Families and Relationships - End of the month

Posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 0 comments so far



 

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The light of love shines in your eyes

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 0 comments so far



The light of love shines in your eyes

Let me tell you a story...

The light that comes from love can be seen in the face of lovers; it shines in their eyes.  When they are with each other, they have a wondrous glow as the light of love fills their hearts and their faces, and when they part, the light dims and they have sadness about them.

The light of expectation
When we arrived at the ashram, my good friend Naz was filled with that light of love.  He was planning to meet a lady again, called Stephie, who had travelled a while with us just a few months previously.  They had formed an attachment though, at the time, John Ironbridge, our other travelling companion, had remarked the classic, ‘It will all end in tears’.  And although I thought he was probably right, I simply said, ‘Emm!’ and maintained my stance as eternal observer.  Stephie was as fickle a butterfly as Naz, and consistency and commitment did not appear in her vocabulary.

The glow of longing
On the day that we had arrived, Stephie had been in retreat, fasting in silence, so we had not seen her for the first week.  Naz was palpably disappointed.  It was then that I began to understand the ‘light of love’ issue.  On the journey from the river, Naz had been talking non-stop about Stephie, to the point where John asked him to ‘give it a break’, but I could see that it was becoming a love thing, though I doubted Naz could or would ever admit that.

It can be hard to admit to yourself that you are in love
It made me laugh inside, because Naz always played the part of the cool dude whose heart was unobtainable to any one woman, and so he always played the field, but without commitment.  But I could see that there was something in Stephie that had hooked him in.  He was, in my mother’s terms, ‘smitten’.  I was aware how difficult their parting had been for him though, as John pointed out, not for Stephie.  Stephie had things planned with other people who she had been travelling with before, that she was committed to, and although both John and I had given Naz our blessing and said it was ok with us if he went with Steph, Naz was set on staying with us.  He said, ‘No, we agreed when we set out that, come what may, we would see this through together and I will keep my promise.’

The light of commitment
This declaration by Naz was a bolt out of the blue.  I had never seen him be committed to anything or anyone and I guess I always suspected that there would come a time when he would find another path and move off.  I kind of just expected it to happen at some point.  And I was moved by his statement and realised what a strong bond the three of us had developed. 

The light of knowing
They say that you never know someone until you live with them.  Maybe there is something beyond that and you only know someone when you travel with them.  Our travelling had not been holiday travelling; we had walked, hitched, trained and trucked for over three-thousand miles and we had many miles yet to go.  We had been safe and easy, in danger and threat, in love and laughter, and aggressions and tears.  The road we travelled was really the road of life and, like in the story of the pilgrim’s progress, each mile and each day had new lessons awaiting us that tested us individually and together. 

The light of friendship
The fact Naz had bonded with John and I made me realise just how much we had been through together.  I realised that we were now brothers in spirit and in fact, and that, whatever happened now, we would always be that way for the rest of life.  In that bonding, that was a bonding of love; we had a concern for each other and a desire that we should each achieve what we really wanted from our journey, but also from our lives. 

As we travelled and talked, met people and experienced life, it became clearer with every step that what John wanted was to find a master who had both the knowledge and wisdom that he could respect and to whom he would become a devotee.  Naz was looking for something, though he did not know what it was, but was sure that when he found it, it would all become clear.  So it was vital that he experience everything that he possibly could, whenever he could, just in case he missed it.

The light of realisation
For me, the more we talked into the night, the thing that I saw in the darkness beyond the fire was my need for the light of understanding; I needed to know, in the fullest sense of the word, about people and about things, about God and about life.  I needed to know why my childhood had been as it was; I needed to make sense of my life.  I knew that I would not find it in a guru and in becoming a disciple or devotee, though I was sure that many teachers would each give me their bit of the mosaic of life, so that I would end up with a picture of life that made sense to me and made my life worthwhile.

When the light goes out
Looking at Naz now, I had a fear that he, my brother, was about to be hurt in a very big way.  On the journey from the river, John had felt it too and tried to address this with him.  John was, in many ways, parental and he was concerned that Naz would be hurt by Steph.  Naz was so busy being cool and acting like nothing mattered that he would not address it.

We had been in Satsang, when Steph came in and sat on the other side of the hall.  Naz began to glow and, as we chanted, I could hear a deep passion in his voice that had never been there before.  He was looking towards Steph, though I noticed she was not looking towards him.  John caught my eye and I could see his concern. 

At the end of the session, we all tipped out into the sun. Naz was pushing ahead to get to Steph, so he was just ahead of us when we got to the door.  There, framed in the door, was Steph in the arms of a man, who I later was introduced to as Peter.  Watching Naz from behind, I could see his shoulders drop as he crumpled.  Steph turned and waved at him and pranced off with her man.  By the time I got to Naz, tears were running freely down his face, tears that extinguished any light that had been there before.

When you have a yappy dog, there are times when you just want it to shut up and be quiet.  But when you have had a yappy dog, yapping for a month, that is suddenly silent, it feels as though something has died, that something is missing.  I had never known Naz be quiet and it was like a death.  Following any death, there is bereavement and that is a process that needs to be worked through organically and cannot be hurried.  And so, for what turned into many weeks, John and I attended to Naz as he recovered.

The Sun will always rise again
Naz was seeking to learn from experience and the universe had kindly provided the lesson.  From that day on, his relationships were very different, and, as John said, ‘He is much more responsible now’.  I didn’t see the light of love in his eyes again for many, many years, until he finally met someone who was the ‘the one’ and then he shone like the Sun and that is a light that never goes out.

How is your light?
In your life, is there a light of love?  Have you ever had your light put out by another person?  Have you ever put out another person’s light?  In the month of light, we need to let go of negative associations and feeling for those that have done us wrong in the past, and we need to turn to the future with the light of love and enjoy it.

So, who is it that you can the shine the light of your love on? 

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Sunshine month takes me away

Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 0 comments so far



Sunshine month takes me away

We’re all going on a summer holiday
As I write this blog, the lads are loading the car, checking the oil and water in the engine. All I have to do now is to finish this, press send and then, as is my habit, check that the water bottles are full, back the car out of the drive and head for the horizon and the rising Sun. I love that feeling, the freedom of the open road and the wonder of not knowing what is around the next bend. I have Canned Heat playing in my head ‘...I’m on the road again’; it brings back so many good memories.

The dawn is such a magical time in all senses of the word. We use the image of the dawn to describe newness, breakthroughs, and new horizons: the dawn of the technical age, the dawn of the industrial society, the dawn of understanding. I see clients every day who experience that sense of coming into the light when, perhaps, for the first time in their lives, they can see things with a hitherto unknown clarity, as the truth dawns on them for the first time.

The person who is awake is always learning
In Ayurveda, my original training, it is acknowledged that the purpose of life is about learning, and that our body’s senses, mind and emotions are all designed to enable this to happen. Learning is a life-long process, though people may stop learning and growing at any age. Some people will cease development while in their childhood and may exhibit the emotional maturity of a seven-year old when they are seventy. However, the reverse may also be true, so that a seven-year old may possess the wisdom of a seventy-year old.

What is dawning on you?
If you are a growing, waking person, and I guess you are or you would not be reading this, there will be dreams, challenges and developments going on in your life that will represent new dawnings of understanding for you. I think about this a lot and review where I am up to. I use the contemplation part of my meditation sessions to do this, so dawnings are...

Time waits for no man
I often heard this one, but it is dawning on me that time passes quickly and it is easy to procrastinate; there are things that I want to do before I turn up my toes. I was reading something by Jack Canfield that suggested writing down the one hundred things you would like to do before you die. That got me thinking, so I have set myself some goals.

Things to be done

My top five are...
 
1) To develop my life and my relationships in such a way that they benefit not only me, but all those that I interact with, especially with my Rie.
 
2) To develop the courses so that I have at least one thousand people a year doing the Ten Steps Program
 
3) To get all the books written that I have in my head
 
4) To record more music albums and maybe do some performing
 
5) To create a purpose-built environmentally-friendly building that is used as a centre of learning, therapy and respite for those on the path of self-development
 
It dawned on me many years ago that the only way to achieve these things is to be focussed on the task and to be consistent and persistent in all that I do to achieve my aims.

What are your five?

You may be able to go for the hundred, though five is a good start. What are the things that it is dawning on you that need to be done? It is time to get them done. Try not to put off till tomorrow what you need to get done today.

Hey ho and away I go
But task number one is to go and enjoy my holiday. Tomorrow, I will wake in Lille France and then heading down through Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland to stay in Basil. Then the Italian lakes for a while and then back up through Mont Blanc and Dijon. Watch the site and I’ll keep you posted on progress and try and use this wonderful technology to post some pics on the site.

So pop by Wednesday and have a wonderful week.

Sean x

 

 

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Your chance to ask questions

Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 0 comments so far


 

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You can’t have one without the other

Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 0 comments so far

 

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Life without love

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 0 comments so far


Life without love
 

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Sean and Social-Networking

Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 0 comments so far
Friday 22nd May, 2009


Connecting with Sean

Those of you who have visited the site, read Sean's newsletter or have had any contact with the man himself over the past month or two will have noticed some big, bold statements about how he is now available on a multitude of platforms and networks. But 'what are they are how can they help me?', I hear you ask.

Well, here I will try and explain as simply as possible how each method of contact can help, how you use the service and why we thought it a good idea to get Sean on them in the first place. So, without further a do, here we go:

Twitter



Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them. Sean updates his Twitter feed daily with bite-sized nuggets of help and advice as well as letting the world know about his latest courses, Mind Bank dates and blog posts.

It's an immensely popular and fast growing social-networking medium that has to be experienced before it is fully understood. You'll be amazed by the range of people on there. Celebs like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross are followed by hundreds of thousands of people. Astronaut Mike Massimino ever posted Tweets from space on his recent trip to the Hubble Telescope. Incredible.

I use Twitter as a kind of digital diary; logging important happenings, memorable events in my life or little thoughts that occur to me during the day. Others choose to use it far more actively to communicate directly with friends, acquaintances and potential customers. Sign up and have a go. You never know who you might bump in to.

Facebook



Let's face facts: love it hate it, Facebook is here to stay. The most popular social-networking site in the world now has over 200 million unique users, half of which check in each day.

I like to think of Facebook as a kind-of extended version of Twitter. It's incredibly easy to add photos, share links and let your friends know what you're up to. Unlike Twitter, only people who you have given permission to can access your information (though, at the time of writing this Twitter is upping it's security features).

Sean has a page on Facebook that he uses in a very similar way to his Twitter feed. Thoughts and feelings can be published as well as more formal features such as event invitations which can then be shared amongst people and their extended networks.

There is a school of thought that Facebook is the domain of the 16-24 year old. A place of tomfoolery and hi-jinx where people over a certain age are not welcome. Well, I'm trying to try and destroy that myth. Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool for real and effective communication. If you haven't already I'd suggest signing up and giving it a go. It'll fast become a part of your daily routine to login and see what your friends (and Sean) are up to.

RSS Feeds



RSS (most commonly translated as "Really Simple Syndication") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.

Sean has an RSS feed that, once subscribed to, allows users to be automatically informed of a blog update. This means you don't have to keep checking back to the site for the latest story - we'll let you know when it's ready! There should be an RSS button (or a little orange icon) in the address bar of your browser. Click it and see what happens. You can read feeds through most internet browsers and email clients or, if you really fancy it, you can download free programs such as Google Reader and NetNewsWire.

The future ...

These three methods of communication are just the start for Sean. Who knows what the future holds but, in an ever shrinking world, Sean relishes the opportunity to talk to more and more people.

iTunes podcasting and YouTube video journals are certainly on the cards. Needless to say, to stay up to date with the latest news follow Sean on Twitter, Facebook and via the RSS Feed. Go on, we dare you!

If you have any questions, feedback or advice of your own then please feel free to contact us.

This message was written and posted by @edwardlamb
 

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