endgaming

we strive to live in the moment when we practive meditation and spiritual developement toward divinity. we are surrounded by challenges that push our consciousness away from the now, into this created state we know as the future. the future contains all the victories and defeats that we create in our minds so that we recognise our future. the power of this process is that we manifest the strongest of these images as real events and objects and people that occur in the the next present moments that we experience.
an example of this that we decide to visit a friend. we see the friend in our mind and where she lives etc. so that we can plan the trip. when wew arrive and ring the bell, if all goes well, we will see her smiling face. simple stuff. so simple that it illudes us as a process for concern.
the same mechanism operates out of worry. we fret about a negative outcome and sure enough we are right.
we cannot process a negative. try to not picture an elephant. you see an elephant. same with an angry boss or a failed business plan or crappy golf swing.
we get what we see.
all of this jumbled uncertainty goes away the more we stay focussed on the moment and minimise the endgaming.
endgaming means discounting the now for for a future gain. it leads to burnout, physically and mentally. it leads to heart attacks, strokes, arguements, fights, lawsuits, gun fights, divorce, and war.
a practice of meditation for a few minutes a day, building comfortably to fifteen minutes or more will allow you to have more strength on the now and you will be able to recognise and switch off the endgame dialog whenever you find yourself going there.

what is raining?

if you notice rain falling down from the sky and someone asks what is going on, you automatically say"it`s raining". nothing wrong with that except for the ghost we`ve just created with a few words. the ghost becomes evident when we ask what the "it" is in the phrase we just used to describe the weather. IT is raining?, what is IT?. the answer is that we`ve just got used to using this way of decribing things by creating another definite article in a sentance when we didn`t need to. now, can you become a ghost hunter in our language?this creation of layers of things in language lead us to seperating ourselves from all that we are here in this conscious realm. we aren`t born into the world, we are of the world and we are of nature. we aren`t a threat to nature any more than we are a threat to ourselves. if we are a threat to ourselves then we naturally stop being a threat as a matter of survival. if we create a seperation from nature then we can damage it without risk of threat to ourselves.when we realise we are natural and part of all that we see then we become responsible.

energy.

there is a lot of talk about energy. there are those who have lots of energy. we are told that we are heading for an energy crisis. everything is made of energy. the physicists say energy cannot be created or destroyed merely changed.
what is everybody talking about?
there are so many different discussions relating to energy, from the physical to the material to the spiritual. people talk about working out and eating healthy food so that they will have more energy. why? so they can do more..... o.k. so that`s about work and play.
people talk about energy in terms of non-renewable resourses for cars, factories and heating. that is political. people talk about the power of prayer and the benifits of meditation. spiritual energy.
people talk as if they are seperate from all this energy. it is as if we are born into the world and are not of this world. it is as if we are seperate.
we are of this world precisely because we are made up of energy too. the whole of everything is energy. a swirling mass of something moving about, creating effects that we recognise as life. we live this life believing we are seperate from it and that we have to create energy somewhere by force of will. all the work and working out we do is to create energy? it was there all the time, right inside.
once we recognise that we have this energy in us too, then we can be the resourse that we can use to live our lives......to do anything we want to. instead of waiting to have enough energy, in some magical way that we`re not even sure about, just go and do what we need to do anyway.
if energy can`t be destroyed then what`s to worry about?

addictive?

the manufacturers of cigarettes love to have you believe that thier product is addictive. it warms thier hearts to think that you think that it`s impossible to stop consuming thier product.
but what if smoking cigarettes isn`t addictive?
the word addictive makes a person imagine controlling behaviour. to believe one is addicted to anything is to relinquish control to whatever the substance makes us do. pretty disempowering.
no wonder cigarette companies love the mere thought of the word and they`re going to allow the word to be used as often as possible.
so part of stopping smoking is to stop using the word.
what does an addicted person do?
we have a general idea of how an addicted person behaves. they will do anything to get what they`re addicted to. the will spend thier money. they will lie, steal and cheat. they will destroy friendships. they will risk life and limb to get what they need. generally these people are doing serious drugs or are gambling to behave that way. these people are addicted and are likely to cause themselves serious harm quickly as a result.
if nicotene, the chemical in cigarettes that smokers respond to, was addictive then there would be people that would be lying in ditches covered in nicotene patches.
thats not what happens.
i`ll discuss more about what does happen in the next post.

responsible cigarette manufacturers.

i have a proposition for cigarette manufacturers. even though they are selling a lethal product they have the law on thier side. they make and sell a legal product. they have been selling cigarettes to people since they were in thier early teens and new smokers are starting every day. the market is enormous and perpetual.
what i propose is that cigarette manufacturers put together a fund so that when one of thier loyal clients decides that they need to stop smoking they can get thier treatment paid for. this would be seen by the community as a good will gesture on the part of the manufacturers, and those who want to stop can do so without incurring the cost of the many therapies available.
it would be the beginning of more active awareness of the dangers of smoking. it would help people feel as if they have true choice in stopping.
if the cigarette manufacturers refuse to involve themselves in such a project then they would suffer the embarrasment of being seen to refuse to provide this service, which would be a fraction of the profit made off the people seeking the help.
what do you think.

hypnosis and cigarettes.

people ask me how hypnosis works. i tell them that i don`t know and that for centuries hypnosis has been effective in helping people change thier habits and live healthier lives yet nobody knows how hypnosis does what it does.
i can tell you what it seems to do though. it seems to allow me to communicate with parts of a person`s consciousness that don`t criticise or argue with what is being said. it is a process of trust and willingness to accept what is being said by me as a useful truth. went a person does this accepting uncritically, they will begin to change thier behaviours.
unless they do this there will be no change of behaviour.
there is no magic. i do nothing but speak. the words go inside but they have to be unconditionally accepted by the listener.
they have to be ready to change.
when my clients call i interview them to learn about thier situation and to discover thier motivations for hiring me. it takes guts to make the call in the first place and most people are nervous so i draw them out with simple questions about how they learned of my sevices and what they know about hypnosis etc., before i begin to get to what made them decide to call me.
if a person desperately needs to stop for health reasons or financial reasons or fear of health risks then in all likeleyhood they will succeed in stopping but if they are being pressured by a husband, wife, boss or parents then it will rarely work. i make it clear at that point that it would be important to find better reasons to want to stop smoking. my sessions are too epensive to fail at. they are the best bargain in the world when you recieve your health as a result.

community

when i was a child i lived in a small village on the top of a hill about 30 miles from london, england. we didn`t lock our doors at night. we smiled at people who we passed in the street and sometimes we stopped to talk. people knew each other. we knew the butcher and the man who owned the toy store and the vicar really did come for tea.
we don`t do these things here because we live in cities and suburban tracts that go on for miles across land that used to raise crops to feed people. now we go to the giant grocery store. we are wage slaves without time or inclination for the wellbeing of the people who live right around us.
how did we get from there to here?
we are still the same humans that lived in villages and towns. we are the same humans that used to skate on the river when it froze and hike in the woods, even in the rain and make a bonfire.
we have seemed to have lost the awe for the magic of things around us. we are more interested in a new toaster or a movie star`s wife than our own existance, yet we are all there is.
we are taken away from our community by what we are told is important. a new car, a better job, a bigger t.v. these things blind us to what is important.
it takes the efforts of the passionate individual to maintain the focus on the people who live around us, that make up the community where we gain our strength. it is a spiritual matter of the utmost importance. without community we are lost at sea, lost in an ocean that lead us to strange shores of soulless wandering.
our lives are right here. if we put more energy into right here we will have more of our life to live.

robots in the mechanical age.

the industrial revolution amplified the ability of human hands with machinery, thereby turning craft into industry. this speeding up of production hasn`t slowed down in 150 years. the individual can now, with power tools and machinery match the output of a small factory and , with computerisation and robots, one man can run a megafactory, turning hundreds of cars onto the street each day. in many ways our means of production has far outstripped our ability to consume the products we produce. we can`t possibly earn the money to buy all the things we are making and selling.
consumerism will eat it`s self.
what will be left is a robotisation of the human psyche. we have extended our brains, through our limbs, and into the pulse of the microprocessor assisted machines. we have become part of the machine and have given up the earth rhythm that nurtured us for thousands of years before the orgy of the factory arrived.
our souls cry out for the smell of the green grass and the breeze on our faces, yet the clock ticks by eating up the moments until we go back to work, to match the grinding of industry that presses artlessly along, oblivious to the wash of the tide and the ebb and flow of the seasons and the organic life that we are a part of.
we so precisely match the industrial rhythm that we wake moments before the alarm, barely feeling that we`ve slept, to rise and race to meet the clicking and ticking and rolling of the work attached to the factory. whether we push paper or buttons or tools the rate is the same. marked by the payments of bills and punching of timeclocks and filing of taxes, our hearts beat in sync with this inhuman meter to the point where our hearts and minds can`t keep up and we fail into sickness and stress and we become useless to the machinery.
and why do we do this to ourselves when we wouldn`t do this to a dog?
because everybody has to have a job. everybody works. what`s wrong with you?
ha.
the robot can talk...........

cartesian duality, and all that.

ok, so here`s the thing. matter exists seperate from mind, right? o.k. so if we remove mind from the equation what happens to matter? it doesn`t.
without mind, or consciousness, matter ceases to exist. it could quite easily still be there mind you, but with nobody to see it, it fails to actually exist. existance is a product of consciousness. i love how irrefutable that is.
if a tree falls in the woods and there`s nobody there to hear it fall, it fails to register on a consciousness. all the clever ironic points fail to change that fact.
our consciousness creates reality. therefore, our consciousness creates matter.
if we aren`t witnessing it isn`t existing.
it suggests to me that the act of percieving, because of the subjective nature of our thoughts, is specifically and accurately creating an external reality that mirrors our internal states.
happy thoughts make a happy world.
but people are starving in africa, etc.......
yes, there is a lot of crap thought out there, but your thoughts are vital to the equation. as soon as you get it and do it that means one less crap thinker and one step closer to.........well, you get the idea.

choices.

the things we have in our lives are derived from the choices. our house, our friends, our computer, our careers, etc. all stem from choices. sometimes the process illudes our conscious understanding, yet our lives go on around us all the same.
here`s an experiment.
try to stand up from sitting in your chair.
what happened?
you will be unable to get up. you have made no firm decision to do so.
you tried.
what is a try?
a try is an attempt. the start of a process which allows failure.
to avoid this trap in the future decide to do it instead. see yourself rising confidently up and out of your chair, prepared to meet the challenges of your day. you will then find that your body will take over and meet the demands of your mind.
the choices we make are the key element of doing. what we choose to do with certainty and the skill and resources needed will occur.
choosing is a matter of deciding also. choosing/deciding. it is a feedback loop that leads to accomplishment.
without it we remain seated in our chair. trying to get up and on with our lives.

which is better?

is it better to live in luxury, given the choice, or choose less because there are others who don`t have the right, opportunity, talent, skin colour, gender, spiritual understanding, etc?
my answer is that the luxuries that i can afford allow me to communicate more efficiently and help people with my skills.
there is a group in india that sweep floors. it is thier job. they use short handled brooms even though the longer handles, which are readily available, would save thier backs. i am uncertain of thier rationale in stubbornly continuing to sweep floors stooped over with short-handled brooms all day, but it is of greater value to them than thier ongoing discomfort.
it seems that even though we react to the story about the sweepers with surprise and puzzlement the majority of us continue to do many things the most difficult way possible and we have no idea why.
we hate our jobs, we are tired of relationships, we are bored, stressed, overwieght, smoke cigarettes, are argumentitive, dishonest and disloyal.
what the hell is going on?
we`ve stopped believing in the fantastic. we remember it. we recognise it. we envy it,resent it and hate it in others, but we don`t make any attempt to create it in our own lives. the most that most do is to watch rich and famous people have lives on t.v. and in movies.
pretty sad.
does this sound like you?
are you feeling uncomfortable yet?
do you call yourself a loser, or do you wait for others to say it for you?
don`t get angry with me though, get angry with yourself for recognising yourself. you did it to yourself and only you can change your situation.
it`s not easy or instant either. it takes firm focus and the determination not to let bullshit into your life anymore.
any facet of your life that limits you in your quest to be happy must be removed or simply ignored in order for you to get a straight shot at what you need to do to be happy.
we all know what we want but are afraid to leap out into the darkness, not knowing what lies beyond.
we all know.
that thing.
right there.
seems impossible.
you will prove it sitting there pissed at me for pointing out the obvious.
now, which is better. pissed off and motivated or depressed at your situation?
you`re welcome.

fear.

fear. it is a challenge to us all. it is a feeling that something is wrong and that we are at risk. it`s a useful mechanism for survival that makes us run from predators and find places to hide. unfortunately, in a modern society, there are few predators able to provide significant threat to our survival, yet we still have this wiring in our brain that tells us to run blindly every now and then.
the interesting thing is that the wiring is weak. all we have to do is physically and mentally ignore the signal and the body follows suit.
people jump out of perfectly good airplanes and laugh all the way down, knowing that the parachute will open and they will float to the ground.
leap and the net will appear.
that is a buddhist saying. i have a card on my fridge with that written on it. on the other side of fear is the rest of your life. mine too.
i used to be terribly afraid of public speaking. every time i found myself in front of a group of people i would freeze up and nobody had a good time.
i knew that i had to deal with the feelings i had, because public speaking, doing seminars, is a large part of what i do and i really wanted to do this work.
thinking back i realise that i just got sick of being controlled by irrational fear of talking in front of people. i am good at what i do. i know the material and really enjoy seeing people get the messages in what i provide. so i just went and booked a seminar room, put out some flyers and took out some ads in the paper and filled the room.
i spent two weeks learning to put the fear aside and focussed on the good feelings we were going to have when i did my job well. the night of the seminar i saw smiling, laughing faces and got the feelings going inside as a result and walked out and introduced myself in the best state possible to entertain and communicate.
i`ve never looked back and it changed my life in so many ways.
our biggest fears create the biggest barriers to our growth and attainment. when you leap the net will appear.
that`s why that card is on my fridge.

u.f.o.s are real.

u.f.o.s are real.
i see them all the time.
high up in the sky.
like we wish we could be.

albert camus.

albert camus said that we are the only animal that refuses to be who we are. camus was a french philosopher who died in 1960, the year i was born. he meant that we are spiritual beings who deny our spirit or divinity.
why do we do this?
well, i blame the agendas of the technocracy.
i will define here what i mean by technocracy and technocrat, because it is critical to my thesis.
technocrat; lover of power.
technocracy; administration of power.
we are the mob. by definition, a disorganised group of people. the potential of the mob is enormous, and frightening to the technocracy.
the technocrats have developed laws and rules (don`t walk on the grass) so that we will have boundaries to control our behaviour. that`s o.k. but where`s the limit?
we are safe, clean and fed now. we are productive and obedient and harmless but the industry of law and law enforcement continues to grow. we are paying for our own restrictions.
our soul cries out for freedom. not to do damage or commit crimes but to spiritually grow and resonate in joy. it is basic to our existance as human animals with spiritual souls.
yet the chapters are added to the law books each and every day. new risks are discovered and new safety regulations and new guidelines are published by the minute, as if there is something to fear by our very spiritual existance.
is there a difference between us and them? who would gladly build such a prison?
the sign that says don`t walk on the grass isn`t to protect grass. it`s to limit our movement. who, if they were concerned about grass would put grass where people walk? we need to have pathways built, not signposts.
walk on the grass? we like to walk on the grass, we like to sit on the grass, roll around on it, make love and fall asleep on the grass. that`s what it`s for, i believe. who would put up a sign depriving us of that pleasure?
the same people who tell us we are not god. that limit our divinity. our godhood. inside each and every one of us in the mob.

if it`s not on t.v. it`s not real.

if it`s not on t.v. it`s not real.
do you believe that?
really?
then why does t.v. dictate what we wear, what we eat and what kind of car we drive?
we have been watching t.v. since the 1940`s. it`s a delivery system for entertainment, politics and consumerism, in other words culture.
who decides what goes on t.v.?
mostly, it`s a delivery system for corporate products. therefore it`s a mechanism controlled by large corporations.
t.v. is hypnotic.
the conscious mind watches the 450 dots per second of data fired out of the cathode ray tube that we call t.v. for about 15-20 minutes before deciding that there so little data being recieved that it begins to shut down the conscious brain wave frequency. what happens next is that the brain goes into a waking sleep mode for the duration of the watching session. this is a state of high suggestablility. hypnotic trance.
we spend a fair amount of time watching t.v. in a state of hypnotic trance. we watch commercials, movies, political commentary, comedies, and wars and it all goes into the mind in a state of accepting sleep.
the people who control the content of t.v. control the content of your mind and therefore the content of your life. unless you consciously decide to limit your viewing time and pay attention to how you respond to the content you watch.
notice how similar everyone`s choices are?
our tastes are dictated by t.v. , unless we watch less. then we can choose to get our information from different channels.
here are some simple rules for active t.v. viewing.
1/ mute commercials or get a remote that allows you to surf away from commercials on a timer that returns you to your original program.
2/ yell "bullshit" when needed.
3/ don`t watch when you are tired and don`t fall asleep when the t.v. is on.
4/ don`t watch movies on primetime. too many commercials by far.
5/ never watch news programs on t.v. unless there is an emergency.
6/ repeat #2.
what will happen when you do this enough is that you will find less and less need to watch the awful content provided as entertainment on t.v. and you will become more resourseful in your choices of media consumption.
without seeming sarcastic, here is a list of other media.
books.
magazines.
internet.
arts.
music.
playing an instrument.
writing.
socialising.
sports.
gardening.
exercise.
meditation. (best media there is.)
this is a short list of media that you can consume that can expand and enrich your life and exercise your brain and develop your creativity. you will then have flexibility and choice.

we are god.

i become agitated by this denial we have accepted deep inside ourselves, and i suppose i should realise why this is happening, but it is frustrating.
we live our lives being told by all the people who have power in our society that god is a seperate entity, outside our consciousness, who has made everything we see and has plans for us when we die. we are told that if we accept this on faith that everything will be o.k., and that heaven waits after we die and we will be welcomed into his house.
what a terrible arrangement. what was this god thinking? i don`t know of too many creative people who think about the object of thier creativity in such a perverse, manipulative way. that god sounds to me to be the creation of a pretty twisted mind. the only people i see acting that way are the kids who blow up frogs with firecrackers. malformed, preadolescent types who are heading for a life of minor crime and alcohol and drug abuse.
i don`t see the connection between subscription to a white bearded guy living in the sky and a life of happiness. in fact most of the shit that happens between people tends to be in this god`s name.
i see evidence for the fact that we are all god together.
i see evidence that all the goodness in the world comes from the decisions we make when we feel well inside. whether we choose good feelings consciously, for no reason but that they feel good, or whether we come about good feelings by accident and go on anyway. the results are the same.
no wars.
food to eat.
shelter.
safety on the streets.
no bullshit.
growth.
all of this stuff is simple, easy to attain and doable now, when you realise that you are god. so am i. so is your sister, mother, cousin, brother, dad, friends, teammates and co-workers.
there`s nobody else here.
it`s got to be us.
we are god.

why do people look after thier car better than themselves?

i watched my niegbour today. she washed and vacuumed her car for over an hour. it was a beautiful day and so why not? it is a brand new jeep and she`s quite proud of it. it`s midnight black with chrome wheels and leather interior and i bet she`ll never take it off road in a million years.
so where`s the problem?
the problem is that she looks after that car far better than she looks after herself. she can`t be more than 30 but she`s way over weight and smokes and i`m quite sure she got her weeks exercize washing the car.
so why does she behave this way?
it`s the way our society places it`s value in consumer items. she gains pride and status via the type of vehicle she drives and how clean it is. this isn`t directed at my niegbour as cricitism on a personal level. it is a comment on how we discount the spirit within us and focus that energy into material possessions as a society.
our culture is industrial.
our religion is work and it`s rewards are the things we can buy.
our soul goes begging for a walk in the woods or to sit on a hill and watch the hawks soar.
but we end up in the mall with our credit cards, our eyes filled up with advertising and pretty things on sale. the feeling of joy with our new purchase lasts about as long as the walk back to the car in the parking lot. then we are on to the next thing. the next purchase. it`s like taking a drug or drinking alcohol. temporary pleasure that takes permenantly.
i won`t go to the big malls anymore. i can`t take the visa card zombies and thier empty stares. i know we haveto spend to keep the economy going, i hear what the politicians say. but how did we get to the point where we are responsible for the economy? why can`t we just buy less and work a bit less and spend some more time with our friends and families and our spiritual focus, the meditation that heals and rests the soul?
we can.
we can just find a quiet place. and sit. and let go. the purple colour. the vibrant yellow. the nurturing green..... the red..... the blue, in our mind`s eye. now. breathe in the colours and with each breath we heal. maybe a tear will come, for a moment, then the release of the tension and the realisation that we are all joined together as one here. no rush. no panic.just peace. and smiles. any time we wish to. we decide.

amygdala?

the amygdala is a gland that sits behind the eyeballs that does something rather interesting.
if you can imagine, in your mind, a peanut in your brain about an inch behind your eyes, you have approximated the location of the amygdala. the amygdala, once visualised in meditation becomes a tool for euphoric sensation.
if you can imagine gently stimulating the amygdala in your mind using a feather or cat`s whisker or imagine it has a switch labelled on/off that you can switch to on when you need to you will discover that as you do this you will start to experience tingling and a rising of pleasure inside as a direct response to your actions.
do it again.
nice.
do it again.
nice again.
the more that you do this stimulation exercise the more the sensation builds to the point where it will feel like a mental orgasm charging through your brain.
an explosion of neural firing that rushes like a drug because it is one. it is neuro-peptide mainline.
neuro-peptides are the drugs we make naturally in our bodies as a response to the information that our sense organs provide that make up our reality.
we make pain-killers, stimulants, ahrodisiacs, narcoleptics(sleeping pills) and a vast array of medications that drug companies can only dream of. we make growth hormones, digestive enzymes, atp, phynyle-ethyle-amine (the stuff found in chocolate that we create when we get hugged.)................the list is thousands of names long.
we do this in our minds and we can decide to make specific ones when we needto.
imagine stimulating your amygdala now.
nice.
endorphin creation process complete.

something fantastic.

imagine something fantastic.
it doesn`t have to be something that happened to you, though that would be best. imagine in your mind the person, place or thing or event that you consider fantastic.
go there in your mind now.
tell yourself what you see, what you hear, what you feel. do you smell anything? is there a taste or flavours associated with this experience?
now make the elements stronger. make the colours brighter. turn the lights up, in your mind. illuminate the situation so that you can feel the colours. make the sounds louder and notice how a change in volume can alter the way you feel about whats happening there. do this with all the aspects of this memory and as you do realise that the feelings generated by these memories are as real to you now as when you first had this stimulating experience.
when you hear the sounds made louder does it make the feelings associated with the memory stronger?
how about the images? when you look at the scenes made brighter, more vibrant in colour, do your sensations deepen in response?
notice how the feelings travel through your system, down and around. where do they eventually go? do they push out and away?
examine where the feelings travel to, then............
pull the feeling back and churn it up now, if you`ve managed to capture it, and spin the feeling around............ now double it. double it again and add a blast of energy like trumpets or yelling. yes!
how far can you push this? how good can you make it feel, for no reason?
what will you choose to do now that you feel this good?
anything you want.

the division between the spiritual and living.

we make a distinction between our spiritual practice and our living world. we pray. we meditate. we visualise. the insights and answers we gain there resonate in conversations and in the tasks of the day. but the expanded consciousness we attain in our reverie needs to come forward into each and every action in our lives.
what is the point otherwise?
if we have wonderful thoughts in meditation, quietly in the garden, why can`t we have those same thoughts while we are driving to work? while we are answering clients questions? while we are preparing a meal? having a root canal? waiting in line for a coffee?
why can`t we drive those concepts and feelings gained in meditation out into the everyday world where thy are desperately needed? the answer is that we can. me must giv ourselves the permission to share our experiences of divinity with others as a catylist for the growth and enlightenment of others.
the good feelings we immerse ourselves in are powerful enough tools to share with others by living them each and every moment, pushing back all else until a resonance is set up in the world of our consciousness that will be fed back by all aspects of our surroundings.
do not be afraid to share good feelings with others in simple ways like smiling.
smiling is the forgotten art of humanity.
children smile all the time. they sing, they dance, they make up games.
when we do those things out of a recognition of enlightenment we resonate and sing and dance and smile too.
this bringing forward of our spiritual practice out into the world to share with others is the greatest gift we all have. it is simple, powerful and doesn`t cost a thing but to remember to smile.