I Took Buddha’s Advice (Not Sure He Said This)
Thank you for being here.
This is the weekly edition of my newsletter, Becoming Attuned.
It's best enjoyed with a few deep breaths, and a nice cup of something.
I'm taking a bit of a liberty here, sending it to some of you who aren't actually subscribed to the newsletter... but only because this one will be genuinely helpful and I don't want anyone to miss out. The Buddha's advice is in Step 3 of Part 2, by the way.
Here's what's inside:
Part 1: Body guidance - to help you with moving, feeling and healing better.
Part 2: A life insight - to enrich your inner world and work more harmoniously with your outer world.
Part 3: An update, highlight or candid share from my life, and exclusive access to my current offerings.
Part 1: Body Guidance
A simple movement to interact with the floor more comfortably and gracefully.
It goes without saying (but I'll say it)... Being able to move comfortably on the floor is really important if you value your body.
Kids are always playing and exploring close to the ground, and moving like a kid helps you stay engaged with life.
The more you do this, the more you'll become aware of your mobility limitations and the fluency of your movements.
Remedying these limitations patiently and gifting yourself transformation through effort is a beautiful path.
Advice: At all times, be respectful of your joints. If you feel any sudden compression, pain or pinching, don't stop - just lean back on your hands, go slowly and figure out how your bones need to move to create space. Seek out the soft, warm glow of muscles working, lengthening and being massaged. Stay supple and breathe.
We're going to be working between two positions: Fisherman and Straddle Sit.
Watch time: 1 minute
Part 2: A Life Insight
You're only stuck because you're feeling ill-equipped to deal with the parasitic beliefs hiding in the actions you avoid. These beliefs drain you from doing what will truly help you, and others.
STEP 1 of 3 → ACQUIRE CLARITY + WILL-POWER
When you're mentally and emotionally clear, taking action is so much easier - even when it's still physically difficult.
Just think of a woman giving birth, or a father sacrificing his body to protect or provide for his children.
Are they ready? ... Can you ever be?
Is it dangerous to give birth, or to jump in front of an oncoming car save a child? ... Absolutely.
But only to the parts of us that aren't really alive.
And these parts are the fertiliser for the parts of you that are.
And this is equally true for mundane, every-day tasks. As inner clarity increases, so too does will-power. And these things help you mobilise your resources appropriately to overcome just about any challenge, even when plans change.
The drive to survive is the most basic expression of this clarity and will-power.
But don't you want more than to just survive? Well actually, maybe you aren't sure it's worth it. Maybe the additional effort seems wasted, and scraping by is enough.
But here's what you might not realise. It's harder where you are. It's costing you infinite amounts of life-enrichment, every day.
As you embrace the effort of clearing out the cob-webs in your mind, and get your life in order, you create the conditions for a different kind of experience to arise.
...An ever-transforming sense of union with an indescribable higher power.
But this experience cannot be chased. You must focus yourself wholeheartedly, in every moment, on creating the conditions where it becomes possible.
I'm going to show you exactly how you can start, so keep reading.
Step 2 of 3 → ENGAGE IN RIGOROUS SELF-INQUIRY
It's actually not taking that difficult action that you're afraid of. You're more afraid that you'll take action and then realise that you aren't who you thought you were.
Guess what, you're right... You aren't.
Who, or what you think you are has nothing to do with what's true and real.
So as soon as you find a nice comfy thought about yourself and make a home there, you're asking for a truth-tornado to burn it down. The magical, idyllic security you're looking for exists purely and exclusively within moment-to-moment undefinition.
But both of us have built a portion of our lives through a process of delusion, and so naturally, we're worried that when we clean out our minds and start weeding the inner-garden, we'll discover something dangerously true.
Except, again, the truth is only dangerous to what is false.
If the truth shall kill them, let them die.
~ Kant
Therefore our resistance has nothing to do with the actions, and everything to do with what we're afraid of discovering about ourselves. Well... the obstacle is the way, and the way is through. So that's exactly where we're going.
THE PRACTICE: I want you to get a diary, which you will keep totally private... and on every odd page, make a list of traits or actions that are destructive, draining or negative. No bypassing here. No dressing them up. Put the shit on the page, in dot-points. You get extra points for being absolutely ruthless with yourself.
Now, on every even page, make a list of the traits / actions that are generative, energising or positive. No doubting here. No shyness. We're using every second page so that you can keep adding over the coming days or weeks without messing up the format. Once you've done this rigorously enough, you'll start to repeat yourself or list very similar things.
Now, read through these and see if you can distil both positive and negative into certain themes to get an overview of your character. Now that you've got it all in the open (and nobody else will know), you've restored trust with more of your psyche, and there will be WAY less resistance and WAY more clarity and will-power to act.
Step 3 of 3 → TAKE THE BUDDHA'S ADVICE
When asked what our biggest mistake in life is, the Buddha said:
"The biggest mistake is you think you have time."
Now I can't verify the legitimacy of this quote, because I can't verify the legitimacy of the Buddha, because if I could distinguish the Buddha from the Not-Buddha, well...... I think you get the point. And if you don't, enjoy the confusion.
But the supreme being was right, wasn't he?
We think we have time. But when we aren't relating to time in a life-enriching way, time has us.
And whenever we think we can give up some time now to get more back later, we're actually just giving ourselves up now, hoping to get ourselves back later. Anything that costs your soul isn't worth it. Thankfully, nobody can take your soul. It's yours to lose touch with, or to find again.
So, the lesson I take from this quote simple: Life is precious. Don't waste it.
Or, another way of looking at it would be: Time is irrelevant. Do what must be done.
Eternal life is an experience available to us to the degree that we make infinitely, eternally better use of the time we have.
That means always and forever becoming the process of clarification, bravery and love. As with all problems, the way is through.
When we embrace our process, we embrace both life, and time... and they are both more likely to embrace us back.
When we fight life, or time, a fight is what we get.
This experience is not to be wasted.
Part 3: An Offer
Someone reading this is so close to a quantum leap, but is missing one of three things:
The Right COMMUNITY.
Just a couple people you can speak to honestly, who will truly listen and help you see what you aren't yet seeing.
The Right METHOD.
Not just the knowledge, tools and practices, but the right way of applying them in these circumstances right now.
A Certain FIERCENESS.
A red-hot, glowing, solar-plexus drive to develop as a human being; not only for your own sake; also for others you are yet to meet. Use your life-force well and you will inevitably magnetise beautiful, life-changing meetings with others.
I can't and won't speak for you... but in my experience, expecting sustained development when missing one of these things is a bit unfair. Sure, you can get away with it for a while - but maybe it's already been a while.
Miss two aspects and you're spinning your wheels. All effort, no reward. Expecting progress is straight up deluded.
Miss three and the life starts fading. To expect progress in this unsupported state is cruelty.
Loving yourself means creating the conditions where life is not only tolerable, but as fulfilling as possible. And when you do this, you create a small ripple in the ocean of life that becomes a wave others can ride too.
I know that if you haven't already realised this, you will.
And if you aren't already doing it, you eventually will (I hope).
But if you (a) know this in your tissues, (b) are committed to living this way and (c) want to equip yourself with the best possible support then click here.
~ Jack
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PS. I hope this newsletter was valuable. I'm really prioritising it at the moment because I feel like I can offer you more value here, rather than pulling my hair out on instagram to get views. A few of you guys respond to these, and I always love hearing from you, even if I can't always reply. If you want to spread the good juju, you can encourage your like-minded friends to sign up using this link.