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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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Finding one’s centre is easy – and essential

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Finding one’s centreFinding one’s centre – to be at home with oneself – is the basis of a happy and fulfilled life. There is nowhere we have to go physically in order to find it. We are rarely in the wrong place; it is the mind, or rather our awareness, that is focused elsewhere. The wonderful Thich Nhat Hanh once said that there is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path. Once we find our centre, everything else naturally falls into place.

Coming back home

What does finding one’s centre mean in everyday life? We might hear someone say, “I need to find myself,” when what they really mean is that they are not happy and feel something has to change. When we feel like that, it is because our attention and awareness have become fragmented, resulting in feelings of fatigue and a general sense of dissatisfaction. Our energy, if not our essence itself, is scattered and depleted. On the outside, we may look much the same but, like a cracked vase, we can hold very little.

Go with the season

The winter is a particularly good time to do something about it because nature also tends to move inwards. Even the qi of the body is said to gravitate towards the bones in the colder months, as though consolidating and strengthening us before extending outwards in the spring. Going with the season’s flow of energy, it can be easier to allow the attention to settle so that we are more “at home” with ourselves.

The trouble with moths

Our sense of wellbeing depends on our mind and energy. These are influenced greatly by our environment, of course. The human being is not a closed system and we are not immune from modern life, which has little respect for our natural biorhythms, persistently clamouring to distract us. So many of us are drawn out of ourselves and into the world of electronic screens and the media, like moths fluttering around a light or a flame. Craving for the unreachable never ends well.

Time to stop

Inevitably, sometimes it all becomes too much. When it does, we need to take our attention off the busy world for a while. It won’t fall apart without us, so just stop. This is the crucial first step to being centred. Stop and breathe. It sounds simple, and it is. Enjoy the rhythm of the breath, feeling the belly rise and fall. Standing, sitting or lying down, enjoy just being as you are, where you are. To paraphrase Thich Nhat Hanh, there is nowhere you need to go because you have already arrived. This is being centred.

The Art of Not Doing – How to Achieve Inner Peace and a Clear Mind

I wish you a very happy, healthy and fulfilled 2022!

Andrew

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Looking for light is vital for our future

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looking for lightIs there light in a cup of tea, a blade of grass or a butterfly? There is, of course, and it is in everything if we choose to look, even in what we regard as unpleasant. Looking for light, particularly when it seems to be absent, can be very therapeutic. Nature tends to draw us out of darkness. Evolution is concerned with just that – the process of enlightenment.

Everything vibrates, and what we describe as light simply has a faster rate of vibration than darkness. Someone once said that all on our planet, and indeed the planet itself, is solidified sunlight. Between light and dark is where we may think we find ourselves now, in innumerable shades of grey – but, if we look, there is also an incredible spectrum of colour.

Recognising light

Looking for light has to do with recognition. In the human being, light is akin to our higher nature – our better, finer qualities. How we perceive the world around us, from our immediate environment to all that we see or hear, depends on our inner state. If our heart is heavy, everything we see or hear seems miserable, but if we see the good in the world and in other people, a magical change occurs.

Our world may seem to have been turned upside down but there appears to be a shift in the way many people are starting to think. Instead of a desire simply to return to life as it was, there is evidence of a growing desire for change, for goodness to emerge.

Increasing our inner light

Our own inner light, which has its source in our spirit or soul, is always ready to grow. We just need to give it some encouragement. When the world seems a little dark, which it can at times, recognising the inherent goodness in people and in things is vital for our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. As we all contribute to the collective consciousness of humanity, that’s good not just for us but for the whole planet.

Awakening Heart – The Blissful Path to Self Realisation

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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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Clarity: why it’s a vital antidote to this mad world

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Clarity? In this crazy world of ours that seems rather remote, doesn’t it? Yet the parlous state of affairs we humans find ourselves in is down to one thing: our collective consciousness.

Loss of clarity is down to inner pollution

The natural quality of consciousness is pure but, like water or air, it can easily become polluted. Everything we think, say or do arises from it and contributes to the collective pool of humanity. As individuals, we cannot change the world, perhaps, but we can take care of our own consciousness. If life seems a bit of a jumble at times, it’s because we have a muddled state of mind. So what can we do?

Fulfilment and peace come through clarity

We have to restore clarity. Once we take a step in that direction, our lives immediately start to become a little more orderly and more pleasant. Well begun is half done, as the saying goes. A peaceful and clearer mind then actually becomes quite an attractive proposition. We find we don’t need to keep looking for things to do.

Stop looking

Constantly needing to be occupied is just habit. In fact, it is far better to identify what we don’t need to do. Doing less actually often does accomplish more. Seeking recognition or approval in any form is pointless. Yet so much energy is wasted on posting mundane activity on social media and wanting to be liked. It all just adds to the clutter, as do all those inspiring quotes and negative political messages. Let’s just enjoy some clarity instead. That will certainly help us, and it may go towards helping the world.

From the book The Art of Not Doing

Free guided meditations

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