The secret to less doing, more being

 Doing, doing, doing. With so many people busy doing this and doing that; doing, doing, doing; how is it we call ourselves “human beings” rather than “human doings”?

This week we go Out on a Limb once again and explore the differences between human doings and human beings, and examine how a simple mind shift can have us being more and yet actually doing more. Also news of the first weekly meditation Zoom gatherings for those using our Allevi8 App, but first

Thought for the day

Love thy neighbour

As thy self

Mark 12 : 31

Love this quote. It points directly to a common misinterpretation amongst Christians; and having grown up deeply steeped in Christianity I can speak from experience. 

The problem? Putting the focus on “love thy neighbour” and overlooking “As thy self”. 

The image of the Christian martyrs is both heroic and compelling. Giving up all, even their own lives for the sake of others; the love of others. Compelling. And many completely noble and without fault. Yet so many people I have spoken with over the years, inspired by that ethos have given freely and fully of themselves while neglecting themselves only to end up exhausted, often disillusioned, burnt out and dissatisfied.

The injunction in the quote is clear… “As thy self”. 

So the first thing to clarify is that all of us do want to help others. Of course. However, what is also clear is that to help others we need to start with ourselves. Once we have some inner stability, strength and resources, then we are well placed not only to help others but to sustain our efforts, be effective long-term and to enjoy the process, even if it entails hard work. We then have a good chance of ending up both accomplished and satisfied. This much is reasonably obvious.

But then we can go further… “As thy self”… Which self is being spoken of? The active self? The ego with all its plans, hopes and fears? Its infinite capacity to become distracted, to complicate even simple matters, to surreptitiously put itself ahead of others under the guise of service – and so on. You probably get what I mean.

But then there is that more essential part of self. Now to be clear, nothing wrong with the active, ego driven self. We all have that and it is a part of who we are. But does it drive us, or does it take us for a useful ride – as in we control it and use it for good purpose?

For the essential self - some call it soul, some call it Atma, or the true nature of our mind – this self is inherently pure and filled with love, clarity and wisdom. It is like saying a lemon tree produces lemons and an orange tree produces oranges. Both are useful, but they are different. The essential self can only produce love, clarity and wisdom. That is a fact.

So here is the thing; the simple shift that leads us to be less ego-centric and more true self-centric. Meditation. When we meditate we have this opportunity to get to know our mind, and our self, better. All aspects. The active mind and the still mind. The ego and the true self. 

And when through meditation we begin to glimpse something of that Still Mind, we come to experience something of its innate qualities and we come to know something of this true self – quite naturally. 

The fruit that flows from the meditation tree is love, clarity and wisdom. Simple really. Just requires some technique and regular practice. And not allowing that mischievous active mind to get in the way too much and block the flow. 

It is all about letting go of the doing and allowing the being… And paradoxically, it turns out the more we “be”, the more we can “do”. Win – win!

Happy Meditating

Allevi8 – our new, free meditation App

Ruth and I have been heartened by early responses to Allevi8. If you have not sampled it as yet, it contains specific practices designed to alleviate stress and anxiety, build emotional and mental health, relieve pain, foster healing and help find meaning amidst tough times.

It is free, there is a choice of Ruth’s voice or mine. You can pay it forward if you find it useful and want others to benefit. Simply search Allevi8 in your App store.

And for those who are using it, we start the first of what are planned to be weekly Zoom meditations this Monday, 9th August from 8pm EST to 8.45. Once you join the App, within a short while, an email will be sent with the link to the weekly meditation meetings. Join us?

The Joy of Giving

This promises to be somewhat of a self-indulgent post – about the joy of giving something valuable away for free. About money and how it carries so many deep-seated habits, conflicts and confusions around attachment, values and our capacity to be generous.

And maybe a gentle prompt to reconsider your own relationship with money, especially amongst these times of a pandemic when there is a natural tendency to tighten up and hold onto whatever we already have. Where does generosity, a sense of community and sharing come into all of that?; but first



             Thought for the day

     Work is love made visible. 
     And if you cannot work with love, 
     But only with distaste, 
     It is better that you should leave your work 
     And sit at the gate of the temple 
     And take alms from the people who work with joy

                            Khalil Gibran







Not many will know that when I started the work with people affected by cancer way back in 1981, my initial thought was to offer it freely and rely upon donations for it to progress. Truth is I was talked out of this by my first wife and especially Dr Ainslie Meares. Ainslie, that renowned psychiatrist who introduced therapeutic meditation to the Western world, advise me people in the West only value what they pay for.

So that work evolved into a charitable foundation where fee for service was supplemented by a strong fundraising program. For decades we raised about 25 – 30% of the annual turnover of the foundation and used much of this to offset the program fees.

Amidst this there were plenty of examples of people’s relationships to money. Wealthy people who cried poor and insisted upon discounts. Seriously disadvantaged people who gave a little but in a way that what they gave was highly meaningful – and valued. Wealthy people who gave more but relative to their worth was very little and hence not so meaningful.

Experiments with offering programs by donation and regularly receiving around 25% of what would have been the standard fees if it had been a fee for service event.

Fascinating conversations before and after free events…
“How much is the donation?”

A : :There is no set amount, it is up to you…”

“Yes but how much is it?”


Flying Faith Airlines. This is what we called the principle of proceeding with an important new venture when the money for it was not yet to hand. Proceeding with Faith and expecting the money to follow. Getting into financially difficult situations (quite regularly over the years), only to be bailed out by a major gift or bequest.

Significantly for me, never feeling stressed by money. A deep confidence that with the right motivation held by the bulk of our staff, it would all work out well. And it did

But now a new App – Allevi8. To charge or to offer for free?

What a relief. My business partners agree – it has to be offered freely.

Now to be clear, a huge amount of time and money has gone into developing this App. And yes, the 3 of us are in the fortunate situation where we are not dependent upon income from this particular App to keep us alive financially. And yes, we would like to make a profit.



However, there is such a delight in offering it for free.

The joy of giving.

It is such a good feeling not to need to “sell” the product.

We have made it the best we can.

We offer it freely.


If people respond to it, appreciate it and want it to become available to others, then yes, please do pay it forward and contribute.

And notice this.

When something like an Allevi8 is offered freely, it frees you up. There are no barriers. No need to consider “can I afford it?”. “Does this represent value for money?”. “Is it worth $5 a month? $10?”

No, it is simply. Download it. Try it. If it is of no value, no harm done. If you like it and just want to use it for free, no harm done – and please do feel good that other people are making it available for you. If you like it and want to Pay it Forward, no harm done! But maybe a good feeling.

The Joy of Giving

Allevi8 – the new, free meditation-based App

My heart goes out to everyone confronted by major illness. Stress, anxiety and mental illness can follow a diagnosis. Sleep can be disturbed, emotions challenged. I experienced enough of pain myself; and then how best to heal, how to make sense of it all?

With this in mind, Ruth and I have contributed to a new, free App - Allevi8 - specifically designed to provide meditation-based answers to all these related issues. And in this challenging time of the pandemic, it seems many others may well benefit as well. Allevi8 is easy to locate and download in the Apple and Android App stores; and it is free.

So this week, all the details including news of regular guided meditation practice sessions on Zoom, but first

          
           Thought for the day

     What lies before us  

     And what lies behind us

     Are small matters

     Compared to what lies within us.

     And when we bring 

     What is within us

     Out into the world

     Miracles happen.

              Henry David Thoreau

There are many meditation Apps around these days. Over the last 10 years I have partnered with my good friend Saurabh Mishra as we worked on various versions ourselves. Safe to say we have learnt heaps amidst a tough IT environment.

A specific App for people in need
What we realize is there are few if any specific Apps designed for people affected by major illness – to be clear, chronic, degenerative diseases like cancer, MS, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer’s.

Having worked with people affected by these challenging conditions for decades and having seen over and over how much meditation-based practices can alleviate the symptoms that so frequently accompany these conditions, it seemed natural to bring together all we have learnt with Apps to make these specific techniques widely available.

We have been fortunate to gather a great team to make it all possible...

Allevi8 is offered freely
All of us involved with Allevi8 have felt the benefits of these techniques in our personal and professional lives.

Therefore, we are keen to make the practices freely available.

We figure that if like us, people value them (after using them and feeling the benefits) then they may well be inspired to donate a small amount, “Pay it Forward” as it were, keep the App going and help make it possible for the next person to use it freely.

Available in the voices of Ruth and myself 
Ruth and I have recorded specific practices to provide deep relaxation, guided mindfulness, contemplation and meditation, as well as guided imagery.

Five challenging needs addressed 
We have specifically addressed 5 main areas that our research highlighted are the areas of most concern amongst people affected by chronic degenerative disease. They are

1. Stress, anxiety and mental illness; including sleep disturbances.

2. Emotional distress – dealing with difficult emotions

3. Pain management – personal techniques you can use that work

4. Healing – how to use inner resources to foster healing on all levels

5. Meaning – how to make sense of all the changes and challenges major illness brings.

The contents
There is a main meditation practice that is relevant to all 5 domains, and then specific practices for each. While you may be drawn initially to Allevi8 for say pain management or healing, you will have access to all the practices.

Also, there is a self-referencing questionnaire that enables the App to assist you to self-monitor and evaluate your progress.

Those who are already familiar with the work of Ruth and myself will find some familiarity, but there are several practices that have not been readily available before.

You can choose to listen to Ruth’s voice or my own; or vary it around…

The App is designed to be used by those directly affected by major illness, their families and carers, as well as health professionals in this field.

A great deal of care has gone into ensuring the Allevi8 App is easy to use, easy to navigate and of course, that it works well. Happily, early users have provided very positive feedback.

Join us on-line to meditate together
Finally, as a bonus, we plan to commence a weekly virtual meditation group for Allevi8 users via Zoom.

Seems many of us have now experienced how meaningful and supportive it can be to link with like-minded people via some of these amazing new IT functions.

So when you register, you need to provide your email (which of course will be both respected and secured), and from this we will send a Zoom link for these sessions.

Ruth and I will be leading them and we plan some special guests as time flows along.

So please feel free to support this new initiative and try the App. Also, please do share it with friends and people you know who may be in need. It is free…

Available in all good App stores! Simply search for Allevi8.

May your practice flow
And bring substantial and sustainable benefits…

Do vegetarians need to combine proteins?

Do you get enough? Do you get the right sort? These are the 2 basic questions for any food group, and for many vegetarians and vegans it is one of real concern when it comes to protein.

How many of us have been told “the only way to get enough protein is to eat meat’, or “vegetables and grains do not have the right proteins; only meat does”.

So this week, what are the facts? What to do? Also, did you know You Can Conquer Cancer is available as an audio book? But first

  Thought for the week
    Addiction is any behaviour or substance 
    That a person uses to relieve pain in the short term, 
    But which leads to negative consequences in the long term. 

   Without addressing the root cause of the pain, 
   A person may try to stop 
   But will ultimately crave further relief 
   And be prone to relapse. 
                           Dr Gabor Mate

Actually, the protein issue is incredibly easy
Bottom line, the research is clear. It is almost impossible for a reasonably healthy vegetarian or vegan in a Western country who is eating enough calories to get a protein deficiency. It is that simple.

But maybe you need more detail; a little convincing…

A brief context – what protein does
Protein is a nutrient your body needs to grow and repair cells and for it to work properly.

How much is enough?
How much protein you need varies depending on your weight, gender, age and health. The average sedentary woman needs around 46 gms of protein daily; the average sedentary man needs 55gms.

There is no need to labour this; all the authorities agree, this is in easy target to reach. The fact is a plant‑based diet commonly delivers close to twice the average daily protein requirement.

But do we get the right type of protein?

The issue here is protein is made up of 20 different amino acids. Humans can make 11 of these within their bodies and so these ones are called non-essential amino acids

There are nine amino acids your body cannot make, and so these ones are known as essential amino acids.

Foods that contain all 20 amino acids are called complete proteins.

Meat, fish and dairy are complete proteins with high levels of all amino acids.

But here is the news - vegetables and grains also are complete proteins, it is just most have low levels of some amino acids and could be said to be “less complete” than meat, fish and dairy.

However, to call them “incomplete proteins” is factually incorrect.


Certain lobbies and old school nutritionists spread the myth that vegetarians are at risk of protein deficiency because they are eating incomplete proteins. The implication is they need meat.

Also, older thinking used to emphasise the need of vegetarians to combine different vegetables and particularly grains to ensure a balanced intake of amino acids.

There was a good deal of talk about “complementary proteins” – particularly in reference to grains that combined to produce a high level of all the amino acids.

The implication here was vegetarians needed to eat 2 of the correct complementary protein sources at any given meal to achieve a complete protein intake.

So here is the latest good news.

Do not worry.

All the best recent research says as long as you are eating a variety of foods, there is no need to combine particular protein sources at a given meal.

Complementary proteins are a non-issue.

Given what you are eating has enough calories for your needs, is very difficult, almost impossible, to get this wrong and create a protein deficiency for yourself.

All of this is both incredibly complex in its detail, and incredibly simple in its conclusions...

Our bodies are incredibly smart, so here are a couple of mechanisms it uses to ensure the right amino acid balance.


1. Storage
Yes, the body simply stores a range of amino acids to use when intake on any given day is low.

2. Recycling
Each day, around 90 grams of protein is recycled through the digestive tract. The proteins are broken down, reassembled, reabsorbed to ensure we have what we need, when we need it.

Clever right?

So relax.

If you must worry about something to do with what you are eating, protein is not one of them!

Want even more detail?

Read You Can Conquer Cancer or listen to the audio book - LINK - where there is more information on protein and all food groups.

Go to the Victorian Government Health website that has lots of facts and numbers :)

Manifestation: the simple secret - you will see it when you need it

The universe is a huge place. Our own world is ripe with possibilities. In each of our own communities there is so much potential.

So why when we have a real need do we often doubt it will be met?

Sometimes it comes down to not seeing what is there. So this week, how to find what we really need along with a classic account of not seeing the extra-ordinary, but first

   
  Thought for the day
Look at the birds of the air; 
They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, 
And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 
Are you not much more valuable than they? 
Can any one of you by worrying 
Add even a single hour to your life? 
And why do you worry about clothes? 
See how the lilies of the field grow. 
They do not labour or spin. 
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon 
In all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, 
Which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, 
Will he not much more clothe you – oh you of little faith? 
                                                            Matthew 6: 26-30

This is a true story.

2007, a cold winter’s morning, Washington Metro station. An unassuming man busking with a violin for around 45 minutes. Around 2,000 people pass him by. A child pulls at his mother’s arm to pause, but she hurries him along. This happens again with several other children. A few slow on passing, 6 actually stop for a moment, a few drop coins; he pockets the $32. One woman actually does recognise him and is in awe.

Two days earlier, this same world renowned violinist - Joshua Bell - sold out Boston’s major arts theatre where seats averaged over $100. He played the same pieces while busking – extremely intricate music of Bach, and he played on a violin worth $3.5 million; and this was in 2007!
Watch the amazing video...

What can we take from this intriguing social experiment?

Perception is a curious thing. Can we see – or hear - beauty out of context? If we cannot recognise what is on offer, be in too much of a hurry, be too pre-occupied to notice the beauty around us, what else might we be missing out on?

When my children were young we had a rubber boat to play with in our dam. The boat perished and we replaced it one Christmas. I mistakenly had thought the oars were still good so did not buy new ones – mistake.




So on going back to work in the New Year, I wondered where I might buy just new oars.

Travelling the same route as I did every day for the past several years – about an hour’s drive – a startling discovery!

Over the Christmas break, 4 new stores had opened along that route that potentially had what I was looking for.


Now of course these stores had not really just opened, they had been there all the time in this abundant world we live in, but I had no need of them, was not looking for them, so for all intents and purposes, they were not there!

The moral of these stories? Once we are really clear about what we are looking for, it is likely to be there; we simply need clarity and persistence to go looking.

And that in simple terms is the art and science of manifestation.

Simple really.

Oh, and trust in an abundant universe - like birds do.

And lilies seem to do alright too..

As well as the dahlias...

And the ...




May we all find what we are looking for…