I play golf. Correction, I play golf badly. In fact, I played so badly the other day I came home and told my wife that I was seeing someone else for the four hours.
It doesn't matter to me because I'm just so happy to be out there swingin' the clubs. I'm the village idiot of my own town. It's great. Of course (no pun intended), the great thing about playing badly is that there is always room for improvement. And I don't mean small, tweaky improvements, I'm talking LEAPS. Perhaps that's why I'm so excited.
Anyhow, while I was out swinging at the turf, I realised something. It was while I was going through a purple patch. I noticed that, while my slight better golfing partner went off looking for his wayward shot, I kept the head down, addressed the ball correctly and hit the ball straight and true. For a while, everything came together and I enjoyed the game more than usual. Now, I wasn't suddenly some Tiger Woods player but I was relaxed and let the clubs do the work (as any professional teacher will tell you you should).
It got me thinking about my business, even my life. I play the same game as hundreds of thousands, home based business owner. I play the same course as thousands, sales. I play the same type of course as many, personal development. I'm even a member of a club.
For a long time, I watched the top players in the club and tried to emulate them and that was a mistake on my part. What I should have been trying to emulate was the simple system that is being used by them and be true to my own self. You see, marketing gurus are not duplicable but systems are. I can't outdrive John Daly but I can learn to emulate his swing. And would I like to get lessons from John Daly? No, I'd like to get lessons from the person who taught John Daly!
The information is the key, not the person, and my business has benefitted greatly from the training and support given by the top income earners in the company that I work with. They're brilliant. So free with their time and knowledge. It took me a while to get used to it. It also took me a while to discover that I had been trying to match up to people instead of playing my own game. Once I figured that out though, guess what? That's right, I'm keeping my head down, addressing the ball correctly...
Here's an interesting article I came across while writing this http://cac.ophony.org/2008/06/11/drive-for-show-putt-for-dough-its-the-small-stuff-that-matters/
Addendum: Playing the same course consistantly and getting great scores there does not make me a great golfer. Knowing my clubs and perfecting my swing does so that I can play any course well.
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The Children of Genesis
An English comedian named Jimmy Carr, famous for his one liners, posed the question "If we're all God's children, what's so special about Jesus?" At first I laughed. It's a good question though and it got me thinking. There is no doubt that he was an amazing person, however, he was not unique. In fact, the story of his life mirrors many 'non-Christian Saviours' and his teachings are much the same as any of the major deities of mainstream religions. He was, after all, Jewish and brought up in that tradition. The Christian Bible Old Testament is pretty much the same as the Torah. Now let me make it clear at this point, this is not a religious post, it is merely me writing about some pieces of a puzzle that fell in to place for me that help me live such a wonderful life. I'm not looking for consensus, I'm not looking to be disrespectful and I certainly know that I will be wiser for your comments at the end for which I am truly grateful.
In my last post I used the metaphor of car and driver for our bodies and souls, our Self. When the car no longer worked, we could get out but is the nature of the driver? Well, as I said in the previous post, what possibly makes us uniquely us as individuals is not our bodies or our jobs but our high faculties, our thoughts and reasoning, the way we see the world and our conscious minds. These things are intangible. Like the wind blowing leaves in autumn (the fall) we see the effects but not the wind. The Empire State building existed as a thought before it ever existed in this plane. The computer existed as a concept before it materialised, so wow, our minds are the link between a non-linear world to the linear. Through the power fo thought, we can bring things through that veil that separates the two worlds into manifestation. What an extra-ordinary ability we have. So what's out there? Where are our thoughts coming from?
The Swiss psychologist Carl Gustave Jung called it 'the collective unconscious'. It goes like this; Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the personal unconscious, in that the personal unconscious is a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual, while the collective unconscious collects and organizes those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species. So when you think it, you've pulled it from this great bank of knowledge that is 'out there' and also put it back in for someone else to think. The proof is simple, people having the same thought simultaneously in different parts of the world. So here's the biggie, the Empire State building existed before it was even thought of. You see, time is linear and we see cause and effect whereas thinkingness and thought are not, they just are. This has taught me humility, to not claim things as my own, even my thoughts. That is the pay-off of the ego. It has taught me not to be boastful or prideful. I'm just passin' thru baby. Conversely, it means that, at my disposal, is a fathomless bank of knowledge to fill the empty and willing mind that comes through meditation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45LuPQUUEAI
So here's the big release for me, what you are reading here are not my thoughts, I am just the conduit through which this message comes. In this equation, I am the variable! This information existed before and after me. You wouldn't hug a telephone because you heard great news through it, right? Well maybe some of you would and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. lol So back to the cars to make this metaphor work again - the collective unconscious are the radio waves travelling through the air, unseen. The radio in your car (your mind/the self) hears whatever station you are tuned in to and it is processed by the Self but relayed through the self. What does this mean?
Well I don't know much about mechanics so if someone told me to spread the word on how to fix an intricate part of car, say the electronics and fuse board, and I had to relay that to the general public, how do you think it would sound coming through me rather than a mechanic. I'd have to try and make sense of it, right? Then relay it. Oh dear. Hopefully there are other mechanics in the audience who can comprehend what I'm trying to say as I try to deliver this message.
Since then, we have evolved. I'm not the same person as I was in fourth grade, I am not even the same person I was five minutes ago, and we as humans have evolved to a greater capacity of understanding than we did two thousand years ago. We are in a great position now, as evolved beings, to take a fresh look at the scriptures, all scriptures and see what was said, with new comprehension. My freedom and joy comes from loving everything because everything is a reflection of God. I love the truth and simplicity of the Message, no matter who it came through because the Message has always been the same. I love you even if you don't like me because you are a part me. We are Creation experiencing itself. And love, by the way, is not the Hallmark/Hollywood branded comodity to be given and taken away, it is a state of being.
So you have the choice to tune the radio in your car to a specific frequency. Let the message on that station allow you to be the best person that you can be. Let it be a message of empowerment, of success, of beauty, of peace and of love. Philippians 4:8 (NIV) ~ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
May your God go with you. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness - Dr. David Hawkins
In my last post I used the metaphor of car and driver for our bodies and souls, our Self. When the car no longer worked, we could get out but is the nature of the driver? Well, as I said in the previous post, what possibly makes us uniquely us as individuals is not our bodies or our jobs but our high faculties, our thoughts and reasoning, the way we see the world and our conscious minds. These things are intangible. Like the wind blowing leaves in autumn (the fall) we see the effects but not the wind. The Empire State building existed as a thought before it ever existed in this plane. The computer existed as a concept before it materialised, so wow, our minds are the link between a non-linear world to the linear. Through the power fo thought, we can bring things through that veil that separates the two worlds into manifestation. What an extra-ordinary ability we have. So what's out there? Where are our thoughts coming from?
The Swiss psychologist Carl Gustave Jung called it 'the collective unconscious'. It goes like this; Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the personal unconscious, in that the personal unconscious is a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual, while the collective unconscious collects and organizes those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species. So when you think it, you've pulled it from this great bank of knowledge that is 'out there' and also put it back in for someone else to think. The proof is simple, people having the same thought simultaneously in different parts of the world. So here's the biggie, the Empire State building existed before it was even thought of. You see, time is linear and we see cause and effect whereas thinkingness and thought are not, they just are. This has taught me humility, to not claim things as my own, even my thoughts. That is the pay-off of the ego. It has taught me not to be boastful or prideful. I'm just passin' thru baby. Conversely, it means that, at my disposal, is a fathomless bank of knowledge to fill the empty and willing mind that comes through meditation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45LuPQUUEAI
So here's the big release for me, what you are reading here are not my thoughts, I am just the conduit through which this message comes. In this equation, I am the variable! This information existed before and after me. You wouldn't hug a telephone because you heard great news through it, right? Well maybe some of you would and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. lol So back to the cars to make this metaphor work again - the collective unconscious are the radio waves travelling through the air, unseen. The radio in your car (your mind/the self) hears whatever station you are tuned in to and it is processed by the Self but relayed through the self. What does this mean?
Well I don't know much about mechanics so if someone told me to spread the word on how to fix an intricate part of car, say the electronics and fuse board, and I had to relay that to the general public, how do you think it would sound coming through me rather than a mechanic. I'd have to try and make sense of it, right? Then relay it. Oh dear. Hopefully there are other mechanics in the audience who can comprehend what I'm trying to say as I try to deliver this message.
So back to the title of the post. I am a Christian and this is what fell in to place for me. The first book of the Bible is the book of Genesis: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. To this person, it seems we existed as a though first, without form, and we were brought in to existence by a God, 'maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen (linear) and unseen (non-linear)' (from the Credo). So now I see the nature of our immortality - our being is a reflection of God and God is Creation. All Creation and Evolution is God because God created it which makes us 'children' of God/Creation and each one of us is connected because we are part of Creation. We are connected through everything that IS, the flowers, the wall, the building, the animals.
I also see now how Jesus can be depicted in any ethnicity because Jesus was not his body either, he was/is one of the great Avatars on this plain, along with the Buddha, the prophet Muhammud, may his name always be praised. They were not the Message, the Message came through them. They were the beings so highly evolved on a conscious level to be able to relay the Word to us in its purity and simplicity.Since then, we have evolved. I'm not the same person as I was in fourth grade, I am not even the same person I was five minutes ago, and we as humans have evolved to a greater capacity of understanding than we did two thousand years ago. We are in a great position now, as evolved beings, to take a fresh look at the scriptures, all scriptures and see what was said, with new comprehension. My freedom and joy comes from loving everything because everything is a reflection of God. I love the truth and simplicity of the Message, no matter who it came through because the Message has always been the same. I love you even if you don't like me because you are a part me. We are Creation experiencing itself. And love, by the way, is not the Hallmark/Hollywood branded comodity to be given and taken away, it is a state of being.
So you have the choice to tune the radio in your car to a specific frequency. Let the message on that station allow you to be the best person that you can be. Let it be a message of empowerment, of success, of beauty, of peace and of love. Philippians 4:8 (NIV) ~ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
May your God go with you. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness - Dr. David Hawkins
My Body, The Car
Here's something that has been knocking around my head for a while. It started after I read the book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. It is an amazing book that has changed the way I see life, creation and Divinity. It is a concept of self-awareness that has changed the way I live my life.
I'm also writing this because I was speaking with a friend last night and she mentioned, just out of the blue and quite casually, that her 18 year-old daughter is in intensive care after ingesting 400 paracetamol. He daughter is bi-polar and she had been living with it for a while and she was told that the best thing she could do was 'be normal'. She is doing a great job. Her daughter is highly intelligent, being able to read and write at age two and reading a book in Japanese, cover to cover and understanding it. It turns out that she can read and write Japanese. She never did Japanese before. The daughter has also had her trials and tribulations having lost a grandfather, a step grandfather and, most recently, her father in the last 18 months. What came across most, though, as her mother spoke, was the feeling of dis-association that the daughter had with herself as if she was an independent observer in her own life.
So who are we? How do we define ourselves? Well usually, it's by our job. "Hi, I'm Howard I'm a production manager in a graphic design company", "Hi my name is Kevin Martineau, am the Pastor at Port Hardy Baptist Church on Northern Vancouver Island." It seems the most natural thing in the world. So what happens if we are to lose that role? We always have our person to fall back on, right?
In his book mentioned above, Dr. David Hawkins puts forth that our bodies are not "us" any more than a jug is the water that it holds. What defines us as who we are as individuals are the thoughts that we think driven by our identity, our 'soul' for the want of a better word. I would liken our bodies to cars and our souls to drivers. So let's take a closer look at this analogy and just for the purpose of this post, let's take the above to be true.
Our bodies are like cars, once we become aware that we are in them we can animate them. They have working parts and if we look after them, we'll get good mileage out of them. Yet a car doesn't think for itself, it needs us to direct it and we use it to get where we would like to go. In this analogy our bodies require our Self (as opposed to the self) to drive/operate the body. And here's a remarkable and simple concept, like drivers of a car we can choose where we want to go with our bodies, literally and figuratively. We now have the means to take ourselves wherever we would like to go. How much fun is that?
And like cars, bodies come in different shapes and sizes. Some built for speed, some for comfort and some for distance. So who's to say that the driver of a Bentley is better than the driver of Ford? Look in to the windscreen (the eyes) and see the person within, see the driver not the car. As for the maintenance manual? There are many to choose from; the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings of the Buddah would be the main ones. I am sure this is part of my attraction to Personal Development, it is the self-awareness and empowerment that it is me and my will who is driving this body, my choices and yet, paradoxical as it may seem, nothing happens except through the Grace of God. I don't even need a road map, just a clear decision on where I would like to end up. If I make that choice and act with certainty, the Universe will move to assist, my faith can move mountains. Of course, nothing happens without taking the appropriate action. A car won't start unless you turn on the ignition, it wont move unless you push the accelerator (or 'the gas').
So here's an opportunity to delve deep and see who your driver is, who is your Self whose will is governing your actions. As Yoda says in The Empire Strike Back, " Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." As I see it, when this person's car has run its course, the entity in the body you call Howard Michael Hughes will get out. Then the next adventure begins! I will be free to travel without the limitations of the physical.
There are corollaries to this notion that I'll post in my next piece. As always, I will get more enjoyment from seeing your comments and views that I have in writing this. I'm glad I shared though. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBTRLp9JOIo&feature=related
Adendum: On the night of Tuesday 10th August, my friend's daughter passed away. The body couldn't be fixed and the driver had to leave. My belief is that she is happier now that she could ever be on this plane and that she is with the other immortals that have left this world. Her mother asked for no sadness as her daughter had been struggling with the dis-ease for some time. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
I'm also writing this because I was speaking with a friend last night and she mentioned, just out of the blue and quite casually, that her 18 year-old daughter is in intensive care after ingesting 400 paracetamol. He daughter is bi-polar and she had been living with it for a while and she was told that the best thing she could do was 'be normal'. She is doing a great job. Her daughter is highly intelligent, being able to read and write at age two and reading a book in Japanese, cover to cover and understanding it. It turns out that she can read and write Japanese. She never did Japanese before. The daughter has also had her trials and tribulations having lost a grandfather, a step grandfather and, most recently, her father in the last 18 months. What came across most, though, as her mother spoke, was the feeling of dis-association that the daughter had with herself as if she was an independent observer in her own life.
So who are we? How do we define ourselves? Well usually, it's by our job. "Hi, I'm Howard I'm a production manager in a graphic design company", "Hi my name is Kevin Martineau, am the Pastor at Port Hardy Baptist Church on Northern Vancouver Island." It seems the most natural thing in the world. So what happens if we are to lose that role? We always have our person to fall back on, right?
In his book mentioned above, Dr. David Hawkins puts forth that our bodies are not "us" any more than a jug is the water that it holds. What defines us as who we are as individuals are the thoughts that we think driven by our identity, our 'soul' for the want of a better word. I would liken our bodies to cars and our souls to drivers. So let's take a closer look at this analogy and just for the purpose of this post, let's take the above to be true.
Our bodies are like cars, once we become aware that we are in them we can animate them. They have working parts and if we look after them, we'll get good mileage out of them. Yet a car doesn't think for itself, it needs us to direct it and we use it to get where we would like to go. In this analogy our bodies require our Self (as opposed to the self) to drive/operate the body. And here's a remarkable and simple concept, like drivers of a car we can choose where we want to go with our bodies, literally and figuratively. We now have the means to take ourselves wherever we would like to go. How much fun is that?
And like cars, bodies come in different shapes and sizes. Some built for speed, some for comfort and some for distance. So who's to say that the driver of a Bentley is better than the driver of Ford? Look in to the windscreen (the eyes) and see the person within, see the driver not the car. As for the maintenance manual? There are many to choose from; the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings of the Buddah would be the main ones. I am sure this is part of my attraction to Personal Development, it is the self-awareness and empowerment that it is me and my will who is driving this body, my choices and yet, paradoxical as it may seem, nothing happens except through the Grace of God. I don't even need a road map, just a clear decision on where I would like to end up. If I make that choice and act with certainty, the Universe will move to assist, my faith can move mountains. Of course, nothing happens without taking the appropriate action. A car won't start unless you turn on the ignition, it wont move unless you push the accelerator (or 'the gas').
So here's an opportunity to delve deep and see who your driver is, who is your Self whose will is governing your actions. As Yoda says in The Empire Strike Back, " Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." As I see it, when this person's car has run its course, the entity in the body you call Howard Michael Hughes will get out. Then the next adventure begins! I will be free to travel without the limitations of the physical.
There are corollaries to this notion that I'll post in my next piece. As always, I will get more enjoyment from seeing your comments and views that I have in writing this. I'm glad I shared though. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBTRLp9JOIo&feature=related
Adendum: On the night of Tuesday 10th August, my friend's daughter passed away. The body couldn't be fixed and the driver had to leave. My belief is that she is happier now that she could ever be on this plane and that she is with the other immortals that have left this world. Her mother asked for no sadness as her daughter had been struggling with the dis-ease for some time. Gloria in excelcis Deo.
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