My Unusual Best Friend

Rob is my Best Friend. I’ve known him all my life and we’ve literally done everything together. We went to the same schools, we worked together in the same companies, we have the same friends, like the same music, we even joined the Army together and served in the same Regiment. We’ve even been married twice and divorced twice, and we still live in the same area.

We did get into trouble quite often, usually drink related, and usually when Rob took the lead. Rob’s a bit more outgoing than me, more in your face than I’d ever dare to be and has a fiery temper to boot!

You may now be thinking “Oooh, this is a bit weird.” or something along those lines. But the thing is, Rob isn’t human, at least not in the sense we normally perceive humans in our World of Form, as I like to call it.

No, Rob is my EGO, and he’s my Best Friend. 

The ethos of my forthcoming book Embrace Your Ego is, first and foremost, to help you improve your Lot in Life, to get out of the Rat Race, to Rise above all the turbulence and chaos created by others and start creating a New Home for yourself, one where Peace, Balance, and Harmony, ensconced in Heartfelt, Unconditional Love reigns supreme. Embracing our Ego, accepting it as our Friend and Ally rather than an Enemy, is that missing piece of the Jigsaw leading to a true sense pf Wholeness, of Togetherness, knowing you're perhaps on your own as an individual, but you are definitely not Alone.

Lao Tzu once said that a Journey of a thousand steps starts with the first one, are you willing to take that first step? If so, your Journey begins today.

Namaste.

Jeremy

You Gotta Have Faith!

Wham (George Michael) couldn’t have sang it any better – You’ve got to have Faith. You won’t get anywhere without it. No, I’m not going all religious on you, but I will say those who have a strong Belief in God or other positive Entity, have a definite advantage. At the very least you need to have faith in yourself.

So, who hasn’t heard of the Biblical story about David and Goliath? I would say the majority have in one way or another. It’s often referred to when an individual, for example, takes on a huge corporation in a legal battle of some description.

Just in case you come from another galaxy far, far away or simply haven’t heard this classic tale, I’ll quickly relate it here. 

David was a young shepherd lad growing up in ancient Israel. At that time, they were at war, not unusually, with one of their neighbours, the Philistines. The king of Israel was called Saul, a people’s favourite as he had led them to many victories and they fought under the banner of Jehovah or Yahweh, their God. But this time round, it was proving difficult to rout these Philistines as they’d found a champion.

And what a champion! Went by the name of Goliath, was around three metres tall, apparently had six fingers on each hand, he was heavily armoured and he was smashing the Israelites to bits. It was a bit like being faced with a tank and all you had was a peashooter – no contest.

But Goliath apparently got a bit bored with all the fighting, probably wanted to get back to feasting and womanising, so he laid down a challenge. If Israel’s champion could defeat him, then the Philistines would concede defeat. However, if Goliath won, Israel would be enslaved by Philistia. In his eyes, it was a no-brainer because he was certain Israel didn’t have anyone in their ranks who would beat him.

He hadn’t reckoned with David though. He just happened to be at the Battle Front delivering food and other goodies to his older brothers who were part of Saul’s army. When David learned of the challenge and saw how afraid the soldiers were, he put himself forward as Israel’s champion. This obviously caused some amusement – a 15-year-old shepherd boy, with no military training, going up against a well-trained, fully armoured giant warrior?

However, David had previous. He had singlehandedly killed both a lion and a bear on two different occasions using just his slingshot. He claimed that God had strengthened him so he could protect his sheep and defeat the fierce animals.

Now it’s not explained in the Bible as to why King Saul even listened to David, never mind believed he was the best choice of champion, especially with so much at stake, but he agreed to letting David have his chance.

Possibly Saul saw no other way out and it was just a token effort, or it was the strength of David’s conviction, his Faith in his God, that was the convincing factor. Either way, David did defeat Goliath with a slingshot that sent a pebble between his eyes and then David finished him off by beheading him.

As I said earlier that story is used or referred to struggles of epic proportions such as an individual going up against a huge opposition – not always successful, I might add, but successful enough to be significant. Currently here in UK there’s an almighty battle going on between hundreds of Sub-Post Masters and the Giant Royal Mail due to a decades long computer programme failing which has cased imprisonment, bankruptcy and even suicide. It’s finally getting the attention it deserves and Justice is starting to prevail with convictions being quashed and compensation payouts.  

The question to be asked regarding the defeat of Goliath is, why did David win? He was seriously out of his depth, no military experience, only a lad of about 15 and apparently, all but defenceless. It was his Faith. His faith in both his God and in himself. He wholeheartedly, 100%, believed he could defeat Goliath and ‘saw’ him lying dead at his feet. He believed his God would provide both the strength and the means to achieve this and, in his opinion, that’s exactly what happened.

It doesn’t matter whether you are religious or not, Faith is still something you need to get you through the tough times, the relapses, the ridicule, the adversity, to keep you going when others around you have given up on you.

If your Faith is coupled with a strong belief (religious or otherwise) then, in my book, that’s the equivalent of having a two-edged sword or, to keep it in the David perspective, the best slingshot ever. Of course, it’s only useful if you take action and use it.

Go out there and conquer those Giants!

Namaste,

Jeremy

The Inner Peace Meditation

  So, have you ever had that uneasy feeling deep in your gut, below your belly button and just knew that something wasn't right? I have, many times and because I was thinking it represented something that was out of alignment with what I wanted, I always got the negative result I was expecting. 

This was a manifestation of stress. Is it the same for you? Do you automatically assume it's something negative and then start getting stressed out? If we allow ourselves to view this feeling in a negative light, that's when worry, anxiety and fear start taking over - a feeling of dread consumes us -  and that can lead to stress and the related illnesses such as stomach ulcers, migraines, back and joint pain and so on -  or it could lead to more serious conditions such as heart malfunction and even death.

After learning about the research which the Heart Math Institute carry out into the heart-brain coherence, and which they've been doing for around thirty years now, I started to take notice of when the feeling actually appeared, made itself known, and I realised something that has helped me to turn things around. 

That feeling isn't negative, nor is it positive, at least not until we add thought and emotion to it. All it represents is a change or choice we will be faced with. How we react to that or what we choose to do next will determine the outcome. Focusing on Inner Peace is a great choice when it comes to stress, but how to do that when you're almost overwhelmed with worry or anxiety? 

Based on a Heart-Math exercise, I've developed what I call the Inner Peace Meditation. It's simple, powerful, and only takes a few minutes to carry out and you'll notice the benefits straight away. 

Practicing the Inner Peace Meditation helps us to include our heart when we unconsciously go about our daily activities and make our way through all our choices, emotions, and feelings; it imprints it on our conscious memory, like a form of Mindfulness. It creates a sort of Flow by helping us to regulate the balance between our mind, emotions, and heart. 

Creating that Inner Peace within yourself is like manifesting a doorway, or portal, that silently appears just when you need it, bringing you back into your present, your Now, instead of blundering through the fog of possible futures, created by your negative narratives. It helps you view the situation in a more common-sense way, a gentle reality check if you like, encouraging you to reflect on a more positive path, that's safer to navigate. 

There are four parts to the Inner Peace Meditation and the first part is to:

Acknowledge

When you notice that fear rising up or you're getting uptight, frustrated, impatient, anxious, overwhelmed, angry, and so on; instead of rushing headlong into an unconscious reactive way and allowing your worry or fear story to take over, take a mental step back and acknowledge what it really is, that it's nothing more than a possibility and you can choose how that will turn out.

The next part is: 

 Heart Breathing 

Here you close your eyes, if safe to do so, and focus your attention on your heart, simply touching your heart or chest area lightly with your fingers will be enough for your mind to focus on that area. If you're sitting or lying down, it would be best to keep your legs or ankles uncrossed if you can as that only creates a second focal point and could be a distraction. 

Once you're focusing on your heart area, imagine you're breathing in and out through your heart and breathe a little deeper and slower than you would do normally. For example, you could breathe in and hold your breath for a count of five before gently breathing out again. Three of these deeper breaths are enough before returning to breathing normally.

Part three is: 

Add Emotion 

As you continue to imagine you're breathing in and out of your heart, imagine you're filling your heart with a feeling of Peace. If you're not sure how to do that, it may help if you can recall a time when you were feeling wonderfully calm and relaxed, feeling that all was right with the world and you felt secure and safe, and recreate that feeling. In this way you are breathing in Inner Peace, with each breath and infusing yourself with a sense of complete well-being.

Finally, part four is: 

Affirmation 

Once you notice that you're a lot calmer and more at peace within yourself, fill your heart with gratitude, mentally express your heartfelt thanks and affirm that this state of Inner Peace is now anchored within your heart and will be with you throughout your day as you carry on with whatever your routine is. 

s to your Inner Peace,

Namaste,

Jeremy