Are you living your life according to spiritual principles? Is your life perfect because of that?
There are loads of books and gurus out there selling to you the secret to eternal happiness and a life of riches. Of course, if you are in the sad majority (i.e. 99.9% of people on this planet) who experience downs as well as ups, the reason is that you have not followed the rules to achieve constant and amazing success,, and that means you failed.
Can we stop there for a moment?
Can you name just one person who lives a life of say 80 years and NEVER experience any setback or disappointment or disillusionment?
Come on, think harder – there must be someone.
Or is life meant to be a balance between joy and sadness, success and disappointment, health and illness, etc etc?
Why do these gurus create the impression that life is always a bunch of roses, and that when you are scratched by a thorn, it is your fault?
The more I see and experience of life, the more I realize that there is a perfect rhythm of ups and downs in our lives.
So how do we deal with the downs? How about changing the words we use? When we experience ups, the implication is that there we will go down, and the other way round.
I would rather prefer to talk about challenges and gratitude. When I use those words, my life does not necessarily become flawless – if it does, I will check my pulse, because I may be dead and still walking around.
When I talk about challenges and gratitude, the emotional see-saw disappears and my path becomes much more balanced. When I then hit a challenge, I do much soul-searching, because I know already that my destination is gratitude. And when I experience gratitude, I know that my next challenge will be bigger, but so will be the opening of my heart in gratitude.
I like to think of that as the pulse of the Universe. It is also called life.
You are probably familiar with the term “self-fulfilling prophecy” – where you convince yourself that something will happen, and lo and behold, it does! Often people use this way of thinking to voice their fears, and they do not realize that they focus so much on the fear that it has to materialize at some point.
There was the woman who approached her trip to London with trepidation, because she had heard about so many incidents where people got mugged in London. She wanted to see all the tourist attractions, but she was dead scared of all these muggers that would jump at her on every street corner. No amount of evidence to the opposite could change her mind.
And guess what? On the second day of her visit to London she got mugged. Now did that happen because she was so focused on the muggers, or did it happen because she had some premonition of the incident because it was part of her life script?
Either way, she did not stop for a moment to realize how she created the incident. She still has no idea that she can use the same process and the same energy to create and make her dreams come true. She still believes that good things are delivered by God, and bad things are delivered by muggers, and that she does not influence the outcome in any way.
And this raw fear of the unknown can spoil many adventures if we nurture it rather than turn it into anticipation.
On a trip to South Africa I was really looking forward to experiencing the weather – whatever it was at the time would have been a pleasure for me. I looked forward to the sense of well-being and embracing differences that South Africans are so good at. When I arrived at the airport that was exactly what I experienced. I saw the welcome in the eyes of the customs officer, and when I left the airport building I was greeted and welcomed warmly by complete strangers, who then continued their conversation while I stood there waiting for my lift.
A few steps away from me stood an Italian man. His tailored suit, impeccable hairstyle, olive skin and accent gave him away. I could also see he was petrified. He did not have enough eyes to watch the taxi drivers (who found him quietly amusing), the porters who kept their distance while he clung to his baggage, and other passengers who could virtually smell his fear.
This man used his mobile phone to call someone and I heard him say “I don’t know where I am” with fear in his voice. I walked up to him and told him that he was at International Arrivals outside of terminal 1A. He repeated that on the phone without even acknowledging me and turned his back on me while he continued his short conversation. Within about two minutes of him finishing the conversation, a huge black man walked up to him and greeted the man in perfect English. He was so relieved to be in the care of someone in this wild, savage country that I could only smile at him.
I wondered how many other opportunities this man would pass up to meet new people because of his fear of a country that he had obviously never been to.
We often refer to and even use this self-fulfilling prophecy to prove our fears. Imagine what we can experience and achieve when we use the same process to create all the experiences that we believe we are not worthy of.
I am off to create some self-fulfilling prophecies . . .
Can a psychic medium change your life? If you buy an item that was blessed by a spiritually gifted person, will you get your wishes fulfilled?
I want to tell you about an experience I had years ago. I was going through a period of massive change. I was not in a relationship at the time. I was discovering my psychic abilities and had no idea what to do with these abilities. It was not possible to discuss any of this with a friend or relative, because I knew they would be shocked and quite judgmental about me exploring the occult and other “sinful” things.
Of course this was quite a lonely time for me, but also intellectually quite stimulating. I discovered a whole new range of books that explained various aspects of spirituality. I was like a child in a toy store – I did not know what to believe and what to discard. A whole new world had opened up to me, and it was wonderful.
During that phase I also ventured abroad for the first time – on a three-week holiday to the United States. I discovered Barnes and Noble, the bookstore – and there was no censorship! I could browse to my heart’s content and I could buy books on “forbidden” topics. Getting those books back home and past customs was a worry for later. One of the books I bought was written by Sylvia Browne, on life after death. I had always known intuitively that there is more to eternal life than what the church told me, and I was curious to read about what happens after we die. I bought this book. Sadly, I have subsequently discovered that there are many doubts about this lady’s gift and her integrity, but that is not for me to judge. Let’s put that aside for the moment.
While I was in the United States, I consulted a psychic because I was very curious about what they do and how they work, and I wanted to compare what I found there with what I had discovered back in Johannesburg. Of course I was astonished at how much this woman knew about me. At the time I was not aware that there are many so-called psychics who do cold readings. A cold reading is where a person with minimal psychic abilities and excellent observational skills state the bleeding obvious to an unsuspecting customer in exchange for money.
This psychic identified my loneliness and told me that she had special powers which she could use to find me that special person. The way she would do that was to “charge” special candles by the light of the full moon, which was two weeks away. I then had to buy those candles from her and burn them when I got home. I did not feel comfortable with this at all but did not know how to say no to her. My angels ensured that I did not have enough money for these “miracle” candles on me – I cannot recall what she charged, but it was a large amount of money – probably in the region of $100 per candle, and according to her I needed two of these candles. She was happy to get my fax number so that she could send me a reminder when I was back home again and had access to the money she wanted.
On my journey home, I read the Sylvia Browne book – just in case someone wanted to confiscate it at customs. What I remember most about the book was a paragraph where Sylvia Browne recalled some TV interview she did. During this interview she had spelt it out that if anyone wants you to pay money for any object to change your destiny, you should run away as far and as fast as you can. She explained that what changes your destiny is not any object with magic powers, but your thoughts and prayers and meditation.
I read that paragraph over and over again – it was as if someone was speaking directly to me from that page, and I heard every word quite clearly.
When I arrived home, there were about five or six faxes waiting for me from the American psychic – reminding me that I owed her a pot of money for her special candles, and warning me of the perils that awaited me if I did not follow her instructions for paying into her bank account even more money than she originally charged for her candles.
Of course nobody confiscated my Sylvia Browne book – a lesson on how fears only materialize when you let them. As soon as I had a spare moment, I flicked through the book again to find that warning paragraph because it also clearly listed the reasons why paying for “magic” objects would not change your destiny. I could not find that paragraph or anything even remotely similar.
I read the entire book twice again from front to back, but that paragraph was not in the book. I then asked someone else who showed interest in the topic to read the book and help me find that paragraph. It was not there.
I have since had many similar experiences and learned a lot about living in two dimensions, and I am no longer surprised by such incidents. I have studied the topic of synchronicity as opposed to co-incidence and I know the difference. I now understand that what I experienced when I first read that book was a moment of synchronicity.
Of course I have also learnt that every object emanates its own energy and that I can feel and read that energy. But the lesson that I remember most of all is that my destiny is determined by a combination of the life script that was written before I was born and my free will.
Oh – and if you have large amounts of money to spare, I knit beanies that will fulfill all your wishes and make your wildest dreams come true! Send me your address, let me know what your favorite color is, and I will send you my bank account details. But you have to hurry, because the end of the world is near!
I love travelling. I love the anticipation of deciding what to take with and what to leave behind. I enjoy the heaving of my stomach when the plane ascends, and the vibration of the engines that keep me awake. I have become a good judge of landings – I can tell whether Captain Kangaroo or Mister Teflon Pants is in charge. I have even experienced two landings where Fred the computer was clearly in charge – or did some angels take over at the last minute?
And then there is the exploring. For me the adrenaline flows when I have to figure out a way of getting transport to my destination, or what is happening around me. I enjoy deciphering signs in strange languages and making quantum leaps until I get to some understanding and learn new things.
I have grown the habit of speaking Afrikaans to people in different countries. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I discovered that the British people are not popular in many countries. I have not delved enough into the history of Britain to establish why, but I use the situation to my advantage. When I speak to a person in Afrikaans, chances are that they will not understand me, and they will say so in their own language. From there we normally have the conversation in English, however broken it is. This has resulted in some hilarious situations.
I once went to Hungary on holiday. I did not confirm in advance what the speed limit was on the roads, but I knew the people in Hungary spoke some English (that is what the website said). At the Budapest airport I approached a traffic warden and asked “Excuse me. What is the speed limit on the roads here?”
“Huh?”
“I would like to know how fast I can drive here” I said with some gesturing.
“You speak Englis?” Oh, dear.
“Yes. When I take this car,” pointing to the little yellow rental car “and drive on those roads there,” pointing to the web of motorways in the distance, “do I drive 40 or 50 or 60 kilometres per hour?”
A moment of silent confusion, and then the light bulb went on. “Ahhh. 30 minutes” he said while becoming two inches taller and giving me a big smile.
I decided to use my common sense and observe the other traffic.
The second reason for speaking Afrikaans in unfamiliar situations is that when you address people in a language that they do not understand, they invariably focus their full attention on you. I believe that this results in the opening up of a communication channel that has very little to do with language.
I once got lost in Portugal. I found a safe parking space and stopped a lady that looked like a housewife. She gave my very good directions – all in Portuguese. I did not understand a word of the language, but I intuitively understood the distances and landmarks that she described to me and found my destination.
Whether we take a physical or a spiritual journey, the experience is the same. It is strange, it is different, we may get confused, but invariably there is someone along the way that will help us to find the way again. At times we may ask for directions and the directions will result in us being left on our own, but we always have the resources to find our way.
We always set off with a plan, and invariably the plan is derailed, but we always have a great experience that we learn from. At times the lessons are more painful and at other times they seem insignificant, but we always learn what we have to.
There is another side of a journey, both physical and spiritual, that we only discover after the event, and it often catches us unaware.
Every journey broadens our experience. This is true for both the physical and spiritual journeys. We have beautiful surprises and we discover boredom. We meet interesting people and we meet people that we would rather forget. We return after our journeys and have lots to tell.
We also return from the journeys as different people. Imagine blowing up a balloon and then letting out the air again. The flat balloon does not shrink to its original size. It is slightly bigger. When you blow the balloon up again and let out the air, the flat balloon is even bigger. And one day you blow up the balloon as big as you can and it bursts and you discover that the balloon was an illusion.
Every journey broadens our boundaries and gives us a new and different view on life and the world that we live in. Anyone who has travelled to different destinations will understand this. People that have not travelled do not understand and they remain in their own worlds, but looking at another person’s world like a child with its nose pressed against the window of the candy store.
Physical journeys cause a separation from those people that do not want to take the risk. Spiritual journeys also cause a separation from people that prefer “safe grounds”. This result of separation is not described in the fine print. It comes with the package, and the nature and level of separation from their previous worlds differ with each person.
The good news is that once you have experienced a broader world, you would not want to go back to being the original balloon. Some people will only venture once and that is enough for them, but it already changes their world. Other people will venture again and again until the balloon bursts and they will understand that their worlds have changed for ever. Either way, once you have tasted a different view of the physical and spiritual world, there is no going back, and when you have had the experience, you would not want to go back anyway.
When people become aware of their spiritual awakening, they become aware of “going out of their mind”, in other words setting the brain aside and opening up to the awareness that there are different dimensions that exist around us, and that we only chose to live in this one for the moment.
How do you deal with this spiritual awakening? The first action is to choose whether you want to reject it or consciously explore it. If you want to reject it, that is your choice, and it is neither right nor wrong. Whichever way you choose is perfect for you.
If, on the other hand, you want to consciously explore your new awareness, you will be surprised to discover the many opportunities that are opening up to you. At the same time you will experience what I can only describe as a deep sense of knowing about what resonates with you and what you should stay away from.
There are as many different directions and flavours of spirituality as there are people on this earth. You will find that you are intuitively drawn to some of these directions and practices, while you will probably find others to be hilarious and quite entertaining. Remember, what you laugh at may be a very serious matter for someone else. The best advice I can give you is to trust your heart and listen to your intuition, and you will find this path quite rewarding.
However, this is only the advice of one person. If anyone insists on telling you which path is the best for you, I would question the intentions of that person, because how you explore your spirituality is a very personal decision.
Where do you find more information on exploring your spirituality? That depends on your own inclination. One option is to go to the nearest large bookstore and explore the mind, body and spirit section. Some books will call out to you, while others will not attract you at all.
If you do not like reading, find shops that focus in what is popularly known as “new age” shops and browse. Look at the items and advertisements in the shops and explore, explore, explore. Search the internet for information on topics that you find interesting, and find groups that you can associate with and have conversations with.
If all of that increases your confusion, then here is something simple that you can do. Find a quiet space, close your eyes, and ask for experiences that will bring enlightenment and clarity to you. Then simply open your heart and spirit for these experiences, and “go out of your mind”, in other words set aside any judgement while you explore and expand your wonderful awareness.
If you are looking for scientific proof and explanations of the experiences that you are having, you will find them (or rather these explanations will find you once you have voiced your intention). If you only want to increase your intuitive awareness, you will have this.
Enjoy every step of this new path, wherever it takes you. Believe me, it is mind-blowing!
Are you one of the increasing number of people who see things or people that are not there when you look again? Do you hear things that nobody else hears, including voices in your head that sound like your thoughts but you know that they are not your thoughts?
Do you sometimes feel like your body is transparent, or even that you are separate from your body? Do you have more and more experiences that can only be ascribed to serendipity, and you are wondering about the onset of old age? Have you recently had vivid dreams full of symbolism that made no sense to you and that even scared you?
If your answer to more than one of these symptoms is yes, then congratulations! The good news is that you are “going out of your mind”. No, there is no need for a straight-jacket or in fact for any medication at all. There is only good news.
Another way to describe your experiences is that you are having a spiritual awakening, or you are being “re-born”. Chances are that the level of vibration of your body has already been adapted, and you are already at a higher level of evolution. You are only now becoming aware of this.
If you look back over your life and recent experiences, you will probably agree that the awareness of this change has been with you for a long time, but at the same time it happened suddenly. By now you have a different concept of time, and it is even possible that you have experienced time either being compressed or slowing down to a rate where it all becomes very confusing. You are getting to understand that time is a man-made concept, but that does not clear up the confusion in your head.
Why am I saying that you are “going out of your mind”? Let me explain. We normally spend the first few years of our lives on this planet – easily until after the age of 40 – believing that our brains are in fact our minds. We are quite happy believing this, and most of us conform to the norms of the environment and culture that we were born into.
But then these “strange” things begin to happen to some people. It is popularly called a mid-life crisis, and it is ascribed to hormonal changes in the body, but the spiritual awakening has very little to do with hormones.
Hormonal changes and spiritual awakening coincide as much as bacon and egg – it is simply convenient and traditional to associate the two. Spiritual awakening can happen at any age, and nowadays it is not strange to find people in their twenties having a so-called mid-life crisis. This is because the composition of their bodies changes at an earlier age, and this allows them to function at a higher vibration.
It is at this point of change that we realize our brains and our minds are two separate entities. We become aware of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) nuances in our environments.
We become aware of a different dimension and initially it is confusing and at times downright scary.
Some people refuse to deal with this. They become more religious than ever, and become quite judgemental of those who follow their hearts and embrace the new awareness. They live in fear and like to spread fear, because they understand that fear is a means of control which in a twisted way provides the security of being controlled. Other people get depressed or start to use medication to sleep better. People develop various forms of physical dis-ease that they can focus on instead. And other people enjoy making fools of themselves by “not acting their age”, in other words losing their dignity and clearly being confused about who they are.
Of course there is the other choice, which is to explore the changes and the new awareness. This exploration leads to an understanding that the brain is not the mind. The brain simply acts as a “radio station” which receives signals from the mind. During the spiritual awakening the brain starts to receive signals from a different “transmitter” in the mind but outside of the body and brain.
I will write more next time on how to explore your new awareness.
Life is a rollercoaster at the best of times. When times are good, we feel the elation and fun of being here, and we want to share our joy with the world. When times are bad, either we do not want to face anyone, or nobody wants to face our misery.
Where do we find our solace and peace during the down times? And why do we only seek solace during the down times?
I grew up in a culture where we were taught that during the worst of times, we can find solace in the church. When I hit my first adult crisis, I went to the church and found an empty, cold building. I went to the people of the church, but they chose to avoid me. I became an outcast because I was getting a divorce. I then went to the church minister for the solace that I so desperately needed, but the reception was cold and hostile.
That was not solace. I kept searching.
I became a psychologist and memorised every theory about changing behaviour and thoughts. I applied these theories and they worked as long as people really wanted to buy into the constraints of the theories and shared a particular reality.
But then a company that I worked for experienced a low in the economic cycle and could no longer afford my expertise. I had to find another job. This is not a big deal in itself, but it took me seven months to find another job. In my culture this was a definite sign of failure, and as a result I could not share the path with anyone else. None of the theories worked for me. I needed solace.
At the same time a friend looked at me for help in dealing with a very personal crisis. None of the theories worked for his situation either and I had to pretend to be strong while I desperately needed solace. Not from the church, not from knowledge of psychological theories, not from family, not from friends – none of them could provide any for me.
That is when my search for solace started in earnest. In desperation I did a thing that was regarded as a big sin – I went to see a psychic. She gave me the hope and courage that I was looking for. She told me about the job that I would get, and everything turned out as she had predicted. I was impressed. I wanted to know more.
I had a glimpse of solace, but the new job and the friend that challenged every paradigm that I grew up with took that away again. I discovered that it is much easier to lose inner peace than to find it.
It also did not feel quite right for me that I had to pay another person to look into my future and provide solace to me. What if that person was not available the next time? What if I went to another psychic and that person gave me a different version of my future? What peace would that leave me with? And where did they get the information from anyway? I wanted to bypass the “middlemen” and go straight to the source.
But where and who and what was the source? My quest led me to reading about spiritual issues. I discovered the difference between faith and religion. I understood why, for me, the whole concept of religion and the external control that went with it was quite disturbing.
As part of my journey I discovered my own psychic abilities. For many years I helped other people find solace in that I could read their past, present and future, and give them moments of peace. The peace they got from listening to the messages I conveyed probably was also not lasting, and they probably are also still searching.
However, that journey taught me so much about our inner world. I discovered that we all share the same inner world, no matter what our challenges in life are. That inner world is governed by a particular structure and a number of laws that are always the same.
The laws include things like “you cannot pour from an empty jug, and it is your duty to keep your inner jug full” and “there is no bad or good, there are only challenges, and we only get the challenges that we are ready for”.
I learned from the lives of my clients about the spiral. We begin life at the bottom of a spiral, and through various life experiences, we manage the slow, arduous climb up the spiral. Eventually we reach the top of the spiral, and life is rosy –we have solace – and we have an inner peace and a tranquillity that is so lovely to experience.
And the life happens again and we think oh no, not again – just when everything is going so well. We look up and all we see is the long arduous climb up the spiral, and that we have to do it again. However, we forget to look down and see where we came from and how much we have already achieved. We do not notice that while we are at the bottom of the new spiral, we are in fact at the top of the previous spiral. We never slide down. We just keep climbing, and as we climb up our legs just grow stronger.
Did these insights help me in my journey? Yes, they did, in the sense that I now understand a process that we all go through in many different ways during our lives. And no, they did not, in the sense that I can easily tune in to my clients and give them insights into their lives and inner peace, however fleeting, but for a long time I did not get the same insights for myself. That was quite frustrating, because I wanted to know more about my own future than about the future of my clients. After all, how much is a gift of being psychic worth if you cannot use it for yourself?
Then I experienced the next eye-opener. I wanted to know about my own future because I had all kinds of fears about what was waiting for me. I wanted to know whether I was good enough for what was ahead of me. Was I equipped for the challenges? Would there be enough money? What if this, what if that?
I learned to do with the fear exactly what my clients are always advised by means of their messages – break the fears down in the same way that you built up the fears – brick by brick, illusion by illusion. Where there is no fear, there is clarity, and instead of being blinded by the fear, I can now be guided by the vision.
Do I still have moments of fear? You bet. Do I break them down quickly? Of course, because my vision is clear.
My journey has also taken me to solutions and methods that I use to help people find moments of balance in their lives rather than look at the future with fear. I can then help them to understand that we only experience moments of balance, and as long as we are aware of them, we will strive for them.
However, there are ways to speed up these moments and live a more balanced life in general. We can identify our view of the world and understand how and when this view was shaped. We can then bring perspective to those crucial moments and find the balance in everything that happens to us. And there is solace.
Inner peace is not a sanctuary where we go if we want to hide away from a cruel world. It is rather a moment where we win, having played the world at its own game. Then we move on to the next level and we aim to win that level as well. Inner peace is the prize that we work for, and we learn to find more and more moments of inner peace. We also learn that days of inner peace are not realistic or challenging enough when we have this zest for life. We accept the fleeting moments of solace with gratitude and we accept the challenges that come our way with gratitude.
We realise that we are in the driver’s seat, and that always provides a moment of bliss along the way. That is what makes the journey worthwhile.
