Integrity

For me, living a life with a strong sense of Integrity is one of the main keys to enjoying your life and to developing a sense of purpose and deep resolve.

Integrity forces you to consider ethics and morals and for you to carefully define correct and incorrect behaviour. Once your sense of Integrity has been awakened the hard part is then living in alignment with your integrity.

For me, whenever I make important decisions or plans I consider the impact to others, to myself, my higher self etc. I then try to make the correct decision and act in a way that I consider proper.

Hence developing a sense of win/win rather than win/lose when dealing with others. Not participating in low energy activities such as gossiping (not easy - still fall down on this one from time to time) telling lies, hurting others, etc.

The path of integrity can be a long winding road but is certainly a path worth following. I am finding more and more that the practice of Integrity can bring a deep sense of (humble) joy and bring you closer to your God. You begin to resonate at a higher level and I believe that others can sense this within you and feel more at ease and trusting of you.

Consider defining Integrity for yourself and then try following this path at all times. I promise you that if you do it can only bring about positive change in your life.

Limits

We all tend to set limits for ourselves. Limits such as how much money we can earn, how healthy we are, how much we enjoy our jobs, the relationships we encounter etc.

Do you ever take time to examine your limiting beliefs? Do you ever wonder why certain people seem to receive so much while you receive less no matter how hard you work? What are your conclusions? Does it seem fair?

If you set yourself limits on what you are able to experience in life, how can you ever expect to exceed these self imposed restrictions on experience? We are generally conditioned from an early age to start setting limits for ourselves, these limits turn into beliefs and then we experience our limiting beliefs over and over again.

What if there are no limits, no rules, no conditions on what we can expect to receive? Do you dare to dream big dreams for yourself? Do you believe that you can realise your dreams in this lifetime?

Take some time to examine what limits you set yourself then, consider how life might be different if you changed your thoughts and viewpoints. Step outside of your personal comfort zone - take some risks - be prepared to have new experiences that push your limits beyond what you previously thought of as possible.

If you are brave enough to challenge yourself and to remove restrictive beliefs and limits the Universe will reward you with new experiences. Life does not have to be hard, open your heart and mind to new possibilities and the results may astound you.

The young daredevil in this photo has set his limits beyond what most people would consider possible for themselves on a morotbike. He believes that it is perfectly reasonable to fly 40ft in the air while performing stunts on his bike. He has pushed his limits and is experiencing the result of this expanded viewpoint.

What can you acheive if you put your mind to it? 

Reflect on Your Life

 
I believe that the events of you’re your physical life are a direct result of your personal thoughts and beliefs. It is therefore important to take stock from time to time on the events in your life to understand how you are truly thinking and feeling within.

For example – I recently have been experiencing large amounts of distress in my life. I was running into conflicts with others at work and my projects at work seemed overbearing and stressful. My financial investments were causing me distress. I was frustrated with my wife and not restful at home with the children.

This period of dis-ease lasted for 4-6 weeks and I could feel my energy draining from my body. If left unchecked these circumstances can begin to impact your physical health and your dis-ease can literally turn into disease.

What should we do when we find ourselves caught up in challenging times like these. Well, what I do is find some personal time to sit alone and reflect within to better understand my conscious and sub-conscious thoughts. I discovered that my issue was a certain lack of direction and an absence of personal goals and that I needed to set certain short and medium term goals.

Using mind mapping techniques I defined my goals for certain aspects of my life including – work – financial – health – spiritual. Now that I know what I truly want I can begin to create a concrete reality that is aligned with my thoughts. To do this I use visualizations, beliefs and other tools picked up over the years.

It it your thoughts that create your personal reality. Your ability to experience an abundant life is there for the taking if you believe it. If you believe in limitations then unfortunately – that will be your experience. Do you dare to dream big and do you dare to believe in your dreams. If you do you will experience a truly magical life. 

Learn from Children

We adults can learn a lot from children if we take the time. We can watch them enjoy the present moment without regret of past or fear of future.

Today Hannah enjoyed just sitting on the beach as the cold sea lapped around her legs. She enjoyed touching the sand and watching the water.

Can you take great pleasure from something so simple? I hope you can :)

Heydon Chapel

Sunday April 9th, 2006

Most Churches and places of worship have a good feel and energy to them. I usually enjoy visiting these places even though I am not religious and do not attend Church services.

One of my favourite places of worship is the Heydon Chapel, I went there yesterday to take some photos getting several paybacks for a single trip (use my new D200 camera, visit Heydon park, afterwards spend a few minutes meditating inside the Chapel.

Here are some of the photos that I took, I hope they reflect the special character of the Chapel.

This shows the front entrance to the Chapel, as you can see the building is small and can only accomodate about 12–15 people at a time. The construction is traditional Bermuda style, a 200 year old hurriance proof design.

This is the side wall, note the small window and strong wall design. Bermuda buildings are designed to keep the inside cool in summer and warmer in winter.

Inside there is a small alter that is well maintained and always trimmed with local plants and flowers. The bible is always open and the whole setup makes everyone feel welcome to this special place.

There are four rows of pews. It is here in the third row that I spent 10 minuted or so in silence. The energy of the Chapel makes it very easy for one the quiet the mind and experience deep peace. In fact the experience was so good that I intend to frequent the Chapel more often.

I think it is important for us to have special places. Places where we can be quiet and find time to contemplate and meditate in silence. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we can literally spend days/weeks/years reacting to lifes events without ever contemplating who we are and where we are going and why we are going there.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of Heydon Chapel and if you are ever in Bermuda make sure to visit this Trust Estate.

Till next time.

Out of Body Experiences

musical notes
Originally uploaded by gjdent.

I had my first OBE (out of body experience) when I was about 8 years old. I was in my bedroom asleep and when I woke up – I was floating on my ceiling – like a helium balloon – staring at the texture on the ceiling from six inches away. I turned to look down at myself still in my bed and suddenly started spinning and dropped back into my body.

I thought it was some sort of weird dream and did not bother telling anyone about it.

Move forward about twenty years. I spent my mid to late twenties interested in metaphysics, meditation, etc. I read about astral projection and determined to learn how to do this and control this. It took me two year of on/off practicing and then one night it happened.

I meditated and did some preparation exercises and then went to sleep (more about how to later). My consciousness then woke up while my physical body remained asleep. I could feel surges of electric like waves running through my body and I literally rocked out of my body and fell onto the floor tiles next to my bed. It was quite a shock and I remember crouching on all fours trying to control my breathing and remain clam. I slipped back into the body pretty quickly due to fear of the unknown I suspect.

These sessions continued until I could control myself out of body and learn to walk/see/jump/fly etc. The problem was I did not have a plan or really think about what I was doing so the OBE’s did not progress me at all – I was attracted the circus like nature of the event rather than using the experience to progress my self.

For whatever reason(s) I stopped doing OBE’s around 29/30 year of age and then lost the ability for a number of years.

I am now interested in this experience as one tool for further exploring the nature of self and consciousness. It has taken a little while but I am just starting to experience lucid dreams and OBEs again. This time they seem more natural and last night I just slipped out of body with hardly any effort at all.

I also met ‘others’ for the first time. One person seems to be lost and frightened and tried to cling to me. I assume this person had died but did not know it. I could not help him and had to leave by literally flying through the wall and away. I also sensed/saw some sort of deity/advanced being. I was a little concerned over this and the concern pushed my back in body. Interestingly, I was able to slip back out within a minute or so. It used to me that once back in body I would fully wake and not be able to get out again. Last night I left my body three times.

Is this dreaming and imagined. I am not sure. I know that whatever is happening I am fully conscious and it is my consciousness that is controlling the event. I perceive this to be real for me and therefore it must be real. It is certainly a positive experience – felling yourself as yourself out of your body. I think it helps me to have a clearer understanding of who I am and who I am not. I know now that : -

• I am not my body
• I am not my emotions
• I am not my mind
• I am the self
• The self is all there is

Enough for now !

Everything Flows

water flows
Originally uploaded by gjdent.

In order to progress it is helpful to learn to transcend the ego. One method of achieving this is to live your life in daily contemplation.

Rather than being fully engaged in the ego and reacting to lifes daily circumstances, one can choose to be the observer.

It is my intention to spend this week in full contemplation. I will not react to the supposed needs of my ego, rather, I will observe the events of my life and choose to learn from whatever path I am drawn along.

As water flows, so, my life flows, drawing me nearer to the ocean of my soul and my devine conciousness.