Can You Really "Have It All"?

*Last week I read an article addressing someone's question about why they haven't been able to attract more money and wealth into their life even though they are doing what every "new age" teacher says they should do. The author of the article replied that sometimes spirituality is incompatible with material wealth because it would be a distraction to your spiritual growth. The author also mentioned that all the spiritual and new age teachings about tools and techniques to use to create the life of your dreams are now obsolete and there is a new teaching/new thought movement that lets you have everything your divine self chooses, without doing anything. They had a lot of good points but I had a few critiques. This is an exerpt of what I wrote in an email...*

I agree with most of it.

We do tend to stay in the same space with money, relationships, health, ect, until we can understand and love ourselves through it and finally release our strong attachment/resistance to the flow of life. We also do need to worry less and allow more.

However, the assertion that wealth and abundance are incompatible with spiritual awakening is, I believe, based on the assumption that wealth and abundance require great amounts of work, focus, time and 'materialistic thought' that will detract from spiritual growth. As we awaken more and more our tastes do tend to gravitate towards simplicity, but wealth - like health - is our unlimited birthright and can allow us to have more time, resources and freedom to not only grow and awaken spiritually, but also help more and more people rise in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and have more time, freedom and resources to explore all of their hearts desires and be the greatest that they can be... if they open themselves to receiving it. Traditional spiritual and religious thought condemned the physical/material world because for them... in that era... it took EVERYTHING they had to make the jump in consciousness because the world around them was so low and brutal (as calibrated by Dr. David Hawkins in his scale of consciousness, see the book "Power vs Force"). Now we have it much easier. Everyday, people around the world rise in consciousness when centuries ago there was barely -if any- progress.

That means that we can all be a "Zorba the Buddha" as the great spiritual teacher Osho taught. What's that? It's having the spiritual enlightenment of the Buddha and also enjoying the innumerable pleasures and experiences of this physical/material existance like a Zorba the Greek. Why not enjoy the amazing beauty of this world and the pleasure of this existence while we are here? Like David Cameron Gikandi said in A Happy Pocket Full of Money, "you're body is the densest part of your mind, and your mind is the subtlelest part of your body". Also, just like they teach in Ho'oponopono, you are ONE. There is nothing "out there". Everything in your reality is IN you. It is ALL you.

Heal yourself, heal your world.

Love everything in your reality. Heal that part of yourself on the "inside" to heal that part of yourself reflected "outside". Do not condemn anything, just heal it. Forgive it. Love it. Just like someone can misuse their healthy body to attack and harm another, some misuse their wealthy existence to harm. Does that mean wealth is bad? No. Would striving to be healthy make you a bad person? Would you say "I'm only going to take a little bit of health for myself so that others can also have some health"? Of course not! Why? Because we understand that every person's ability to be healthy is independant of how much health others have. If you do what it takes to be healthy you will become healthy. And that doesn't mean you are stealing health from others. It is unlimited. Just like wealth. If you learn and do what it takes to be wealthy, you will be wealthy. And you will not steal any wealth away from others. Can we ALL be healthy together on this earth? Yes. Can we ALL be wealthy on this earth? Yes. We just have to change our understanding of wealth as something polluting and limiting. It can be healing and unlimited for us all once we understand it better.

Also, some ascetic practices were used long ago in spiritual practice to deprive, torture and maim the body to "free the soul from the prison of the flesh" (like self-flagelation for example). Many have used the same excuse to live in the pain of poverty so that through this pain awakening is found. Yes, it can work. You can find moments of nirvana and bliss by using powerful drugs too (many have) but is all that pain really necessary?

No.

As we learn more and more about our true selves we realize that the greatest awakening comes with profound love and healing. When we are vibrantly healthy in ALL areas, our soul is free from the grip of fear so that what we are TRULY capable of manifesting in it's most exquisite and glorious beauty and power comes as a result of simply allowing it to come...unblocked...almost without having to do anything...

Just like they said in the article.

And it's not really that all the manifesting tools we where using before are now obsolete (affirmations and visualisations and all the rest still work because our brain still has a conscious and unconscious components and they respond to repetition and vivid images charged with feeling), it's just that as we awaken more and more we come to realize that our greatest power comes not so much from goal-setting and intentions, but from inspiration.

The more we let our Divine selves to run the show, the happier we will be. That's not to say you're divine self won't inspire you with goals to achieve and tools to achieve them however... that will happen more often than not ("to do nothing" or "to have no goals" are still goals after all). Its just a matter of releasing the fear of the ego (which is your primitive survival drive always looking for danger) and operating more out of the trust in your Self (which is your intuition and is connected to the Source which sees the entire playing field of Eternity).

As we become more aware, our limitations fall away.
By releasing all your fear and living out of love and trust (trust also meaning trusting enough to act) you CAN really "have it all" in every area of your life.

Just make sure you do it in a healthy and positive way.

CHB

P.S. Oh, and have some fun too. Maybe by playing a harmless prank or two on Tuesday, April 1st... hehe.

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you for reading!

Can You Scratch The Surface?

If you listen to most people talk, what you'll likely hear is that yes, it's nice to dream of better things and a better life, but ultimately, you have to be REALISTIC, because you're given a certain hand of cards to play with - be it genetics, family, intelligence, athletic ability, money sense, country of origin or whatever factor they point to - and there's only so much one can do with any given hand of cards.

You've heard this right? The argument to be realistic? To not dream too big so that you don't get your hopes up and then feel angry and cheated when they don't come true, you've heard that, right?

Well, let me tell you something, and read my words carefully here...

Whatever you can imagine for yourself or feel a desire to be, do, or have... you can achieve.

And I'm not just talking about making yourself comfortable and happy achieving things that more and more people are achieving or have achieved already. What I mean is that you have some kind of desire or vision inside of you. It's the life and being that the very deepest hidden part of your heart wishes could happen and that would mean heaven on earth for you. It's waiting for you to uncover it. It's waiting for you to make yourself ready to accept it and step into your own power to achieve it and thereby transform your personal world. It's the magic inside your soul that wants to be freed so that it can embrace life fully and inspire all who become aware of it. It's being and living the life that would allow you to be the most grateful, loving, healthy, wealthy, wise and gloriously joyous person you can be...

Now, really take a moment to breathe deeply and exhale completely 3 times before you answer the following questions:

What do you need to make this happen?

What's stopping you from being fully who you really want to be deep down in the secret places of your soul?

What's one thing you can do today to feel like you are moving forward to this ultimate freedom?

What's one thing you can do right now?

Go Do it.

Once that's done, ask yourself (again, by getting into a very relaxed state) what the next tiny step would be... then go do it. Continue to repeat the cycle and you will quickly gain momentum in achieving amazing things for yourself and those around you. The admonishon to be realistic is important as you asses where you stand as of this moment, so that you may start getting your things in order and moving in the right direction. Other than that, forget about being realistic. People with "realistic" dreams have never done anything that echoed throughout history. It's the un-realistic dreamers who change the world.

And remember:

Our true power really is without limits. Every year and decade brings with it extraordinary advances in creativity, transformation, healing and of course, world records as we continue to expand our acceptance and understanding of what we truly are capable of manifesting in this reality. Yes, some things may seem terribly out of reach or even impossible right now... but give yourself boost in confidence by starting with what you believe you can achieve, set larger and more challenging goals as you succeed and very soon you will be blowing the minds of everyone watching... and inspiring them to expand their concept of what is possible as well.

How do you pierce a mountain with nothing but wind and water?
You scratch the surface, and you continue to splash it and scratch it year after year...

Be comfortable with this immense power that you can unlock within you. Be comfortable with it and use it wisely in the manifestation of everything that you love the most and that calls to you the most. If you give yourself the time and continue to move forward, you can accomplish anything.

Yes, ANYTHING.

What would make YOUR soul explode with love and joy?

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you for reading!

WWGD?

Yesterday I helped some friends move.

It turned out to be a very challenging day. Allow me to list the ways: we only got started around 2pm and we had to move two different places one after the other into one house, we were only a few at any one time, it took us 40 minutes to get the couch out of the appartment because the hallway was so tight, we almost didn't get a moving truck, what started out as a nice day turned bitter cold later in the afternoon and no one was dressed for it, the guy who was moving hurt his back, I almost twisted my ankle twice, we got the truck stuck in 6 inch ruts of pure ice and had to be pulled out, it was dark and cold and started to snow by the time we started loading the truck at the second location, we didn't really stop to eat we just had a couple snacks as we drove, we were exhausted, and only one of us could unload the full moving truck at a time while the others moved inside because we had minimal clothing to keep warm outside so one guy unload the first third and then I unloaded the rest, the last load was all heavy books and weight training equipment, I almost got my bare hands stuck to cold steel bars outside.

On the plus side: no one was seriously injured, nothing was really damaged, everytime we had a challenge the Universe delivered a solution, and everyone got a terrific strength-conditioning and toughness workout that lasted close to 12 hours!

AND I got to try out a powerful active meditation!

Here's what I did:

When we were unloading the last truck at 10:30 pm in -20 C temperature (with the windchill) and I was walking up the grooved metal ramp into the back of the moving truck to bring in the 47th bankers' box full of heavy books (there must have been 100 - at least it feels like it) , instead of letting my thoughts gravitate to the negative with things like "I'm exhausted, freezing, and hungry and I wish I was inside eating right now!" I told myself, what would Gotrek do? and it always got me going.

Now, Gotrek Gurnisson is one of my favorite fictional book characters ever. In my mind he is the greatest warrior to ever grace the pages of a fantasy novel. From the Warhammer universe, Gotrek is a Dwarf and a member of the Slayer Cult. What this means is that in his past he did something to bring great shame to his family or clan in some way and now he has taken the oath to find his doom in battle with the most fearsome monsters in the hope of atoning for his sins. The thing with Gotrek is that he has a powerful magical axe and he has killed everything he ever faced, even an insanely powerful Chaos Deamon! The simple truth is that Gotrek is a super muscular, super strong, super conditioned and super tough monster slaying machine. He is just unstoppable and the tougher things get, the more he likes it... because he loves the challenge. In "Slayer" novels by William King and Nathan Long (of which their are 9, soon to be 10), Felix is Gotrek's human Rememberer - sworn to record his doom in an epic poem - and follows the invincible Slayer wherever he goes, therefore he has become a accomplished warrior as well, killing a dragon no less. So if you look for the books, they'll all be about "Gotrek & Felix".

Anyway, so that's who I was picturing in my mind when I felt my resolve slip a little. I simply brought a vivid image of this near-invincible warrior with limitless energy to mind and I allowed that inspiration to open up my energy flow and allow me to keep going. And today, I really don't feel that bad. My arms and back are a little bit sore from all the lifting and I could use a few more hours of sleep, but other than that, I feel great!

The point is that if you know of something that really inspires or motivates you to do something, use that image to give you energy and power when you need it. Use every (healthy) tool at your disposal. It can be the difference between success and failure.

CHB

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you for reading!