“What you feel thankful for heals.”

Today, 100 Things I wish My Dad Taught me. Episode 36. “What you feel thankful for heals.” Is brought to you by the Second Law of Nature, Evolution.

“What you feel thankful for heals.”

 when you cut a tree through the centre you see growth rings. You can observe these growth rings everywhere. Throw a pebble into a lake and you’ll see growth rings expanding out. Take a magnet and put iron filings on a piece of paper and you will see growth rings. Growth rings are very common throughout all the universe. Even our sun and the planets that surrounded can be seen in a two-dimensional diagram as growth rings. There are seven levels of our mind and these two can be seen as growth rings. There are seven layers to our skin these two can be seen as growth rings. If you rise up above a mountain range you find one dominant mountain and many other mountains surrounding it and if you draw pattern you will see again, growth rings.

 usually growth rings radiate out 360° from the centre core. In other words if you throw a pebble into a lake their growth rings radiate out in all directions. Sometimes, we humans grow out in growth rings but one or two of the seven areas of life neglected. When one or two areas of life neglected growth is not smooth. It becomes harsh and is usually triggered by calamities disasters and humbling circumstances. I in coaching we attempt to grow in all seven areas of life and therefore avoid the harsh reality of painful growth. And this is called evolution.

 for example if we are building a business and that business needs to evolve in order to serve profitably A expanding client base then we are expanding in our career and possibly financial areas of life but may come home to the same family dynamic and find it very hard to deal with that dynamic which has not evolved. Self leadership solve this issue.

 I live in Bondi Beach surrounded by a lot of unconscious and unevolved people who have either the mission to party or surf. At the same time some of the most famous people in the world live within a stones throw of me. Does this diversity impact by evolution? The answer is categorically not. I treat myself as an evolving human being and treat others the same way. Help people treat themselves whether it’s in a family or in public does not impact how I treat them. And this is self leadership. You treat others as you wish them to become. In this way you can evolve in all seven areas of life irrespective of the dynamic of people that surround you. It therefore gives no excuse for not evolving in all seven areas of life. I like to think of this as being a lighthouse. It gives out light and makes all around it aware.

 but to be a lighthouse in the world is a commitment to evolve yourself independently to the culture of the business you are in, the family dynamic you are in, and the social circumstances you’ve become accustomed to. This is why your imagination and a vision board is so critical to mental health. On this vision board, and in your imagination, you are dreaming of expanding in an unlimited way. That means you are taking personal responsibility for your evolution and not asking others to be transported with you into that space.

 however, we do know that if you go into a guitar shop and play one string on one guitar, all the same strings on all the guitars in the shop will begin to resonate. (Of course this is not talking about electric guitars). It is the same with a lighthouse. The light shines whether it is day or night, whether it is raining or windy or a perfect Moonlit night, the light shines. Being this Lighthouse is a great gift for those who live with you and those who work with you because instead of being an energy sucker, you become an energy giver. Your ego has a limited amount of energy. Therefore when we operate from our ego we are trying to conserve our energy because if we don’t it won’t last all day. But if we are operating from the state of Innerwealth, vision, inspiration, and purpose, we are not operating from the limited resource of our ego, we are operating from and evolved state of being. In this stage energy flows through us not from us and we therefore have unlimited amounts of energy to share. When we become fatigued mentally or energetically it is because we are operating from our ego and have stopped evolving. When we stop evolving we age rapidly.

The only thing that stops us from evolving is attachment to the past. Those attachments are not always conscious or obvious but in order to help you see whether you are holding onto anything that could prevent you from being this magnificent lighthouse in the world, a beacon of consciousness, untethered by the state that others are in, even a boss, then you may find the source of that in this list.

• Feeling guilty about something we’ve done or not done. This is of particular importance to children who, accidentally, start to blame themselves for parental misalignment.
• Wishing the present was more ideal. This is where reality and fantasy collide and it turns focus away from priorities.
• Accusing someone of causing you to be operating as an un-evolved version of yourself.
• Blaming someone for your current circumstances.
• Lost hope of the future.Waiting for a person, to give you permission to imagine a better world.
• Thinking that things are ok as they are.

There are two sides of us. Lets say “left and right.” but, it’s really inside and out.

Our outside functions through the senses. Those senses, taste, touch, feel, sight, smell are powerful and need continual feeding with their respective specialities. We seek more of each, which, in short, means more life to live, greater ambitions to achieve. Let’s call it desire. Which, in the Buddha’s language is the cause of all suffering.

The other side, let’s call it the inside, functions on ESP. Extra sensory perception. It’s another sense. Some call it intuition, inspiration, gut feel or instinct, all variations of the same theme. This side of us wants tranquility which, through various labels can be called, love, peace, calm, satisfaction etc.

Life is a never-ending negotiation between these two appetites. And this is where thankfulness comes into its own. There is thankful for achieving your desires, and there is thankful for the peace and tranquilly of love. Inside thankful and outside thankful. This is how you can mediate the two.

If you resent the silence, you are unable to be thankful for the inside and it will become a problem of burnout and excess. If you resent the failures and success of life you will sabotage the outer side trying to gravitate to the inside. Favoritism of one over the other leads to blocked evolution.

Then there are seven areas of life and the inside and outside in each area are in continual negotiation. Love in relationship is seeking solace while the desire in relationships has an insatiable appetite for pleasure. Having both is possible but from time to time we gravitate to the inside to avoid the troubles on the outside. That’s not how it is set up to work. Gratitude solves outer disturbance and disappointments, gratitude also solves inner disruption.

Thankful for turmoil. Thankful for disruption. Thankful for disappointment. Thankful for failure.

Can you see from this the error that people make? They try to change everything so they can be thankful, and that’s not thankful. Thankful means for what is as it is. Thankful for inner turmoil. Thankful for outer suffering, dissatisfaction. And the clue I leave you with, thankful does not mean teaching you to run away from something or someone.

Very often people say they are thankful for something that taught them what they don’t like. But this is rubbish. Thankful is thankful for what is. For example, sadness is a great place to Rest In Peace. If we were thankful for sadness we’d welcome it.

That’s it for today,

With Spirit

Chris….