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Declan MiscellaneousLabor Loy. The Oscar for Life
Prologue “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller. As the boat approached the island, at least one passenger aboard looked at the shoreline with a sense of anticipation. The journey had been smooth but now at 8am in the morning, tiredness was beginning to seep in. He had travelled throughout the night, first enduring ten gruelling hours on the bus that travelled from Hua Hin to Surat Thani before undertaking this two-hour boat journey to the island of Koh Samui. None of it had been planned and maybe that was why it had been such an amazing journey
In his late forties, Ethan was a family man married to Natalie, a stunning looking brunette, with the most pleasant personality you could meet. She was the type of person you always wanted to be around, with a smile that would melt the heart of anyone she met. If you were to describe her as a smell, then she would be the embodiment of the sweet smell of roses. She had a pure spirit and, without doubt, was to some a form of higher power in life. Ethan considered himself lucky to have such a beautiful, thoughtful wife and three wonderful children; Angelina, Connor and Alex
Chapter 1 The Journey Begins “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The journey to that statue by the side of the road in Thailand had been a long and difficult one. Two years previously, Ethan’s life had been transformed during a trip to Spain. One night, in the family’s new villa in Southern Europe, Ethan lay in bed, wide awake. It was his family’s first night in the holiday house of their dreams and he should have felt euphoric but, instead, he was unsettled, miserable and close to tears
He looked around again for the source of the answer but there was no one there. Was he talking to himself? Was he losing his mind?
“I can’t be walking around the town at this hour in the morning,” Ethan replied. “What will Natalie think? What will her parents think? If I get up, I’ll probably wake the kids.”
Tears welled up in Ethan’s eyes as he felt the power of the universe flowing through him. The connection he was experiencing was to everything around him. He felt as if the trees and the birds spoke to him. He drew closer to the sea. He could hear the waves softly crashing against the rocks on the beach, their watery reach caressing each stone as the wind ushered them gently towards the shore. The moon’s reflection rippled on the surface of the water, its white shadow waving majestically on the surface of the sea, wrapping itself around the twisting of the gentle waves, which ebbed to and fro. Although the night air was warm, the breeze from the sea was refreshing; it hung in the air, and was like the breath of a kiss touching your lips before the kiss itself
He thought of a quote by the internationally renowned author, Dr Wayne Dyer: “Prayer is when you talk to God; inspiration is when God talks to you.”
The same power that he had used to focus his mind on achieving all those goals was beginning to communicate with him. He was having a conversation with his inner voice, the ‘I’
“Who are you?”
“Am I imagining this?”
“What do you mean? Who are you?”
“I can’t do that: I can’t walk away from €250,000 a year income.”
In that moment, Ethan made the decision to trust his inner voice. On his return to Ireland, he exchanged his job for an entirely new path in life. Gone was the annual financial package worth €250,000, replaced by an expectation that he would receive wondrous new gifts and, most importantly, fulfilment in life
“What do you want me to do?” Ethan asked
Ethan was dumbfounded but the voice came back with a vengeance. It told him that he shouldn’t have been surprised, because he had asked and any time he asked a question he always got the answer
Chapter 2 Levels of Consciousness “Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King, Jr. As Ethan meditated, he began to relax very deeply. He stopped thinking and felt the fog beginning to lift from his mind. He could see clearly and feel deeply. When Ethan relaxed this deeply he always came upon his real deep, inner self. He found it hard to describe what happened as he meditated so deeply but he sensed a powerful force behind the feeling. The sense was of an inner knowingness that there was something keeping him alive, something which brought him into the world
Suddenly, his voice was back, speaking to him. He had reached a bus station and now sat down on a chair and listened to his inner voice
A film came to Ethan’s mind, ‘Bruce Almighty’ starring Jim Carey. In the movie, Carey’s character, Bruce, becomes God for a short while. During that period, he can hear all the voices of his people, and listens to everyone’s prayers
Ethan thought about how much more aware he was becoming and how he was experiencing different levels of consciousness. Again the voice spoke to him
The comment reminded Ethan of how he’d felt so lost in Bangkok and realised that, when he reached Hin Hua, he had reached a new level of consciousness
As he talked with his voice, Ethan became more conscious of being in this life and living in this life
Ethan thought about what the voice had told him and recognised its truth. On this island of Koh Samui, he saw how the commercial side of life co-existed with this deeper sense of self. The wealth and abundance on this island was pure bliss. When you looked into the crystal-clear waters that surrounded the island, you could see straight to the seabed. Ethan realised that, when he looked deep into these waters, he was looking into himself with more clarity than ever before. His time in Bangkok had been very different. There the water of the river which dissected the great city was dirty and polluted. It seemed to reflect the dirt and clutter of his mind so much that he couldn’t see who he really was
Chapter 3 Mind, Body, Spirit “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.” Swami Vivekananda. He gazed out at the beautiful, clear skies above him and the blue sea before him, as it stretched for miles before finally becoming one with the horizon
Ethan remembered somebody once telling him: “I would rather be rich and unhappy, than happy and poor.”
When he was young, Ethan was an extremely happy person, and people used to joke that he loved himself saying, “Here comes Mister Vain”. All Ethan could do was back to them, with humour, “If you can’t love yourself, how do you expect others to love you?”
For many years Ethan’s was scared to believe in God. He grew up as a Catholic within Northern Ireland – a country that was in conflict. It was caught up in a war of religious and political beliefs, which had begun as a battle in which the Irish sought to regain control of Northern Ireland from the British. In the 1980s, the Catholic religion was taught from a perspective of fear. Ethan was very attracted by the prospect of a religious life and, in his early years, he served as an altar boy in the Catholic Church. His family was devout and would regularly gather together around a statue of Mary, to say the Rosary. The children learned their religious ways from the Church, their school and their parents. His mother was a particularly devout Catholic who taught and led the family according to her religious values. Her influence helped the family to create good values, and an awareness that there is something else in life. Following his mother’s example and praying regularly made Ethan feel closer to God
Ethan started to realise that, in his early years, he attended Mass out of fear. If he didn’t go to Mass, God’s wrath would be visited upon him. In a similar way he would pray, go to confession and try to be good – all out of fear. It wasn’t a productive way of thinking! The one thing Ethan now realised was that religion never taught him to understand who he really was! What it did was make him afraid
Ethan was now finding that whatever you focus your mind on you can achieve. As Jesus said, “Whatever you can conceive and believe without inner doubt you can accomplish and it can come about.”
During his years in business, Ethan had experienced the benefits of goal setting and the wonders of the conscious creation of materialistic things in his life. In that last year alone, he’d achieved €104 million in sales, a salary of €250,000, expensive cars, a Spanish holiday home and other investment properties, he experienced the glamour of living a materialistic life. He wined and dined with the elite of his profession and he felt healthier and happier than ever. All this came about as a result of deciding what he wanted and then focusing on it
Ethan understood that he didn’t find true fulfilment in the search for ‘more’ wealth, and materialistic things. So, he asked a different question, the kind of question which, for Ethan, dictated his quality of life
When Ethan found what he was looking for, it gave him more of what is real, not the mind-made ‘more’. It gave him a deeper inner fulfilment, focusing his attention on the inner world more, as opposed to only the outer world. He began to focus 80 per cent of his attention on his inner world, cultivating the life force within – the Spirit or Soul, that was, the deeper part of who he really was. As he did that he began to experience true fulfilment, abundance and much, much more of life itself
Chapter 4 The Formulation of Ego: ‘Me’ “Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness. From an experiential point of view, what is ego covering up? It’s covering up our experience of just being here, just fully being where we are, so that we can relate with the immediacy of our experience. Egolessness is a state of mind that has complete confidence in the sacredness of the world. It is unconditional wellbeing, unconditional joy that includes all the different qualities of our experience.” Pema Chodron
“Okay, I get all this, but what about all the successful people who get all the success they want, but don’t appear to be fulfilled?” Ethan asked
“What are we searching for then?”
“So, you’re saying there are two existences, is that correct?” asked Ethan
“Why?” said Ethan
Chapter 5 Awareness: The Master Key of Experience “When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.” Eckhart Tolle
It was evening time in Bangkok, and Ethan went for a walk. The air outside was thick with humidity but remarkably still, given the intense activity everywhere around him: car horns beeped incessantly, voices called out, and neon lights from nearby buildings flashed a dazzling array of coloured messages. Despite the noise and frenetic activity, he felt remarkably calm, stilled by the healing glow from the setting sun
He made an effort to focus on what was in front of him, and it was then that he saw the hot air balloon basket parked in front of the film poster. He imagined the basket hurtling around the sky like Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz before it came to rest in front of that poster. He watched as a few people climbed into the basket and had their photographs taken. He imagined them telling friends how they had been to the land of Oz to meet the all-powerful wizard. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of them describing their experience of flying through the land of Oz in a hot air balloon
A few days later, Ethan discovered what it was like to see without thought. He went to visit the Golden Buddha statue, a giant 13th or 14th Century statue that is believed to weigh five and a half tons, and to be worth around $250 million in gold. The statue is located within the Temple of Wat Traimit in Bangkok
He thought of the moments after his oldest child, Angelina, was born. The doctor presented the baby to him and he held her nervously, terrified of dropping her. Glancing down at her perfect tiny face, shivers ran through his whole body. It was as if every cell of his body had suddenly been activated. He stared into her little eyes, and experienced a joining of souls, a relationship of hearts. He began to weep as joy filled every cell of his consciousness
Many of the great mystics tell us that we begin first by observing things with our awareness, then we move on to observing our thoughts, that is the ‘Me’, and finally then we get to an awareness of the thinker behind the thoughts
Chapter 6 The Now “I'm grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.” Eckhart Tolle. As Ethan awoke, he had great plans; it was time to go to work, to find this treasure. Let’s make it happen, he thought. After all, he was entrusted with recording learnings and experiences, to share with the world. Why, he didn’t know, or maybe he did. It was time to write, plan and share the word
But, of course, the other side of him, the ‘Me’, the part that is action-orientated, the part that brings things to completion, the part that makes things happen was determined to write, to find the truth, the treasure. The further he forced it, the worse he felt. The inner voice was saying to him, “Stop, stop, stop,” but he didn’t stop and he didn’t listen
Ethan’s voice was nudging him but he decided he wasn’t going to listen and, because he didn’t listen, he began to feel bad. When you get connected to that inner voice and you start to listen to it and you start to follow its path, the more and more you listen to that, the more you follow its path, the stronger the voice gets and the stronger that feeling gets. So, at any point, if you veer off that path, you will come to feel incredibly uncomfortable, incredibly low. Ethan started to feel sick. He didn’t feel right at all but he said, “I have to keep on going.”
When Ethan’s old ‘Me’, got stressed out and pressured, he would throw things around and say things like, “I’m going to make this thing happen.” But his new ‘Me’ said, “You’re to share with the world how to listen to your inner voice. You’d better start doing it.”
He walked out of the hotel bedroom to get something to eat. He was still feeling sick and feeling very down, In fact, he was feeling incredibly miserable, as though he should go back to bed and stay there for the day
So, he went for that walk. As he strolled along the beach, the sand was hot. It was hard to walk and, in some parts, the sand tripped him up because it was so coarse. There were parts of the beach, which were very dirty with bottles and different things lying around
His other side, the ‘Me’, was saying, “No, go back to bed.”
He decided to walk down the beach and, as he walked, he felt cold. He began to fight with his inner voice, asking it, “What is this all about? You know, if everything I’m experiencing in this book is true, why am I feeling like this? I don’t deserve this; I don’t deserve to feel like this. I can’t seem to click out of this. These lessons, these gifts you are sharing with me, they are not clicking for me here, at this moment.”
“What is it that I need to change?” Ethan said
Ethan had witnessed the voice, had gained insight, had gained a revelation. He had knowing. Energy, enthusiasm, excitement began to come rushing through his body and as it rushed through his body, all of those negative feelings just completely dissolved away. He began to feel alive. He began to feel excited. He began to feel passionate again. It was as though, when he looked out at the beach and the sea and everything around him, all the colours intensified and brightened. The sky seemed bluer and clearer; the sea seemed to be like magical dancers, dancing along in the sea with the weirdest moves. It was like the sea was energy and you could see the energy of the sea. You could see the children playing, you could hear the noise of the sea crashing in with a thundering roar. It was almost as if the sea were calling out to him, asking him to come in and play, telling him, “I want you to come in and play in the sea. I want you to experience me. As the waves crashed and boomed around him, the awareness of being in that very moment became more alive and real than ever
As Ethan walked along the beach, he was beginning to understand. He remembered the first time he experienced the now; it was in the South of France as he walked along the promenade beside the beach. It always seemed to happen most to him beside the beach or in nature, though he didn’t know why
“What do we need to do to become happy?” Ethan enquired
“Okay,” replied Ethan. “I get that and I get the message. It’s very clear the message today is that, when you get in touch with your inner voice, you must listen to that voice. You must listen to the guidance of thought and follow the path because if you don’t follow the path you will experience pain and you will experience suffering. And the pain and suffering are only there to let you know that you are off your path in life. Is that correct?” Ethan asked
Chapter 7 Decisions Shape Your Destiny “Every leaf that grows will tell you: what you sow will bear fruit, so if you have any sense my friend, don’t plant anything but love.” Rumi. When, in early January 2013, Ethan’s inner voice called him to travel to Thailand to experience a journey of self-discovery, it promised he would find the truth, gifts and hidden treasures of life. He would experience lessons, which he was to share with the world. He was shown a glimpse of the future that was so vivid it was as if he was looking at a crystal clear glass filled with water. He saw pictures of the things he was to do and the places he was to visit
“What creates our decisions?” Ethan asked
“I get incredibly confused sometimes,” replied Ethan. “There are so many thoughts going on in my mind in any given day as I become aware. How can anyone even get to the end of thoughts?”
“Now I’m confused! You told me that my decisions create my reality, but now you tell me not to make a decision,” Ethan said
“How do I make more effective decisions?” Ethan asked
“No, I wouldn’t,” answered Ethan. “How could I? My mind would be filled with fear. How could anyone make an effective decision from a mind filled with fear?”
Chapter 8 Create Your Reality “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” Albert Einstein. When Ethan first remarked that, “There has to be an easier way than this,” the comment had set him on the path to discovering his true human potential and how to harness his mind. He grew to understand how to use more of the mind and to realise that whatever you focus your mind on, you can achieve but, that you must believe without any inner doubt. His first teacher, his inner voice, had taught him about creating his own reality through conscious choice
Chapter 9 Relationships “We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.” John Lennon “What is the secret of relationships?” Ethan asked
Ethan’s family relationships had been very mixed. As a child, he had a wonderful relationship with his mother and was very close to his five brothers and five sisters. The eleven children in the family would do anything for each other and always looked out for each other and protected each other. Underlying all of those relationships was the incredible love shown to them by their mother. However, Ethan’s father didn’t show any love to his family. In fact, it seemed to Ethan that his dad didn’t really know what love was. Ethan didn’t know why his father acted in such a way. Maybe he hadn’t ever been shown love himself, when he was a child. Or, maybe, he just didn’t have any love to give
Ethan had a friend, Sue, whose relationship with her husband, Paul, wasn’t good. Their relationship had been amazing in the beginning, so full of passion and love. But, as the years went by, Sue started to drink alcohol and when she drank she became someone else, a person who wasn’t very nice and who would do things she would never dream off doing when sober. She was unaware the drinking would affect the foundation of her relationships but, over time, it affected all of them. Each relationship seemed to boil down to one moment where she would repeat the same old pattern of getting drunk, being argumentative and aggressive and showing that aggression in the relationship to the extent that it would have the effect of breaking up the relationship. The pattern of behaviour seemed to follow her constantly in her relationships until she finally questioned what she was doing. As she asked the question, answers appeared before her eyes, she could now see how she was constantly repeating certain behaviours, patterns of turning up in relationships
Ethan himself had a challenge with trust, which tracked back to an early relationship in which he was dating a girl he really liked. But, on a night out with his friends, another girl tried to kiss him and, after resisting her initial approaches, Ethan gave in and kissed this second girl. He felt wretched and guilty about the entire affair and, at the earliest opportunity, he confessed what had happened to his girl who, unsurprisingly, broke up with him. But worse was to happen when Ethan went to his favourite grandfather for advice. When he told his beloved granddad what had happened, the old man had replied "Ah, once you do it once, you will always do it"
A lack of trust lay behind Ethan’s constant repetition of his challenges in relationships because he had a belief he would always cheat. This belief was not real; it was handed down from the past, from someone else’s thoughts, which Ethan took on board. And because he had this belief he never trusted. The habit of looking through this filter of non-trust repeatedly turned up in his relationships and he would think people were untrustworthy
His relationship with Natalie had been very different. It began with a glance during that first chance meeting. Neither had planned to go out that night but they ended up in the same venue and at one point in the night, he had looked across the room and caught her eye. Immediately, he knew something had happened, though he wasn’t sure what. He sensed that he knew her, but that was impossible, as they’d never met before. He knew about love at first sight but dismissed it on this occasion because he simply wasn’t ready for love. Still, he couldn’t deny the immediate connection he felt; there was definitely an exchange between the two of them. Later that evening he found himself together again in the dance hall. Ethan saw her standing alone and walked across and asked her to dance. To his amazement she refused, before quietly adding, “Maybe later, when the slow music comes on.”
Ethan’s friend, Sue, had a very poor relationship with herself. She faced challenges in business and was bringing those challenges home. She eased the pressure by drinking a little too much wine and, when she did so, she became a different person. Her drinking prompted fights and arguments with her partner and was causing problems in their relationship. She was pushing her husband away, but didn’t really know why? Deep down, she didn’t feel like a success and she was unconsciously reacting to that feeling by pushing everything out of her life, including the people who loved her most. In the end, she pushed so hard that her partner left her
She woke up and thanked God for the wakeup call, which awakened her from her conditioning and the thought programmes, which dominated her thinking. Luckily the couple’s relationship was built on strong foundations and they reunited. When that happened, Sue found that her new experience had brought her relationship to a new level. Not only that, but it also had a huge impact on her business life, helping her to develop and grow relationships which aided her firm. Ultimately, that single wake-up call positively influenced every aspect of her life and she recognised that she had been given the most wonderful gift that could ever be given to anyone, because it taught her to love herself all at a deep level
Chapter 10 Judgement “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40. It was morning and Ethan was walking back from Hua Hin bus station. He had just bought a ticket to travel to the island of Koa Samui where he hoped to find the secret treasure when he spotted a man he’d seen on the same stretch of road the day before
The words slapped him on the face, jolting him out of his thoughts. A bright light had been switched on in his consciousness, exposing his thinking and finding it wanting
“So, when I look around and see poverty, you are saying it’s wrong for me to judge it as poverty?” asked Ethan
To Ethan, poverty was living in a tin shed like the people beneath his hotel balcony in Hin Hau. There he was, staying in a beautiful hotel with all the luxuries a person could ask for: a vast swimming pool, a fully-equipped gym, clean rooms and a huge comfortable bed
Ethan realised how much he judged others and himself. In his mind, he ran through a list of the judgemental comments he would make: “I’m too fat, too small. He’s angry. She’s miserable. They’re no good. This is bad. They’re nice.” Most of his days were spent judging everyone!
“What about the people who are starving? I know that’s probably a judgement but surely it’s also a fact?” Ethan asked
“So, what are the steps involved in dropping judgement and becoming aware?” asked Ethan
Chapter 11 Fear “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27. It was morning in Koh Samui and Ethan woke with a plan of action for the entire day. But, as the day went on, it became clear that, no matter how hard he tried, things weren’t going to happen the way he’d planned. He persisted, hour after hour. Finally, after losing much of the work he had been struggling with, he gave up on his plan and went to the beach for a swim
“I am yours: guide me and tell me what you want me to do,” Ethan told the voice
“Hire a motorbike?” Ethan said. Fear bubbled up inside him, choking him. He had never ridden a motorbike. “What if I have an accident? I might get arrested for riding a motorbike without a proper license. What if I get lost?” Ethan thought
He realised how he had allowed ‘Me’ to control ninety per cent of his life. That day, as he began to get in touch with his inner voice, the situation began to reverse. ‘Me’ was beginning to build a relationship with ‘I’. ‘Me’ began to trust ‘I’. ‘Me’ began to realise any decisions ‘I’ made seemed to be pretty good for ‘Me’. The outcomes of ‘I’ decisions were fun, exciting and adventurous, with lots of play, enjoyment and exploration
When Ethan later looked back at this time, it seemed to him as though it was almost like a scene from the movie, ‘Inception’, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays the part of Dom Cobb, a skilled thief who can even steal valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious of others while they are in a dream-like state
Chapter 12 Emotional Release “What is like a smelly fart that, although invisible, is obvious? One’s own faults that are precisely as obvious as the effort made to hide them.” The 7th Dalai Lama. It was the 17th March, St Patrick’s Day and Ethan was missing his family very much. If he was at home, he would be getting ready to go out and watch the parades with his wife and children, dressed for the typically chilly, showery Irish spring weather and ready for a great day out. His family was very important to him, and to miss out on the fun of St Patrick’s Day with them was deeply upsetting. He had spoken to his eight-year-old son, Connor, on the phone the previous evening. Connor had been very quiet and when Ethan asked him what was wrong, Connor became upset and started crying. It wasn’t easy for either of them because they missed each other terribly
When Ethan heard Connor crying he considered ending his trip and flying home, but he knew he had to stay and continue his quest. He knew that there was more to come, there were still very special things to be discovered
He was releasing a lot of emotion, probably because he was missing his family. As he thought of them he sent them love, with a simple thought. Then he asked the inner ‘I’, “What is humility?”
His mother came into his mind causing floods of emotion to well up from within. She had done so much for him and helped him in so many ways. She had taken care of the family against all the odds
“What is unconditional love?” Ethan asked
Ethan had experienced unconditional love when he first met Natalie. But he remembered another situation in which he felt he had experienced it. It was in a business meeting with a woman called Claire. As they shook hands, Ethan said, “I know you from somewhere.” He knew they had met, but he just could not place when or where it had happened. Sitting there, he kept wondering where he knew her from
Ethan felt his shell not only crack, but explode. The inspiration ‘I’, erupted from within, breaking his shell, like a sledgehammer breaking through glass. His chick was born, as all the love, fear, guilt and forgiveness that had been trapped for so long was released
He felt he was not only releasing emotions that had been trapped in his mind, but it felt as if he was living in a daydream, within his unconscious mind, and he was driving around not in the world, but in the recesses of his unconscious mind. About forty-five minutes earlier, he had passed roadworks, with JCBs everywhere, the roads for miles on end were being resurfaced, jackhammers were breaking through the tarmac. The roadworks now seemed like a metaphor for the reconstruction he was undergoing, digging around in his unconscious, digging up parts of his unconscious mind, parts where emotions had been trapped, and he was at last beginning to free those emotions
Ethan had struggled with this in the past. He had found it hard to love his father who had been an aggressive, violent man. How could he have loved him? How could anyone have loved a man like that? Someone who was very aggressive and had caused so much pain to his young family over the years: drinking, fighting, hitting his mother, hitting the children. But, perhaps even worse than the physical abuse was the verbal torture the children and their mother had suffered. His shouting and cursing, showing so much hatred to his family who didn’t deserve it
Ethan started to think of guilt and how he had harboured guilt for things that he had done, and sometimes for things he had not done. He remembered times when he felt guilty for things that he had done to people, situations came to mind when he had let people down, when he had said something against them, done something to hurt them and he remembered specific names. He remembered the names of people he’d hurt or let down
He did and more emotion welled up and was released. “Surely there cannot be any more emotion left to release?” he wondered
Chapter 13 Change Your Past “Peace domes from within. Do not seek it without.” Buddha. Leaving Nikki Beach he was now feeling released, cleansed and purified. Hopping onto the motorcycle, he was curious about what lay ahead in this adventure. He was going deeper now; it was as if, he was travelling within his subconscious mind
“What part of me am I trying to protect? What is it I don’t want to face?” a curious Ethan asked
Ethan remembered studying analytical psychotherapy and within one of the modules they had studied repression. According to Sigmund Freud: “Repression is the involuntary, unconscious concealment of uncomfortable thoughts and desires in the unconscious. When memories are too painful or too difficult to deal with, we tend to repress them.”
“So how do I get into that part of my unconscious mind in order to release the anger?” Ethan enquired
“How do we do this?” Ethan asked, he so much wanted to heal some old wounds of the past, some difficult memories which stemmed from his childhood
Chapter 14 Relationship Between ‘I’ and ‘Me’ “Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” Friedrich Nietzsche. As he rode the motorbike across the island, he knew there was something he needed to understand. He eventually pulled over and stopped so he could ‘hear’ what it was
So the ‘Me’ needed to trust the ‘I’, Ethan realised. His ‘Me’ got what trust was all about. Finally. It understood its own fear of dying, but it didn’t have to be afraid of dying because the ‘I’ part is the part that lives on forever and the ‘I’ part wants to express itself fully in this human. Therefore, ‘I’ will take care of the ego, and the ‘Me’ stands a better chance of survival. So, the awareness and knowing, the whole formula, is complexly reversed now. With trust in the ‘I’, with integration between the ‘Me’ and the ‘I’, eighty per cent of the movement of life is now reversed over to the other side which is ‘I’ and the ‘I’ takes control of your life eighty per cent of the time. It guides you
Ethan got back on the road and hadn’t been travelling for long when he suddenly got a feeling to take a right turn. He listened and turned right with no idea of where it was going to lead him. He drove on past shops and palm trees, and eventually arrived at Boateng beach
Chapter 15 Explore Life “Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realise that, the sooner we will be able to treat life as art.” Maya Angelou. Messages came quickly to Ethan after the day on the motorbike. For the first time in his life, he actually understood what the message, “Enjoy the journey” really meant. It was about being patient, and living life in an effortless way
“How do I explore life?”
“Yes, I see now it’s not logical. It requires trust and faith that I am always being looked after,” said Ethan
Ethan thought back to the motorbike ride and how he had begun to trust life to guide him on the journey. He had ridden further into the mountains, into completely unknown territory, and he had seen so many beautiful sights. A signpost had directed him to a location called, “Magical Waterfall”. It was obviously the day for magical things, so he followed the sign along a road that was lined with tall palm trees
It really drove home the importance of connection: the need for connection between teams, couples, families, groups, communities and even nations. When you are connected, it is so much easier to create things
As Ethan, entered the cave, he saw layers of rocks of many colours: black, grey, silver, and white. There were scrape marks in the rocks, where people had visited over the years and scratched their names into the surface. It made him think about cavemen and how their homes had been caves like this one. He imagined how they lit fires to keep warm and how the light from the fires would have filled their caves at night. Light suddenly beamed into the cave. It was as if God had popped by to say hello and to show that there was still life in the cave. He was aware that once the cave might have been somebody’s home. What a beautiful home!
He saw clearly how the next evolution of mankind would come about. He began to think about the evolution of personality, and of how there are two paths you can take on a journey to awakening
“I still don’t get it. Why are so many people, who are into spirituality, broke?” Ethan asked
As he stood awestruck in that cave, Ethan really understood what it meant to live, to evolve and to have. He understood what it means to do in order to have. He thought of the journey he’d made to reach the cave and of how it had seemed effortless. He thought of how so many people wouldn’t have taken the journey to reach the cave because it would have seemed too hard. It made him realise how many amazing opportunities can be missed when you choose to stay in your comfort zones
Through the exchange, Ethan became aware of how, when you look at somebody, you can really understand him or her and know the thoughts they are thinking. He looked around at the other people in the gardens, realising that he could see what each person was thinking. He could look at their smile and see whether they were connected to themselves or not
When Ethan was kayaking at Ang Thong Island, the tour guided shared a story about the island’s coconut trees and how they were being attacked by an insect that would eventually kill them all off. That taught him about the cycle of life and death and how everything moves on
Chapter 16 Inspiration from Within “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius. Sometimes in life you are handed a gift, and now Ethan was handed such a gift
Ethan had no choice earlier, because he was not aware of the inspired creation process. He discovered his path in life was to help others to achieve their goals, their dreams, and to empower them to become more themselves. And he got a feeling, which caused his body to shudder and nearly made him jump out of his chair, which showed him this direction in life. He’d known this was right for him and, more importantly, he trusted in this voice within
Chapter 17 Jump Into Life “Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.” Ray Bradbury. As he got closer and closer to the entrance to the waterfall, he could see elephants on the left-hand side of him. He could see the mountains stretching high above him and the jungle all around. The jungle was so different to the forests he was used to seeing in Ireland. There were palm trees everywhere, which he never saw in an Irish forest
Then it was as if he became the child. He felt shivers going through his body because his vibrational energy was so high. He had such excitement and passion and enthusiasm for life. He was in the water. The water was cool, but it was really quite heavenly. He swam over towards the waterfall and saw the water tumbling down the rocks. It sparkled like tiny diamonds in the sun. He lifted his head up and let the water hit him in the face and savoured the moment
Later that day, when he rode out of the waterfall park and got back on the motorway, his voice directed him to go to the left. He saw a signpost for a monument called the, ‘Big Buddha’ about five kilometres ahead. It seemed as if he was being guided in that direction so he followed the sign. He took a left turn and saw what looked like the beautiful entrance to an island. The sea was on both sides of him and, way off in the distance, he could see lots of islands. They didn’t look real: they looked as if they had been painted onto a movie backdrop. He started to see glimpses of the ‘Big Buddha’ on top of the hill in front of him. The road took him up into a little village. He stopped the motorbike next to a shop and parked up, and then walked in the direction of the Big Buddha statue. As he got closer he saw that it was next to a temple
With that lesson in mind, he asked the voice a new question as he stood at the foot of the Buddha statue: “Is it not useful to have those meanings? Perhaps it is useful to have meanings programmed into your mind.”
It seemed strange to have such a big statue in the middle of nowhere, though it was an amazing sight thought Ethan. As he looked closer, he saw that, along the steps, were two big snake sculptures. They seemed to be protecting the shrine of the Buddha or protecting the Buddha itself
Chapter 18 There’s Treasure Within You “Happiness is your own treasure because it lies within you.” Prem Rawat. Before he left the Big Buddha village, the woman who owned the little store next to where he’d parked the motorbike asked him if he’d like to try some Thai tea
The sign told him with authority, “Stop here.”
He had got it!
He could have so easily missed this place, if he wasn’t aware. It was hidden away. How many times in his life, did he remember something calling out to him, to do something, and he ignored the voice, the feeling or the nudge?
He did see the inner lesson. He found it. He found the ‘I’, in the fullest expression. It was like the hunt was over and he had found the treasure that was hidden away in a quiet place that nobody knew about. This little place, ‘Rock Pool’, would have been so easy to drive past but the inner voice had made him stop. This was like Treasure Island: there were hidden treasures in our everyday lives, and if he just learned to trust his inner voice and explore his daily life, like an adventure, he would find those hidden treasures. He would not know where those treasures were going to come from, but the inner voice, the ‘I’ part, when fully trusted, would guide him towards those hidden treasures – the five-star luxuries, the paradises, the heavenly locations. That inner part when you trust it, would always guide him
Images came to his mind of business situations or circumstances that were going to happen. ‘I’ started to reveal visions of the future which lay before him and, as these images came, he felt shivers running down his spine, pulsating through his body. The message was clear, this was his future. He could see 80,000 people in a football stadium and they were listening as he taught them how to live from their true selves. The energy from the crowd reached out and touched his heart. The message was all about the people he was to meet and places he was to go. It was about his family life, business life, about his contribution to the world and making a difference in that world. He could see a future world in which people no longer lived according to faulty software programmes of fear, doubt, stress, worry and concern. It was a future where people expressed their true selves. It was like gazing into a crystal ball, which revealed Nirvana. He had found the Spirit fully. He had learned to trust the voice fully and the Spirit revealed to him the treasures still to come in his life, but which were within him
It all made sense to Ethan
He left the private resort, recovered his motorbike and rode on. He had begun to explore and jump into life. Soon he reached a place called Chaweng beach. This was the number one destination in Koh Samui Island and reputed to be its best beach, so he was really looking forward to this part of the day’s journey. His first impression was that it was very busy: there was so many parked vehicles that he had to really search for somewhere to put his motorbike. Eventually, he found a gap to walk down towards the beach
When ‘Me’ gave up control to the ‘I’, the experience of so many wonders was awesome, Ethan thought. When you jump out and really play and participate in life, you will experience these wonders too. Ethan recognised that fear is simply thought constructed in the mind. It comes from programmes, which are handed down over generations, faulty software that has a virus attached to it
Chapter 19 Enjoy the Journey of Life “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” Ernest Hemingway
He opened his eyes and became aware of the things going on around him, inside and outside the cab. Beyond his window was the usual traffic; motorbikes, cars and buses were jostling for space. Men, women and children were sitting in family groups outside the shops they owned, talking and laughing
Chapter 20 Right Action “The future depends on what you do today.” Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter 21 Integration “He who experiences the unity of life sees his own self in all beings and all beings in his own self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.” Buddha
Acknowledgements
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