Читать книгу The Oscar for Life - Declan MiscellaneousLabor Loy - Страница 3

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.

Have you ever noticed in life that sometimes the things which are the most enjoyable and fulfilling are never planned?

As the boat docked, two feelings were present within Ethan. The first was a feeling of excitement and euphoria, which made his heart beat like a drum and helped hide his fatigue behind the veil of his conscious awareness. He sensed all the secrets, which he had discovered to date on this journey, were nothing compared to what he was about to experience right now, on this island. Something special was about to occur!

The second feeling was one of tiredness, of letting go. It was like there were two parts to him. One part was the controller, the ‘Me’ or ego part of his being – the hard worker, always trying to make things happen, to be the captain of the ship. The other was the quiet, still voice, the ‘I’ or Inspiration, which the current captain of the ship ‘Me’ kept locked away. These two parts, both existing within his being, were beginning to divide and separate. What a strange awareness, he thought quietly to himself.

He considered the journey and what it was really about?

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.

People had differing views of Ethan and he had changed much during his life. Some may have thought him intense, hardworking and determined, with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. At times, he could be the best person in the world, similar to Natalie in ways. But there was another side to him, a darker force, which, if unleashed, was not so nice.

He grew up in Northern Ireland during ‘The Troubles’ – the conflict between the British and Irish and the North’s Protestants and Catholics. Growing up in this environment, he had become used to witnessing the shootings, bombings, and terrorist attacks which dominated the evening news bulletins. Close friends were affected by ‘The Troubles’ and Ethan remembered one friend whose hand was blown off, as the man planted a bomb.

This was the environment in which Ethan grew up, though, at the time, it was not a major issue for him as he didn’t know any better. The middle child in a family of nine youngsters, Ethan’s mother, was a house-wife who took great care of her children. A pleasant, peaceful lady, she kept herself to herself. But his father became caught up in the fighting, which inevitably resulted in jail time, raids on their home by British soldiers, and his father being tortured and beaten. The violence left its mark on his father, who drank heavily and brought his problems home with him in the form of aggression against his wife and children.

But right here, right now, on the dock of this island port, his mind was centred on his future, not his past. He hired a motorbike from a dockside garage and set off in search of his hotel. He gunned the throttle and as the engine roared, it seemed to speak to him in a language only he and the bike could understand – why? Perhaps because it was a journey they’d discovered together. As he headed to the hotel, his heart was filled with joy, a heavenly blissful feeling. It flowed through his body, like a boat riding on the waves of the sea, flowing through the veins of his being. How could he describe to anyone what he was feeling at this moment?

It occurred to him that, if heaven really existed then surely, at that moment, he was in it. His awareness was rising to levels only angels dream of. He didn’t feel he was driving the motorbike, he felt as if the motorbike was driving him, as though they were one, and everything around them was also one with them.

In that very moment, a thought crossed his mind: was this the reason he had travelled to Thailand, to experience this feeling? Certainly he had discovered many gifts in Thailand. He had discovered himself. But what was the self that he had discovered? Was that what this journey to Thailand was really about? During his life, he had often wondered about the idea of winning an award for life. The more he’d thought about it, the more he was convinced that it was a great idea and, eventuality, he’d settled on the idea that he would set himself a new goal in life, he would win an ‘Oscar for life’. Now, as he roared along on this motorbike, he thought: ‘When I have arrived in life, when I have made it, when I am a success, I will write the book called winning an Oscar for Life.”

“Have I arrived?” he wondered.

As he drove down the Thai highway his life flashed before his eyes. A similar experience happened several years earlier in his home in Drogheda, Ireland. In that moment, he had foreseen a life of work, work, work, achievement, achievement, achievement. But it had also revealed a life in which he would miss out on his family, health, happiness, fulfilment and peace of mind. He could see only a life of always searching for more and it wasn’t a pleasant vision. It was a very painful one in fact! However, that search for more had ultimately lead to this point, the journey of self-discovery in Thailand and the images of the future now flashing before his eyes were very different. Instead of the pain he had previously anticipated, his mind was now filled with images of fulfilment, peace, joy, happiness, living life with purpose, discovering his real talents, experiencing unconditional love, free from fear, doubt, worry, stress, pressure, living with abundance. In that instant he realised he had all of these gifts in his life, now he knew what it took to win an Oscar for life.

He rode on, thinking about the decisions, which had brought him to this point and the sacrifices he’d made. He’d been called upon to do something unexpected in his life by walking away from his role as director in one of Europe’s top companies. It had been an incredibly difficult decision to make, one which saw him give up a salary of €250,000 per year, a luxury lifestyle and even some friendships. He’d been asked to give it all up, his entire life, so he could go off and try to discover the truth about life and uncover a message, which might help millions of other people to become happier, more fulfilled and live peaceful, meaningful lives.

And who had called upon him to do all of this? Some inner voice which spoke only to him? Was he mad to have listened to this voice from within? Would any sane person have done it? Had total faith that everything in life would be taken care of, if only you followed the path this voice recommended to you?

Any normal person would have refused to follow such a voice. Even if they’d accepted the need to find out about the truth of life, they’d have questioned the need to travel to the other side of the world to do so – why couldn’t he find the answers by staying in Ireland?

But he’d trusted the voice without question and embarked on a three-week journey of self-discovery in Thailand, leaving behind his wife and children. He hadn’t planned anything on the trip, trusting instead that everything would be looked after by someone, or something. He’d just started travelling, listening to his inner voice and waiting for signs and messages to be sent his way. All the time, the voice assured him that these messages would reveal to him the truth about life, the next evolution of mankind and the path to hidden treasure, which lay within him.

And then it happened!

He was given the perfect message, a sign that he was on the right track to discovering hidden treasures. On the side of the road, he spotted a statue – an amazing statue. It had to be a sign, a part of the truth he had come to Thailand to discover.

Right there in front of him – by the side of a back-road in Thailand – came the clearest sign that he had been right to follow his inner voice.

He pulled over, turned off the bike’s engine and let the sound of the machine tail off into silence. Removing his helmet, he looked with amazement at the sight before him. Was it a figment of his imagination? A mirage in the heat of the Thai afternoon? But the statue before him was real. Standing 5 foot 11 inches tall, and sparkling with all the glory you would expect from such a figure, was a statute of an Oscar.