BOOK EXCERPT FROM JOHN ENGLISH’S NEW RELEASE THE LITTLE BOOK ON RELATIONSHIP — The universal law of attraction says: Like frequencies attract one another. This law of attraction is always at work in every aspect of our lives. What we are aware of and what we focus on is no exception. The universe is a mirror. Our internal condition is always mirrored back to us by what we create in our lives. This is what comes to us from the universal mirror.

I’m going to give an example of contemplation and the universal mirror.

This story details how I work with the mirrors that make up the animal and plant kingdoms as well as the shadow element that is about denying our own divinity.

One of my favorite times of the year in the Southwest is the monsoon season during the mid to late summer. It is a time of intense storms, including rain, high winds and lightning. Nature is a fascinating mirror. It mirrors beauty, perfect balance, abundance, timing and, of course, death of the old and transformation. It’s difficult to deny that there’s a power greater than ourselves when we stand in awe of nature’s perfection.

Nature at Work

One hot summer afternoon I was sitting on my back porch watching a storm roll in. Spider lightning lit the sky in the distance and was moving closer. This is the type of lightning that never seems to touch the ground. It weaves its way across the sky like a spider’s web. Because this type of lightning never strikes, it reminds me that when there’s true power the need to wield it is redundant.

The sun was still shining in my location, but the storm was only about eight miles away. It was large enough to cover the entire area of desert where I live. I looked at the giant saguaro cacti and recalled how they can drink up to ten gallons of water in a minute. A feeling of anticipation hung in the air, and the giant cacti reminded me of how important it is to recognize and take advantage of an opportunity when it arrives.

The whole time I was watching the storm, a little bird was perched on a limb of a tree in my backyard. I began to watch it, and soon it had my full attention. The storm was now less than two miles away, and the winds began. Sometimes in these storms the winds can become quite destructive. The branch the bird was sitting on began to move in the wind, gently at first, but within minutes, the branch was bobbing up and down and flailing about. The bird continued to hang onto the branch.

Conversing with Nature

“Little bird, you had better watch out.”

I believe that, as long as I live, I will never forget this moment. It was the moment when a little bird mirrored to me that I have the ability to fly. Since that day, whenever I have been perched somewhere in my life and a storm arrives, as they sometimes do, I remember that each storm brings transformation. Then I remind myself that, like the little bird, I can always fly. The funny thing is this: since I’ve learned to work with relationship and mirrors, I haven’t needed as many storms to blow me off my perch. My intuition has guided me to fly off to new territory before any storms begin. If I become fearful about change, I remember that I can fly or get swept up by the storm. The choice is mine.

The Lesson Learned

I continued working with mirrors for several years before the next aspect surrounding relationship showed up. This was a time for extreme gratitude. During this time I learned about the real meaning of power. Through relief and mirrors I began to feel I had discovered the great keys to love, peace, and joy in life that so many strive for. I was ready for the next piece to the puzzle about navigating the great gift of life.

May you realize that life is a feeling and that you’re an expression of divinity. May you realize that you, personally, are a great gift to this world. My dream for you is for you to know, without a doubt, that none of this would be the same without you.

For more information about John English and his work, please visit his website.

GUEST COLUMN: NIRMALA — In 1997, I was busy attending naturopathic medical school and, I thought, happily married. And then out of the blue my wife told me she was leaving me for another man.

The intensity and types of feelings that surfaced in response were unexpected.

I was aware of feeling equal and opposite feelings: amidst an overwhelming and paralyzing fear was an extreme excitement over all the new possibilities created by the space that had opened up in my life.

The yin and yang of emotions

My problem, however, was that I felt like I was being torn apart or stretched because of the power of these feelings; I couldn’t contain all the disparate emotions. Upon reflection, I realized that in every experience in my life I’ve always had equal and opposite feelings. That’s just the nature of feelings; they’re always present in opposite pairs, and when they are intense it becomes difficult to contain them.

By luck or by grace, I heard about a thing called “The Sedona Method,” which is a technique for releasing emotions. The Sedona Method starts off with letting go of any uncomfortable emotions. As a result, what is revealed are the more positive emotions, which this method suggests you also let go of.

Letting go with the Sedona Method

One day, while practicing this technique, I had a moment when I followed it all the way—I just let go of everything — all the painful emotions as well as all the peace, happiness, and joy.

I just let it all go, and became aware of an incredible silence I had never experienced before. I was simply out for a walk and, suddenly, I was so present to everything outside myself — the trees, the sidewalk, the sky. I was so moved by this experience of silence; I immediately went home and signed up for a Sedona Method workshop. I thought I’d get more of this wonderful technique, which, for me, proved a profound form of stress relief.

Learning from Lester Levinson, Pamela Wilson and Neelam

What I didn’t know at the time was the origin of this method. The Sedona Method had been developed by a man named Lester Levinson as a tool for awakening to one’s true nature as limitless freedom. There are whole communities of people who spend years using this method in an effort to become awakened, or truly free.

Eventually one of these people (other than Lester, who had died a few years earlier) had “made it.”  Her name is Pamela Wilson, and she was co-teaching the advanced Sedona Method course. When I arrived it was obvious that she had a remarkable presence of pure happiness and freedom.

It also happened that Pamela (pictured at right) had made arrangements for a spiritual teacher named Neelam to come to town to hold satsangs, or gatherings, for spiritual truth. Every day we practiced the Sedona Method and every night we went to satsang with Neelam. This undeniable sense of freedom that I had felt in Pamela was even more present in Neelam.

Realizing our most fundamental desire: freedom

In one of the meetings, another instructor, Hale Dwoskin, presented a chart of “wants.” The last want, the most fundamental desire, was the desire for freedom.

He spoke about this desire for freedom as the desire that burns away all the others, which you also must ultimately let go of. So, later that night when I was alone, I thought I’d skip over all the other desires and focus on letting go of the desire to be free.

First, I just got very quiet and asked inside, “Can I use this shortcut to become free?” The answer that came was: “It’s not up to you. There is nothing you can do to become free.” At that moment I knew this was true beyond a shadow of a doubt — there was absolutely nothing that “I” could do about it. It was simply not up to me.

The fact that I couldn’t do anything about it was a completely devastating realization because, in that exact same moment, I also realized that I wanted Freedom more than I had ever wanted anything in my life. And I burst into tears because I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do about this thing that I wanted more than life itself.

Next: Nirmala travels to India to find ultimate freedom — and his soul’s code

Nirmala is a spiritual teacher in the Advaita tradition of nondual spiritual teachings. He is the author of several books, including Nothing Personal: Seeing Beyond the Illusion of a Separate Self. More information about mentoring sessions and downloads of Nirmala’s free ebooks are available at Endless Satsang.

(Read the first part of this two-part series)

GUEST COLUMN: NIRMALA — After being in the presence of Pamela and Neelam, I just couldn’t let this desire for Freedom go. I had the sense that there was surgery going on in my chest, like it had been ripped open.

Despite the fact that I absolutely knew there was nothing I could do about it, now that I had admitted I wanted this freedom more than anything, I could never turn back to my old life.

So, I gave my share in our house to my wife and quit medical school.

Freedom happens

It’s certainly not necessary to have a spouse leave you, give away your house, drop out of school, or quit your job, to be free, but I did all that so that I could follow Neelam through Europe and on to India.

A few weeks later, something Neelam said in a satsang helped me to realize, in the same way  I had realized there was nothing I could do to get freedom, that there was nothing I had to fix about myself to achieve this freedom. In fact, trying to fix myself had been a lifelong task and a huge burden.

It’s not getting what you want, but wanting what you’ve got

I had participated in endless workshops, training in self-improvement techniques I used as attempts to become a better person. Finally, I understood that none of that was necessary: not only was there nothing I could do to become free, but fortunately there was now the recognition that neither was there anything I had to do to become free.

This story could stop here because from that point forward I just became happier and happier. Even awakening and freedom no longer mattered. I was perfectly happy the way things were. This was the letting go of the desire for freedom that Hale had spoken about.

India: Finding yourself in the rocks by the Ganges

Eventually, we went on to India and ended up near Rishikesh at an ashram called Phool Chatti in the jungle on the banks of the Ganges. There, we spent our days in satsang with Neelam and our nights singing devotional songs. Often late at night after everyone had gone to sleep, I  would sit by the river along a stretch of ten-foot tall rapids. The river was an incredible roaring presence of rushing white-water in the darkness.

One night, as I was sitting there under the full moon, I recognized that the rock that I was leaning on was me — “Oh, yeah, this is me; this rock is inside of me.” Once I realized that about that rock, I saw the same was true of all the rocks in the huge field of boulders along the river’s edge.

Then, since the rocks were so obviously “me,” the river was obviously “me” too, not just this stretch of the river but the entire Ganges from one end of India to the other. Very quickly, I saw that not just the river, but the whole continent was “me.”

It struck me as obvious that it was all inside “me”—and then it was the whole world and the whole solar system and the entire galaxy and the universe. This kept going until the mind couldn’t keep up. There was no longer any possibility of my mind containing all of this endless space, and yet it was all “me” in the same way that one of my limbs was “me.”

An infinity of space and time is captured in each Soul’s Code

Then there was a wonderful moment when “me” included not only infinity in terms of space, but “popped” to include all time. It was obviously who I had always been, and it included all the past and all the future. Then I laughed and laughed and rolled around in the gravel because it was suddenly so silly that I had imagined myself to have suffered. I had always been so free that I was even free to have this illusion of not being free. That’s how complete the freedom is. So, I just laughed and laughed.

What I realized in that moment is that all there is and ever has been is Awakeness. There’s no need for awakening in awakeness itself. All of life is just the play of this that has always been fully awake. I would like to emphasize that the specifics of this experience are not important.

This awakeness/consciousness, like the snow flakes of a snowstorm, does not reveal this profound truth the same way twice. What is important is the transformation of perspective that the realization allows.

Nirmala is a spiritual teacher in the Advaita tradition of nondual spiritual teachings. He is the author of several books, including Nothing Personal: Seeing Beyond the Illusion of a Separate Self. See Nirmala’s free ebooks at Endless Satsang.

A companion piece to Pamela Wilson’s adjoining column, Age of Sorrow, Age of Wakefulness, this meditation invites you deeply into restorative rest and gratitude for every granule of your being. Invite someone close to you to close their eyes, and try reading it to them sotto voce.

SPECIAL TO SOUL’S CODE: PAMELA WILSON — Sit quietly and look inside, feel the sensations in your chest. Notice how some are protective. These are the “felt” defenses. Honor and thank them. Now look behind them to what they are protecting. There might be a quiet, or an ordinary, openness. Let yourself get curious, and feel it.

You might notice it is restful, with not a lot happening there. Rest and allow the body to be nourished by the stillness. If there is a sense of relief or gratitude, let that express itself. . .if there is any lingering agitation, let it be as it is and notice it is appearing in a calm openness.

Now, the mind might express some doubts; if it does, allow them — and invite the mind to take a rest.

As your attention is resting, notice that it does this naturally when it encounters peacefulness. Also invite the body to rest. Any sensations and emotions will alert you to where there is remaining tension, and where gentleness is needed. As everything within starts to relax, feel it deeply with gratitude.

Now, observe attention itself  . . . become curious about its ability to soothe body and mind.

Express gratitude for no reason, and then rest as you are.

When the body and mind are at rest, it is easy to see who we are, innate naturalness, the presence that is always in the background. Before, your attention was on the personality — not the property of being that was wearing it. Now that role can be surrendered.

Somehow, the body, emotion and sensations have always known our true nature. They have always presented themselves to this gentle openness within, asking for kindness and understanding.

GUEST COLUMN: VAISHALI — From the Eastern perspective there will never be one single pill, diet, exercise or lifestyle that will cure what ails all people.

Each of our lives fulls of thoughts and episodes and sensations reflect an intensely-experienced microcosm. Each being has a unique fingerprint —  let it be said, soul’s code — and wants to be understood, examined and healed uniquely, not through the lens of mass judgement.

What is experientially, emotionally and perceptually toxic to one person could be liberating to another. There is not one accepted standard that will equally measure every nuance of every person’s life. The “average person” does not exist in Eastern philosophy.

So it is when it comes to career development and the turmoil in our present job market. The media has dominated the intellectual landscape with reports of dire changes, catastrophic employment shifts and unsustainable economic losses.

“How will I ever find a job when millions of people are out of work? My world situation is dire, catastrophic and unsustainable. Hey, where have I heard that before?”  Just because CNN is selling economic fear across the board doesn’t mean you have to buy it. You have free will. And, that may not be your universe.

One man’s troubles can be another’s transformation

While the need to live within one’s means is not disputed, what is debilitating in one person’s reality may actually be liberating and powerfully transformative in another’s.

Shaking up the status quo is an opportunity to make different choices, to take another career path. Just because Fox News tells you everyone is losing their jobs does not mean you have the whole story.

Human evolution allows old, tired and outdated methods of expansion to die out. If life has offered you a new set of circumstances, it is nature’s way of saying, “You are ready to grow in a new direction; there is nothing left for you in the old way; move on.”

Focus on breakthrough by taking and making the most of this fortuitous event rather than being paralyzed by breakdown from lamenting the loss of what you have grown beyond.

Your neighbors lost their jobs and are in crisis. Does that mean there is a career crisis in your world? You are a universe unto yourself. That employment setback may be your neighbors’ next biggest opportunity to re-evaluate their lives and what is important to them.

It does not mean you need to bookmark Monster.com or other online headhunters, or spend sleepless nights worrying about your job security. There is not one developmental-driving reality that visits all people simultaneously.

The names of fear

Crisis, dire, catastrophic, impossible are all different names for fear. From a bigger picture perspective, what is presently occurring is a global fear epidemic spreading locally. Not by germ or bacteria but rather by worldview. The outer world conditions again reflect the inner world conditions.

What that means is just because some people get the flu, doesn’t mean everyone on the planet is sick or even going to get sick. When you refuse to accept change when it appears in your microcosmic universe, you have not only opened the door to suffering, but also personally invited it in, offered it drinks and comfortable place to stay.

Embrace change, because it will never just go away

The details of life on Earth will always be changing; that is the nature of this impermanent world. Nothing here stays for long. Everything on the planet has a shelf life. What were the only consistent career choices a hundred years ago versus today’s world, aside from undertaking, tax collecting and prostitution? There are none.

The job you thought was a safe and secure employment two years ago may not even exist today. Even the pace of change has gained speed and momentum. The more we as a global community advance, the faster these changes will take place.

Deal with the details, but don’t sweat them

Eastern spiritual philosophies point out the shortcomings to an inherent basic human desire: control. We attempt to control every detail of the outer world and hold it in a fixed place, until we have everything right where we want it to be.

We all desire to create a comfortable external reality and then maintain that position forever. We want to solve a problem once in our lives and then never have to revisit it again. We want to find a job once then never have to deal with job or career transitions again. We invest in a position of some kind and expect it to pay us dividends the rest of our lives.

What this leads to is an escalated experience of personal suffering due to the inescapable reality that life is constantly in a state of flux, change and motion, forever vulnerable and subject to the permeable forces of life on Earth.

You are no different than your 401K! Just as the macrocosmic universe is ever-growing, expanding and changing, so it is with your microcosmic universe. Things will orbit, eclipse and even from time to time collide with your world. That is what it means to be human and a universe unto yourself.

I will bend like a reed in the wind — Paul Atreides, from Frank Herbert’s Dune

At our finest, we are designed to be flexible, resilient, open to change and sensitive to growth potential. The paradox of the human experience is that we are built for rapid and sudden adaptation, but we want everything perfectly organized and in its place, and we want it to all stay that way, or else!

Just because we are created to go with the mutable flow does not make us immune to primitive responses such as rigidity, fearfulness, inflexibility and unreasonable stubbornness.

Just because we have achieved a specific quality of livelihood doesn’t mean there will not be an opportunity to upgrade and evolve to the next level. Just because some people are screaming the sky is falling doesn’t mean your name is Chicken Little. The Western concept that there is only one reality, and that it is a ubiquitous truth that is merely an illusion.

When job loss is at an all time high, it is an invitation to reinvent ourselves, our skills and talents, and to dare to explore the dreams and potentials that have lived outside of our previous comfort zone, our occupationally-challenged box.

Imagine what the world would be like if computers were suppressed because they were going to displace millions of people’s jobs. Steve Jobs of Apple wouldn’t have a job or a company. I guess that would make him just Steve, or Steve Jobless.

For every loss, we, as unlimited Spiritual beings, have both the power and potential to invent a new wheel, create another source of fire, mine previously unexplored inner forms of gold. After all, this planet was constructed so that we could realize and unfold the evolution of our souls.

While living in an environment that was manifested solely for the purpose of our awakening to the reality of our unlimited true nature, words like loss, failure, useless and unwanted really need to be redefined.

What also requires redefining are ideas like success, valuable and a willingness to experience the present moment as an opportunity to move forward.  Here are some alternative definitions:

Success is not a place at which one arrives but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey — Author Unknown

We have come here to learn and grow. Should we discover along the way that what we have been doing is no longer working for us, that we must find a more life enhancing way to relate to our problems and life challenges, then we have not failed. We have matured. We have found ourselves in a position where we must require more from ourselves and demand greater accountability from those who have applied for the jobs of public servants.

If you do not like the direction things are taking, do not behave like a child or let people get away with irresponsible, greedy behavior. You are not powerless or a victim . . . unless you want that in your Universe.

Nations and global communities have always benefited from a population that was open to learning a better way to respond to outdated ways of relating to the infrastructure of life. If this were not true there would be no civil rights movement, the wall in Berlin would still be standing, there would be no United Nations, there would still be a US embargo against Cuba . . . uh, what? There still is? Ok, forget that last one.

Don’t let fear control and dictate the limits of your life. When life presents an opportunity disguised as a setback, reach around the illusion and seize the day. And if you are one of the people sitting back waiting on the government for assistance, I offer you what Groucho Marx would tell you: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

I think that could qualify as a Divine Law. I know it already is one in Washington.

Vaishali is the author of Wisdom Rising and You Are What You Love. Her last Soul’s Code article, Heaven Can’t Wait, dealt with the Miracle on the Hudson casualty-free American Airlines plane crash.