Technology for Living

Can You Find the Courage to Leap?

John Allison — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:56 +0000

Optimizing will only take you so far. Can you trust enough to go further?

I’ve been scavenging for bits and pieces of knowledge and skill for a long time. And it’s served me well. But the large-ish problem with that is that you can only stretch an existing setup so far before you have to start up something new.

Take stories for example: Sequels are notorious for being of inferior quality to the original, and long series tend to lose their focus and wind up with fans wishing for the early days.

Before the blog went on hiatus, I was starting to work with a meditation system that was simple enough to be useable, yet very far-reaching in its effects. The system has a core, or “foundation”, and you can study different branches of the knowledge from there.

Not long ago I was studying the topic of Surrender. Here I have to make explanations as I try to suppress my frustration with that word. Surrender in terms of meditation and inner development is vastly different from the normal meaning of the word.

Surrender in the day-to-day world means giving up, being defeated, throwing in the towel. This is not what I am talking about. This is an altogether different experience, and the only reason that “surrender” is used, is because it is the only word which comes close.

Surrender in the realm of personal, spiritual and psychic development is more akin to learning to move past the comfortable, yet restricting, thoughts and energies that we bind ourselves with. But surrendering them we become free.

Learning Surrender.

As I mentioned in my post regarding the Sedona Method, learning to let go can open doors you didn’t even know were there. My work on releasing was helpful to me, but Surrender goes beyond letting go of hurts and expectations. Surrender, in this context, is learning to trust. Learning to open yourself up to experiencing what the Universe wants to show you. All of the little things we hang onto are in fact holding us down, turning us into machines.

By learning to open yourself, you find that you don’t have as much need to fear (or any at all, really, but it’s difficult to maintain this state of being). You can be true to yourself, and act from the best place in you.

My Experience With Surrender Techniques.

Being primed with my Sedona experience and knowledge, I pretty much figured I had the “letting go” thing down. I have a coach I work with and he advised me to try working a little differently.

I started setting aside some time dedicated to the process of just letting go. I started making more progress, and I felt more flowing and adaptable, so I kept going. No big breakthroughs.

Then, one evening I was working with Surrender just before my normal evening meditation session. As patterns, events, and people came up, I released them. I wanted to see how far I could go. Eventually, I came to the image of a singular point, represented by a blue sphere, like a glowing rubber ball. This ball was resting on a concrete platform, and was (interestingly enough) wearing what looked like Renaissance metal armor, complete with a plumed helmet.

The blue point/sphere was obviously myself. What chilled me was that as I looked closer at the armor, I realized that it wasn’t what it appeared to be. What at first appeared to be protection, instead was slowly revealed to be tie-downs, chains of imprisonment.

Using the techniques I’d been taught, I started releasing the various pieces of armor, and all that went with them. It took time, but I was down to the concrete platform. I knew that it, too, had to go. Yet, I was still afraid. If I give up this solidity, how will I keep my bearings? How will my mind work without this solid structure in place?

It was at this moment, that a half-remembered quote from years out of the past floated across my mind. Here is the original:

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
-Andre Gide

Realizing that I would not progress unless I was able to stand on my own without this construct, I was finally able to step off the platform and let it go. The peace, excitement, and love that I experienced then can be hinted at with words, but must be experinced to really be understood.

Finding the Courage.

Of course it’s scary; As one of my favorite teachers is fond of saying, “If it were easy, everybody would do it”. But, it is worth it. If you feel like you are in a place where you can learn to let go and truly be yourself without the baggage and garbage, then I urge you to seize the opportunity. May you find the courage to take the leap.

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Movie Worth Watching: Peaceful Warrior

John Allison — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:48:14 +0000

I first saw this movie some time ago. Masquerading as a “sports movie”, it is actually more a journey of discovery. The main character is a rising star in gymnastics, yet is disturbed by a dream of pain and loss. He also sees the beginning of the healing process.

Disturbed by the dream, he goes for a run and encounters an unassuming man in a humdrum vocation. The man had appeared obliquely as part of the healing process in the dream. Thinking this was weird enough, the gymnast leaves. As he is leaving, he witnesses something he knows to be impossible. From this point, the lessons begin.

While the movie certainly works as a basic story of triumph over adversity, there is an unmistakable spiritual depth to the movie. Sometimes funny, sometimes chilling, this movie definitely gets you thinking.

Having seen it some time ago, I returned to it recently. I was quite impressed at the added dimensions to the story that opened up as the result of my internal work.

Have any of you seen this movie? If so, please share in the comments!

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The Saying and the Doing are Two Different Things

John Allison — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:17:44 +0000

Firstly, my apologies.

Having recovered from my cranial short-circuit, I thought it would be easy to slip back into the habit of serving up blog posts. Obviously this has not been the case. Granted, I have been working on my Energy Healing Guide site, but that’s a separate matter.

Recently, I’ve been working very diligently at a specific type of meditative practice. I began this back around the beginning of the year, but as time went by I started seeing more and more intense changes in my life. Strong yet subtle course corrections. This has resulted in many things both good and necessary in my life, but as an unwanted consequence, this blog and you, the reader, have gone ignored. I have not forgotten you, nor have I given up.

I have, however, discovered that I was perhaps trying a little too hard, particularly towards the end. I was struggling to be useful, and may have instead wound up being mere noise. Not what I am looking to provide on this blog.

I am therefore making a slight course correction in this blog: My greatest technological leap has occurred at the expense of this blog, so this blog shall turn its focus to match my own personal explorations.

I am working with a system of meditation, awareness exercises which are producing massive results, in many different directions. I will be bringing this to the fore in the coming days and weeks.

I have been away too long, but I’m bringing some good stuff back. Stay tuned.

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Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated :-)

John Allison — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:25:40 +0000

I’m back, and I’m back to stay.

Ok, first: My apologies. I have not been here to document some very interesting stuff, but I will be making up for it as best as I can.

In short: I’ve made considerable progress in my meditative practice, my dietary changes have netted me a loss of a little over 30 in the last two months, and life in general has improved across the board. Things are definitely looking up.

My thanks to all of you who showed such patience. You’ll be seeing more of me presently.

John

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Why I Focus Inside to Find My Edge

Get the Numbers, Get the Facts

John Allison — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:51:57 +0000

What are the facts? Again and again and again — what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” — what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts! - Robert Heinlein

I’ve been refining my diet over the last year or so. I’ve cut soda. I’ve increased my salad-to-everything-else ratio. Yet, my health goals have remained unmet. I haven’t gotten back into my older, slightly smaller clothes. Indeed, I seemed to be gaining weight, slowly but steadily.

Having tried everything I knew to do, it was time for an outside expert. When I consulted a nutritionist, I learned that while the removal of soda and addition of salad were both extremely good steps, neither one dealt with the real core of the problem.

For someone my height, I should be eating about 3000 Calories per day to stay at the same weight. Also, I shouldn’t be eating much more than 70-80 grams of fat per day. The nutritionist explained the numbers and then showed how eating foods that were densely packed with energy (nuts, cheese, chocolate…..sigh) blew the top off what my body could handle. Thus, even though I don’t eat what I would call a huge amount, the fact that it was all so dense means that I was still defeating myself.

Now I had some facts, I was armed to go forward. I went to calorieking.com and got some tools to really get a solid idea of what’s going on. With the nutrition information at my fingertips, I had what I needed to make intelligent, healthy and (yes) tasty choices in my diet. None of that was possible until I had the solid data.

Want to improve your life? How much?

The same can be said about improving your life in any dimension. If you want some peace of mind, how much? If you want to me more financially stable, then what are the numbers for that? That one may be the easiest in terms of getting the numbers, although I still wouldn’t call it “easy” per se.

In EFT, before you get going, you assess what’s bothering you on a scale of 1-10. After one round, you re-assess and figure out where you are on the same scale. This may be all that you need. Is it subjective? Of course it is! However, subjective data is valid when it comes to a subjective matter like you enjoying life. If you have no debt, and $50,000 a year passive income, most people would call that a 10. Some wouldn’t, however. Use what works for you.

Once you have your facts and numbers, it’s time to proceed. Keep checking the status and seeing what is and isn’t working for you. If your spot on the 1-10 scale is getting better, then call it a win. If not, then try something else. It may be arbitrary and subjective, but it is data, and it is giving you an indication.

Above all, remember to be gentle with yourself in this process. It is unfortunately extremely common to beat ourselves up over the status of the situation. This can lead us to not even get the data. Speaking from personal experience (see above), this is really stupid. Had I known a year ago what I know now, I would be in a different position. (Whether or not I was ready to learn it then or whether I could have applied it as easily is a different matter, but I think it’s still valid.) Don’t sabotage yourself by skipping the first part of any endeavor: Get the facts!

If you would like to read more about how to systematically improve your life, please subscribe to the RSS feed.

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What Are You Learning?

John Allison — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:30:13 +0000

As evidenced in the last couple of posts, I’ve been noticing how my life is changing/growing recently. This reminded me of a passage from the Camelot musical that impacted me as a kid. The wizard Merlin impressed upon young Arthur that a great skill for coping with sadness is to strive to learn something. In my own experience, I’ve found this to be very true. Beyond that, I find that unless I am actively learning something, I’m just not the same individual. I have less drive, less joie de vivre as I do when I’m actually learning something.

It’s not a cure-all, however: Focusing on learning to the point of forgetting to actually engage in life will also backfire. It is tempting to think that with just a little more knowledge suddenly the path will open for you and it’ll be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, this is almost never the case.

(On a side-note: You do get experiences like that, but they tend to happen when you’re putting forth the effort and engaging life. Suddenly, a new bit of knowledge makes your efforts much easier and/or more effective. Book learning and hands-on learning are compliments, not opposites.)

When I occasionally feel overwhelmed at life, one thing which I tend to do is to ask myself what I’m learning. This is actually a bit of a sucker play: The act of doing so starts a process of analyzing what’s going on in life for new lessons. That and a review of what I am/have been learning recently remind me that I am still moving forward in my journey, and that while I may feel like a becalmed ship, the currents are still taking me where I want to go.

If you would like to read more about how to make the most of the experiences life hands you, please subscribe to the RSS feed.

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Why It’s Better to Go All Out

John Allison — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:07:19 +0000

Having decided to take better care of myself and my health recently, I have had time to re-evaluate my thoughts and decisions. I’ve asked myself if I wish that things had been done differently. As always I had no desire to turn back the clock and change things, but I wanted to really dig into why. Here is what I came to:

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”
-Robert Heinlein

Even though I wound up paying for it, and even though I may not have gotten the end result I was looking for, I had priceless learning and experience. This wasn’t some pre-packaged, sanitized, game-with-cheat-codes-on, this was me stepping up to the plate and taking a big swing.

This is something which I hadn’t really done in a while. It’s the tendency of all of us to stay within areas that are more-or-less safe. Even the risks we take are usually planned out and carefully managed. That’s not to say that we should be jumping off bridges every day, but my point is that few of us actually take a serious step beyond those boundaries that we build. We’re safe there, we know what to expect, and how the story goes.

I have been given a rare and precious gift: I’ve actually over the course of the last little while moved outside my old boundaries somewhat. Of course, I’m not “free” of them - they’re as necessary a tool as your skin. However, being able to move beyond those boundaries is vital if you actually want to breathe with life instead of being a cog in the machine. I’m not just talking about work, here, either: You can let gravity bring you down until all you think about is the area of ground ahead of your feet that you’re looking at. You can stay that way all of your days. Alternately, you can take a chance and look up. You might stumble, or you might see a beautiful sky, or a work of art that captures your attention, or a case of need that you can fill.

Take a chance on yourself and take a chance with the world. At the very least, you’ll be able to say you’ve done it. If it’s still not for you, then you can go back to staring at the ground, but you’ll still be the richer for the experience.

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Missing the Forest for the Trees? Relax, It’ll Help

John Allison — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:11:50 +0000

I have been pursuing many different things recently. One thing has been my meditation practice. I’ve been looking to get certain results from my meditation beyond relaxation and such. I fancy myself something of an explorer, and I wanted to use my meditative practice as part of that.

I have been following a specific path for so long, that it took an outside view to really make me aware that I was completely missing what I was looking for. I had been so focused, so intent, on the process, that I was unable to accept the result. I had quieted my mind to hear, but still I wasn’t listening.

The equivalent is if you are standing in the woods and you’re listening for a specific bird. You may be focusing on standing still. You may be trying to make your breath as quiet as possible, You may be trying to be as unobtrusive as possible so as not to scare the wildlife around you. However, if you are consumed with these thoughts, you will never actually listen to hear the birdsong.

Quite often, in our mad rush to accomplish, to get and to have, we don’t recognize that most of what we want, we pretty much already have. In the Sedona method, you learn to let go of the sense of lack. In the process you find that you have more of what you thought you were lacking than you ever imagined. Take the time to remember what you truly have and who you are. You are a uniquely gifted individual. Don’t throw those gifts aside because they don’t appear the way you expect.

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Technology for Living Carnival - March 12, 2008

John Allison — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:24:43 +0000

Welcome to the March 12, 2008 edition of Technology for Living Carnival.

Ivan presents 10 Benefits of Keeping a Journal, and What to Write in It posted at makeGENIUS.com.

Ivan presents 7 Steps to Create Your Own Thinking-Room posted at makeGENIUS.com.

Ivan presents How Exercise Makes You More Creative posted at makeGENIUS.com.

Awareness

Alex Blackwell presents 45 Tips for a Happier, Simpler and More Productive Life posted at The Next 45 Years.

Aaron Brandon presents Overcoming Negativity posted at Aaron Brandon.

Lexi Sundell presents The Internet as Playground for Creative Evolution of Consciousness posted at Energies of Creation, saying, “The internet as a playground for the evolution of human consciousness is explored in this article.”

Shamelle presents Not Tonight Dear, I Have A Modem! posted at Enhance Life.

Finding Your Truth

Anna Farmery presents The Art of Forgiveness posted at Widows Quest.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of technology for living carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: technology for living carnival, blog carnival.

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Try Sniffing for Smoke Instead of Fighting Big Fires

John Allison — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:49:45 +0000

The more I work to better myself, the more I notice a certain trend: When I fail to meditate as much as I should or times when my emotions get away from me, I find a rather disturbing fact: I gave my permission for this to happen. This is what I desired to have happen, and I created the scenario.

A difficult thing to look at. It’s not pretty. “Oh, gee, I got too wrapped up in (insert mundane task here) to meditate. Darn, that really is too bad.” Well, yes, it is too bad. But I also am honest enough with myself at this point to realize that I made it happen. I knew that time was running short, and that while the mundane task would hold, getting my meditation practice in wouldn’t.

I find much the same whenever I push the envelope, and encounter resistance. I can usually identify resistance these days. The thing is that now I have to do some growing up to look it and myself in the eye and work past it. Like all resistance, it works from a whisper and then puts me entirely off track if left alone:

First, a distraction will take my immediate focus off the issue at hand. This can either be a road-bump or something outside the context entirely.
Now that my attention is diverted, I sidestep making real progress by working through whatever it is that has been brought to my attention. The longer this persists, the harder it is to get back on track.
Almost always I find that on some level I am aware of the whole process.
Ironically, I tend to get back on focus when it is just too late. This builds remorse and threatens a scenario in which I start beating myself up. Such behavior (of course) only reinforces the same pattern the next time.

Obviously, the most effective time to handle such cases is as early as possible. Simple procrastination gimmicks can help, but unless you really know what’s going on, they’ll be weak at best. Recognizing the pattern, and striving to break it is starting to yield some results for me, but the thing to keep in mind is to keep sniffing for that first wisp of smoke, and not let it get any further.

If you’d like to read more about how to keep focused on your goals, please subscribe to the RSS feed.

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