SENTIMENT

Sentiment is one of those very human warm-and-runnies

That comfortingly reassure us that, somewhere under our phony facade,

We have a kinder side.

But sentiment is a Clayton's emotion.
Sentimentalists are an emotional pushover,
Sentiment is for suckers......

It has no place in Nature.

Anything that no longer serves us,

Including sentiment,

Must be ruthlessly discarded.

That is the process of evolution

And transformation.

Don't worry, 

Without sentiment you won't become an impersonal humanoid,

You will acquire an emotional backbone
And become all things, all varieties, all kinds - omnifarious.

Sentiment will rebirth

As natural, genuine, effective Kindness

And single-hearted Compassion.

FROM TOOL TO TRAPDOOR

Tools have a use-by limitation.

For example --

Goal-setting gets us moving out of a state of lethargy,
But, in a heightened state of activity,
That busy-ness may limit the natural flow of abundance..........

Religion awakens an awareness of our spirituality,
But will eventually limit our access to God.

Tools become trapdoors
When we fail to appreciate the context
In which they were useful,
And we fail to notice when times have changed.

A caterpillar that will not give up the whole of its caterpillar-ness
Will never get to be a butterfly.

PERIPHERAL VISION

There's a lot going on around us that we never see because
We get so focussed in and narrowed-down
On our stuff!
We forget to check our peripheral vision --
A 165-degree lateral and 75-degree vertical panorama
Of unseen wonders
That are available at any time
Without even having to turn our head.

We were born (most of us) seeing everything at once,
Then we learned how to focus on details.
Later, we began editing, shutting out and de-focusing
As we homed in on what we classified as "important".
We got into an unfortunate habit of blinkering out the existence of
The bigger picture.

This degeneration can be reversed quite simply and easily
With just a little perseverance.........

As often as you remember,
Take a quick check of what's going on in the corners of your eyes;
Flick-scan around the edges.
You don't have to turn your head or shift your major focus
(Unless you find something there that piques your continuing interest).
Without moving your eyeballs,
Just flick your awareness briefly around
And check your "side mirrors";
Become aware again of the wider world
Within which your comedies and dramas are unfolding.
You'll be often  amazed at what you discover
When you stop Looking
And allow yourself to See.

Try it now --
Look at this screen,
Really LOOK at it for 20 seconds.
Now mentally lean back and, without moving your eyes or head,
Allow yourself to see all that is in your whole field of vision.
Feel the difference?
Which is easier --
Concentrated Looking, or Open Seeing?
Click backwards and forwards;
Get used to consciously shifting the scope of your awareness.
Both looking and seeing have their unique contributions to make.

When you're comfortable with shifting your visual scope,
Experiment similarly with with your Listening and Hearing.
Then later, play with your senses of smell and touch.
You'll discover just how much you've been out-of-touch!

I have found
When you practice this simple discipline,
All manner of abilities and faculties will return for you --
You'll become more aware,
Safer in traffic,
More considerate in crowds,
Less likely to be caught off the hop,
More intuitive
And open to messages that come via less traditional means.

You''ll also re-awaken your engagement with the Third Dimension ==
Depth.

You can have 20/20 eyesight (albeit with glasses)
And remain blinkered and blind.
You can have 20/20 hearing
And be deaf to the world.

How sad, when all that's required
Is to reverse a limiting habit.

SWEARING

As a tool of last resort.......

Thank God for foul language:

Sometimes its the only way of getting through to some thicksters,
And of saying exactly what I feel!
I feel utterly gratified,
And it's so f***ing effective!!

Compulsively P.C., polite ponces don't know what they're missing out on.

TOOLS OF LAST RESORT

In negotiating --
The only problem I have with tools of last resort,
Is that I'm tempted to use them first......
Especially with teenagers
And old crones with attitude.

OUT OF CONTEXT

A claw hammer --
Very handy thing to have if you're building a house,
But not of much use in brain surgery.
Similarly, a bazooka is an extremely effective firearm,
Unless you're hunting a rabbit for food........

Context determines appropriateness.

HOW "I" SEES IT.....

I find it much easier to handle Uncertainty when I see it instead as Possibility;
Fear, when I can see it as Excitement and an Anticipation of Adventure;
Boredom, when I look at it as Anger that I don't think I have a right to;
Anger, when I experience it as a Passion for something valuable;
Distrust, when I choose to see it as Carefulness;
Stupidity, when I take away the criticism and see it as Innocence.
Emptiness, when I can see it as a disguise for Unlimited Possibility;

It's the critical labels and judgments we pin onto what's going on
That affect the way we see it.
How we choose to see what's happening
Presents the  problems we might have in engaging creatively with it.

The pin-ons are often more a matter of habit than of fact.
We have to step in consciously at some point
And choose to look at it from a different point of view --
Not because the new way is necessarily "right",
But just to get free of an old habit
That's no longer working for us --
If it ever did.

When we change the way we see,
We change what we see,
And that changes everything.

BEING IN THE FLOW

In the daily churn of living
I'm constantly being grabbed by a "sane" need
To get a handle on what's going on,
To grab a hold of something stationary,
To get my bearings,
To find my feet.


These urges feel like remnants of old needs to understand,
Control the hurtle,
And have it my way.


Meanwhile, the tide races on,
And I get swept off-balance once again,
Pitching head-first into the swirl.


I have to keep on re-minding myself
That life is in the water,
That the journey is in the Flow.
The rocks promise a refuge,
But if we tarry too long 
We get caught-up
And stuck

THIS MOMENT

Thanks for being here now.
It's just you and me, kid.
Here's looking at you!

MY ASSUMPTIONS

Thank you for almost always being wrong.
You remind me
I know bugger-all about most things
And a helluva lot about nothing.
That reminder puts my ego in his place --
The back-office mailroom.

THE FUTURE

You are a lot less scary when I realise that you're just a figment of my imagination.
If you ever change your mind and become The Present.,
We'll get together.

TO CONTRADICTIONS, PARADOXES AND MYSTERIES....

Thank you for reminding me that there are some things that I'll never be able to figure out with my mind.

CHANGE THE WORLD

Do you want to change the world in some way?

Good luck!

Already you are opposing something the way that it is,
Creating a "You -v- It" duality.
By so doing, you certainly intensify your sense of "I",
But you also focus on, and empower the very dynamic you want to change.

We've tried Change by Opposing and Imposing......... haven't we?

We've assumed for eons that to be happy,
We have to get the world working our way.
That hasn't worked,
Either for us or for The World.
Perhaps we've got it back-to-front;
Maybe a world that works
Begins with your world working for you,
And my world working for me.

Try this instead ---

Before you attempt to make the rest of The World work the way you think it should,
First get your world working for you.
Fall into the centre of your self
And, from there, take a fresh look at what already is.
Then Create that to be
Exactly as it is
Now.
You can do that, can't you?

If that sounds silly, look again --
Don't we all go around finding things to be unhappy with?
Stumbling across things that aren't "quite right" --
Your partner's mood over breakfast,
The morning traffic,
The weather ----
We spend precious little time actively creating or finding things to be happy about.
And that's a matter for choosing.

All creating begins with Choosing What-Is.
(This is the step we usually skip)

You will never be able to create anything else
Until you can first successfully and comfortably create what-is.
What-is so, for any of us, is whatever we choose to see,
And however we choose to see it.

Whatever you choose to see, however you choose to see it --
That is What-Is for you.
Create it to be this way.

When you're ready
Without attempting in any way to change the reality of how it is
Change your perception of how it is.
See it another way.
For no-one else but yourself
And for no reason other than your own freedom:
Find another perspective on it.

On a crowded commuter train one morning, 3 young children were creating minor mayhem and considerable annoyance amongst the commuters. They were pushing through the throng, thoughtlessly shoving and upsetting people, and inappropriately yelling and squealing at the top of their lungs. Their father was sitting quietly near one of the doors, seemingly oblivious to everything around him and his children's disruptive behaviour. At a station stop, one gentleman could stand it no longer. He called out to the man -- "Hey! Will you please ask your children to behave themselves! They are creating a nuisance!"  Some of the other passengers nodded, one or two muttered "Hear, hear!" The man looked up, and seemed to come back to the present. He called his children to him. Then he addressed the other passengers -- "I apologise," he said huskily. "We have been up all night at the hospital. My wife died this morning, and I guess they're having trouble coming to terms with that. To be honest, so am I."
The carriage fell silent.
Nothing had changed, but something profound had shifted.

When you change your perception of what-is
You change your experience and your reality of what-is.

When enough people change what-is for themselves,
And create that to be so,
What-is changes
Without bloodshed.
I cannot explain how that happens,
But it does.
I have seen it.

A NEW KIND OF FREEDOM

What if.........

What if life is about living in this moment,
Whatever it might be,
Now
Spontaneous and vulnerable.?

What if it's not about Happiness
But about Waking Up?

What if it's not about Winning or Losing
But about Giving Up the struggle?

What if it's not about Success
But about Growing Up?

What if it's not about Competing
But about Creating?

What if it's not about Finding Your Feet
But about Riding the Rapids?

What if it's not about Solving the Problems of life
But about Living the Mysteries?

What if it's not about Growing Wiser and More Mature with age
But about Being Reborn every moment?

How do you feel about this kind of freedom?
Is it too much?

SIGNPOSTS TO SERENITY

• What is -- is. What ain't -- ain't. When What-is takes precedence over What-ain't, suffering ceases.
• Whatever happens -- happens. How you feel about it is up to you.
• You invested yourself in suffering in order to get some needs met. How's that working for you?
• There's nothing to get and, ultimately, you'll get it.
• Whichever road you take, you'll get to where you're going to.
• When you want what you've got, you'll always get what you want.
• The meaning of life is the process of living every moment itself, whatever that experience is for you.
• The key to Happiness is Gratitude. Ungrateful people are never happy. Grateful people are always happy. Hadn't you noticed?
• Attachment is the only cause of suffering. Resistance is an attachment. Need is an attachemnt. Addiction is an attachment. Whatever it is that's hurting you, whatever it is that you're attached to -- let it go. Nothing is worth this much pain.
• If it isn't joyful, it isn't useful.
• Most people would rather be "right" than happy. Is your righteousness worth what it's costing you?
• Are your resentments worth more than your freedom?
• Where you come from is where you're going to.
• Be yourself; everybody else is already taken
• No matter where you go, you'll always have to take You with you. Get to love what you've created.
• Uncertainty is a good sign of progress. There's no growth or nourishment in certainty.
• Serenity lies down the road of Mystery. Understanding is the booby-prize.
• What we don't know is available if you know how to ask.
• Experience is what we came here for. Which experience? The one you're having, and the ones you refuse to have. Get on with it. Others are waiting.
• There are no mistakes.
• You have every right to be here, and you are. Own the ground you stand on. Claim your space. What you do with the opportunity is up to you.
• You are much more than you think you are. More even than you can imagine. Can a caterpillar imagine itself as a butterfly?
• How you see the world says nothing about the world, but it proclaims loudly the state of your Awareness.
• Life is full of surprising twists and U-turns. Get used to the idea.
• Mastery begins with Acceptance.
• A soft, open hand gathers more goodies than a hard, clenched fist.
• If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got.
• Love your neighbour. You're looking into a mirror.
• If the teachers are in your face, you're ready for the lesson
• When you're ready for the lesson, the teachers will appear.
• We teach others how to treat us.
• You make yourself feel. No-one else on the planet makes you feel anything without your connivance
• You are the sole creator of your reality.

FEEL INTO ME

Whatever we perceive, we are.

If there is anything we are not,
Then we could not see it (recognise it)
In anyone or anywhere else.
So whatever we recognise -- we are.

Become what you perceive;
Bring it on home where the perception belongs.
Be altogether
Together.

Whatever I see in you, I am.
Whatever you see in me, you are.
Own the reflections.

Just for a moment
Please don't try to communicate with me,
Or ask me to communicate with you.
For that presupposes some difference between us,
That you and I live only on opposite sides of some duality.

But maybe we can be closer than that --
More intimate;
Let's experiement
With Intimacy (Into-Me-See.)
Let's stop talking for a moment,
Let's not even touch.
If the honesty's too much,
We may not even look at each other for a while.

Let's stop communicating.
Let's just be with each other
And enter Communion
With each other and with the space surrounding that holds us both in its embrace.

Gently feel into me;
Feel me open up to you.
Let go into me
And allow me to let go into you.
Let's allow whatever arises to flow and ebb between us,
Without comment,
Unhindered.

Breathe.
Conspire.

This is Trust.

When communicating stops
Communion can begin.

We are one.
When we let-go into each other,
We allow the one-ness
That is.

BLIND ARROGANCE

The blindest arrogance
Is to look at life from one favourite point of view,
Without allowing or exploring any alternatives.
Such arrogance finds it so hard to allow others
To see what they see
And to be as they are.

For the Bigots
There is only One Truth --
The source of all limitation.
They'd rather be right than alive.

OUR MOST LIMITING ADDICTIONS

Pleasure & Gratification

Favourite Emotions

Fulfillment

Control

Growth & Enlightenment

Purpose, Significance & Meaning

Connection

Acceptance By Others

Freedom from Addiction.

Do you notice something?

Most of our addictions can be traced back to basic human needs that have bolted out of perspective.

We have Needs;

We have Desires; 

We have Preferences

But we don't have Addictions.......

Addictions have us.

TAKE WHAT YOU GET.....

There are certain things about ourself that we don't like. Right?
So we emotionally reject our "stuff"
And go searching for something more, something better, and/or something different,
Leaving the old stuff behind,
Buried where we won't have to look at it any longer.
What was it for you?
For me the coffin contained anger, frustration, resentment,
Boredom, jealousy,
Grief, hurt, anxiety and fear.
Quite a pile!

BUT

The journey kept bringing me back full-circle to the gravesite,
To find that some dog had dug it all up while I was away.
There it sat,
And there some of it is still,
Waiting to be integrated with all that I have learned along the way.
It is not until we at least begin to integrate and embrace the old
That enlightenment can possibly occur.

Are you in a job or a relationship that has lost its magic?
Do you want to quit?
Naturally! I can relate with that.
But if you quit while you're disenchanted,
You're just going to go out and create another just like it.

I'm not saying "Don't quit."
Some relationships and situations are toxic
And we need to get away.
But you must earn your exit....
Before you quit
Look at the stuff -- your stuff --
That killed off the magic.
It will be lying around just under your nose.

What is it that you tell yourself is wrong about this relationship, this situation?
What is it that you get to be right about by creating this situation to be the way that it is for you right now?
What are you telling yourself your partner is? Your boss is? The situation is?
What are you telling yourself that You Are?
Whatever is wrong about the way your partner is,
Whatever is wrong about the way your job is,
Whatever is wrong about the way your situation is......
Those are not The Problem;
The problem, for you, is that you don't think you can handle them being that way without getting upset about it.
That's your problem;
And that's all you have to deal with.
Fortunately.
(If your partner, boss or situation has to change for your life to get better, you may be well and truly fucked)

And.....

If you don't clean your stuff up before you quit,
You're going to take it all with you into the next relationship/job/situation.

Have a look at this possibility..........
This relationship,
This job,
This situation that is bugging the crap out of you
Is offering you the insight and the opportunity
To discover the crap you need to clean up.

Who knows?
When you clean up your stuff,
Maybe the situation won't be like you thought it was.
And even if it is,
You can break clean.

And that's the good news.
You might like to look at the possibility of being grateful 
For the opportunity this situation is giving you
To get out of the rut you're in.
No, I haven't lost my marbles --
Gratitude for What-Is, if you can allow it in, is the magic ingredient "X"
That will transform you life!
If you can't find gratitude for the situation just now,
Don't worry;
You can still do it.
But gratitude makes the job so much easier.

CHANGE & EVOLUTION

The weekly shopping is not one of my favourite chores,

Least of all when I get home and, try as I might, cannot add everything into the freezer.

Eventually, I have to empty the whole thing out and start stacking from scratch.

Amazingly, when I've finished, there is ample space left over.

Your Life, whether you feel it's working for you or not,
Is already full to the point of choking.
Cramming in more desirable behaviours and disciplines
May gloss over the dysfunctional mess within,
But ultimately they're also adding to the chaos.

To change the metaphor,
Adding desirable or deleting undesirable characteristics

Does no more to transform life

Than do alterations, or extensions to a house.

Sometimes of course, change is enough;

But there comes a time, after years of modifications,

When the house becomes an architectural and functional nightmare

Of lean-to's, additions and work-arounds.
But we won't let go of it.
We're too emotionally attached to the dysfunctional slum we've created.  

Usually it takes a new owner --
Someone without any sentimental attachment to admit the obvious,

Bulldoze the mess to the ground,

And start over.

So it is with our own lives.

We retain sentimental attachments to parts of our life

That ceased to work for us long ago.

Transformation is called for,

Meaning that we must emotionally detach, empty out and die to old ways of being

And create completely anew.

Look at the process of Evolution.
Change is not the sole feature of evolution.

If gradual change was the only process on offer

We'd still be living in caves, but maybe better ones
Illuminated and ventilated by burrowed chimneys,

And still subsisting on raw meat and vegetables.

The evidence of Evolution solely by Gradual Change

Is too full of holes -- "missing links". 

Evolution is a game of gradual change AND a game of quantum leap-frogging --

Instant generational jumps to a new way of being

That leave the old behind

To die out.

Change is incremental and, frankly, cyclic --
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Change has a short-term place in the grand scheme of things -- and --
Transformation is the name of the game.

NOTHING TO WORK ON

I approached the transforming challenge thinking
That, rather like renovating a house,
All I'd have to do would be to whip up a to-do list
And fix my "problems" one by one -- eg. my relationships, my anger, my low self-esteem. etc. etc.
But we humans are not compartmentalised --
Human growth does not work like "fixing" the stove today, the refrigerator tomorrow, and the plumbing the day afterward:
Everything in the human condition, just like the rest of creation, is connected to everything else.
I can not work on my relationships without involving my self-esteem,
Nor deal with my anger without affecting just about every other area of my life.
When one area of life changes,
Everything changes,
In and around me.
And that's very good news --
If I had to turn my life around department-by-department,
I'd need a lot longer to do the job than my so-called "three score years and ten".

Furthermore, during transformation,  the original "problem" becomes irrelevant
In a larger and deeper process of re-creating everything.
In truth,
I've found there is nothing to "work on",
Away from embracing it all and finding a deeper balance.

Our "problems" offer us an avenue, a way in, an access point
To break into the wheel of repetitive patterns
And open the treadmill up to discovery and transformation,
Providing an exit into the wide world of Possibility.

The trick is not to focus on "the problem".
Drop it.
Your problems are not The Problem:
Focusing on anything keeps you hooked into it.
Give your attention rather to a process of inspirating, becoming aware, allowing, conspiring
And integrating "the problems"
Into a greater level of Be-ing
In an atmosphere of reverence, trust, gratitude and love.

ALL OR NOTHING


We humans are almost universally and inexplicably addicted to the entertainment of low-frequency experience.
So inured to it are we that,
Faced with the possibility and challenge of transforming the very basis of all our experience,
We may encounter an overwhelming urge to flee, deny, suppress or blow-off an opportunity for up-leveling.
Oh, we're prepared to change all right!....
But only the bits we want to change.
The rest we want to hang onto --
"Don't touch that, that's me -- that's who I am!"

Even the threat of having to give some things up feels like death.

Transformation doesn't work like that.
There's a Law of Life that goes --

When you give it all up,

You'll get it all back.

And everything is brand spanking New.

Unless everything is up for renewal,
Nothing will change.
When everything is up for change,
Life transforms.

How do you feel about that?
Hopeful, or fearful, or both?
Some changes are earth-shattering, some are subtle --
But transformation changes everything.

In transformation

There is surrender, death, gestation, and rebirth to a new form

That does not even vaguely resemble the old.
We die, to be "born again". 
And nothing changes.