Dancing Lesson?
By · CommentsWell, slightly misleading title but this post was inspired by a programme on TV at the moment called ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Ok, no the the best TV but not bad entertainment which doesn’t require any brainwork!
Anyway, one of the winners of a previous show came back on and peformed a dance. The presenter asked him if he had any advice to give to the current contestants and he said, “enjoy the journey, you will never know when it will end”. Wow, great advice and great advice for life as well.
It has been said many times by those in the know that as you journey through life, you should be Present in the moment and enjoy the journey. So often we are caught up in the dramas of life and are always thinking of the future as we strive to achieve or to get somewhere in life. Most people either live in the past or future.
This means that people tend to look to the past and dwell on things that have come and gone. Perhaps remeniscing about what could have been or how good or bad something was in the past, or blaming things that have happened in the past on your current circumstances. The flipside to this are those people who are constantly striving and looking to the future. They are so focused on moving forwards that they miss the living in the current moment.
And this is the crux of it all. To live more peacefully and with less stress, you should spend most of your time in the Present moment, enjoying each moment of your day. There are many experiences that could easily be overlooked if you are not in the moment. Life is more about the journey rather than the end itself, because at the end of the day there never is an end. There will always be more.
That is not to say do not look to the past or think about the future, it is saying that life itself does not reside ‘there’, life is Now, it is the Present moment. Slow down a little, actually observe life happening, enjoy the trees, nature and have gratitude for all the good things that you currently have in life. This will help you to stay Present and actually enjoy the journey of life which is what it is all about.
Help the World by doing what you love
By · CommentsOne thing that I have always believed in is that you should always follow your passion in life where possible.
Often I forget my own beliefs when I’m caught in the day to day act of living life. It is something I often think about and consider but is it something that I practise? Well, I often read other peoples blog posts and one in particular was talking about being in service to the world by doing what you love.
If you consider this you can see that there are many truths to it on many levels. After reading it, it made me consider my own situation. Am I following my passion? I would say that I am but perhaps not quite in the way I imagine is perfect.
Having had a walk in the park today, I have had more time again to reflect. What is stopping me from just going for it and doing what I want to do? I think the answer is fear.
I recognise that it is an ego-based sense of insecurity, and fear of will I have enough money to live and survive on. Taking a step back and looking at the situation I can reason to myself, what is the worst that can happen? This sense of insecurity I can also see as being false and not something that is real. It is more of an excuse really, a procrastination strategy that I’ve fallen back on time and time again. It is the excuse that we all use and the excuse that keeps me where I am today.
As I consider things, I get more and more confident that these excuses are just not good enough and are not serving me. They are more internal barriers that I need to put aside within myself, or at least come to peace with.
For now, things are in motion, times are changing and the status quo just won’t do anymore, not for me anyway. Be assured that plans are afoot and 2010 will be a year of adventure. I will live a more authentic life.
The Nature of Money
By · CommentsI had some sort of insight on the subject of money the other day that I would like to share here, even just for the purpose of clarifying my own thoughts. When I think about this insight I find it difficult to express it, it is more of an internal knowing. I’ll give it a go anyway.
Money is a very emotive subject for many people, no less for myself. With lots of past experience of debt and the feeling of insecurity it can cause, it has been a big area of my life thoughts. Not always the most positive of thoughts but culturally also, money plays a large role.
The insight came to me when I was considering about having theta healing, a therapy that I had heard lots of good things about and wanted to have a go. The session was more expensive than I thought (£75) and I was reluctant to go ahead and book an appointment. After a short delay, I decided to take the plunge and go ahead. It was a great session and was really glad I went ahead.
It was then when I had decided to go ahead that I had a moment of clarity or understanding about the nature of money. It’s all relative!
Now, I always heard some people talk about money in various metaphors such as money is just a form of energy exchange. I understand that saying this but never really internalized it as truth.
My insight came when I was thinking about what if I didn’t have enough money to keep me going after paying for the session. Again the sense of lack arose. However, it dawned on me that the theta therapist I saw charged £75, she could easily have charged me £30 for her services. Yet, she would still have done the same thing. It is all relative. It made me realize that I too could achieve what I wanted (financially) just as easily. I could charge someone £100 for my services but then charge a friend only £50. I would still be doing the same thing and providing the same service. The £50 service would not be half as good as the full fee service. So what is different? Why would I charge one fee rather than another? Well, it all depends on what I wanted.
This idea is not about self-worth or what the market will bear but more about what you want to create in your life at any point in time. if I was a therapist, I could charge someone £100 and be happy with it, then next time £50 would be ok because that was all that I needed at that time and I would be happy with it (of course your pricing would be consistent for the clients). So, for doing the same thing, different amounts could be charged for it, but the value delivered would be the same.
I’m not sure it any of that made sense but in summary it is about money being relative and having no value in itself. I know that I can create what I want/need at any particular point in time. With this ‘knowing’ comes an inner sense of peace around the subject.
Stay on the path, life is toooo short…so live it!
By · CommentsPlease remember that life is about living and should be fun and exciting. Anytime you feel as if life is a drag, then it is a sure sign that you are not quite on the right path. Listen to your inner guidance and intuition as it will show you the way.
Here is a thought for you, thought for the day if you like.
“When you trust you will find. When you find you will discover. When you discover, you will find joy. This is life.”
Theta healing
By · CommentsTheta healing!
Since I had my collar bone operation, I’ve been stuck at home because I’ve not been able to do my job. With all the spare time I’ve had, I’ve been resting and doing lots of meditation. In fact, I don’t think I’ve meditated so much in my life before, certainly not on a continuous basis anyway.
I have also since seen a theta healing practitioner to help speed up my recover and also because I’m interested in that sort of thing. My wife first saw one and she raved on about it, so I guess I have her to thank. I the same practitioner and her name was Anna (www.bourgeon.co.uk). Prior to our session I had done lots of research about it and read plenty of websites on theta healing and what it was and how it could help. I think the gist of it was that in working with the practitioner, she connects to the divine source energy by going into the theta brainwave pattern, a trace like state perhaps not unsimilar to light hypnosis, meditation but a different frequency. When connected to this source of energy, healing can take place.
Anna was a lovely person and made me feel confortable during the session. We both sat on chairs and the session started with me talking about the reason I was there and about some things I would like to work on. Several things came up which was a relief as I wasn’t too sure what it was that I wanted to work on apart from my collar bone.
Anna started off by enterin the theta state and connecting. She then began by doing some sort of energetic body reading, I just had to sit there with eyes closed. She then started to talk and describe what she was receiving/’seeing’. To say that I was blown away is an understatement! She was spot-on! She picked something up that I had never really talked about and said that my lungs looked sort of restricted or tight, that I found it hard to breathe but or more like I was not breathing in the joy of life. When she said this, I immediately became aware of something that I had not really given much thought about. For quite a long time I have feel a restriction in my chest more in terms of not being able to take a big enough deep breath, to really fill my lungs up. I have noticed this especially when out in the countryside and trying to breathe in the fresh air deeply but not quite getting enough!
I was amazed at how she picked this up. Anna went on to tell me that this was more of an energetic blockage than a physical one. She then asked my permission to clear it and of course I said yeah! we did several processes which involved me going into myself and reflecting back on certain sensations. It reminded me very much of some techniques that I hd learned when I did my NLP training and Timeline Therapy stuff. This made sense as the lady who developed this system had a background in NLP.
Anyway, we worked on certain things and ‘cleared’ them on an energetic level. Towards the end of the session after working on a few things, she did mention that my dad was coming through! My dad passed away last year and I have been in quite a good frame of mind regarding this event. I’m talking more about having a good perspective on it and coming to terms fairly easily with the fact that he is no longer physically with me. Anyway, she mentioned that he was very proud but that this session was intended for work on me rather than communicating with him. We decided that we would explore that another time.
I cannot remember what things we worked on towards the end of the session but I did feel that my hands were tingling. At the end of the session, I felt really spaced out and floaty! The whole session was amazing and Anna gave me a few things to work on myself and encouraged me to continue meditating and connecting with my higher self to strengthen my ability to connect with my intuition.
I guess the whole session felt like a combination of NLP, Timeline therapy, hypnotherapy, reiki/energy type work, psychic all rolled into one! It was definitely more like seeing a psychic better because you are involved with the whole process. I loved the session and found it realy beneficial.
Since then, I have slowly integrated the work and I certainly feel that I can breathe more deeply and fully. It does feel like I can expand more. I have also tried to do more meditation on a daily basis even though it may only be for 5-10 minutes at a time. Would I see Anna again for another sessions? You bet I would and in fact I plan to have another session in September sometime!
Reflecting on my spiritual journey
By · CommentsLooking back at my spiritual journey over the past few years it’s been interesting for me to reflect back on the path it has actually taken. I guess it happened about 6-7 years ago when my life was going ok but I was certainly nowhere near to where I wanted to be. I had a job at the time but it was quite low paying for the profession that I was in an also for the experience that I had. I was also in a reasonable amount of debt and did not have lots of disposable income.
On reflecting back at that period, I realse that I was also quite a negative person. This was pointed out to me by my friend and work colleague at the time. Unfortunately his comments fell on deaf ears and I don’t think I really heard what he was saying at the time. In hindsight, I now understand my thoughts and languaging were negative. I was always talking about not having enough, not enough money and not enough luck. Little did I know that you can create your own reality. My friend even pointed it out when I said that he ‘was lucky in life’ as everything seemed to go perfectly for him. The reply was a very wise, “I think you make your own luck”. The importance of this comment certainly washed over me, though it remained with me.
Around that time, I had started to read, “Awaken the Giant Within” by Anthony Robbins. This was the first ’self-development’ book that I had read. I had only managed to read half-way through the book before I felt a sudden and dramatic internal shift. I think it was when I was reading about gratitude and being thankful for things in your life. This shift was very powerful and I felt like I was very present and in a state of bliss. All stress and negativity just seemed to melt away, I was walking around in life with a silly grin! This lasted for about 6 months and I had no idea what shifted or changed for me to maintain that state of being.
That was really the start of my spiritual journey and the search for self-improvement. After that I learned that the teachings of Anthony Robbins was based on NLP (neurolinguitic programming). After such a powerful effect from reading his book I readily signed up on an NLP Practitioners course. This was quite an investment but an amazing experience. Being over a few days totally immersed in learning all that stuff was incredible and I came away much more knowledgeable and very much motivated. This lasted a few weeks but I never really found that state of bliss again.
I started to explore life coaching and reading more self-development books. I ended up taking another NLP Practitioner course that integrated aspects of Huna. This sounded a lot more ’spiritual’ and really appealed. Same again, it was a great course but I never really found that state of being from it. Later on I did and completed a life coaching course and graduated. This was more of a personal interest, one where the skills could be used in my daily life.
All of these courses were great and I did learn a lot from them. However, I never really found that ingredient to get me back into that state of bliss that I entered a few years ago.
The next turning point in my ’spiritual journey’ was the movie “The Secret”. This is a hugely popular film in the self-development community and brought some concepts to the masses, namely that of the Law of Attraction. I watched the film about 3-4 years ago with my now wife. I remember afterwards that we were both blown away by the concepts presented and really took in on board. After watching it I lapped up everything to do with the Law of Attraction. This was a definite progression for me. I read lots of other books and deepened my understanding into more esoteric topics.
During my readings I came across the books by Neale Donald Walsch called ‘Conversation with God’. The teachings in these books really appealed and made a lot of sense to me. They explained the concepts of life and the cosmos and how everything works, it seemed to tie everything that I had learned together in a great theory. The more reading I did by various authors, the more that I realised they all basically had the same message. They just had slightly different ways of saying a similar thing, a bit like religion really!
My journey and interests now is more learning about the spiritual realm, soul evolution, spirit guides etc etc. I can see how my interest areas have blossomed and grown over time. With any learnings I obviously am looking to see how I can apply them to my own life to improve and develop.
In hindsight, I can see how I’ve been searching over the years to get back into that state of bliss that I had found many years ago. I now realise that it is not external to me but within me to get into that state. Approaches like NLP, coaching, meditation etc are just ‘technologies’ to help facilitate you into getting in a particular state of Being.
Post-op
By · CommentsWell, I’ve had my operation on my collar bone and will be in a sling for a few weeks to allow everything to heal. Things are improving and the soreness definitely improving. I’m just looking forwards now to being able to get it moving and getting back into action.
Operation
By · CommentsWell, my broken collar bone is a few days old now and I’ve been seeing an orthopaedic consultant who has sais that I need it fixed. This means that they will fix the broken bits together on a metal plate! As I type this with one hand, I’m not surprised by the outcome and am thankful that things re going to get done pretty quickly. In fact the operation will be on monday! I will be out of action for a good few weeks after that.
On a personal development note, I’ve purchased an online audio course on developing one’s intuition. It’s called the, “Silva Intuition Program” and I’ve downloaded it and will start working through the course soon. I will post here my progress.
Broken collar bone! Arghhh!
By · CommentsWell, yesterday I entered a mountain bike orienteering event in Hampshire and was doing very well (for my second event!). Unfortuntately, towards my final check point I was going downhill on an off-road section and lost control of my frnot wheel which hit a divut. Having done this, my bike came to quite an abrupt stop and I went right over the bars and whacked my head and right shoulder on to the bank.
A crunch followed by a daze followed and behold I had broken my collar bone! Fortunately, so kind participants stopped to help me (one happened to be a GP!). A few hours in A&E and I was sent home in a sling with some painkillers. I expect to be out of action in term of mountain biking for a couple of month then I hope to resume some more events! My helmet had a dent and crack in it and it certainly saved me! The lesson? Wear a helmet and be safe!!!
Wordpress or Zencart eCommerce
By · CommentsRight now I’m in the process of planning my next and final ecommerce website for this year! I know what I will be selling and have some suppliers. I just need to decide on the actual ecommerce platform.
For all of my previous stores, I’ve used zencart. It’s something I’m quite familar with since I’ve used it with a few stores and know it works. However, I’ve recently been getting into using wordpress to develop websites. There are a few ok looking plugins for wordpress to give it some ecommerce functionality. However, it is first and foremost a blogging platform.
I’m only considering using wordpress because I think it is a great piece of software and generally think it looks great in terms of presentation. The ecommerce plugins are quite lightweight when compared with a specialist cart like zencart but I’m very much tempted to try wordpress out.
My dilemma is that I do not want to spend weeks developing the wordpress store only to find that it cannot do something that I need it to or that it doesn’t really work that well! As I write this I’m starting to think that I should perhaps play safe ad use zencart! Hmmm, the choices!
With regards to the wordpress ecommerce plugins, I’m looking at Shopp and wp-ecommerce. I will chew on it a bit more and then decide I think. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning on zencart again. But there is the other side of me who would love to try something different. I’ll post back here when I have decided.