The almighty power of honesty.

The spiritual meaning behind the strong and assertive power of number one is that of individuality. One is the essence, the beginning of the spiritual journey within which leads to knowing your true self. What fascinates me the most when I contemplate life, is a few of us ever wonder, why Earth and why us? Most people accept the rat race, a life cycle of work-eat-entertainment-sleep. There has to be more! Why is the flame of desire for a deeper understanding of our purpose in this universe barely flickering? Plato said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

At present our inner world is being reflected in the external world through stress and anxiety, allowing fear to take center stage. From a higher vantage point could this possibly be the origin of our misunderstandings, frustrations, and failures we all internally face as human beings in this day and age. We seem lost, confused, and even afraid to learn what our true quest in life is. According to Nikola Tesla, “We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences.” Yet as a majority we continue to do almost anything to defend our possessions, no matter what the ultimate cost may be to human life or Mother Earth. May we now ask, has our moral compass been replaced with a thick layer of rust?

Are you are in a place of darkness and experiencing heaviness within yourself that is draining your energy? Do you have a feeling of being trapped, constricted, helpless, or feeling alone? This could be your body calling for help. I hope to give you insight into why we experience such emotions. By shedding some light on the undercurrent of these issues we will find a solution to get you back on the right path in life. And yes growth is often messy, but we cannot grow when we are comfortable. But if we choose to pay attention to what triggers us it will reveal what still needs to be healed. We may have had a few bad chapters but the story is far from being over. I want to be the person to spread kindness in the darkness. A according to Sigmund Freud, “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

Until our death grows closer, we only realize that we never really lived, and thus we regret missing out on all the greatness life can truly offer us. I’m talking about full days of the craziest and wildest shit you could ever truly imagine. Why? We are all our own blockers. Our goal should not only be survival, we must adapt and strive to be the best version of our true self. But where do we begin to look so we may gain more understanding of what went wrong in the first place?

There is something deeply heartfelt about the human struggle. One can’t deny that our true inner intelligence is constantly tainted by a sense of madness. We have been in the grip of pain for eons, ever since we fell from the state of grace, entered the realm of time and mind, and lost awareness of Being. An underlying pain persists as we all carry within us memories of the time before our material bodies were fully formed, the time when we could fly. The truth is that we are only briefly dipped into the matter on Earth and our day will come when we have the choice to rise and fly free once more. By simply observing and bringing awareness to our thinking, and to our bodies, our soul energy will come into alignment also. Once this happens the truth will hit us hard that the perception of what we thought we were will cease to exist. We will soon realize that we are existence ourselves.

Sigmund Freud an Austrian neurologist believed reflecting on childhood memories has a great impact and influence on how we developed on our journey towards adulthood. Thus, shaping our whole personality. For example, anxiety originating from traumatic events experienced during your childhood can be hidden deep inside, known as neuroses. Freud's life work was heavily influenced by his attempts to find ways of piercing this often ultra-thin and intricate camouflage that conceals our hidden personality, how it is structured, or processes. We can all exercise, stay fully hydrated and take multivitamins to become healthy, but if we don’t deal with the shit that’s going on in our heads we will never fully heal. Unresolved trauma within ourselves will keep manifesting itself in our lives until we heal. As a result, we wake up tired, frustrated, and stressed with our present life and so continue to sleepwalk through it. Sigmund Freud said, “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways."

From childhood, our personalities are formed by a constellation of habits and beliefs borrowed from our ancestors and our environment. Our families and peers taught us what they thought was socially acceptable behavior, stemming from how they were raised. This has plagued us all in so many ways, as we began hiding our inner selves away from such a young age thanks to authoritative figures who lead us. They taught us all they have ever known. They knew no better than merely surviving. Primarily we are taught to place our focus on successfully sustaining our stride with a material-focused mindset, that represents nothing more than a bottomless pit, that is leaving us feeling stagnant in our current life. The times are forever changing like the seasons, we need to adapt and evolve too.

Nikola Tesla said, “From childhood, I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of achievement. The pressure of occupation and the incessant stream of impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways. Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The premature death of millions is primarily traceable to this cause. Even among those who exercise care, it is a common mistake to avoid imaginarily, and ignore the real dangers. And what is true of an individual also applies, more or less, to a people as a whole.”

I was raised as Irish Catholic in Co Armagh (Northern Ireland) known as bandit land. My family home was situated beside one of the largest heliports in Europe at the time. Growing up my childhood had its fair share of checkpoints, attacks, bombs, violence, soldiers patrolling on the hour, every hour, helicopters that flew so low that you felt they would land on the roof of the house. I still remember the night I heard the shot that took the life of a British soldier Stephen Restorick, 23, who had been manning a vehicle checkpoint in Bessbrook in February 1997 when he was shot through the back and later died in the ambulance on route to the hospital.

Don’t get me wrong, these experiences shaped me as a person and I truly know I am loved by my family, we played and just got on with life the best we could. However, I was never encouraged to explore inner development. This was unheard of, survival was the goal. I could never get my head around the hatred between Catholics and Protestants that overwhelmed Northern Irish communities. A divide to this day that still stands.

I loved singing in the church choir when I was a child. Later in life when did an audition to join my high school's choir, my nerves got the best of me. The music teacher asked me to sing the notes she was playing on the piano to which I failed miserably. That one moment has haunted me throughout my life. What if the teacher had calmed me instead of saying I was not good enough to join the choir. All I felt on that day was judgment, not encouragement. Plato sealed the deal when he quoted, “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each…The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful.”

I never sang in public again until my 20’s, when the urge to sing resulted in a drink-fuelled karaoke session gone wrong, my voice resembled that of a scared little mouse. The song of choice was Bob Marley's Redemption Song. Oh tequila, you are only fun for one night. I died inside the next day with the worst hangover. Since writing this I have purchased a microphone and have been practicing my singing a few days a week. I don’t expect to become a famous singer like Beyonce but I sing solely as it soothes my soul. Whatever brings a smile to my face is priceless. Because for those few seconds or minutes life is awesome. We need to create more moments like this.

Ordinarily, our awareness and energies are directed outward, to the material things of this world. We can only perceive these things through the limited instruments of our five physical senses. Thus leaving our reasoning to rely on this partial and often deceptive data that we surround our environments with. Jim Morrison an American singer claimed, “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”Let’s see how this could be applied to our present day. It appears most of our knowledge is accessed through the mainstream media. As a result limiting our sources of inspiration through the dependence of these external sources, entrenched with propaganda and marketing.

Our perception is that we are expressing individualism (our right to think for ourselves without conforming to society’s imposed ideals), but is this really the case?

Are we practicing free will in questioning things in life with the aim to understand and not judge?

Or has our path led us to blindly comply, ignoring all gut instinct as a result of fear or manipulation?

Overuse of social media, tv, and electronics has caused us to become detached from our true nature. We all become worried when we turn on our TVs and hear talks of deaths, lockdowns, global recessions, and conspiracy theories. The rise of fake news has turned our once innocent social connection arenas like Facebook, Tik Tok, youtube, Twitter, and Instagram into tools of confusion (information overload). People have developed a stressed mindset of fear; fear for their health, loved ones, job security, financial income, racial discrimination, terrorism, freedom of speech, and global warming. The World appears to be turned upside down. What is the truth?

People have become obsessed with social media, a dangerous road leading to compulsive personalities that heavily rely on external validation. It is an addiction that if not handled responsibly will end relationships, including your peace of mind. No one is perfect just remember that when people meet you in the street there are no filters, it’s all about being real. Social media should be a platform of creativity, love, and fun. Instead, marketing corporations have successfully created a bigger divide, and continue to pollute our online and inner world. Vanity has taken on a new level. The illusion is that we need this, we need that, to be more beautiful, thinner, popular, to enhance our status; or just to feel more wanted. It now appears to like yourself, never mind love yourself, is a rebellious act. A hard pill to swallow is that some people pretend to love you as much so they can use you. Their so-called loyalty ends where their perks stop. People will do anything to gain the spotlight. But what happens when fame and money disappear? Miyamoto Musashi a Japanese philosophize aced it when he said, “Never accept an inferior position to anyone. It is the strongest spirit that wins, not the most expensive sword.” If you take just a moment and reflect on the following questions.

What grabs your attention in your life, is it your job, your house, your clothes, your car, your savings, your social status?

Or is your attention drawn to the pressure of what you think your relationships in your life expect from you?

Or would you say it's your inner evolution you care most about?

Going deeper into the completion of my life, I realize that desire plays a paramount role in our daily lives. We constantly wish for our environment to be different, always craving to be somewhere else, and then and only then will we be happy. This deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness, of not being whole. In some people, this is conscious (manifests as unsettling unworthy), in others unconscious, (intense craving, wanting, and needing.) Our attention is drawn to our possessions, wealth, success, basically, so we can pretend to feel better about ourselves. Yet the search is endless like is a bottomless pit.

I was pondering over the concept of craving and desire, a revelation within my soul stepped forward. I now knew that our true quest in this life is the exploration of the inward passage to our true selves, the vehicle of all value and meaning, that inner awareness each of us has. It is the witness on the throne to our thoughts, and ultimately, who we really are. The existence of this inner dimension is so imminent to us, and yet it is perhaps the deepest mystery we face.

Due to the advancement in our modern technology over the last 150 years, we have exchanged our inner wonder with a perceived sense of security and survival in the external world. Our thoughts and emotions are enslaved in external situations, this is what I call mass insanity. These are the thought patterns that dominate the collective mind. This mirror image is then reflected in the daily routines of billions of people. Jen Sincero an American writer speaks about how “Most people are living in an illusion based on someone else beliefs.” Lack of understanding of how to go deeper inside to heal the traumatic events of the past have left their mark on us. And in return, our current reality is that our immune systems on a global scale are excelling deeper into recession. The result has created endless cases of anxiety, depression, and diseases.

How do you respond when complex situations and events arrive on your doorstep?

Do you stay calm and accept?

Or does your reaction render that of a melodrama series on Netflix?

What needs to be made transparent is that the unwelcome or harmful problems we all face due to materialism will not be solved with the current perception we have of the world. Our minds are too focused on other people and where we struggle to fit in amongst them. Quite literally 80% of what we all say is gossip. Rumi a 13th-century Persian poet, once said, “Half of life is lost in charming others. The other half is lost in going through anxieties caused by others. Leave this play, you have played enough.”

Happiness doesn’t start with a relationship, a vacation, a job, or money, it starts with figuring out who you truly are and what your purpose in life is. Once we acknowledge the abnormality that everyone hears a voice in their head, a mental dialogue going on inside that never halts. The process is an illusion of separateness in the sea of never-ending concepts, labels, and boxes. The aim of that game is to block all true relationships with our inner selves.

Have you ever wondered why it talks in there?

How does that inner voice decide what to say and when to say it?

How much of what it says is true or even important?

René Descartes was a French philosopher who famously said, “I think therefore I am.” He had, in fact, conveyed the underlying error that we all witness in life. That is equating thinking with Being and identity with thinking. Our lives are advancing down the road of an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict. We now live in a mental state of compulsive thinking. Our Identification with our mind is the greatest obstacle to experiencing a wholesome and fulfilled life. Our focus has shifted to such an extent that we have begun to believe that we exist because we think! We believe we are our mind and therefore our ego is born into our perception of reality. Our minds are living in tinted memories of the past and jaded anticipation of the future. This is a delusion because we believe that we would cease to be if we stopped thinking.

Life is not the cause of our untold misfortunes. The true cause of all the painful commotion is how we attach ourselves to the emotional response created by the ego. The voice the ego creates never ceases to stop talking. What we perceive as an involuntary thought process, a continuous monologue or dialogue of endless chatter. To some people it may be harmless entertainment, to others it may develop into their tormentor.

Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things, the most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, social status, education, physical appearance, relationships, ethnicity, nationality, religious or political beliefs. None of these things is you, rather they manmade imaginary boxes. Albert Einstein claimed that “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is its faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

How are your mental health and well-being as a whole?

If you have ever experienced feeling overwhelmed, anxious, angry, exhausted, depressed, how did that affect your life?

How do you react when life presented you with unpleasant twists and turns?

The ego state of mind is what is familiar to most of us and this is what breeds contempt and indifference. It’s the part of us that loves to sabotage our happiness because deep down we don’t feel worthy of being loved. The ego acts like an online troll. American author Dr. Joe Dispenza said, “When our egos are out of balance due to a barrage of stress hormones, our analytical minds go into high gear and become overstimulated. That’s when the analytical mind is no longer working for us, but against us.” When your thoughts and feelings about your life become deeply negative and self-destructive, Illness and accidents are often created from the domino effect. Vital soul energy being drained right down to the light drop, even in some cases driving their host to suicide. The truth is that we all have the power within to control this voice. American author Meggan Watterson proclaimed, “ I learn there are forces, illusions, deep-seated misunderstandings, ego-driven needs that can overpower me…I learn that I have the ability to leave, in any moment, in any situation. I can choose to exit.” The actualization is that this voice is only your ego, and it belongs to your conditioned mind of who you thought you were, seen through two little earthly eyes, matching up to the labels and boxes placed on you through society.

If we delve into the history of war it appears motivated by fear, greed, and the desire for power. War itself is a form of madness deep-rooted in the collective delusion that lies within the mind. When mistakes and woes land at your doorstep, humanity points the finger (the blame game). Humankind has excelled in the game of fear and guilt for purposes of manipulation and control. The result is visibly clear, a force so destructive in its effect. It's amazing the time and energy that humans place on creating technology that kills their fellow humans and yet a fraction of that energy is cultivated in creating solutions to achieving peace.

Eckhart Tolle a spiritual teacher teaches, “Fear, greed, and the desire for power are the psychological motivating forces not only behind warfare and violence between nations, tribes, religions, and ideologies but also the cause of incessant conflict in personal relationships. They bring about a distortion in your perception of other people and yourself. Through them, you misinterpret every situation, leading to misguided action designed to rid you of fear and satisfy your need for more.”

How many times have you lashed out, either with your words or actions?

How many times was this frustration, irritation, or anger aimed at your loved ones?

Or was this aggressive even aimed towards perfect strangers?

The fundamental truth is that it all stem’s from your defense mode, nothing more than a reflection of your inner pain. This may be rooted in past trauma that replays on repeat, or it could also be your conditioned ego (formed from a world full of labels and boundaries). American physician Sarah J McNutt once said, “Most people never heal, because they stay in their heads, replaying corrupted scenarios. Let it go”. Nothing in the world can trouble us as much as our own thoughts, the source of the emotional drama. It is our response to this way of thinking that keeps the Ego wheel of suffering effortlessly turning. Listen to me my darlings, we are not serving a life sentence as a prisoner of our past. It was just a lesson, that simple.

Pain is inevitable, but transformation through exploring our inner landscape can lead us to self freedom. So why not press the refresh button. The number one question to ask yourself is what do you truly want in your life. When you wish upon a star will the universe respond? To genuinely answer this question involves us considering our deepest innermost feelings. We need to practice clear observation of our experiences, a combination of personal fears and greatest hopes. Can you recall those remarkable moments in your life that you strongly felt the universe sending you clear signs?

If we learn to take a step back and decide to willingly apply commitment with an open mind in controlling our inner world, we realize we have the power to not overreact in any situation whilst remaining calm. Stop judging people and start understanding them. This single act alone is powerful to lift the weight of the world. Author Roy T.Bennett gave us this inspirational quote, “Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness of others.” Imagine if we instead saw people's true intentions, and not of a perfected fake image on social media or in the material world. We have no idea what is going in someone’s head, they could be fighting a battle we nothing about. Or they could be fighting a battle that we once fought ourselves. When you open up to anyone there will always be someone who has more tragedy, sorrow, bad luck than you. Practice gratitude.

Behind the money, status, and beauty, who are we?

Behind all the hurt and pain in this world, who are we?

Behind that anxious and frightened persona, who are we?

When these questions are answered, the perception of the world of what it is to be human will change forever. BE TRUE TO YOU, THIS IS YOUR ONLY RESPONSIBILITY. Step by step, day by day, just know the effort is everything. So go you! Well done, if all you did today, was to get up and out of your bed, took a shower, enjoyed a little relaxing walk, smiled, or managed a small laugh. These small tokens of our daily lives can be an ultimate struggle for those suffering from mental illness and physical injuries. Be grateful for the simple things, and you will be well on your way beautiful.

According to a 2016 UNICEF report, violent conflict has made 28 million children homeless worldwide. According to a 2019 Psychology Today report, the average rate of divorce across all years and all regions was 4.08 divorces for every 1,000 married people. We can only imagine what those figures could be after this pandemic is over. How much trauma has each and every one of these tragedies caused to these individuals, and extended family, friends, the general public? If the wound isn’t cared for correctly, it will never heal but instead, the infection of fear and pain spreads. Human society reflects the inner experience of human beings, the collective mindset of humanity has become stuck in an ego default mode. An imprisoned way of life enslaved by the onslaught of judgment. Just be kind! Judging someone doesn’t make you better or make your light shine any brighter but understanding them will. Be good to others, it will come back in unexpected ways.

Christian Bernard a former Imperator of AMORC, a mystical Rosicrucian order once wrote, “First of all, we must be in harmony with ourselves, we must come to accept ourselves. The best way to achieve this is to never compare ourselves with others, because the moment we do, we then judge ourselves inferior or esteem ourselves as superior, resulting in either an inferiority complex or an inflated ego. In both cases, the result is a state of disharmony. To avoid this, it is best, to begin with, the principle that each of us is a unique being and that this uniqueness gives us our worth in the Lord's view, as well as in the eyes of humanity. Therefore, we should hold to our own standard comparing ourselves only to ourselves- this being the key to our spiritual evolution”

In a nutshell, the healing journey is the unlearning of almost everything you have been conditioned to think and believe your entire life. It is about a serious look inward at the traumas, generational patterns, limiting beliefs, and everything else that is a product of the unforgiving world that we live in. The responsibility to transform is a personal choice we all have to make. We all can overcome the pain and suffering in our lives and instead evolve and live in a more joyous inspirational environment but mentally and physically. Yes, the change will entail discomfort, inconvenience, and a break from a predictable routine and expectations. Yes, it is a period of not knowing but just know that the pain of discipline is much less than the pain of regret. Epictetus a Greek philosopher said, “It is the part of a wise person to resist pleasures, but of a foolish person to be a slave to them.”

I know it’s hard to admit the fact, but not one of us is perfect. The revelation of such a statement in itself opens up the gateway to the stage of vulnerability. Everyone in this world will at some point in their life make a mistake, we are human after all, but on the other hand, we all should hold a moral compass within us. Our choices we make in difficult or tempting times stand as a true testimony to our true character. To learn the root cause of what fuels our negative reaction will reveal one's true self. The foundation that we can build successfully on. Life is full of trials and tribulations, it is also full of love, joy, tears, laughter, and much more. The stepping stone in moving forward towards a more peaceful and rewarding life is to become aware when the ego starts to project negative thoughts out of fear. American actor Will Smith once said, “Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. The danger is very real. But fear is a choice.” By bringing your awareness not only to your thought pattern but also as the witness of your thought process, you gain control back. Then all we simply need to do is take a step back, deep breathes, and look for the lesson instead. As Sigmund Freud beautifully explains, “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”

Your true character, personality, and transparency cannot be touched or taken away by anyone because it’s who you are. Success has nothing to do with one's circumstances or background or talent. It has everything to do with the workings of your mind. Your mindset. Your beliefs. Your attitude. Just imagine your mindset excelling in flexibility and willing thoughts. This would ultimately make a huge difference in our society today. Maybe then we would start looking at everything in a fresh, unprejudiced way, rather than being stuck in opinions and beliefs.

According to Aristotle; “The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain”. We need tolerant how to embrace the unknown and let our life surprise us. The true-life lesson is to conquer the arrangement of our mind, by nurturing it like a seed, our thoughts will reflect this, and our actions will manifest this beauty. Seeds grow in darkness, reaching for the invisible light from above. Just remember the strength you’re looking for can be found in the very sensitivity you keep trying to escape from. Your quality of life is dependent on your level of mental and emotional development. Please know that this time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience. Your journey will require patience, followed by patience, and of course more patience, but don’t be too hard on yourself.

We must seek the precious gift of learning how to balance the pure raw emotion of becoming YOU. Accepting ourselves for who we are, is having the intelligence to start questioning all aspects of our lives that we previously were convinced that stood solid. Canadian rapper, Drake once said; “One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else.” What do we need to do in our lives, to achieve an answer to knowing our true being?

The moment we decide to save ourselves is the moment we decide to find ourselves through self-love. Authenticity is the highest vibration of truth. True growth is a bumpy and sometimes painful process. It takes determination, persistence, and strength down this path of self-discovery. It calls for us to stripe away the perception that we are not the voice in our heads, that never ceases to stop. Rather we all process the power to become the observer who hears it. There are two basic forces within us. The instinct is self-preservation (caged Ego) in order to protect, the other our true self which we want to expand and become boundless. (free to fly). Gravity versus grace. The fundamental truth of self-actualization is that both the negative and positive polarities of all emotions are faces of the same coin. Both are entangled parts of an inseparable mind-identified ego state of consciousness. Only through the deconstructing of these partitions can we elevate into a richer world beyond the mind and towards our unique soul energy.

American author, spiritual leader, political candidate, and activist Marianne Williamson once quoted, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You're playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”