If you're following the crowd you're probably going the wrong way. Steer your own course.
Author: Paul 'Mabzi'
I'm a musician/composer/writer from the UK. I'm in the process of re-branding this website, so if you're a returning visitor - welcome back! - things may look a little different. I've ditched some old posts as they are no longer relevant to who I am and where I am now and the world we live in. If you follow this site you'll start to see posts about things that matter most to me -
environment, conservation, self-help, self-development, politics, society, science, astronomy.
And music of course!
Follow me on twitter: @PaulMabzi
My music is here: https://soundcloud.com/paul-mahabir
Why the hell would I go to the trouble of creating my own binaural beats recording when there’s plenty of free stuff out there on YouTube?
Answer: because I can and it’s fun to create your own stuff!
Binaural beats? What’s that all about? Binaural beats, for those of you unfamiliar with it are frequencies of sound (measured in hertz, or hz) which induce a state of calm by inducing your brain waves from a high alert beta state, through to alpha or theta – which is where you need to be for relaxation, meditation – and ultimately a good night’s sleep.
Very briefly (don’t blind me with science) but how do theywork? Well – since you ask – you hear a tone in one ear at one frequency and a tone in the other ear at another frequency, very close to the original. The brain cannot decide which frequency it’s hearing so it gives up and instead artificially creates a third tone in the middle which resonates at a frequency which equates to the difference between the other two tones. This resonance, or beat, is the frequency which equates to an altered brain wave state. These tones can be played on their own, or can sit with a piece of music – so long as the music does not obliterate the effect of the binaural beats. So for example, the left ear is hearing 432hz, the right ear is hearing 424hz. The brain hears a pulsating tone between the two which resonates at a frequency of 8hz – the difference between 432 and 424. 8hz is a frequency which helps to induce a theta brainwave state – leading to the doorway to the subconscious – the perfect state for very deep meditation, self hypnosis or trance-like state through repeated affirmations.
This is something I have great interest in – the effect of sound – in particular, musical sound -on a human being. Nothing is more important in my opinion than taking care of your health – mental and physical. And since I’m a musician, sound is my thing. It’s what I work with.
In doing this myself it was important for me to use my own music to work with rather than using library stock or royalty-free music. I wanted to combine my love of composing and production with an opportunity to create something with sound that might help others. So I took a piece of music I’d originally composed and produced as a meditative piece a few years back – “Shimmering Ocean Song” – and dropped the pitch of it slightly to align with 432hz – (which many consider to be a more natural frequency for music to be aligned to than 440hz as with most recorded music) and then applied binaural beats to it – using 432hz and 424hz with an 8hz difference – conducive to theta state.
In addition, I added some positive subliminal affirmations which are pitched at a very high frequency – more likely to bypass the outer ear but be picked up by the subconscious and the inner ear, and created the finished track.
I share it here for you to sample and enjoy.
Would be interested to hear what you think and would welcome any feedback as it is my intention to create a piece that will really help people in their efforts with meditation, mindfulness and well being and the relieving of stress. Stress is a killer and is a chronic disease due to the way we live in western societies – and increasingly in the East wherever they adopt western practices. So this is a first go at this and I’m putting it out there for you to tell me what you think.
Feel free to comment below, message me on twitter @paulmabzi, or email soundkonstrukta@gmail.com.
How can it not be ok? The answer was there all the time. We just had to look for it..
Strange days we’re living in. Wouldn’t you agree? Turmoil, uncertainty, anxiety and fear – it’s easy for us to become overwhelmed. We are assailed on all sides with messages, information, news, instructions, censorship, commands, controls, obstructions and diversions. Too many of us are at the mercy of a tide that’s sweeping us along to somewhere we don’t want to be. For some it may be a temporary diversion and they can pull it back and steer their own course. For others – it is too powerful to fight against. Battling upstream against a raging torrent.
And some of us watch this drama of others unfolding from afar – thinking we are free of the rampaging waters. And yet we too are in shackles of our own making – and we don’t even know it.
I wonder – how many of us will get to the end of our lives and suddenly realise that we’d been on the wrong road, that we’d been living somebody else’s life – instead of our own – following someone else’s vision instead of our own personal dream. Dimming our own light so that others may shine. Too many, I believe.
How many of us are truly ourselves – really, truly authentic? And how many of us are instead at the mercy and whim of others – whether that be an individual or a group or an organisation, or a set of values or cultural beliefs driven deep into our subconscious?
True authenticity – where the gap between our private self and our public self is as narrow as it can be – this is key. This is the nuts and bolts of it all. This is where the magic is. The further we are away from our true selves and our true nature the more alienated we become from ourselves and each other – with disastrous consequences for us as individuals and for society. We have leaders who are noisy on the outside but utterly empty inside, who don’t know themselves – attempting to lead people who don’t know themselves. The blind leading the blind, who are too blind to see that they are blind.
So much of human unhappiness stems from the misguided and misunderstood need to conform to a generic, uniform, homogeneous, average, dull stereotype. We are forced to become a label, a number, a category, a biometric ID. By conforming – saying yes when we mean no, or no when we mean yes – or by remaining silent when every nerve in our body is crying out to speak up – or by doing or saying things only to please others, settling for mediocrity – we die to our true selves and the world is a poorer place without what would have been our unique contribution.
For our own perceived failings we can blame society, the government, schools, church, work, your boss, parents – anyone. But none of that matters. If we’re lost – we’re lost.
The only one who can find you again is you. No-one can do it for you. How can they – when they don’t even know themselves.
I am reminded of some very profound lyrics to the Beatles song – The Inner Light – by George Harrison. These words were themselves inspired by the writing of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu who lived around 2,500 years ago. Their profoundness is made more so, given the current restrictions on our physical freedoms:
Without going out of your door You can know all things on earth Without looking out of your window You could know the ways of heaven The farther one travels The less one knows
This was the B-side (remember B-sides?!) to Paul McCartney’s Lady Madonna and was undoubtedly out of the spotlight when the single was released in 1968- and yet the words – even from the original ancient Lao-Tzu text – convey a deep truth still today:
We have to first look inwards to then see what truly lies without.
Sound of Mind?
As a musician I instinctively express my thoughts and ideas through music first. I guess it’s what I feel most comfortable with. Writing is a follow-on from that. The piece of instrumental music on the link below – Sound of Mind – is something that I wrote to articulate the ideas which I have expressed in this article. I wrote this music several years ago, however – long before I wrote these words – and when I was recording it and arranging the different sections, I found it naturally fell into three parts based on the instrumentation and intensity of the whole piece –
Future Promise – the time when we are charting our course and we dream of our future lives and what promise the future might hold for us. It’s about hope, mystery, wonder, excitement, ambition.
State of Dysfunction. The start of this section is slightly darker in tone. Now the state has its claws in you. The government has you. Society has you. The illusion of physical freedom is lifted. This is pretty much how it is for the majority. Especially today. Welcome to the treadmill. Or in the words of Pink Floyd – Welcome to the Machine.
Rediscovery. When we stop searching for answers and validation outside of ourselves and instead we look inwards and realise that the answer was there all the time. The piano motif from the start is repeated here to signify a return journey. This life was never meant to be an intellectual journey, but an experiential one – and we are the ones doing the experiencing. The experience is the journey. And the experience can only happen in the eternal present moment. There is no past. There is no future. There is no time. There is only now. Every second spent thinking about yesterday or tomorrow is energy taken from your existence today and thus diminishing your life experience. This moment is the only place where you can exist.
The music in this last section builds up to a crescendo of guitars, strings, synths and percussion to a big finish before dying away to a soft piano chord as the music resolves itself. As life resolves itself.
We should not take life so seriously. It’s just a cosmic game. That’s the big joke. It can never be solved. Because if it did, we would cease to exist. The game would be over.
So you see, there really is nothing to worry about. It was always meant to be this way. So how can it not be ok?
Enjoy the game. Enjoy the ride. And don’t die with your music still in you.
Time is of the essence – so let’s keep this short and sweet.
As I write this post we’re effectively under house arrest – all of us – in all but name. We are facing levels of control and restriction of freedom that is bordering on infringement of human rights.
Why are we agreeing to this?
Because of what the mainstream media are telling us and what the government are telling us – and because they have sanctions if we don’t cooperate – police, fines, jail etc. You know the score. And let’s not forget social ostracism. Fear of what others may think, say or do if we don’t tow the line and follow like unquestioning sheep.
So we aren’t doing this voluntarily. We are being “gently” coerced and operating out of fear borne from the “facts” about Covid-19 that they choose to tell us.
But something is very odd about this whole thing and I bet I am not the only one to think that.
So I am going to ask you to consider something. Let’s pretend for a minute that the government and the World Health Organisation are not being entirely truthful – where would you then go for your information?
Well there are alternative media platforms and channels out there. But here’s an interesting fact – they’re being censored and the people who are voicing their opinions on these platforms written off as conspiracy theorists. Londonreal.tv being a prime example, with videos being pulled by YouTube, even though they were live-streamed by millions who want to hear another viewpoint.
And why do people keep talking about empty hospitals? Is this true? Does it not merit investigation? And why doesn’t Ofcom want mainstream media talking about 5G and coronavirus? It’s almost as if they have a vested interest in 5G.
Now there’s a view that the CIA coined the term conspiracy theory after the Kennedy assassination to discredit anyone who deviated from the official story (but that might be a conspiracy theory). I have a better term – it’s called alternative theory. Nothing clever about that but it is what it says it is – an alternative theory.
So let me make a suggestion. Don’t be a sheep and don’t bury your head in the sand. Seek out an alternative view. Dr Rashid Buttar for example, who has eloquently expressed an alternative view on the coronavirus and the concept of mass vaccination in an interview with Brian Rose on LondonReal.tv.
Now there is a good chance that mass vaccination might well be put to us – we might be “gently” coerced and convinced with some carefully constructed “scientific” data put forward by “independent scientific experts”. Sorry about all the quotation marks, but needs must. So before you submit to a stranger sticking a needle in you and injecting something into your body I think you have a right to know what other people are saying about this first.
As for the vaccines themselves? I strongly urge you to listen to Dr Bruce Lipton. Your body’s immune system is stronger than you realise. Fear weakens the immune system. And just what do they put in these vaccines?
So why am I saying this?
This alleged pandemic is being used to implement mass control by stealth. If you cannot see it now, then you will soon. You will buy into it though. Because unless you are vaccinated and eventually chipped, tracked, barcoded or whatever your civil liberties will be severely curtailed.
Get out of the mainstream. Arm yourself with information from other sources.
Censorship only exists where governments have something to hide. It’s up to all of us whether or not we just keep quiet and let it all happen – or whether we speak out now. I don’t know about you but I would like to look my kids in the eye in the future and say that I said something, I did something.
If I’m wrong about all this then that’s fine and we only have a pandemic to deal with and not the first step towards a globalised totalitarian Orwellian government by stealth. But like I said before, there’s something distinctly odd about this whole thing. And nearly everyone I speak to says the same.
There are only two northern white rhinos left in the entire world. And they are kept under 24-hour guard in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.
What an appalling indictment of the state of our world today. What on earth have we done? What the hell are we playing at?
I was watching David Attenborough on the BBC – in his Seven Worlds, One Planet series the other day and there was a clip where he visits the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to see the rhinos. What got me more than anything else was the look of utter despair and resignation on his face as he spoke of their fate. Here is a man who personifies everything that is decent, selfless and knowledgeable about our natural world. He speaks with authority and sincerity. If he says it’s bad – it’s bad. I knew things weren’t great for rhinos but I didn’t realise just how terrible their plight was.
Image credit: The Independent
Not two thousand, or two hundred. Two left. Both female. Kept under 24-hour guard to protect them from their deadly predator – humans.
Their names, if we can at least grant them some last dignity, are Najin and Fatu. Mother and daughter. The last male, Sudan, died in 2018. After they’re gone – that’s it – short of a miracle, they’re finished…
Extinct.
Let’s pause for a second and allow that word and its implications to sink in.
Feel the loss. Feel the outrage. Feel the collective shame. After millions of years – gone forever.
Yet another species to disappear from the planet thanks to the devastation the human species has wrought upon the environment through poaching, culling, deforestation, urbanisation, mining, farming, building, polluting, industrialisation etc. You know the list as well as I do. Only around 29,000 rhinos remain in the wild – and of the white rhino species, the northern white rhino – a sub-species – is teetering on the brink of extinction. It’s happened countless times before with many other species on every continent and will no doubt continue.
Now I don’t doubt for one second that any half intelligent person reading this news feels as equally appalled as me at this shocking fact. Who wouldn’t be? It doesn’t feel good, does it? To know that we’re part of that – all be it unknowingly – unintentionally. But we are one. We are collectively responsible – whether willfully or through ignorance. There’s no ducking out of it. We are all connected. The butterfly effect, the ripple effect. We read this shocking news and feel an overwhelming sense of despair at humankind and our collective stupidity and sheer blindness to the trail of devastation. This then adds to the general malaise and and general quiet dissatisfaction that we hold towards ourselves as a society. We ask ourselves, what is the point, what is the use, what can we do? There is just no hope. We might as well just give up. It’s too much to change this – so we may as well give in – just let them go extinct. What can we do. After all – it’s too late now. And anyway – it’s all down to poachers isn’t it? Nothing to do with us.
So we move on to the next problem instead. Besides, we’ve got more important things to sort out in the world right now haven’t we? – coronavirus, economic crisis, war, corruption, terrorism etc. It’s not that we don’t care, we just don’t know what to do. It’s too overwhelming. Move on. Scroll on.
But hold on a minute. Back up there. Move on to what exactly? Move on to fixing things and getting on with our post-covid 19 world so we can be getting back to our obsession of “more-faster-cheaper” mass consumption and its devastating affect on the natural world? More of that?
We are driving ourselves to our own extinction and taking other species with us.
Nobody in their right mind reading this wants these creatures extinct. So why is this allowed to happen?
Why doesn’t anyone stop it?
Oh come on. We know why.
There’s no money in it. There’s no profits to be made in saving the northern white rhino (or any other near-extinct species). There’s no immediate tangible benefit that can be instantly monetised. The people who run our world genuinely aren’t concerned. They have their own agenda of control, subjugation and manipulation – and it doesn’t involve saving rhinos, or any other species, from extinction.
We are blind to the consequences of doing nothing because it is not immediately apparent what these consequences are and therefore the incentive is less. So we kinda see what the issue is but we don’t see a direct correlation between action and consequence. Or at least not enough of us do. Enough of us to make a real difference.
It would take a miracle and a heroic effort.
Right. So that’s that then. It’s a foregone conclusion. Case closed.
So they can’t be saved?
You’d think so. However, while you and I sit here, scrolling and browsing at our leisure, a miracle may well be happening. There are people who are trying to defy the odds and save this species from extinction. They are not taking no for an answer and they are taking action.
Check this out. This is incredible:
They are harvesting eggs from the two remaining female northern white rhinos, with the plan to successfully implant an embryo into a southern white rhino as a surrogate – as a last and incredibly heroic attempt to save the species from extinction.
Wow. Imagine being part of that team! Imagine waking up in the morning and having on your agenda for the day just one item – saving species from extinction.
I include a link at the end of this article so you can read for yourself of the amazing efforts of the conservationists and scientists who, with the support of the Kenyan government, are selflessly working to save this species from disappearing forever.
Latest news at the time of writing, is that these efforts have been hit by the coronavirus and travel restrictions. Elodie Sampéré – PR, Communications and Fundraising Consultant at Wild Communications – told me this week that the next ovum collection for the embryo project, due to happen in April, has now been cancelled because of it. They are hoping it will be rescheduled for August. No guarantee of course. And time is not on their side to save this species. As the females get older it will be increasingly difficult to successfully obtain eggs.
“If there is one message that I think people need to hear it is that conservation must go on. We must keep protecting these species regardless of the turmoil that is currently happening in the world. Actually we feel it is now more important than ever.”
– Elodie Sampéré (Wild Communications)
At this point, we might be tempted to say, well that’s ok – they’re doing something about it, so maybe it will be alright then and they will be saved.
Maybe. I certainly hope so – and so do you. But you know that’s a cop-out. That’s apathy. And look where apathy has got us.
Their work is far from done and the outcome is definitely not assured. And there’s obviously a bigger issue here. The plight of the northern white rhino is just the tragic tip of the iceberg. The issue needs to be tackled head on. We can no longer just ignore it.We are destroying our ecosystem.
Hello? Anybody listening? earth to humans? Literally: earth to humans?
Complacency is devastating
Those words were inscribed on the wall where I used to work and served as a constant reminder to be the best in my job – never assume, take responsibility, take action, step up etc. You know the corporate speak – we all do. It gets results. Great for business. Good news for shareholders. Well those words apply here too – in conservation and the preservation of our environment, the ecosystem and all species with which we share this world. And we ignore them at our peril.
We are shareholders in our environment but we invest nothing. We just take.
So what does it say about us if we let this slide? If we just let it go – because we feel helpless and powerless to do anything? Is this good enough? Is this acceptable? Is this ok?
No – absolutely it isn’t. And we can’t hide behind coronavirus as an excuse. There’s always an excuse. And if it’s not coronavirus it will be something else. We somehow manage to avoid that difficult, awkward conversation that needs to happen globally and publicly:
How and when are we going to stop destroying our planet and endangering the bio-diversity of life of which we are part and which is fundamental to our survival?
It’s up to us. You, me and anyone else who is not prepared to put up and shut up about the way our world is run by a corrupt elite who don’t give a damn about the great mass of common humans – let alone the species we share our world with.
Now I’m not here to implore you to donate – though that would of course be amazing. We can all do that. This is not about money. It’s about changing the way we think, feel and live. We’re the problem. Not money. Money goes where we tell it to.
What on earth is wrong with us? Why are we like this?
We need to deal with the root cause. It’s down to us, as individuals and as a collective.
The bad news is there are billions of humans on this planet and we haven’t yet learned how to cooperate to utilise the planet’s resources in a sustainable manner that will allow us to peacefully co-exist with our fellow creatures without infringing on their right to live with the same freedoms we demand for ourselves. We don’t even know how to co-exist with our fellow humans. For more on this subject just read the entire world history of the 20th century.
This all just stems from ignorance. Our ignorance holds us back. This stems from apathy and a lack of self belief at both individual and societal levels. We fill our lives with materialism and consumption because our existence is devoid of any meaning and we don’t know what else to do. Our bodies are addicted to the natural chemical highs created by the brain in reaction to the experiences we choose to have. That’s why we mindlessly scroll through looking for the next dopamine hit. We are scared to look inwards, we are scared to be alone with ourselves. We are scared of what we might find. We are scared of a world without Wifi, without the internet or Netflix, or Amazon or toilet paper or pasta. We are scared of Without.
When we do this we demean ourselves as a species. We are better than this. We need to shape up.
“Welcome to planet earth. But I’m afraid there’s not much left to see.”
If ever extra terrestrials were to visit earth, I for one would not be afraid. If anything I’d be embarrassed.
“Hi. Yeah, sorry about this. This is a bit awkward. You’ve kinda come at the wrong time. We were hoping we could show you around and you could see some of the other animals we share the world with – but I’m afraid you’ve come a bit too late. They’re pretty much all gone. Give us a good rating on TripAdvisor though?”
Ok so this is no laughing matter but it is almost comical were the consequences not so tragic. And therein lies the greatest tragedy. It is our belief that we lack everything we need to feel whole and complete that has ultimately caused the devastation we are creating around us. We never have enough. We never feel we are enough.
Our belief in lack has stripped us of our potential to reach dizzying heights of compassion and cooperation that could turn this world back into a Garden of Eden – if we wanted. Just think what we could achieve with the aid of artificial intelligence and nano-technology if, instead of it now being used as surveillance and control of the population as we are increasingly moving towards, we instead invest even more in cleaning up our environment and speeding up research into solutions to maintain our biodiversity and our natural habitat.
Maybe it will be too late to ensure the continuation of the northern white rhino – but we can turn this around. We have to. It is immoral what we are allowing to happen.
I believe the human race is fundamentally good and at a general level we can cooperate for the greater good – otherwise we would long ago have driven ourselves to extinction.
We need to dig deep – not into our pockets – but into our souls, and return to our true nature – our true state of being, which is being denied to us by the economic and social slavery to which the majority of the world’s population are forced into in the name of progress. Whose progress exactly?
Perhaps the fate of the northern white rhino will serve as a wake-up call. By god we need one. We are sleep-waking towards our own extinction.
So let’s just do this. Ignore the naysayers and critics. Let’s start today. Let’s join those people around the world who are already trying to change things.
Be vocal. Make yourself heard. Include issues like this on your social media feed and change the conversation to include environmental issues. You are sitting on a goldmine with the potential to use your social media platform to transform the world – if you really wanted to. Millions of individual voices – all saying the same thing – enough is enough. Move this issue and others like it up the agenda. This is about our moral integrity and our legacy. Make your legacy something worthwhile. Move the public attention on to these issues. Money eventually goes where the attention is.
Hold our politicians to account. Demand more from them. Demand that they follow the example of the Kenyan government and support the valiant efforts of scientists and conservationists worldwide, and show some compassion and respect for the environment. Politicians want to be seen to be doing the right thing. You decide what the right thing is – not them. We’re not stupid and it’s about time we took control back of our lives. Reverse this tragic loss of species diversity before it is too late. Our leaders need to be bold, daring and radical if we’re to reverse this environmental catastrophe. We, the people, need to set the bar high and insist they rise to the challenge – or make way for people who will.Saving the environment and endangered species should be an international policy worldwide – and not left to charitable donation. Our future depends on it. We are part of the ecosystem. Mess it up and we will be the ones teetering on the brink of extinction. Except there will be no one to mount 24 hour guard over the last human on earth..
Consume less. We need to stop competing with everyone, trying to keep up with our neighbours and peers. Just stop. Stop buying all this stuff in a futile attempt to fill up that void of emptiness inside. Save money and help save the natural world instead. What a payback. Who wouldn’t want that? It’s a tiny step – but if enough of us did it.. that will go some way. Buy less stuff and be careful of what we do buy. Be selective – less is more. Quality – not quantity. Ethical, not immoral. Stop hiding your true self behind your possessions. And when we do buy, we should (where we can) check the supply chain of who we’re buying from and where their suppliers are buying from. Everything comes from the earth as the ultimate source. Make it your business to know the impact of where you send your money and if in doubt – don’t buy. We’re not going to die because we own less things. It might even be liberating. Inert, money is useless. But put to use, money is power. Money is energy. You have money – you have power. Use it wisely.
Don’t try to change the world by external means. You can’t. Instead, change yourself inside and you change the world. You are part of this world. Remember the ripple effect, the butterfly wings? The survival of natural biodiversity depends on us – you and me. So change yourself then. Stop chasing money, people and things. Develop compassion, patience, deferred gratification, and a hunger for self-knowledge and development. Re-connect with this world as you are supposed to. If enough of us could do that, if enough of us turned our backs on this shallow, competitive, fake consumer-driven, alienating nine to five, twenty-four seven existence we’ve been hood-winked into, where we seek to validate ourselves through the acquisition of things, selfies and likes, and instead cultivated a sense of connectivity to each other and the natural world around us, we would, as a species, learn to cooperate with one another to our mutual benefit – and also to the benefit of those creatures (those that are left) with whom we share this world.
And guess what else – we would be happier!
Can we really do this? Can we pull ourselves back from the brink?
Yes. Of course! It’s a numbers game. It just takes enough individuals acting collectively. We just need to reach a tipping point and then there’s no stopping us.
get this conversation mainstream
hold our leaders to account
change your consumption habits
change yourself
And then, perhaps, we might tip the balance – turn the tide – we might instead marvel once again, as our ancestors must have done, millennia ago, at the sheer wonder and beauty of the natural world. We are primordial beings still. We just manipulate our environment excessively because of our ultimate fear of death and our need to distance ourselves from it through material consumption. But in exploiting our environment to this extent we are denying our true selves. It is making us sick. We must learn to cherish and nurture our true nature. We might then cultivate a future earth that is a fitting tribute to all that is noble and pure about humanity. A self-sustaining legacy of life in all its diversity.
Why hesitate? If not now – when?
Nature endowed us with consciousness for a reason. We just need to put it to good use. Don’t be down about this. This is no time for self-doubt, anxiety and despair. This is a time for arming ourselves with knowledge and taking some action – and feel energised and good to be alive. We should be proud of who we are and what we are. We may have got it wrong at times but it is never too late to change. Find out where/how we can help, sort ourselves out and get our life priorities in order. With so much free information on the internet there is no excuse for ignorance. Ignorance or apathy is a choice. Let’s not make the wrong choice.
I, for one, am hopeful – the glass is always half full. Look at what they’re doing at Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Is that not a lesson to us all? Enough people working together can make a difference.
Thank you for reading this. If you stayed with me this far, I salute you as a kindred spirit. Let’s take this message forward. Do it for the last two remaining Northern White Rhinos on earth. It’s the very least we could do.
As I close my eyes I let the day pass away – but not before I let some final thoughts sink into my subconscious. These are precious thoughts – the most important thoughts of the day. For as I sleep, as my brain waves slow down to theta and delta, this is the moment when the door to my unconscious slips open. This is the moment when thoughts slip through unchecked and my subconscious can work on it all night. So I make sure my final thoughts are special thoughts – of gratitude for something special that has happened that day, and affirmations – reminding myself of who I truly am. This is pushing the reset button before I sleep. For I know that the last 5 minutes before I sleep are the most important 5 minutes. This is when mind programming takes place – for better or worse – depending on the thoughts. And the program your subconscious runs affects your whole life.
I first encountered this idea – of the last 5 minutes before sleep – when reading the work of Dr Wayne Dyer, and it has stayed with me ever since.
So before I sleep tonight, allow me to share something with you – the key to it all is awareness – not effort or strain – simply, awareness. It takes practice but with enough time you can get there.
We already talked about meditation. But it doesn’t stop there. It starts there.
Make the last 5 minutes before you sleep count and you will be rewarded.
Remember – this is for you and you alone. Don’t sabotage your efforts by trying to explain or justify to someone else. They will never understand until they come to it of their own accord – if it’s their wish. Your life journey is your own business and no one else’s.
I found this incredible music on YouTube and I wanted to share it with you. See the link below. As a musician myself it resonated so much with me. I like to have something like this in my head before I sleep and just let the world drift away.
There is another life you know, without all this madness. You don’t need to travel far to find it. It’s all right within your grasp. You just got to look for it..
There is a great lie that has been told which has kept us in chains – both literally and figuratively speaking – since the dawn of civilisation. It is a lie that is so big we cannot see it – we do not even know it is there – so we can scarcely challenge or question it. But it is there. It is the lie that has plagued us from the cradle to the grave, from one generation to the next, across the whole of the supposedly civilised world.
We believe this lie – implicitly – unquestioningly, unfailingly.
We love this lie because it gives us our identity and our place in society. Whilst it doesn’t always make us happy it at least affords us some comfort from the security of our daily routine of life.
What is this lie?
It is the belief that we are not perfect. We are not good enough the way we are. We are never enough. It is the belief that our happiness and fulfillment lies outside of ourselves. It is the belief that there are others who know what is best for us. It is the belief that we alone are never enough and that we are unloved, unlovable. It is the belief that we are never good enough.
And it is a belief that has probably caused more misery and unhappiness on this planet than anything else. For without that belief in the self, without that self-love, self-affirmation and self-knowing, we are incapable of truly loving anyone or anything outside of ourselves.
If you don’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else? How can you love and care for our world?
Everyone talks about fixing the planet. The planet isn’t the problem. We’re the problem. Fix ourselves first. All else follows from that. Rainforests don’t cut themselves down. We’re the ones who constantly crave stuff. We’re the ones who are stealing from this world and going against nature because of that empty void inside – which all stems from lack – lack of self love, self-esteem, self belief. This leaves us wide open for others to step in and reprogram our minds for endless, mindless consumerism and materialism and a never-ending spiral of “more-faster-cheaper” that is an insult to our true nature.
When is it enough?
So where to start? Take the first step. Know yourself. Learn to meditate. Ten minutes a day. Ten minutes to change your life. Make it your business to find out how. You’re not stupid. If you can negotiate your way around Amazon (the website, not the rainforest), drive a car or use a phone then you can learn to meditate.
You owe it to yourself. We owe it to each other. It will be the greatest investment you ever make. Investment in yourself. And it will repay you in ways in which money alone can never do.
You can never ever be anyone else – no matter who you are, where you are, what you are, what you own, what you say or do. You can never ever be anyone else.
So you may as well get good at doing what you were brought here to do – being yourself. Be so good at being yourself, be so authentic and real as far as is humanly possible. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It never has mattered. You’re the only one who thought it did! Everyone else is too busy doing what the hell they want to worry about you.
Do it. No excuses. Be your own best friend. Coach yourself. Look after yourself. Cherish and nurture yourself. Stop depriving yourself of the life you’re meant to have.
You have a choice.
It all starts from that. It costs nothing but time and the will to do it. If not now – when?
Never is a question more wrongly answered than this:
Who are you?
You are not your name You are not your appearance, or your physical shape You are not your age You are not your profession You are not your gender or sexuality, or your nationality You are not the property of the state, your employer, spouse, partner or family You cannot be defined by wealth or status You cannot be defined by the car you drive, or the house in which you live You are not the clothes you wear, the food you eat, or your golf swing You are not defined by your goals or your ambitions You cannot be contained, or imprisoned, for you are more than your body You are not what you did, what others said you did, or what you thought you did You cannot be labelled You are not what others may call you You are not your mind or your memories You are not what happened to you in your past You are not defined by your doubts or fears You are not your language or culture You are not your social media profile nor your username, nor your latest selfie You are not your football team’s ranking or your position in the local community You are not an economic unit turning the wheels of industry You are not your religion or political persuasion You are not a victim, though your ego may choose that name for yourself You are no-one’s master, though others may say otherwise, or you may think otherwise You are not the same human being you were a minute ago, for nothing in the universe is fixed in time You are neither good nor bad
Know this..
You are one who could instinctively save another with no thought for your own life You are the one behind the smile to a stranger – for no reason other than an expression of life seeking life You are one who can give love to others, and who is worthy of love from others You are the one who can bring light where there is darkness, if you so choose You are the one who can be the party, not just go to the party You are one who can say more with silence than with words You are one who can speak up when truth cannot be suppressed You are one who can be alone, but not be lonely You are one who can see, though your eyes may be closed You are one who can be both the musical notes and the silence in between them in the symphony You are the one who is the artist and the subject You are one who can choose destruction or creation, chaos or order, suffering or compassion You are one who can choose happiness or sorrow You are more than you can think You are more than you can speak You are more than you can do You are greater than your feelings You are more than the sum total of all your daily habits You are more than the program hard-wired into your subconscious You are so much more than you will ever understand You are spontaneous You are magnificence itself You are an incredible work of art and are not to be rushed, but to be marvelled at and appreciated You are limitless universal power – ever flowing, never ceasing You are multi-dimensional You are bigger than this world You are beyond all analytical thinking and experimentation You are less than no one, you are greater than no one You are the creator of your earthly experience You are the maker of the movie of your life – the director and the star You are the force which moves the avatar – your body – in whatever manner you may choose, be it with grace, agility, or aggression You are the being that can remain absolutely still and do nothing – just be You are the guard at the doorway of your mind You are the thinker, not the thoughts You are the infinite space between all your thoughts You are the creator of the thoughts from which all else proceeds and from which your reality unfolds You are utterly complete and in need of no one or no thing You are perfect imperfection You are me, and I am you You are from that which has no name, no sound, no image You are the very stuff of the universe You are infinite You are all that is, all that was and all that shall ever be. You are pure energy
Why do we put off happiness now by believing that our true happiness lies in some utopian future? Why don’t we realise that this utopian future can never be and that it is only right here and now in this moment that we can be at peace and find true happiness.
We only have to learn to become self aware to achieve this – instead of sleep-walking through life in a daze on a path dictated to our subconscious by a belief system that is not our own but is inherited from society.
It is about real living. We hear in the news a lot about fake news these days. The problem isn’t fake news, the problem is fake lives. Inauthentic lives – at every level of society – from the humblest and poorest to the richest and most powerful. Lives of fear and self-repression. It is not real living. It is us living in fear of things we can’t even name. Ultimately the fear of death itself – which is the end fear of all fears.
So how do I define real living in this context? Well, it is my belief that if each one of us strive to adopt the following even 50% of the time, it would make a massive difference to our individual lives. Now just imagine the sum total of all those changed individual lives.
I define real living as being yourself as fully and as far as possible so that the You that you keep private eventually becomes the You that you present to the world without fear or anxiety. To be transparent to the point where ‘what you see is what you get’ and to feel great about that.
It is being able to live in the present moment without being dictated by your past or by a fearful imagined future.
It’s about doing what you want with your life and not giving a damn what anyone else has to say about it – whoever they may be and however well meaning they may be.
It’s about waking up each morning and feeling invigorated and excited to start your day because you just discovered you have an amazing life and that you are an amazing individual.
It’s about feeling like you won the lottery – even though you haven’t.
It’s about being happy with who you are, where you are, what you have, rich or poor.
It’s about knowing that there is nothing that anyone can say, or do that can ever take this amazing feeling away from you.
It’s about knowing that that you no longer have to rely on anything or anyone else to bring you happiness, because you have realised that “there is no way to happiness – happiness is the way” (Quote: Thich Nhat Hanh)
It’s about becoming aware of the real you – the one who operates your body, who thinks your thoughts.
It is about being able to live every minute of your life and move through each minute of your life with complete awareness of everything you think, feel and do – to the extent that you are no longer a victim of your life but instead the creator of your life.
It’s about knowing you have an immense journey and making a decision right here and right now that you are going to relish and savour every step.
It’s about deciding that never again will you live in fear, regrets or wistful thinking but instead will recognise that everything was meant to be – to bring you here to this moment in time – this moment of revelation.
It’s about finally realising that you need no-one’s permission to live the life of your dreams and that the only one holding you back is you.
It’s about finally realising that all that negative stuff serves a purpose – it gives you wisdom to see how it has infected everything you have perceived as your reality – every experience you had, everything that anyone said to you, did to you, withheld from you, put upon you.
It is realising that through your thoughts you turned a moment of fear into a lifetime of anxiety and that with this realisation comes liberation.
It is about that moment when the veil is finally lifted and you suddenly realise with a jolt that your life is happening right here, right now, in front of you and that you have unconsciously created every moment of it – and with it, the awesome realisation that you don’t have to have it this way anymore.
It’s when you finally realise that you are the star of the show – the movie of your life – not a bit-part actor in someone else’s life story. And it’s realising that everyone loves this movie because it is real, it is authentic and it has depth and meaning.
It is remembering that you are more than just somebody’s son, daughter, brother, sister, wife, husband, partner, father, mother.
You are more than just a citizen of a nation state, a national insurance or social security number, a passport number, a follower of a religion, a plumber, a scientist, a social worker, a doctor.
It is when you realise you are much, much more than your job.
It’s when you realise you are unique, one of a kind, a one off. There is no one else like you.
It’s about realising that the world is your canvas too – and the whole world is not just waiting for you to paint your picture, but it needs you to paint your picture – to complete your part in the great universal tapestry of existence.
It’s when you realise you are the artist of your life and you have everything in your power to make it the most beautiful work of art that you can imagine and that every action and thought leaves a trace in the universe.
It’s when you realise that there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore and that the past is the past and is gone and you have a choice to select a glorious future.
It’s when you realise that the you which you thought you were is not really you – but is in fact something infinitely greater.
It is looking at yourself in the mirror, into your own soul and being aware of the higher intelligence which is expressing itself through this body.
It is seeing your true beauty and not needing anyone else to validate it
It is finally removing the borrowed filters and lenses through which you have viewed the world and experiencing it without prejudice as it really is in the way it relates to the real you.
It is stepping out of your own shadow and turning to face the sun.
It is about realising that all of this is within your reach if only you would reach out and take it.
It is realising that you love yourself so much that from this moment on you make a vow to yourself that you will be the best friend to yourself that you could ever have.
It is knowing that in the end it’s all going to work out just fine.
It is knowing that once you were lost, but now you are found.
It is knowing that none of this will cost you a penny and is worth more than anything money can buy.
It is knowing that it is good to be you and that you wouldn’t change it for all the money in the world!
If you want to change the world – first change yourself.
free 2 think zone 