,r and decade of your life, you are creating yourself according to your predominant thoughts –
“Watch your thoughts – they become beliefs
Watch your beliefs – they become words
Watch your words – they become actions
Watch your actions – they become habits
Watch your habits – they become character
Watch your character – it becomes your destiny”
Your quality of mind is king, in that it determines how you see the world and what you attract towards you, and therefore also who you become. So your predominant thoughts, and your resulting quality of mind, determine the quality of your life.
With this in mind, perhaps you begin to see that you have a magical opportunity with this human life that has been given to you. You can become the master of your own well-being.
Not only this but since everything in life is merely energy vibrating at a given frequency, you are literally sending out a vibration into the world around you, which is a mirror of how you are feeling inside your being. It must therefore be true that if you intentionally and consistently choose to vibrate with a positive and loving frequency, then this is the impact that you will be having upon the rest of humanity.
Through consistently inviting your natural quality of your mind, you will inspire others to do the same, and together we can positively transform the world.
Wake Up and SOAR is a practical guide, full of questions and exercises designed to invite you to engage. The essential message is that health and happiness is of your own making and that this requires a clear intention to take responsibility for yourself on all levels of your being, but beginning with your quality of mind.
There are three keys and three corresponding tools:
1st Key: Learn To Calm Your Mind – ‘Relax’
1st Tool – Wake Up and SOAR
There are two parts to this –
- Firstly – Wake Up!
You need to realize that you are generally lost in your normal quality of mind – wherein you’re attached to an endless stream of thoughts, and the associated feelings and sensations within your body. However, you have the possibility to Wake Up!
In the moment you realize that you are in some way resisting life by attaching to an unsolicited thought, or a disturbing emotion, and you choose to not continue that thought or to not give attention to that emotion or sensation, you set yourself free.
By free, I mean that you become liberated from the relentless, karmic chain of events which traps most people into living predictable and unfulfilling lives –
Your thoughts become beliefs…..your beliefs become words…..your words become actions…..your actions become habits…..your habits become your character…..your character becomes your destiny.
- Secondly – SOAR
SOAR is an acronym, which stands for –
S – Slow down (sit down and close your eyes if possible)
O – Observe inwardly and connect with your breath
A – Accept all that is arising without judgment or resistance
R – Relax deeply and sense your inner peace of being
Once you’ve awoken, you can choose to reside in your natural quality of mind – wherein your mind is calm and you are consciously choosing where to put your attention.
2nd Key: Take Charge of Your Wellbeing – ‘Nurture’
2nd Tool – Your Personal Support System
When you know how to calm your mind, you’re able to design your own Personal Support System in such a way that it nurtures you and allows you to optimize your health and happiness when you’re well, and to support your own healing when you’re stressed or sick. This Support System includes the full gamut of your lifestyle – loving community, connection with Mother Nature, eating, sleeping, exercising, resting and relaxing, and so on.
3rd Key: Pursue Your Dreams – ‘Fly’
3rd Tool – The Law of Magic
When you feel nurtured and supported, you are able to come alive through pursuing your heartfelt desires, and ‘fly’ without risk of stress or sickness:
- The Law of Magic (Part 1) shows you how to come alive, which will feed you deeply.
- The Law of Magic (Part 2) shows you that when you come alive this serves others too. Inspiring others and inviting them towards calmness is your gift to the world.
Through engaging with these three keys and tools, you can learn to truly love your life by creating a virtuous circle of inviting and surfing your natural quality of mind:
Your well-being is about making the most of your compelling possibility rather than being the victim of your genetic programming and life’s conditioning. You have the magical capacity to unleash your creative fire at will, so that you live in the natural realm of magic, and not the normal realm of projecting a conditioned story onto the screen of life. When you engage the Law of Magic fully, you learn to love your life through constantly opening your heart and mind.
So, my question to you is –
Are you turning left, or are you turning right? Are you choosing the red pill or the blue pill?
Are you in your natural, or your normal quality of mind?
