This analogy embodies the very core of why we act and react in the way we do. For those of you who have worked with me will know, that much of what we do, is to recognise and empower the inner child.
The thoughts and feelings we have are not ours now, they are created by our experience and feelings of the past.
With awareness we can let go of some need from others or for things, especially in our physical lives, like the need for stabilisers on a bike or the need for our parents to feed us food, but other things, like feelings, which are more emotionally, not physical are linked to our need for, love, freedom, peace, serenity.
We often seek to find these things from others - connection, validation, purpose.
If we cannot find that need from others, we look to things to feed that need of connection.
We are looking outwardly for that serenity and there are so many that will feed that addiction.
It is never about the thing, but the feeling, however short lived, we seek a feeling, not the thing itself, yet we are taught that things will bring us serenity, why?
It feeds the same need of the person offering it you.
If McDonalds didn’t sell burgers they would be broke, millions of people would lose their jobs, share holders would loose all their money, homes and we grasp longingly onto these things, like a baby holding onto a parent for security, but they can be taken away at anytime and this is why this pandemic is so dangerous.
It is not the virus, the thing, it is the thought of what it can take from us.
Once you can accept you can lose everything, even you physical life and everything will be OK, because it was never yours in the first place, however painful, accept that fact, accept you will be OK, then and only then will you be at peace.
Just think of this phrase “My Hand”, you are not your hand, it is yours, like my iPad, like my Prada handbag, my car – your body belongs to you, your soul, spirit is the essence of you.
Yet the seeking, the thing we want, does not bring us the feeling we require, in fact it brings us stress, panic and the feeling of failure to obtain what society tells us will bring us what we desire, the very ease we seek brings us dis-ease.
You feel inadequate because someone else says you should have or be, or that is at least a belief, conscious or subconscious.
No one in power or influence gives you self-empowerment, the people you seek the answers from, often have their own interests at heart, but we are told this is selfish to put ourselves first.
Why can they serve themselves first, but you cannot? Who says you cannot?
They know that to serve you must first take, you cannot drink from an empty cup, if you give without giving to yourself, you will overtime, become thirsty.
Now you may say well the government have power, I cannot do as I please. This is not true, you can do what you please but there will be a choice.
Often we seek to get the the thing not the feeling, you can at anytime give yourself the feeling you desire when you give away the connecting story which stops you from receiving it.
Don’t let people drink from your cup, set aside what you wish to serve and let them drink from the saucer, because as you grow in strength so will the level of your service.
The dis-ease or disease will start as a feeling and may if untreated manifest into physical form, weight issues, cancers, flu.
The ease will manifest the opposite. So choose.
No vaccine will bring you serenity, no pill will take away pain because you are treating a feeling with a thing. Yes it may give temporary respite and yes this is actually its intention, but we cling onto the quick fix, we treat the thing like a parent.
Do you still live with your parents, could you live full-time with your parents?
If the answer is no, then why do you live full-time with the thoughts that do not bring you peace, love, freedom, serenity.
People, things, cannot give you what you desire, only you can do that.
Yet you continue smoking because it gives a temporary fix then scoff at paying for the knowledge and experience which will give you the actually thing you want, the knowledge which will give you the choice to break free.
The knowledge which you possess inside is free, you just need to know how to get to it, but you refuse to seek the actual thing which will give you the thing you desire most, peace, freedom, serenity.
When you pay for knowledge you pay for knowing, for energy. You pay for the thing you want and energetic feeling.
You pay for electricity to power your TV, you do not get to keep the electricity, it flows in and out, you simply accept that without it the thing will not work.
Then why when you feed your body and mind poor energy and your picture of life is grainy you are willing to accept this.
The covid 19 pandemic is a case in point, now I am not going to discuss the merits of how this is being handled, but look at how the media and governments are tackling the outbreak by repression and shutting down.
The disease is causing further dis-ease.
Yes, there is talk about exercise more, do this, do that – there is advice on what to do and how to do it but nothing about why.
Why is it that some people are coping, some thriving, whilst others are suffering and I don’t mean by having covid, but maybe the thought of getting it, the feeling of isolation, the change in what is familiar.
Why are some OK and others not.
You are God, you are the creator. When the bible says God created man in his own image, we take that as in physical form, it is tangible we can visualise it, but what is meant by this is God, the universe, whatever your belief system, you are God, you are your own creator and you do have choice.
In Neale Donald Walsch’s book, Conversations with God, God explains that to first experience love, you must experience loneliness, to experience joy you must experience pain. If you do not experience the opposite of what it is you desire then you have nothing to compare it to.
The question to why God makes things happen, cruelty, war, hate, God answers (and I paraphrase) by saying” I created you in my image, I do not control you, I have given you the choice, I have offered only the experience and I God, the universe gave you choice, to choose which feelings you create within you. I have created you in my image therefore you are God, you are the creator”.
Stop seeking to blame others because experience is the lesson, you then choose what you create from that experience.
Our societies are built on experiences of people in the past, they offer solutions that work for them. Who is to say what is right for them, is right for you?
Who is to say that their interpretation, even my interpretation is right for you?
I simply, like others, offer a path of choice which may or may not serve you.
Evolution by its very nature creates and destroys and from destruction comes new life.
Your feelings are the very fertiliser that will allow you to grow abundance, but if you feed your soul with negativity, you will not grow.
If you seek to just trim the weeds you will only create a temporary reality.
Seeking the root cause and changing how that is fed will be the key.
I recently asked a number of people if they would trust the advice from a person who had experienced something personally such as anxiety and PTSD and overcome it, over a medic, a doctor who had merely studied it but never truly experienced it.
Two thirds said they would speak to someone who had been through it and come out the other side, conversely the medics stated it was irresponsible and people should seek medical advice always – why?
They have followed a path that gives them status, ego and they have been told this is how it is, they cling onto this thought because their inner child is hurt and they seek solace from what they know, their safety, comfort, their parent who surely cannot be wrong.
I never stated which was the right thing to do, just invoked a question.
Have we not been defending family honour for years?
Have most wars been founded on the interpretation of God’s word?
God’s word, the governments word must not be questioned or there will be consequences - these are the word of man's interpretation of God, or what it is like to be the creator.
God did not create evil, man created evil in God’s name because we are God, we are the creator, because God, the universe made it so.
But acceptance of this is hard, so we deflect, create images and stories to escape the truth that we are the creator.
The answers to why you need connection resides inside not outside, the need is with the inner child, within your inner God, if you stop and listen you already have the answers but we are preoccupied in listening to the other person’s God not our own, then criticise when it all goes wrong for us.
I am a big fan of Bob Proctor, for those who don’t know Bob, just google his name he is a God amongst men and has studied this work for many years.
He writes on his website www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com about how in 1972 he was given a special gift, a book –
As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.
Published in 1902 these seemingly simple techniques presented in this book will empower you to strengthen your character.
The final chapter of the book is called – Serenity.
Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.
A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.
The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn from him and rely upon him.
The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Even the ordinary trader will find his business prosperity increase as he develops a greater self-control and equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanor is equable.
The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. “Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life?
It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character which we call serenity is the last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold—yea, than even fine gold.
How insignificant mere money-seeking looks in comparison with a serene life—a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of the tempests, in the Eternal Calm!”
“How many people we know who sour their lives, who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers, who destroy their poise of character, and make bad blood!
It is a question whether the great majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control.
How few people we meet in life who are well balanced, who have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of the finished character!”
Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt. Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever you may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this—in the ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.
Keep your hands firmly upon the helm of thought.
In the barque of your soul reclines the commanding Master; he does but sleep; wake him.
Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, “Peace be still!
James Allen
