Magic Monday: 09/01/2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Posted: 08 Sep 2008 12:36 PM CDT

I think on the whole that what most of us seek is peace.

On a personal level we seek the inner peace, calm and confidence that we know is possible, but is obscured the many distractions of daily life.

On a work level we seek the peace of knowing that we are on the right path and making a contribution which is valued.

On a global level we seek a society that can be at peace with itself, other societies, other species and the planet as a whole.

I think peace is what we are looking for, even if the routes that we choose sometimes seem quite circuitous.

The fact that so many are now actively working for peace at a global level, across cultures, across species and across time is an indicator of the level of consciousness that we are starting to attain,

We moved to Mallorca a year ago today. I am thrilled to say that the move has been as enabling to my continued personal development as I had hoped it would be, perhaps more so.

One of the unexpected delights of moving here has been the opportunity to meet up, work and collaborate with David Biddle and Judy Fraser.

David is a Chiropractor, who works with a branch of Chiropractic called Network Spinal Analysis. Through working with David I have become far more in touch with my physical self.

My habit has been to be very hard on myself physically, consistently pushing myself to, and beyond my limits. David has been able to see these patterns in my spine and physiology, to see where they have come from, to release the tensions that have caused them and guide me to a more peaceful attitude to myself.

Judy has an oracle like quality about her. She is able to accurately read peoples emotions and life tensions at a glance. When she plays back what she reads she helps to clarify the complex webs of emotional baggage that we build up through our lives.

Judy has helped me to un-pick and disentangle my 44 years of emotions and find a much more peaceful way to be with my past and all of the people in it, including myself.

I, in turn, have helped both Judy and David to have greater clarity about what they do and how to make it accessible to more people.

Together we are now offering The PIE retreat as a way of helping you to make this peace for yourself. Peace with the past, peace with the present, peace with your body, peace with relationships, peace with work and peace with the future.

There is no more effective investment that we can make than to invest in our own personal development. Whatever gains you make will benefit you for the rest of your life exponentially.

I hope very much that you are able to come.

My lovely friend Gwendolyn was kind enough to make a short film of me talking about The Pie Retreat.

Or you can find out more and book your place here.

The PIE Retreat, 10-12 October, is designed specifically to propel people to a level of learning they had not considered possible. It will awaken you to what you know to be possible but so often struggle to reach.

If you find these e-mails valuable and energising, you may like to contribute some energy to help me continue to write them. £5 per year seems like good value.

With love

nx

neil crofts - coach, consultant, facilitator
Authentic Transformation - join the evolution
UK mobile 07775 658534
neil@authentictransformation.co.uk
www.authentictransformation.co.uk

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience" Aldous Huxley 1949

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Monday, September 01, 2008

Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Every Day Meditation

Posted: 01 Sep 2008 01:11 AM CDT

I am not an expert on meditation nor even a particularly disciplined practitioner, but I do very much recognise the benefits and experiment with it often.

When we meditate it is a little like de-fragmenting the hard drive on your computer, getting all of your mental processes in order and helping things to run more smoothly.

I have long used an analogy that likens the neural networks in our brain to pathways in a forest. When we learn new things, it is like clearing new pathways in the forest, if we don't use a particular knowledge or ability for some time the pathway will become overgrown.

Perhaps I can extend the analogy and describe meditation as a little like standing to one site and allowing a breeze to clear the leaves from our pathways. Perhaps that could be a mental image to meditate upon?

The reason I am not a particularly disciplined practitioner is that, like many people, I always seem to have a thousand other things calling on my time and peaceful moments are not easy to come by.

But - I see this as one of the pivotal challenges of our age. Buddha himself did not believe that enlightenment could occur within the stresses and pressures of everyday life and left his wife and young child for a contemplative lifestyle.

Today I believe that our challenge is precisely to achieve an enlightened state within a normal, working, family life. In fact the family life bit is particularly important as it creates the opportunity to give a head start to the next generation.

Our usual understanding of meditation is that it involves sitting quiet and still for extended periods or other fairly specialist practices.

However there are other meditative techniques that we can employ in the course of a normal busy day that will give us at least some of the benefits.

Meditation in Moments

Even when we are very busy, it is rare not to find moments of downtime during the day. Perhaps when traveling, perhaps when waiting for something (I frequently zone out waiting on the phone) or queuing.

Mostly what we do with those moments it we find something to distract us. Distraction has very few benefits, it is like a momentary anesthetic, it relieves the pain, but does not heal.

If instead we can grab those moments to empty and open our minds, to bring the focus to the inside, to allow the wind to rifle through one pathway each time. Then cumulatively over a day we might gain 20 or 30 minutes of meditation.

I do often stop and contemplate a view, just staring. It might be a wide expansive view of mountains or stars, or it might be a tiny view of a leaf, flower or ants at work.

Meditation in Work

Meditation while we are being pulled in different directions by work commitments or children can be more challenging.

In these situations I challenge myself to be as mindful as I possibly can be. I seek to take a position of observer on my own activities and check my actions for their lovingness.

Mostly I notice when I slip, after the event and I take note of the lesson learned. I seek to be fully conscious in those everyday stress situations, so I can be peaceful, calm and with love.

Meditation in Activity

Any repetitive activity that requires a different mental state to the norm can also provide meditation opportunities.

The key is to shift from outer to inner focus, from then to now, from they to I. To hold consciousness of your own mental activity, to observe it and be aware of it and when it drifts off, to gently bring it back in.

I can often use gardening or DIY tasks in this way. Solo sports like running, cycling or swimming can also create this space.

The repetitive action becomes the mantra and being able to focus on the repetition helps give a focus for the attention.

See how much meditation space you can create today.

The intention is to cultivate a mental state of peace and tranquility and an attitude of love that you apply to yourself and those around you.

Would you like help in breaking through to a new level?

The PIE Retreat, 10-12 October, is designed specifically to propel people to a level of learning they had not considered possible. It will awaken you to what you know to be possible but so often struggle to reach.

If you find these e-mails valuable and energising, you may like to contribute some energy to help me continue to write them. £5 per year seems like good value.

with love

nx

neil crofts - coach, consultant, facilitator
Authentic Transformation - join the evolution
UK mobile 07775 658534
neil@authentictransformation.co.uk
www.authentictransformation.co.uk

"He who never risks going beyond his limits should not complain about the mediocrity of his existence." Anon