|
Here are a few of my favorite things. And some of what I got out of them.
- I’ve become a fan of the Health Realization process. In my typical style, I’ve never taken a class or a course, or even attended a lecture. I’ve turned instead to the Guru’s of our age... books and the internet. After reading several white papers on the amazing results that teams had brought to communities using the methods; I finally read three books on the actual techniques and principles. “The Relationship Handbook” by Pransky, “The Wisdom Within” by Mills and Spittle, “The Missing Link” by Banks.
What’s really cool about the process, is that its the same one I developed. So let me share my understanding of it with you. Banks is the “Theosopher” behind it all. He emphasizes that everyone can have the experience, and must do the work themselves. We must all become Theosophers, and experience the Philosophy, not just understand it. His “bent” is a spiritual one. His motivation for it all is enlightenment. He had such remarkable results healing people with emotional and psychological problems with people he trained, that a few Psychologists got interested (they freely admit that psychotherapy wasn’t working). So Mills and others got Spittle (one of Bank’s students), to help turn it into a coaching method. Funded some studies with Federal Grant money and now its available across the country. “The Wisdom Within” gives the nuts and bolts as well as examples. They also make it clear, its something you have to do yourself... you don’t need a “shrink”, at most a little coaching.
The secret is realizing that you are in control of your thoughts. An easy enough concept for most people to agree with. But the importance of this is that everything you feel and experience is influenced by your thoughts... not the other-way-around. So they draw a flow chart of your mental-emotional-reality-state.
Thinking -> Moods -> Belief States -> Emotions -> Perceptions & Reactions (naturally spiral in the direction its going)
Control your thinking and you will fundamentally control your reality. You can virtually eliminate negative experiences by maintaining positive thinking. (Peter Pan had it right. Think happy thoughts and you can fly.) Any difficult situation is difficult only because you are in the downside of the negative thinking to bad feelings loop.
The really simple yet fundamental motivation for all of this is the desire to have the most positive impact on your environment that you can. Its a simple logical approach... you can do your best when you feel your best, so only deal with problems when you feel good... feel good by thinking “good”. This process is equivalent to my: “Be Calm, Get Big, Move Forward with the goal of being self-referencing, having more energy and being engaged.” The more positive your thoughts, the more you open to your own intuition, and discover the power of “The Wisdom Within”. Its like turning my coaching process for performance enhancement into your fundamental approach to everyday life situations. What’s totally cool, is vast numbers of people have done this and totally turned their lives into GOLD. No therapy required.
Pransky is a therapist and does his best to keep the therapist-patient model in working with couples using this “Theosophy”. But really he’s just a coach. The secret to relationships is to realize that the purpose of a relationship is to be intimate. (Simple, right?) And you can only do this well when you are at your best... so, you guessed it, only bring positive thoughts to your relationship. Only deal with issues when you’re really up. When you limit your relating to when you’re thinking and therefore feeling positively, there are only opportunities, never a problem... The examples and stories are moving. The insights are useful... like: Soul Mates are a fiction, anyone can be your soul-mate if you have an affinity and respect for them, there is no such thing as “incompatible”. But my favorite is the observation that criticism is a mental illness. There’s more. Check it out yourself. The results are nothing short of blissful.
All of this is presented as a simple mental exercise that has the incredible ability to leverage your life from struggle to joy. But what happens is you become aware of your full potential and you open access to your intuition and extra perceptions. People become heroes, geniuses and miracle workers. Just normal human expressions.
- “The Power of Now a Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle
E.T. is extremely eloquent in his descriptions of just being. Most of the book is filled with an interrogative style that allows him to explain the subtle differences when using words for descriptive reality that describe the inherently indescribable. For me, this was pretty ho-hum, been there done that... But somewhere in the middle of Chapters 7-9 he gets into a real hands on approach and explanation of relationships to self and others that’s inspiring. His description of the “inner body” is spot on to my discovery of the Source Point. His framing its characteristics and relationship to the physical, mental and emotional actions of our daily life are delightfully clear and succinct. I’ve used Source Point to heal and improve issues, he talks of turning that around and raising Source Point Energies to blissful states of awareness. Take the stairs, or the elevator. Same trip.
- “If the Buddha dated” by Charlotte Kasl
For a Ph.D., not as verbose as you might expect. Very thorough, tightly focused on what really matters in relationship. It hasn’t helped a nit to solve this gap in my life, but I can sure talk about it better. It seems my needs aren’t in her extensive list. Guess it’s true, I’m special. Thanks Charlotte
- “On Intelligence” by Jeff Hawkins
Jeff, the inventor of Graffiti and cofounder of Palm is following his first passion, how the brain works. Exceptionally insightful and explains a lot about how we come to be conscious. Although he won’t admit it, using his theories does look like it will lead to the development of thinking machines and the next evolutionary step beyond our corporeal bodies. Your worst Sci-fi nightmare or dream of transcendence is at hand. It should be easy to cobble together a thinking defensive robot for a fortress with today’s technology. If he’s right, self awareness will follow relatively quickly and will it continue to simply protect the fort or take it over? That’s the great thing about free thinking, you never know what the next thought will be.
Regardless, his models of the brain hold up to the task of supporting the intuitive energetic work with clients with brain issues. Thanks Jeff.
- A week on the 8-limb path
Almost a blog. Notes from my first personal retreat to one of the friendliest places on the planet. Mount Madonna The wisdom available there is great. I got a lot out of it, and hope to take advantage of similar retreats in different locations in the future. But I have a couple of quick observations. The practice is what 2,000-4,000 years old. Do you think it could be improved? For instance, one limb is to practice moving energy; Pranayama. How about actually moving energy, as in the healing arts? (I know, that’s only for the highly advanced aspirants. Fine, keep your little secrets, see what good it does.) And if you really want to study the “super powers” as described in the Upanishads, demo them. Got a problem with that? How about just a little way to practice the process? Even I know a couple... Wait, I know.. That’s not how it’s been done. Well, I’m a results driven kind of guy, How many enlightened Gurus are there? What, a couple dozen Guru’s and lots of fakes... from about a billion people... How’s that working for you?
- “Joy’s Way” & “You are Psychic” by W. Brugh Joy, MD.. and Pete Sanders Jr. Ph.D.
First I think both of them have gotten lost on the ride. But they are researchers and explorers willing to take the leap beyond the confines of the AMA and MIT. Brugh shows you how to become empathetic through focusing on your heart center. I can vouch for his exercises... THEY REALLY WORK! And Pete, who somehow missed the heart center completely (go figure), tells you how by simply focusing on different body parts you can tap into psychic awareness. Crown for knowing, forehead for clairvoyance, above the ears for clairaudience, the gut for kinesthetic; take it outside the body for the works. Call me simple, but that just tells me the body filters awareness that we have and that it’s something beyond our body’s limitations. Could it be we are more than physical? I’d like to think so. My own work leads me to think like Pete, we have the ability to be psychic, and like they say in Yoga: quiet the physical sensations, the other ones will awaken. The surprising thing is they seem either just like the real ones, or just like you recall the real ones. Discernment is the real challenge.
- Doing Partner Work
Probably the most influential process that has helped me more than anything else is working with a partner. On the Aikido mat, discovering how to push energy inside someone else or myself. Joy’s dyadic meditations and discovering that “my thoughts are your thoughts” is not just a line from Star Trek. Co-Healing a guy in a coma in Brazil from Menlo Park, CA and feeling the pulse of healing energy surge through all our consciousnesses. And almost every performance coaching or healing session I have with clients and co-healers. Is there any limit to what we can do or discover together?
- My other Gurus: Books!
I have found the day of the Guru is fading. We all have to embrace the fact that we must be our own guru. Books abound and the information from them is awesome. Energetically I’ve done and seen the Etheric connections that people make often at the ninth Chakra above the head when reading books. These facilitate understanding and later hinder independent thought, so keep those channels clean! Still, I have to honor a number of inspirations. But also pass along a belief. The written word is not what is understood. What is understood is how you relate to the word. I’ve seen e-mails be misread when traveling 100 feet to another cubicle. What makes you think books 2,000 years old will be properly understood? Listen to the first words almost any Guru worth his salt will tell you. “Don’t believe a word I say, or write. Discover it for yourself.” That should tell you to run away if he tells you he knows better than you and that you should take his advice without question. Know any Guru’s like that?
Number one on my list would be Carlos Castaneda. Although I met someone who knew him personally and he tells me Carlos died of Tequila poisoning (Could it be he played the fool to the end, or was it just his double?), I still take his many lessons to heart. His commitment to self-referenced reality and living responsibly inspired me to live. Since I’ve personally validated some of what he wrote, it’s clear the adventure of life will keep me challenged until the end... be that stepping into the unknown or with rot from disease. It’s a grand ride!
So if you’ve read his stuff I have a question for you. Carlos himself said “The Eagle’s Gift” was a metaphor. What do you think it is really?
Another observation that can challenge some of the well intentioned, but ineffective religious beliefs: I’ve done hundreds of past life regressions. Karma is bogus. First of all, I can heal Karma energetically instantly. Secondly, Karmic debts deplete your consciousness. I can show you that any issue you hold requires your consciousness, and energy be bound to that and lessen what’s left to work with. There is no way to expect you to be able to solve a karmic issue better with fewer resources than you had when you incurred the debt. If it is true and this is our fate, it explains why insects out populate people, it’s the only course we have when we embrace Karma as a Universal Law. Besides, in a healing context you can heal any Karmic or Past Life issue simply by dealing with it as a metaphor to a present life experience. Less mystical, but just as effective. So, as CC asserts: no past lives, just one shot to be as strong and clear as you can to “impress” the “Eagle” for a return ticket and the added clarity to reach for the unknown. Is the “Eagle” the Sun? Lots of light goes from dead bodies to the light. Is it that simple? What do you get when you ask? Is it simple energetic physics? Match the energetic charge of the Sun and you’ll be repelled by it rather than sucked in? There’s another metaphor for you.
- The list
Then there are the other things in my life... Motorcycles, walking the Berkeley Hills, working out of my down town offices like The Berkeley Cafe, The Capoeira or even Starbucks, Meditation, Yoga, Energetic Play, Making Clocks, checking in with Family, Diving, Sailing, biking, travel and more...
|
