Its Your Sacred Time & It's Not For Sale!

I talk a lot about sacred time. The educational initiative that I have founded from which this work derives is called Kairos Education and kairos is a Greek word meaning, one translation of which might be 'sacred time'. Kairos is essentially another word for time, but it provides a radically alternative understanding of time from that which we are more familiar with, the time of Chronos, Saturn or Old Father Time. There is a crucial distinction . While Chronos represents linear, chronological time, Kairos is immanent, present, time. It is the time that happens NOW and only NOW. It is of the moment. It holds reverence, joy, passion. It is eternal. While we tend to get stuck, and burdened by chronic time, we are freed, liberated, impassioned and empowered by Kaironic time. So Kairos is sacred time. It is the moment, of indeterminate length, in which the eternal breaks into the temporal, shatters it and transform it from that which is conditional, probable or predictable into that which is unconditional, improbable and unpredictable. It opens us to the possibility of who we really are.

So while we are setting aside conventionally understood chronos time for the rituals and practices associated with this course, in doing so we are opening the possibility that kairos time (the experience of sacred time) may break through into the temporal and wake us up to the power of now, the power of who we are in our authentic being. The more we engage with such rituals, the more possibility we create for these authentic moments to break through. The experience of kairos may be entered through ritual practice. Indeed it is sometimes called ritual time.

So my strong recommendation on this coaching programme is that participants engage with their daily practices, not as another thing to fit in to the day, another thing to do, not another example of time being traded for something productive, useful or marketable, but rather as the setting aside of sacred time just for being. With our modern, fast-paced lifestyles most of us have forgotten the value of 'sacred time'. I've been thinking a lot recently about the relationship between sacred time sacred place. I was talking to my mentor from my MA course a few weeks ago about this - he has defined the sacred (in relation to a sacred place) as something which is 'not for sale'. Sacred place, in his definition, is (or should be) immune to commodification. So, I am saying, should sacred time. Look at your life and look at how much of it has been commodified up - you work so many hours in the day in exchange for so much money. Time is valued in terms of how directly productive it is. If we work so hard, then we will produce so much yield. This way of thinking is so ingrained in our conditioning that we may not even question it. We're so used to selling our time, in the same way we are used to selling everything else - land, objects, services etc. We may not even be selling our time for money - but maybe we're still 'selling' our time for good will, or so that we will be appreciated, loved, or whatever and often we agree to do more 'things' than is really feasible for us in order to prove our worth.

So how about creating the space for some sacred time? How about giving yourself the permission to take time that is just for you? How about creating a space in which something unpredictable might show up? Sacred time is not useful, productive or efficient in the conventional sense, but it can facilitate magic, it can allow inspiration to enter your life, it can and will open the wonder of synchronicity, where you can begin to see meaningful signs all around you that seem to be calling you in a particular direction. Then your job is to simply to follow the path that opens before you. Your job is to hold the vision and celebrate yourself realising the vision. Let the universe do the rest. It's not your job to work out how the universe is going to deliver your gifts. Its your job to open the channel to receive them. Relax around your doing. You have more time than you think - infinitely more!

Love John x

Happy Christmas - War is Over!

This blog may not seem immediately relevant to the course, but I actually think it is very relevant.

Colette and I went to see a very powerful film on Friday night, 'The US v John Lennon'. Although I was in a fantastic mood as we headed out to 'The Watershed' cinema I was half-expecting this film to make feel really angry. Being a huge fan of John Lennon and long-convinced that his murder was orchestrated by the FBI, I was a little concerned that my buoyant mood was going to be turned sour by the film I was about to see. I couldn't have been more wrong. The film was absolutely inspiring and a real celebration of the simple message of love and peace that Lennon brought to the world, especially in the latter, post-Beatle years of his life. While the film did nothing to dissaude me of my belief that his murder was a put up job, what I was left with was not anger and bitterness at how this could be allowed to happen, but rather an immense feeling of joy derived from the real sense of authenticity of the life that he led and the message that he gave to the world.

Certainly one could call Lennon a protest singer but there is something about his protest that absolutely marks him out and places him apart from other protesting voices of the day. And that is that he stuck to his simple vision of love and peace despite the gross acts of politcal injustice to which he was subjected both personally and as a member of a supposedly free society. He was accused by many of being naive, idealistic, utopian, and was dismissed by many critics andhis music rejected by former Beatle fans, his association with Yoko, being particiarly scorned upon. Yet his songs of peace and love are the ones that have endured and resonate most strongly in the collective psyche - Imagine, Give Peace a Chance, All You Need Is Love, Happy Christmas, War is Over, etc etc - these are the 'naive' songs that have done more to inspire hope in the peace movements than any other songs on the planet.

There's a point in the film where Tariq Ali points out the absurdity that the US government should feel so threatened by a pop star whose non-militaristic protest is simply to sings songs about love and peace, and to inspire a feeling of love and good will in the world. I thought a lot about this, and while I completely take the spirit of Ali's point, I actually disagree with him. I think Lennon's stand was (and is) actually more threatening to the forces of fear and ignorance that seek to control others through militaristic force than almost any other. In fact, the courage to hold to those ideals and to remain true to them even in the face of ridicule, and against all the odds is probably the only way to ever bring real change to the world. I'm sure he had may failings, but through the power of his music and message, I believe Lennon was a true visionary in the same mould as Gandhi and his songs will continue to be played for generations to come, because they touch the heart of what it is to be human, of what each and every one of us on the planet is actually craving for.

Lennon actually makes the point during the film that art is the key to peace, not combat. This may be what made Lennon's protest so different to that of Jerry Rubens, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seal and the like, each ofwhom (though initially motivated by values of peace, love and justice) felt compelled to take up arms in their struggle to change things. By doing so, they were drawn into the hands of the very forces they were seeking to overthrow. Interestingly, Lennon saw the artistic qualities in all three of those men and befriended each of them, but he also seems to have grown wary of their approach and remained true to his vision of peace through artistic means.

The film has inspired me to reassert my belief that artistic expression really is the key to peace in this world and I believe that vision can never be too naive, never too idealistic. Those ideals of love, peace, beauty, joy, harmony remain authentic to our core human experience and however much we are told that we have to live in the 'real world', we must continue to pose the question - real, in whose terms?

So why have I included this here as a blog entry? Well, it made me think of the saboteur! On a global scale, the US government and other destructive, retrogressive political forces in the world could be likened to the saboteur within each and every one of us. John Lennon in this context represents the authentic self remaining true to its values and principles even in the face of the overwhelming 'evidence' that such an apparently gentle, loving, peaceful approach could ever change anything! We are conditioned to take up arms against that we don't like, whether it be an oppressive political regime, a personal foe or our own saboteur-ego. By acting in such a way, however, we just lose the authentic power of interconnectedness, and concede to the power of historical conditioning rooted in division, strife and war. We become a victim of the saboteur rather than its saviour. Lennon, notwithstanding inevitable human weaknesses, was a living example of the peaceful warrior. And as we learn to live the wealthy life, we could do worse than to follow his example. It sounds glib to say it, but surely, if we are to transform, we must love our enemy, make peace with our saboteur, embrace him or her, for s/he is none other than our own shadow and s/he will walk with us always, whether we like it or not!

Happy Christmas. War is Over!

John x

Encountering the Saboteur

We're well into week two of the course now and after two very powerful conference calls, it is clear that the shadow patterns of resistance and self-sabotage are revealing themselves. This is entirely to be expected and indeed welcomed. As you step on into the potential of really shifting long held patterns and associations that have come to define our reality, it is hardly surprising the old, 'you' is going to do everything it can to hold on to what is familiar, and what is known. That old familiar, inauthentic, version of you is really just composed of a bunch of stories, beliefs and assumptions about 'reality' that have come to identify you as a personality. This shadowy figure (the shadow of your true self) has one primary aim and that is to keep things exactly the way they are. However dysfunctional, and however much opposed to the aims and vision of the 'authentic' you, the 'shadow-you', wants to preserve this status quo at all costs. We could call this the ego, but let's get a bit more graphic, let's called this figure the saboteur. Now let's not underestimate the value of the saboteur. After all, s/he's got you this far in life. You're still here, you've survived, you're still in tact. Sure, it may not be everything you want, but it's safe, it's known, it's familiar, it's predictable. What your saboteur will do everything to undermine is any attempt that the authentic you makes to change.

One of the primary tasks of this week is to simply observe the activities of the saboteur; to observe the way that the saboteur seeks to undermine all our best intentions. Everybody's saboteur operates in a different way. For example, one of my own classic saboteur patterns over the years has been to take on too many responsibilites and then feel overwhelmed by all I have to do, and feel like I have to back track. We have encountered several others in the group this week. For instance, a very common one that has been rearing its head is the demand for instant results. The saboteur says 'ok, you've been doing these practices for two whole days now and nothing major has changed, you see, it obviously doesn't work - lets' get back to what we know!'. Yes, there's something in all of us that wants to see instant results, wants an immediate confirmation that what we are doing is actually worth anything, we want to be sure that we're not just following some idealistic pipe dream. Another one I've been very aware of recently is the unconscious strategy of becoming confused, baffled, mixing up days and times, becoming forgetful, missing appointments or being inexlicably late for anything that has to do with you actually engaging with the creative manifestation process.

So if the saboteur is making its presence felt in your life this week, and I'd be very surprised if it isn't, then just let it be, let it reveal itself. Your job in your developing practice of living authentically is to simply observe, just watch, listen, be aware, to allow feelings to come up, honour them and let them go. It's so easy to judge or condemn yourself as a saboteur and to become resigned in relation to your authentic vision. It can just seem too difficult, too unrealistic or far away. Yet, the very fact that the sabotage patterns are making themselves known shows that something very important is happening. If the saboteur feels the need to get heavy-handed and start putting the boot in, then you can be sure that something really powerful is stirring. This is the time to be the observer. Let the saboteur reveal itself, because when it does, when it is lured out of the shadows, its power over you diminishes dramatically. By being the observer, you lure the shadow out, expose it to the light of consciousness and from there you can see it for what it is, and in that moment where the shadow is revealed, you come to know yourself and in that moment real healing can occur, and the authentic you is revealed. be the observer. Let the saboteur be revealed. Let it be.

Love John x

Your Wealth is Your Responsibility

The main focus of this week's education on the Living a Wealthy Life programme is around our attitudes and beliefs about money. Money throws up so many shadows for us. It doesn't matter how supposedly 'spiritual' the vision of our lives may be, for the majority of us, the issue of money tends to lurk as a shadowy presence in our lives. The feeling of not having it makes us want it, the feeling of having it makes us either afraid to lose it or compelled to have more of it. Yet we're told that we're not supposed to want money, that it's the root of all evil, that the love of it will turn you into a greedy, selfish person. We're told that it's hard to come by, that you have to really work for it, and when you get it you must save it up 'for a rainy day', and do everything you can to protect yourself against those who seek to take it from you.

It occurs to me that our relationship to money is very much like our relationship to everything else in our lives that we believe is ontologically separate from us. It occurs to me that when we feel really good in a situation or feel really good about a particular person, animal, tree, or place, it is because we feel connected in some profound way to whatever it is that's making us feel good. Yet there are many things in life, that, most of the time, we believe ourselves to be cut off from, distant from, isolated from. When we feel disconnected or isolated from something or someone, then we tend to do one of two things - we either idolise it or we demonise it. I'm only just really thinking about this now as I'm writing this, but isn't that exactly we do with celebrities for example, who seem so far from removed from our own mundane existence. We tend to either them worhsip them or condemn - we say, oh I wish I could be like them, or I'd never want to be like them.

I actually think we do it with this with everything and I'm damn sure we do that with money. We tend to either worship it or shun it. Either we think we believe that having lots of it will be the answers to our prayers and bring us longed-for happiness, or we believe that it will turn us bad in some ways, make us lose friendships, change us in frightening ways. I reckon many of us probably swing between these two poles on a regular basis. I know I have in the past. Yet I also know that being able to attract more money into my life can facilitate me to be more authentically who I am, and ironically that being authentically who I am will attract more money into my life! So what's my role in the wealth attraction process? Simple - be authentically who I am - don't compromise, don't play small, don't try and please or appease others whose favour I am currying, in my desparate desire to look good and be seen as a 'good person'. These judgments are based in the fear that I might not be, or rather the fear that I might be seen not to be! If I can let go of this inauthentic pretence of looking good in other people's eyes then I can truly be responsible for the way I create my life, truly be my authentically wealthy self.

There is no shame in wealth, it simply facilitates an abundant flow of energy into your life. Being wealthy simply means you've got more energy at your disposal and more responsibility as to how express that energy. When you're more authentically aligned with the naturally abundant flow of the universe, you've got more responsibility - you can't play small anymore.

Wealth is my responsibility and it's my responsibility to be wealthy! It's my way of honouring life. It facilitates my service to the world.

Love John x

What are You Worth?

Last week we were reflecting on the fundamental question who am I? I encouraged each of us to stick up a card on the bathroom mirror with the words: who are you? The theme for this week and the big question that we are asking is: what am I worth? How do I evaluate myself? How do I attribute value to that which I perceive to be separate from me (e.g. money, material things) and how does the value I place on that reflect the value I place on myself? Quite a profound question. If I don't 'value' money and the 'things' that money facilitates very highly in my life - if I deny its importance or demonise it in some way, then am I cutting myself off from the source of life itself.

If money is energy (or at the very least a fundamental expression of energy), as we are unequivocally saying it is, then in denying it, demonising it or ignoring it, are we not actually denying, ignoring or demonsing the energy that we need to live, and remain in sustainable relationship with the world around us. Sure in a perfect world, we might not need money, our currency could be simpler - expressed through barter or good will - but the simple fact is that we happen to engage with money, but money itself, in essence, is actually nothing more than that very same good will energy. Problem is, we humans are suckered into the misguided belief that there is a limited supply of it, that there is only so much to round. This is a lie and this lie has killed the good will energy that lies at the heart of money. It's like saying there's only so much love to go round. The truth is, we spend our lives trying to control the flow of it. Surely, when we say "there's not enough money", what we actually saying is, "there's not enough energy", "there's not enough good will", "there's not enough love". When you talk about money this week, try replacing the word money with the word love or energy or goodwill. See what happens!

So, last week, we looked at who we are, at who we're being, and at our core identities. Last week’s enquiry might be likened to you being a newborn, fresh, innocent and vulnerable to the new experiences ahead. In that place of pure being, where our visions are alive and full of the potential for manifestation, there may seem to be no distinction between ourselves and the world. The experience of that however, brings up resistance as our visions and dreams meet the apparent reality of apparently external forces, and circumstances. The newborn is confronted with the uncomfortable belief that his/her visions and dreams may not instantly manifest. And so our newborn become caught under the thrall of separateness, a realisation that mind may be separate from body, inner from outer, subject from object. The realisation that there is a world out there, existentially distinct from the world in here, twists the urge to just be and turns into an urge or desire to have; to have that which is not him, that which is outside of her, that which (s)he has lost to the apparently external world. This week we are confronting the desire to have and what it means to us to possess something that is apparently separate from us. We are exploring how the disenchanted child’s belief that she can own, have and possess something that she is believes is separate from may her hold her spellbound under the thrall of separateness and block the natural creative flow of energy that interconnects all beings, and all things.

We are all interconnected. And money is a fundamental energy that interconnects us all. When we deny it, demonise it, or send it underground, we deny our own interconnectedness. We deny the power of relationship, we re-inforce our separateness. I've only just thought of this and realised the impact it has had on my life, but I'm going to ponder on it for a while....

Love John x

The breathing of abundance

Good morning. Well we're about to begin week two of Living a Wealthy Life and and begin to confront the shadows that any bright shining vision must cast, the shadows that will delude us into limited ways of being if we allow ourselves to become too fixated upon their apparent reality. We have an exciting week ahead confronting our issues around money and the value that we place upon it, the hold it has over us and the beliefs we have about it. We are going to consider our assets, our 'possessions', what we give value to and how we attribute that value.

Let me tell you about my morning so far. It's only 8.40am but it has already been a revelatory morning. I went into meditation this morning and began breathing and a very powerful visuaisation seemed to emerge as I was doing it. On the in-breath, it was if I was drawing upon the abundance source of life, the abundant source of joy, of health, of wealth and I began just breathing it in. On the outbreath, I was expressing that abundance in the world, allowing myself to simply be a conduit for that abundance. The in-spiration, the breathing in of abundance and the ex-spiration, the breathing out of abundance. The more I visualised this the more I felt like I could just be, and accept everything that was going on around me, a place of true peace, true acceptance and absolute trust. It was a very powerful experience and one I shall call upon each morning from now on.

Then I went out for my morning gratitude walk with the wind pouring and the wind howling. I thought about now going because of the weather but in fact it turned out to be the inspirational walk I've had since I';ve been been in Bristol. You see there was no-one else foolhardy enough to venture out in this weather. It was me and the elements. So I walked up to the Avon gorge overlooking the suspension bridge and I called out at the top of my voice everything I was grateful for. It was amazing. I felt like a 'mad' person (whatever that means) but it was the most liberating experience! Fantastic - I was filled up with gratitude and it was clear to me in that moment that miracles are on their way today and they are on their way this week, not just for me, but for those around me, and especially for those participating on this course. Let's do it!!

Love John x

Welcome to a Wealthy Life!

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Here begins a daily record of my thoughts and observations as I embark on one of the most extraordinary journeys of my life - to guide, support and inspire a group of twelve participants looking to transform their relationship to wealth and abundance.

The Living a Wealthy Life course is now one week in. I've taken all twelve participants through the first week - twelve one-to-one coaching sessions and three conference calls - all conducted by phone. It has been an amazing week for me and, I trust, for all concerned as we step on this incredible journey into wealth creation / wealth attraction. Now don't misunderstand me here. When I talk about wealth I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about wealth in its original meaning. The word 'wealth' comes from the old English word ‘weal’, meaning well-being. Being wealthy, then, is to be well in your being. A wealthy person is someone who is able to attract a flow of abundant energy into their lives, of which money is of course a part. But the conception of money for an authentically wealthy person is entirely different than it is for most of us. A truly weathy does not buy into the consensus delusion of lack but understands that there is more than enough to go around for everyone, more than enough money, more than enough love, more than enough joy, more than enough happiness. An authentically wealthy person is simply a conduit for that energy and allows it to flow through them.

The art of wealth creation is a living art. We tend to think of a wealthy person simply as someone who has a lot of money. This is to confuse wealth as the state of having money, with wealth as a dynamic human quality or disposition to attract a flow of monetary energy. When a person lives their life from a disposition of wealth consciousness, then he or she has the ability to attract a flow of abundance to them, regardless of how much money they may or may not have in the bank at any particular time.

So money is energy and the natural condition of energy is one of continual dynamic flux. Our relationship to money can either be one of attraction or repulsion, just like our relationship to love, health and joy. Either we are attracting the naturally abundant flow of energy to us, or we are repelling it. If we are repelling it, then we are still in a condition of attraction (we are naturally ‘attractive’ beings), but we are attracting its opposite; lack.

The vast majority of us have built a wall of meaning that is founded upon lack and limitation. This is the way we have been conditioned to think! But lack is an entirely human construct. It does not exist in nature. We are told early in life that there is only so much to go round, that there is scarcity, and we believe that. Indeed, we reinforce it with every thought, feeling and belief we have at our disposal. We live inside these ideological walls of lack and limitation without even realising that they are there. We are always doing this, whether we are conscious of it or not. We reinforce these walls each time we bash into them, but they are only there because we have put them there through what we are thinking! There are no walls in nature, the boundaries that do exist are always permeable and in a dynamic condition of flux and transformation. By living within humanly-constructed walls of lack and limitation, however, we are unnaturally trying to control the abundant flow of the universe! Abundance in nature is effortless and, if we can stop struggling, stop trying to control everything around us, then attracting abundance will be effortless for us too.

The beginning of this course coincides with me moving, with my wife Colette, to a new home in Clifton Village in Bristol - a home that came about as a true act of manifestation, the result of our daily practices with the law of attraction that have completely turned our lives around. So here I am with the most spectacular view over Victoria Square at my desk connected to the world via skype, one of the wonders of modern internet telephony - and I'm doing what I love most in the world - being an inspiration and catalyst for transformation.

Every day from now on, I will be posting on this blog my daily reflections on my own journey which of course is unfolding magically and miraculously just as it for all the participants on the course. I invite your comments and feedback.

Love, John