New Programs in 2010 with Geoffrey Wilson October 16, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Courses , 1 comment so farDIPLOMA IN ORIENTAL HEALING ARTS – NEW
The Oriental Healing Arts Diploma is the most comprehensive program in Oriental healing available in Australia.
It has been developed by master educator Geoffrey Wilson to facilitate the training of students in the classical and essential teachings of the Eastern masters as applied to healthcare. The approach is unique and designed to carefully and sensitively embody the core principles relevant to the holistic integration of psychology, physiology, nutrition, spirituality and a variety of remedial therapies including acu-moxatherapy.
Upon completion of the program, students will be able to demonstrate competency in the application of Mind, Body and Spirit medicine to meet the challenges of modern problems. Especially important in the training protocol, is to establish the consistent ability to respond to challenges presented by patients in a holistic manner encompassing the formulation of practical solutions to problems encountered as a result of lifestyle imbalances.
QUALIFICATIONS AWARDED
- Diploma in Oriental Healing Arts
- Advanced Certificate in Oriental Body Therapies
- Certificate in Oriental Psychology
- Certificate in Oriental Nutritional Medicine
CONFERENCE REPORT from John Kirkwood – ‘Bubbling Spring’ Newsletter Winter 2009 July 2, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Acupuncture,Articles , add a commentOne of the luminaries at the STAA Conference at the Michael Centre, Melbourne on 24th May, Geoffrey Wilson presented a spirited, interactive lecture on the Five Spirits. These are the primal energies that underpin the Five Elements. What follows is a brief summary of this insightful presentation.
Thousands of years ago, the sages of Oriental Medicine recorded their understanding of the Five Spirits. The Spirits together encompass the totality of our awareness, and both represent and support our soul’s journey through life.
When we are in touch with a Spirit, we experience its mental and physical gifts. But when we have lost touch with one (or more) of the Five Spirits, we experience the physical and psychological symptoms flowing from the loss of that Spirit. Thus our symptoms can show us which Spirit or Spirits are blocked in our lives.
Hun, the Spirit of Wood is the messenger of the soul’s purpose. It represents our greater soul’s vision of the purpose of our life, as distinct from the smaller visions of ego. If we are not in touch with this grand vision, purpose, dream or quest, it manifests as signs and symptoms in the liver, from feelings of frustration to extreme conditions such as Blazing Liver Fire and Stagnant Liver Qi.
Shen, the Spirit of Fire awakens compassion. It relates directly to heart function and to relationships. It also relates to openness to guidance from Spirit. This Spirit is impeded by sentiment, pity, and colluding sympathy. Disorders such as heart and blood flow problems, palpitations, memory loss, sleep problems, anxiety and nervousness are all symptoms that result from loss of contact with the Spirit of Fire.
Yi, the Spirit of Earth engenders manifestation. It supports transformation of life experience into ideas and intentions. What gets in the way of this is worry, obsessive thought, and self absorption. Signs and symptoms that result are eating disorders, muddled or excessive thinking, insufficient movement, over-nurturing of others to avoid the self, inability to implement ideas, and inability to assimilate, to digest, and to cope with life.
Po, the Spirit of Metal is the corporeal soul, and joins body and mind. It is the realm of the body unconscious, the storehouse of identity that is embedded in the muscles, tissues, fascia, nerves and organs of the body. Sorrow and the inability to let go impedes access to this Spirit. ‘You have to be cool with endings to be OK about the Now.’ Dysfunctions that follow from disconnection with Po are problems with the lungs, colon and skin, lumps and tumours, chronic tension, negativity towards others and psychosomatic symptoms.
Zhi, the Spirit of Water aligns purpose with will. It represents our vitality and our will. Both are drained by fear and desire, while nourishing our dedication and determination increases our connection to Zhi. Problems that arise from disconnection relate to the bladder and kidneys and to our bones.
Geoffrey presented us with one of his cases to illustrate the use and usefulness of this system. His client, a 30 year old woman suffered from PMT, dysmenorrhea, oedema and headaches. This is a case of Liver Qi Stagnation, and suggests loss of the Spirit of Wood. He offered her the perspective that her symptoms were related to loss of contact with the vision and purpose of her life. Inquiry into this then became an effective part of her treatment.
The Problem with Anxiety June 15, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Health Tips , add a commentThe itching was driving her crazy. Nothing seemed to be capable of providing relief. She’s tried everything. The skin at the web margin on her right hand between the 4th and 5th fingers was as irritated as her disposition. If she had been able to find the right words to describe how she felt, she would have said that her hand was burning as if on fire and that emotionally, she was on tenterhooks – fragile, combustible, close to the edge.
Yes, she was anxious! Horribly so. Her 3 year old son ruled the roost and when the pressures of daily living began to mount, she often found it difficult to cope. Rather than take the hard line she caved in to her son’s incessant demands. He smelled a rat as kids have the knack of doing, and played her for the fool. She didn’t let him down. It was easier to comply with a sigh than to subject herself to the ceaseless whingeing – and the temper tantrums. The boy’s father with whom she no longer had relations, was even more generous in his supply of sentimental comfort to the boy and eventually the youngster began to realize that he could do as he pleased when he pleased.
But like all things, if you can find a leak in one place you will be able to find leaks elsewhere. If the home is unstable, work will suffer too. Fatigue and depression had reduced the mother’s effectiveness in the home to survival rather than transformation and this became the new benchmark of successful living – an attitude that spilled over into every other aspect of her life from shopping to recreation and rejuvenation. If your focus is on survival you will only be interested in getting by. If your focus is on transformation, you will be moved to do things differently.
And there is a difference between working for a living and living to work (in an inspirational sense) as the disgruntled know only too well. When you work for a living, you become a slave to the work. When you live to work, you set up a vastly different dynamic. Living to work is the same thing as finding your passion, connecting with your purpose, embracing the moment, creating and designing. This approach is inspirational and if executed in a balanced manner, great benefit can be derived.
Later, after stumbling upon something she’d not expected to find, our young woman discovered the truth about anxiety. She began to realize that anxiety is a life-style. It is learned behavior. It is a way of dealing with pressure. And it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because anxious people can’t relax. And if you can’t relax, decisions are made based on speculation rather than understanding. The urge to speculate is the rush to achieve a desired outcome. It is the fear of not having enough. It stifles creativity. It stamps out the possibility of trust. You can see it in someone’s handwriting, in the movements of the body. You can hear it in the timbre of the voice. But most of all, you can feel the energy of anxiety when it hovers nearby.
The cure for anxiety is to stop. Only when you stop can you see what is directly in front of you. And when you stop, you can feel how tense you are. Let the tension go and release opens the door to transformation. Walk through this door and there is no longer a push for anything to happen outside of what happens. This is what the ancient Chinese meant when the principle of non- interference was first discussed.
5 Spirits May 18, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Philosophy,Psychology,Wisdom Notes , 2 commentsSerious investigators of the human predicament have one thing in common. They want to know what the essence of a human being really is. Not the personality or the temperament, but the essence – the core as it were – of the whole person. Thousands of years ago, the sages of the East mapped this out and explained that the whole person is an aggregate of 5 Spirits. These must be properly assembled in order to restore balance and harmony. So what are these 5 spirits? What are they associated with? How do they operate in the context of behavior? Can they be nurtured?
According to the principles of Oriental Medicine, the 5 Spirits are housed not only in the human body, but in the organs of the body and are also identifiable in terms of the functions they actually perform. Conjoining each of them literally completes the human picture and yet often a failure to do so contributes to the drama, especially when these functions are disturbed. Without balance and harmony of the 5 Spirits, purpose remains elusive. Compassion lies dormant. Transformation is hindered. Body and Psyche separate. In a nutshell, purpose can never align with Will.
So what are these 5 Spirits?
The Spirit of Wood emerges as the messenger of Soul’s purpose.
Disturbances here can be found in people who suffer from an inability to organize their lives and who blame others for their lack of progress in life. Other common problems include timidity, an inability to take a stand, aimless wandering, suffering from a lack of direction, starting but not finishing projects, constantly running into obstacles, and obsessions with injustice.
The cure is to leave no stone unturned in an effort to connect with spirituality on some level and in so doing establish a relationship to the part one may play in bringing the message closer to home.
The Spirit of Fire awakens compassion.
Disturbances can be found in people who find living in the world too intense and numbing out is an effective if not dangerous coping mechanism. Other common problems include a lack of inspiration, ambivalence, lack of coherence, lack of insight, aimless activity, no discernment.
The cure is to open up and not shut down.
The Spirit of Earth supports manifestation and transformation.
Disturbances here can be found in the inability to transform ideas and thoughts into commitments and actions, continually generating new ideas without taking action, an inability to digest life experiences and assimilate them.
The cure is find a way to put an end to worry and obsession.
The Spirit of Metal conjoins the soma and the psyche.
Disturbances can be found in in unexpressed somatized emotional issues, extreme sensitivity to externals, having no clear sense of why things are not quite right.
The cure is develop an awareness of what is actually happening in the body. This can be achieved through exercises such as Tai Chi.
The Spirit of Water aligns purpose with Will.
Disturbances here can be found in people who are drained by life instead of empowered by it, an inability to face fears, those who suffer from complete disintegration of the nervous system, neurasthenia, burn-out, and the repression of instinctual impulses.
The cure is to stop and repair the foundation.
When the 5 Spirits are once again in balance and harmony, the liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney mutually support each other. This is the challenge for the present and future practitioner and patient who will need to understand the mechanics of wholeness on a more intimate level if progress is to be made on the path.
Other Side of the Coin April 13, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations,Philosophy,Psychology , add a comment“Now with training, we can eventually learn to see the other side of the coin,” my guide said.
“We can become aware of our breathing as well as what is happening on the inside. Whatever it is, the breath or sensation, we can learn to observe it without losing our mental balance. And when we stop reacting, we put an end to the vicious cycle that is the multiplication of our misery. In lieu of this, mental obstacles and corruptions merely come and go… and eventually they pass away.”
In effect, my guide was saying that if one watches without judgment, just watches, then sensations of every kind – previously perceived as positive or negative – but now without reference to either positive or negative – then these sensations completely lose their sting. In watching, without judgment, ‘what is’ remains as ‘what is’. Nothing can be done about it. It is as it is.
“The more one practices this sublime technique, the more quickly negativity of all kinds dissolves and vanishes. It takes concentrated effort, but gradually, the mind is liberated from all corruptions and it becomes pure. As such, a pure mind operates as a loving mind. This mind is always filled with love, it is full of selfless love for others, and it is also full of compassion – for the failings and sufferings of others. This mind is therefore full of joy – in the widest possible sense of the word, and ultimately it is benevolent in the face of any challenge or circumstance.”
Truth Serum April 6, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Philosophy,Psychology , add a commentMy guide had boiled the kettle in the embers of the fire. When he thought it was ready, he scooped it up grabbing hold of the handle with his hand covered over with a rag and poured tea for two into large mugs. A tea ceremony this was not! We were in the bush and the night sky was as clear as crystal.
“If you think about it,” he said, following on from our conversation interrupted by duties of one kind or another, “the cause of suffering is the generation of negativity and when this happens we are bound to become unhappy. Put it this way, negativity cannot coexist with peace and harmony.”
“How do we generate negativity?” I asked him.
“We become unhappy when we find someone behaving in a way that we don’t like, or when we find something happening which we don’t like. Unwanted things happen and this creates tension within. And then while this is happening, desired things do not happen… some obstacle gets in the way to prevent it happening… and again, this creates tension within. The days, weeks, months and years fly past. Unwanted things keep on happening, and desired things don’t happen. We become so tense, so full of negativity, that life becomes miserable.”
He was right. In that moment, I made peace with the fact that our judgments of people and things are the primary catalyst for unhappiness.
“How do we put an end to it then?” I asked him genuinely.
“The wisdom keepers, that is to say, the saints and sages of the ancient world, studied this problem at great length… as I’m sure you can appreciate. They discovered that you have to face the problem. Whenever negativity arises in the mind, you must observe it, face it directly, and don’t ever run away from it. And as soon as the negativity is observed as it is, the mental impurities begin to lose their power and they slowly evaporate.”
“But how?” I asked, not without a trace of frustration.
“Mental purification is the removal of reactions that make people feel unhappy,” he explained to me. “Reactions are always external, aren’t they?
“I suppose so,” I said.
“Think about it,” he urged.
“Aren’t anger, passion, fear, depression, anxiety, and so on, just reactions to what is going on outside? So with training and practice, it is very easy to observe your respiration and your bodily sensations, both of which are directly related to mental defilements. As soon as negativity arises in the mind, the breath will lose its normality… it will start shouting… ‘Look here… something has gone wrong!’ And of course, we cannot reprimand the breath, can we? We can only accept the warning.”
He had a point. In other words, who is the entity outside of the breath making the judgment?
“Sensations also tell us something is wrong,” he commented.
“Having been warned then about the breath, about these sensations, we can observe both our respirations and our corresponding sensations. Sooner or later, we discover that the negativity vanishes.”
“But how?” the apprentice that was ‘me’ asked.
My guide could see that I was clearly unsettled and still somewhat confused. He took a deep breath and continued – seeing the need for much explanation.
“The soma-psyche phenomenon is like a coin with two sides,” he insisted.
“On one side of the coin are the thoughts and emotions arising in the mind. On the other side of the coin are our respirations and sensations in the body. Any thoughts and emotions… or any mental impurities that may arise… manifest in the breath and our sensations of that moment. By observing these respirations or these sensations, we are in fact observing mental impurities. Instead of running away from them… we are actually facing reality as it is. We then discover… that these impurities lose their strength… and they no longer overpower us as they once did. If we persist, these impurities disappear altogether and we may begin to live peacefully and happily… free from negativities.”
I tried it on for size. I revisited the incident. I could see it in my mind’s eye and immediately felt uncomfortable as the breath became unsettled. I watched the breath carefully though and as I did so, the sensations began to dissipate. In a minute or two, I felt nothing but calm. The breath was now steady.
“It works doesn’t it?” my guide asked, as he watched me practice.
“This technique of self-observation is called vipassana… to see things as they really are… it is one of India’s greatest exports,” he told him emphatically.
“It is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. Another word for it is insight meditation. It was discovered or rediscovered by Gautama Buddha more than 2,500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills.”
ANTAGONISMS ARE COMPLEMENTARY March 29, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations , add a commentANTAGONISMS ARE COMPLEMENTARY – THE DARK KNIGHT
There would be few unfamiliar with the legend of the caped crusader and his impressive array of lethal enemies either licking their lips at the prospect of doing battle with him and making inroads into the heart of Gotham City, or entertaining wild notions of defeating him and thereby assuming the mantle of authority in a struggle to maintain power.
Batman made a name for himself in comic books before shifting to the big screen and enjoyed a tremendous following among both the young and the older. That he has endured over a long passage of time does much to raise the quality of his profile and firmly secure a place in the mythical lore of the hero and the genre. His most outlandish nemesis of course is the Joker – who best typifies the antagonistic but nonetheless complementary nature of their dynamic interplay.
The Joker is the antithesis of Batman. If the caped crusader is the hero, then the Joker is the anti-hero. The two go together – like peas in a pod. In many respects, the Joker is actually the complete opposite of Batman. They are opposites in everything from their appearance to the ideals they espouse with gusto and pride. For example, Batman tends to be a rather large and muscular man, while the Joker is of average height and sinewy. Whereas Batman is averse to killing, the Joker views murder as sport. And as intimidating as he is psychotic, the latter nonetheless still manages to recruit merciless henchmen by the hordes despite his obvious and frighteningly maniacal insanity. Batman works alone with a couple of helpers behind the scenes.
Polar opposition is in fact a trademark of the war waged between the Joker and Batman. Before we get into a discussion of their apparel, suffice it to say that their temperaments are like chalk and cheese. The Joker is ebullient in a typically extroverted way. Batman is more self-contained at least when not in the company of his acquaintances and other social butterflies who are accustomed to his arrogance and distinct flair for the show he puts on as a clever subterfuge – though they don’t know it as such of course!
And so our stealthy nocturnal avenger is at heart a loner. Deeply introspective, he broods and contemplates – the memories of his numerous trials and tribulations weighing heavily on his big broad shoulders – especially the death of his father whose brutal murder he witnesses as an innocent child. Only his surrogate father Alfred, who also happens to be his butler and a man with serious talents of his own, knows the true story behind the caped crusader’s perspective on things. So, it’s hardly surprising that Batman is comfortable in the dark.
In the shadows, Batman is the undisputed king of the jungle, a ninja warrior of sorts who steers the course of the true vigilante, as only a creature of the night and devotee of revenge is competent to do. Indeed, Gotham City becomes reliant upon his prowess, and when the Joker begins to make his meddling and sardonic presence known, the beleaguered public and the officials whose job it is to administer justice, look to their patron saint for help.
Temperaments aside, the villain and the revered servant of the people have other differences worth mentioning that bring them together as much as they set them apart. The use of color in symbolism is one of several. Batman for instance, is a champion of the darkest shades – he uses gray and black to intimidate the criminals he encounters. The Joker relies more heavily on bright colors, such as purple, green, and sometimes orange, to dazzle his foes and yet conceal the hidden depths of his mischief. A case in point is the picture of the demented clown he paints with his lime green hair and ripe red lips. Interestingly, we never get to see the man behind the mask when he is in uniform as much as we are welcomed to view the bleeding mascara of a madman!
This brings us unnervingly to the Joker’s methods therefore, which are both unpredictable and incalculable. He does things according to his own twisted and perverse sense of logic, and does not seem to crave or desire the trappings that money can bring. In other words, his actions lack the necessary thread that conjoins one act to another with any degree of coherency and his motives seem to be without relationship to greed. Nor indeed does he suffer from a fear of the one who wields the proverbial sword of Damocles – in his case, the potential threat posed by the caped crusader.
Batman doesn’t wield the sword of Damocles anyway! In this particular tale from the vault told long ago by Cicero – the Roman orator, Damocles swaps places with the legendary ruler Dionysius II of Syracuse for a day just to get a taste of what it’s like to be in a position of power. There he is in all his glory, with servants beckoning to his every call and need, when out of the blue he looks up to see a sword dangling by a horse’s hair from the ceiling.
The Joker does not suffer from the same fear, which surely must have gripped Damocles as he watched the sword of Dionysius dangle precariously above his head. If he could, he would probably love to be Dionysius. If only to have the power to purge Gotham City of its pretensions through some cleverly conceived display of anarchy or to use any means necessary, to prove that organization and corporate structure is both meaningless and futile.
All things considered, the Joker is an exceptionally devious and cunning operator, and this tends to be his greatest weapon in the fight against Batman, the police, and the District Attorney’s office. He is often confronted by the authorities, but easily evades capture due to a combination of survival instinct, wit, bravado, acumen, and good fortune. While Batman prefers to linger in the shadows, the Joker basks in the spotlight clearly comfortable in the role and adept at manipulating the image he wishes others to see.
Though we may safely infer that he is Batman’s undisputed arch-nemesis, the Joker has always understood his privileged position. In ‘The Dark Knight’, he asks his rival, ‘Why would I kill you? What would I do without you?’ Thus, we know that these two characters are inseparable and mutually dependent on the polarity that their intense interaction provides. Without the Joker’s ruthless ambition, Batman has no outlet for recrimination. And without Batman’s personal crusade, the Joker has no assailant.
True Observation March 11, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations , add a commentShe looked at the phone, almost as if willing it to ring. But it didn’t. She wanted it to, but it didn’t! At this point, agitation welled up within her, and the thinking of one thought led to another.
In the space of several minutes, what had been the simple observation of a mobile phone turned into hundreds of ideas about the phone. Whereas before her observation of a phone that was not ringing was a ‘fact’, her ideas about the phone were now a ‘non-fact’!
She tried to suppress and control her emotions. Yet this did nothing to assuage the conflict. Her feelings of hate, jealousy, anxiety, fear and insecurity remained. Upon reflection, it is indeed remarkable to consider just how strong the emotions are, and that their expression accurately represents the inglorious passion of suffering. Is one aware of this phenomenon on a level that can be understood? And, are the attachments that one may have to both people and things, based on these emotions?
The fact is not the idea. It is possible to create an idea about the phone, but the phone is a fact. The phone can be touched and picked up. One can look at it and see the shape of it, the colour of it. Is the attachment to it a concept, an idea, or is it a fact?
When one observes the fact, not the idea, not the conclusion or judgment about the fact, but the fact itself, is the fact different from the one who is observing?
When one observes the fact through an idea, one is not looking at the fact. How does one look at the fact? Is attachment a part of oneself or separate from oneself? The phone is separate from oneself. Yet the attachment to the phone and the emotions arising from having ideas about the phone are part of oneself.
Attachment is ‘me’. If there is no attachment, there is no ‘me’. Awareness of one’s emotions is therefore, part of one’s nature. If one is looking at oneself, there is only attachment, the fact, the feeling, the possessiveness in attachment. This is ‘me’. It is a fact!
What is one to do with this fact then? Previously when there was division between ‘me’ and attachment, one tried to do something about attachment. If attachment is ‘me’, one cannot do anything! All one can do is observe it. One cannot act upon it because it is already ‘me’.
There is only observation. If in the observation one begins to choose, and in choosing makes a judgment, saying “One must not be attached”, one is actually saying that attachment is not ‘me’. True observation means therefore that there is no choice.
The pure observation of a fact without reaching a conclusion or forming an opinion about the fact naturally dissolves it. The energy is totally centred in observation and there is complete dissipation of attachment.
Working through the exercise then, she observes the phone. What does she see? She sees a phone. It is turned off. It has buttons and a screen. Now she has an idea about the phone. What is that idea? She also has strong emotions attached to the idea about the phone. What are those emotions?
The phone is a fact. The observation is clear and pure. Her idea about the phone is a ‘non-fact’. It is not real. Her idea about the phone is that it should ring. Why? She wants the phone to ring because she wants to know that somebody has made her a priority. Somebody having made her a priority gives her a sense of self-worth. She has therefore looked for self-worth outside of herself, from another.
She has strong emotions about her idea of the phone. She has become agitated because of her idea of the phone and this has led her to projecting these emotions into the future. Now she has wild imaginings based on the idea she had of the phone.
The wild imaginings based on the idea she had of the phone and sustained by agitation are the speculations gathered together by her when reaching the conclusion that she is not recognised as a priority in someone’s life.
The phone is something apart from her. But attachment, the emotion, is part of herself. Therefore, awareness of her emotions, her attachments, is part of her structure.
If she looks at herself there is no division; there is no duality as the ‘me’ and attachment. There is only attachment, not the word but the fact, the feeling, the emotion, the possessiveness in attachment. That is a fact. That is ‘me’.
What is she to do with ‘me’? If there is ‘me’ and attachment, she could try to suppress it. But if it is ‘me’, what can she do? She can’t do anything. She can only observe. Before, she acted upon it. Now she can’t because it is HER. All she can do is observe.
Observation becomes all important, not what she does about it.
Cleaning Up The Mess February 24, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations,Personal Freedom , 1 comment so farFrom a spiritual perspective, when the interval between cause and effect narrows, things are generally easier to manage right across the board. When it widens, trouble is immanent. The interval between cause and effect can be measured by the amount of mess left behind. In other words, when you make a decision about anything in life, you will experience certain consequences as a result of making that decision.
It could have something to do with your next career move, or the step you make towards consolidating your relationship. It might be the decision you make to leave town in search of a new challenging life experience! Regardless, some of the consequences of making decisions are perhaps not always what you may have expected. And indeed, here and there, you are inevitably left with nothing but a huge mess to clean up.
If for whatever reason your decisions are based on emotion, there will be a mess to clean up! Nothing could be more certain. When angry, your Liver energy will be uprooted and in a volatile state, you will make decisions that are unstable. When sentimental, your Heart energy will become scattered and in a frenzy, you will make decisions that are chaotic. When worried, your Spleen energy will become decimated and in depletion, you will make decisions that reflect your neediness. When sad, your Lung energy will become stale and you will make decisions based on what it feels like to drown in an ocean of despair. When fearful, your Kidney energy will be exhausted and you will make decisions based on desperation.
None of these responses is appropriate. They will all lead to the disintegration of your personal energy fields and disempowerment.
If you signed up for the job because it would pay you better than the gig you really had a passion for, you will not be able escape the gnawing feeling that you sold your soul. This feeling will eat away at you until you lose your marbles or you dump your dissatisfaction on the wrong person at the wrong time and wind up paying a high price for your frustration. At the end of the day, the infamous Doctor Faustus thought he could make a deal with Lucifer and paid the ultimate price. You don’t want to end up like him. The moral of the story at any rate is that when you do something without love it will always backfire and you will have to pay the price for it.
Similarly, if you constantly pick up the broken pieces of your daughter’s life and try to fix things for her, she will be the one to miss out in the long run and her growing ineptitude will be the mess you have to clean up. Why? Because you taught her to be like that. If you want to help a youngster you have no choice but to show them what it means to stand on their own two feet, to be loving and compassionate, and to be confident in finding solutions for their own problems – with support and guidance when necessary. A failure to do this will reflect poorly on you. So, do you intend to bring up a child for life? Or did you intend to raise a real human being? If you were brought up to be needy, it is likely you will project this onto your own kids. If you were raised to develop independence, compassion and initiative, you will probably enjoy watching the same qualities flourish in those that follow after you.
We all have our messes. It helps if you know what they are specifically. Be honest and impartial when investigating them. Start with finding out where you stand in relation to your career. What about your personal relationship? Then move onto your family. Are your financial affairs in order? If not why not? It doesn’t mean that you have to be held to a budget’s ransom but you do need to know what comes in and what goes out and if you are serving your purpose. If you’re not healthy, when will you get your act together? Are your friends the kind of people that are suitable associates for your ongoing development? Do you make time for stillness? If not, how are you going to slow down long enough to assess what your requirements are?
As you can see, cleaning up messes is a process. It is a working, moving meditation. It never ends. But it does need to begin sometime. If you are serious about reducing the interval between cause and effect, the time has come for you to answer the big questions. They are not difficult to answer but they do need to be approached. Otherwise, you will get stuck and never seem to get off the roundabout!
Video – Your Mind Your Medicine February 20, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Live Face-to-Face Seminars 2008 with Geoffrey Wilson,Philosophy,Psychology , add a commentYour Mind Your Medicine