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Faith in yourself is as easy as letting go

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Faith in yourself is an essential ingredient for creating a happy and fulfilled life. It harnesses energy by the bucketload and has the potential to make enormous changes – or none. True faith doesn’t come from anxiously repeating affirmations until the brain gives in but is a mental state embracing the elements of complete trust, relaxation and poise. Intuitively, deep in our bones, we know everything is working out as it should and that nothing can threaten us. We just have to learn to let go.

Faith, waves and the art of eliminating the little me

The biggest threat that we have is not from some outside source but from the belief in something fake – the “little me”. This little me does not ultimately exist but we think and act as though it does. We cling to individuality, yet it is as impermanent as an ice sculpture. Everything in the universe is a play of energy and everything is connected to everything else. We are all part of that play, and it should be fun.

Let’s stop creating disasters

The disasters that humankind keeps propelling itself into come from denying that interconnectedness. Whether as individuals, a group, a sect, or even a nation or culture, our problems come from belief in a permanent individual self. That self will seek out anything that reinforces its delusional independent existence. It is madness and is as ludicrous as a wave on the ocean believing it is a wave, wanting to be bigger and better than all the other waves, when really it – and everything else – is simply water.

The strength of holding onto nothing

Faith is knowing that we are more than that wave. Each of us is a manifestation of, and part and parcel of, the universe. Our true nature is unbounded in every sense but we are so often tricked by the form in the mirror, by our fears, feelings and beliefs. Having faith in ourselves is knowing that all those things are like appearances in a dream. We can continue to hold onto them and perpetuate the dream, or we can safely let go because there is ultimately nothing to cling onto. That’s a very liberating faith.

Thank you to those who occasionally get in touch or comment. It’s always good to hear from you!

Awakening Heart: ebook and paperback

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  3. Simplicity – the root cure for all problems?
  4. Looking for light is vital for our future

Losing those we love, and the search for constancy

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We all lose friends and loved ones, at various times during the course of our lives. When separation happens, life can be painful. In that moment, a familiar feature of the landscape of our life disappears and nothing seems the same anymore. Like a drawing in wet sand that gradually fades with the ebb and flow of the waves that pass over it, what was real to us is no longer there.

It is not just emotional pain, either – the fine and rather subtle energetic connection that existed between us is rent, like a broken cobweb. That has to heal.

Constancy versus change

Most of us resist change. There is a deep aspect of our psyche that craves constancy. A bit of excitement is okay, but on our own terms, please. We could say that constancy is more Yin in nature and change is more Yang. When our Yin side is strong, we enjoy a stronger connection to life and are more able to cope with change.

Life is a play of these apparent opposites; one cannot be without the other. When we are emotionally attached to someone, to something or to some ideal, the constancy in that relationship satisfies the Yin aspect. It provides an anchor or root. When that is removed, our balance is gone and we become very wobbly. We will miss the joy and stimulation of that friendship, too – the Yang side – which is why so often we can feel numb.

Restore your connection

We are very complex creatures with many layers of energy, mind and emotions. When we suffer loss, it is very easy to lose our perspective on life. The computer of the mind goes a bit haywire. That is why it is important that we push the “safe restore” button. Stand or sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor or ground. Let your body reconnect with the Earth and your mind with the Universe. Keep the head up but let the shoulders relax. Don’t do anything else or look for anything to do. Let the breath look after itself. Stay for a while…

Book now for our next meditation and energy workshop in Staffordshire, which is coming up soon. More details.

Do less to accomplish more? The Art of Not Doing: How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind is still available.

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  4. Stop the world? You can’t, but you can stop yourself

Habits – when and how to manage them

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Forming habits, now there’s a thing. Someone told me once that it takes three weeks to form or break a habit. I’m not sure where that came from or whether there is any evidence to support it. Nevertheless, the turn of each new year has features editors of newspapers and magazines publishing articles on the new habits we urgently need to acquire or lose. Is that a habit of theirs they could safely shed, I wonder?

Habits don’t like awareness

We all know that new year resolutions generally fail before the end of January. Except the one not to make any, which I find works well and lasts all year! Old habits die hard, so the adage runs, and in any event it would be silly to suggest that we should have no habits all. Many are very useful, like washing our hands after we have been to the bathroom. If only everyone did. The problem comes when our repetitive thinking and behaviour (which is what habits are) have a negative impact on ourselves and on others. Then there is something we can, and should, do.

Just observe and break the chain

The key to change for the better is not self-flagellation, dieting, running up mountains or taking ice baths, interesting and challenging though such activities may be. Rather it is to become aware of what we are doing and why we are doing it. Simple awareness can work wonders because it is the portal for our innate intelligence. Try it sometimes; better still, often. Before doing anything, pause and observe. Break the chain of one automatic response after another. Starve the habit of oxygen. Those few moments of comparative silence allow something rather good to happen. What it is, though, you must discover for yourself.

Do less to accomplish more – read my book The Art of Not Doing – How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind

Free guided meditations

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Thinking too much? Why it can make you ill

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Thinking too much
“Hmm… I should have thought of that.”

Thinking is a good thing, of course. If we didn’t think, we would get nothing done. There would never be any brilliant new ideas and there would be no education. Life would be a series of responses to basic needs and not much else. The ability to assess, calculate and learn is a staggering faculty that we take for granted. It is one of many aspects of a miraculous state called consciousness, though certainly not the only one. Thinking intelligently is a great gift, but most of us – and I most certainly include myself in this – suffer from unintelligent thinking. It is this that has the potential to make us ill.

Thinking without thinking

More than ever, there is a pressure in society to have an opinion on just about anything at all. It is so important, that corporations spend billions of pounds every year on ensuring that we do. Addiction to social media guarantees that at any given moment millions of people are expressing their opinions on this that or the other. Click Like if you agree. (No, please don’t – that was a joke.) The end result is that our minds are constantly active on things that don’t really matter. So how can this affect our health?

Too much focus can easily create tension

Energy flow

For good health, we need vitality. For that, our energy needs to flow easily through the body. When the flow of energy is blocked or restricted for any length of time, discomfort can build up, eventually leading to illness. We know if we are too sedentary or eat unwisely, there can be a negative impact on the body. But probably we don’t consider the effects on the body of our thinking.

Awareness, not thinking

The fact is that all our mental responses affect our energy circulation in some way. In short, too much thinking creates tension that interrupts the free flow of energy. Yet the nature of consciousness is not to be in a constant state of activity – it is to be aware. It really does pay to stop sometimes. Stop thinking and just be aware. It’s a treat for the body and a boon for the mind. Oddly, it’s great for our health, too.

How we can reduce unnecessary thinking is explored in my third book The Art of Not Doing. Available in print and on Kindle.

Related posts:

  1. Clarity: why it’s a vital antidote to this mad world
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  3. Mortality: why our own impermanence is such a wonderful gift
  4. Time: why keeping an eye on the clock shortens your life

Simplicity – the root cure for all problems?

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Simplicity-mindSimplicity is a wonderful word, I think. It has a ring of freedom about it. Deep down, I suspect that we all have a secret yearning for simplicity in life, to some degree at least. The basis for how we experience life is consciousness – the sum total of our thoughts, sense impressions, beliefs, memory and, particularly, the capacity to observe. It is this last that we tend to forget, yet it is simplicity itself. Being free from judgment, it is also the key to the higher aspects of our minds and to inner peace.

Simplicity of living or of thinking?

There is a wonderful saying in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism: “May you be filled with comfort and ease.” This has nothing to do with living a comfortable or luxurious life but with having a perfect state of mind. It is the direct experience, the realisation, of simplicity within ourselves. When we have that, it doesn’t matter what our job or responsibilities are because everything is crystal clear. Nothing can faze us and whatever we do or say will be correct because it arises from pure mind.

Gradually, softly is the way

That perfect simplicity is not somewhere else. It is already present. You and I are simplicity now but it is difficult to see that because we all suffer from mental fog. Just as it would be extremely foolish to drive fast along a foggy road, so our progress towards finding inner clarity also needs to be gradual. Soft, not grasping. There is a great deal wrong in our human world but real change for good depends on collective consciousness. That can only happen if we as individuals change, moving towards our own inner simplicity. Then the outer changes will come.

More on simplicity can be found in The Art of Not Doing – How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind

Our next evening workshop, Managing Life, is on Monday 10th June 2019.

Related posts:

  1. Clarity: why it’s a vital antidote to this mad world
  2. Habits – when and how to manage them
  3. Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life
  4. Stop the world? You can’t, but you can stop yourself