You are stuck in a metaphor. You have an idea in your head about what the world is. As the unfortunate bearer of bad news, I have come to inform you, you are wrong!

Whatever you think the world is, it is not. Whatever you think your life is, it is not. Whatever you think of the people around you and your interactions with them, they are false. They are a false perception generated by a mind that believes it understands, it does not. You are laboring under a false paradigm. The sooner you accept this, the easier this will be.

You came to this world with the best intentions, seeking experience and wisdom. You came seeking to understand and develop emotionally. But what you have gained, instead of wisdom is baggage. Instead of emotional growth you have bias. Instead of perspective you have become myopic. Your world view taints everything around you and disconnects you from the truth.

You are empowered by a metaphor. You have a model in your head of what the world is. As the fortunate bearer of good news, I have come to inform you, you are right!

Whatever you think the world is, you are right. Whatever you think your life is, it is. Whatever you think of the people around you and of your interactions with them, they are true. They are a true perception generated by a mind that understands with crystal clarity. You are laboring under a true paradigm. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be.

You came into this world with the best intentions, seeking experience and wisdom. You came seeking to understand and develop emotionally. What you have gained is wisdom. You have attained emotional growth beyond your wildest imaginings. You have attained perspective and clarity of vision. Your world view paints everything around you, connecting you with the truth.

Namaste,

Kevin

We have grown up in a culture of nurturing. It hasn’t always been a healthy nurturing, but there is always someone around telling you how you should respond to a situation, what we should care about, what something means… The problem is, they are not always right. And you are old enough now to step up and take ownership. I’m talking to you weather you are 16 or 60. With quite a margin of error on both sides of that. Let’s say plus or minus 20 years.

You’ve reached an age of reason. A place of responsibility. Stop looking to the outside for ideas about what to do and how to do it. Stop looking for people to tell you what is right and wrong. You know! Stop asking which way to look and what you’re supposed to see.

Step up and do what your heart tells you.

If you can’t hear your heart, then you’ve got one more task as you step up, learn how to listen to your heart.

Your heart has one rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s it.

Listen to your heart. It’s not hard. And it’s not easy. If you have been ignoring your heart for a while the dissonance between what your heart says and the way you are living can be quite alarming.

Why should you listen to me? Why should you take my advice to stop taking advice?

The short answer is, you shouldn’t.

Your heart has a natural rhythm to it, an energetic frequency if you will, and when you come in contact with like minded ideas it resonates. Like two sine waves adding together the amplitude increases.

A quick math lesson.

Hear is a graph of the rhythm of your heart, a normal sine wave with amplitude (height of the wave) and frequency (the time it takes to complete one cycle up and down).

And here is a graph of the rhythm of an idea, that has the same frequency.

So the result, since the two rhythms are of the same frequency, they add to each other. Like this:

The green line is the result of the two waves adding together.

So to have an idea that resonates with your heart is to say that they are alike and the result is additive. Likewise an idea that is incompatible with your heart would result in a decreasing amplitude. AKA You wouldn’t feel it.

Learn to listen to your heart, and after that, let this be the last time you let someone tell you what to do.

Let me be clear.

I’m not telling you to stop listening to others. I’m telling you that you have a filter built in that can let you know whether to listen to others.

I’m not talking about quitting your job, though your job may need to change.

I’m not telling you to stopping doing what your boss at work tells you, though you may need to gently push back.

What I am telling you is to take charge of your life. Step up and own your experience.

We can get in a pattern of gathering input and cramming for the big test, that will come eventually… What I’m telling you is that you’re taking the test now. Your moment has come. Your train is boarding. Your moment to shine is now! We are here for only a brief time and if you can’t be true to yourself, if you let someone else tell you who you are and what you’re doing here, then what was the point? They have their life, let them live it on their terms and you live your life on your terms.

I’m describing this as a single action. But our lives are so complex that it’s more of a cascading action. Instead of one single amazing occurrence this is a series of actions that can slowly reclaim each aspect of your life until you suddenly realize that you are you now. But it begins with a single step, listen to your heart.

Namaste,

Kevin

“I must not fear, fear is the mind killer.” – Paul Atreides – Frank Herbert’s Dune

Fear is powerful. Fear is primal. Fear is the mind killer.

There is much to be learned from science fiction. It allows us to remove the layers of a normal emotional response to stimulus and to seek the deeper lessons of story and legend. In this case we are listening to the mental mantra of Paul Atreides, son of the duke. He is talking himself into persevering a difficult trial. If he passes he surprise everyone and if he fails he will die. The stakes are incredibly high, and the primary risk of failure is simply fear.

The test he is undergoing is to see if he is human or an animal, which part of him will win out? For the test he has been told to place his hand in a box.

In the box is pain.

If he removes his hand he will be poisoned and die.

If he keeps his hand in the box he will suffer intense pain.

It is a struggle between the two brains of a human being, the mind (our logic and order) and the animal brain (our instinct and reaction).

It’s pure and simple metaphor in a test that excites the mind and drives the imagination. What will our hero do? Will he survive?

His mantra has always stuck with me over the years. I must not fear, fear is the mind killer. Such powerful language. But to be honest, I didn’t fully understand it. I may still not, but I have a new insight into it. Paul was concerned with giving over his will to his animal brain and becoming nothing more than an animal. Falling to instinct and reaction and losing his ability to use logic and reason. Losing his mind, or in sharper language, killing his mind.

We live in an age of fear. It seems like everyone is trying to push us into a fear reaction. Driving us to respond as animals. Trying to force us to release our freedom of being human.

I have had a lot of fear this week. From a server outage to the constant pressure of upcoming deadlines and new projects. It’s been a fear inducing week.

I needed this moment to pause and realize, I don’t have to react like an animal. I can forego the fear and focus on the knowledge that I am going to be okay. I have survived the past odds are I will survive the future, or in this case, I will survive the present.

Namaste,

Kevin