Everyday Bliss

Below is a post I made to a high-level email list of advanced energy coaches and therapists. It answered a colleague’s question regarding Emotional Freedom Technique:  "What is the intention of the tapping? To reduce SUDs, eliminate distress, or enhance mindfulness?"

But back to  SUDS, distress and mindfulness.

Hello my friend, thank you for asking. 

Intention is one of the main reasons I’ve found in my research, why certain methods don’t work well upon occasion, or don’t work 100% all of the time. (yes, even those ones many of us hold near and dear to our hearts).

What is our intention as practitioners? As petitioners at the gate of forever?

In not choosing, we choose. In choosing not to make intentions, we make intentions. I believe knowledge of some of the inner workings of the universe and how we affect it all the time by our thoughts, beliefs and intentions, is crucially important to knowing how to work any method.

Intention is a natural clockwise/counterclockwise conjugate spiral energy flow that as far as I know, runs much of our experience if not all of it.

Think of a Moebius strip with positive energy running down one surface and negative energy running up the opposite surface. You try to connect the two ends. Attraction/repulsion factors of the differing valences cause the strip to twist and bend into the familiar infinite loop. Bent back upon itself, the ends meeting where like attracts like, it is possible to fasten such a strip.

Such is consciousness, for it folds and bends back on itself as well, seeking the familiar, repulsed by the unfamiliar.We often get lost in those folds and end up snoozing down at the bottom of one of those bends in the strip of consciousness. That’s how routines get started and encoded into imperatives. Mindfulness and intention are sovereign remedies, plus the knowledge that we are truly, without Limits. And can have an infinite variety of things that we desire, including elevated levels of Presence, abundance and joy.

This all may be a crock of manure and not true of course but…it appears to be working for me…I’ll bet it works the same way for a whole lot of us here.   

And Mindfulness = Presence = The Ultimate Resource State from which all magical things might be accomplished. And become quite mundane.

That being said, as myself and a small but devoted band of colleagues developing the new ETHOS Method, (about which you’ll hear in the August 18th ACEP teleclass <hint: I’m giving the class>) have found that the Ultimate Resource State is what I/we call the Unlimited Self. I pondered very deeply *why* certain personal development methods didn’t work well sometimes. One of the reasons that I found is that many of them come from the point of view of us needing to be fixed and of healing. Not that these aren’t perfectly valid occupations, but fixing and healing are like slapping a bandage on the problem and never getting to the real issue from which said "problem" distracts.

We only have one Problem at the root of it all. That problem is, that we are endorsing the absence of awareness of our Unlimited Self. And the more we endorse or give energy to something, the more of that thing we get. Conversely if you desire the polar opposite of a bad situation, that too will manifest. Basic energetic dynamics.

But we most certainly are not in need of being fixed. We are already standing blindingly close to that perfect self – our Unlimited Self.

Most humans stand a bit outside to far outside awareness of this template of their Unlimited Self, unlike animals who live so much more honestly than we. You look at a dog or a cat and it fully embodies the joy of being fully Present, fully alive.

A cat is guaranteed never to give thought to its grocery list: "three mice, one pitcher of cream, four scoops kibble, two bags litter – check, check, check and check. Now…where on earth do you suppose they keep the herring?" A dog or cat will never go so fully out of consciousness as this – and as humans do on a consistent basis. I advise my students to study animals for pointers on their spiritual growth. They’re much wiser than we in such matters.

So in short, in creating ETHOS, we are predicating an energy transformation method on the premise that self is already perfect and not in need of help or fixing. This predicate and our main goal to re-embody and live life through our Unlimited Self, has been of phenomenal use in increasing effectiveness and reducing recidivism in clients who may in time come to take back their problems – a common difficulty in all therapies (energy therapies included).

And yes, this is an intention, but also a realization, and active participation in reality as each of us chooses to fashion it.

More on this shortly. And if you’d like to be kept aware of the news, changes or want to be involved, check out our very new (and still being populated – be an early adopter!) ETHOS website: http://ethosmethod.com

Randy Pausch, whose "Last Lecture" touched millions made his final transition today. I was particularly impressed that not only did he speak in this wonderful lecture about achieving his own childhood dreams, but enabling the dreams of others. And that is what ended up being the most important.  I’ve tagged this post with "Bliss" because clearly, Randy was an exemplar of lifetime bliss. Enjoy his lecture again, it’s worth a double handful of viewings.

I belong to the Global Business Women’s network on Xing.com. One of our group members posted the call to light candles for Tibetan Freedom from Chinese occupation in our group. Since receiving the blessing of teachings from that avatar of personal freedom, His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2001, I’ve been very involved in this cause. In gratitude, I am passing on the word-for-word notification here.  Bring your Presence to this event if you can…

Event start date: 07 Aug 2008, 12:00 am (local time)

Description http://www.candle4tibet.org/

On the night before the Olympic flame will be lit in Beijing, at least 100 million people all over the world will light a candle for a free Tibet. That aggregate flame will be brighter and will call for freedom in Tibet and in any other place in the world.

"Take part in our Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Light a candle for Tibet."

One candle, in a hundred million of windows all over the world, is symbolizing the right of all human beings to self determination, freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religious belief."

The Olympic Games in Beijing are a unique opportunity to focus the world’s attention on the annulment of those rights in Tibet and in many other places in the world.

The message is simple: Every human being who cares about freedom has a responsibility of lighting a candle. The act of lighting a candle, being personal and spiritual, can also be viewed as a vote. Such massive vote that world leaders will not be able to ignore.

The internet is bringing people together and empowering them to act and effect change. If individual users from all over the world learn to organize themselves not by country borders, but behind common ideas, causes and values they will promote freedom in their own lives.

It’s all about solidarity in standing unified behind Tibetan aspirations. When people unite in large enough number behind an idea, regardless of their nationality, gender, religion or political views, and take a stand, they can change their reality. The internet provides the individual today an opportunity with being seen and heard.

We are going to create a unique moment when so many millions who otherwise would do very little or nothing for Tibet, or any other cause, would actually do something spiritual and meaningful. And do it together!

Our modest objective is to reach 100 million people.

People from all over the world have volunteered and turned the web site that coordinates the action into a true global one. By the end of this week it will be fully operational in 20 languages, and we promise that they will have 50 languages before the event.

I would like to urge you not only to join us at www.candle4tibet.org/ and read all the details about the event, but also to use your connections and help the campaign grow. Please invite as many contacts as you can and talk about it with people of the media.

You can also help by organizing public candle vigils in your area, and by enlisting performing artists and other celebrities to help promote this important event.

Needless to say the whole campaign and the web site are totally non profit and are financed by private funds.

http://www.candle4tibet.org/

Please join us and forward this message to all your friends

You’ve heard me talk about my third book Freedom At Your Fingertips, written with nineteen other EFT expert authors and published by Ron Ball of Inroads Publishing. Ron is a good friend and a wonderful emotional freedom evangelist. When Everyday Bliss came out, Ron bought his wife and daughters copies. Here’s what Ron’s wife Linda had to say, and a big thank you to both!

From: http://www.eftzone.com/2008/07/18/get-blissed/

Maryam Webster is fun to talk with because she’s so knowledgeable and passionate about what she does and who she is. Her long awaited book, Everyday Bliss, was published in May. I immediately bought copies for my wife, Linda, and my two daughters. If you don’t yet have the book, I highly recommend getting it. Here’s what Linda has to say about Everyday Bliss.

You’re gonna wear this book out. Highlight it. Mark it up. It’s full of “how-to” gems. I absolutely love Maryam Webster’s book, Everyday Bliss for Busy Women. Let’s start with its user-friendly format. At 5×7, it’s a handy size that feels good in your hands. The book is nicely laid out and inviting to read.

I like that, Everyday Bliss is written by a woman especially for women. Sorry guys, but society expects women to play and juggle more roles in life than men. Women also have different needs than men.

Everyday Bliss starts out explaining why it’s important to create bliss in our lives and balance our energy. We can choose to take the time to focus our energy instead of reacting and dispersing it in different directions. Maryam talks about the toxic effects of negative energy as well as negative beliefs and how harmful and limiting they can be.

What I like best about the book is that Maryam shares her knowledge, providing specifics for cleansing and relieving tension, plus ways to create everyday bliss using cutting-edge methods like EFT, TAT, ZPoint Process and others.

Ultimately, this book is about getting in touch with your spirituality. Everyday Bliss is a soothing wave of caring and encouragement. I wish I had a beautiful tool like this when I was in my twenties or thirties. Maryam, thank you for sharing your life experiences and methods, reaching out to the women of the world to show us that there is a way of being, doing, and having a life of everyday bliss.

Oh, and you’ll also want to check out Maryam Webster’s Everyday Bliss Website. On the site you can read her blog, join and participate in forums and get a free Blisskit. Be sure to create your profile to attract bliss.

Well jeepers, how very, very cool! And you’re WELCOME Linda – thank both you and Ron for your kindness and generosity.  Read the rest here: http://www.eftzone.com/2008/07/18/get-blissed/

Are you your things? Or are you something more? Wonderful interview from David Hoffman at TED, who lost everything and gained…

When a need is felt, heroes arise, doors open, poets are inspired and birds sing new songs. When God closes a door, s/he opens a window. And when things we think we need are taken away, better and more elegant things arise to not only take their place, but provide superior levels of service…if we but open our eyes to them.

I’ve long been pondering energy therapy methods and why they sometimes work and sometimes fail. It’s a particularly interesting conundrum, as when energy therapies work, they work spectacularly well.

Let’s start at the beginning. From the very first premise, I think most therapies are taking a direction somewhat skewed from that which would provide the best chance of success. Most therapies start with the premise that something is wrong, there is a ‘problem’ and the person with the problem is in need of fixing in some way.

I say, no.

I say that the real problem, the only problem that truly exists, is the fact that we’ve managed to convince ourselves both individually and as a species that we have limits. That we in fact can be limited: by ourselves and by others and by circumstance.

What if….

What if we truly have no limits?

What if that is true?

And being true, what does that mean? What does this realization give you?

It gives you your Unlimited Self – your perfected self, minus all the sludge, junk and limitations. And this is where a consistently workable energy therapy might choose to begin – with that template of you without any limitations whatsoever.

The template for that Perfect You, that Unlimited Self is out there. Not in our DNA, as many therapies are now concentrating, for genetic abnormalities can begin literally as sperm meets egg. Look further, right next to you, right inside you. Your Unlimited Self template exists in the energy field – has always existed, will always exist.

Myself and now a close group of energy therapists and coaches have been developing a new personal transformation method over the past two years. It includes its own, very new brand of energy therapy, somewhat superficially similar to several other methods, yet completely unique. The last few months have seen significant strides on both the tools of this method and in client studies I have conducted with over two hundred different clients and issues.

The name of this method is ETHOS, which stands for "Energy Transformation and Healing: Open Source". The ETHOS Method was created in response to the need for a permanently free and very easily learnable energy therapy that would be useful in a variety of issues, with a variety of different cultures and in all possible situations where one may be able to use the hands and may not be able to do so.

It is "open source" in much the same way that some software is open source – the source code is free to all and development is done by a large developers community who donate their time to create this free gift to the world. You can use it, teach it, make money with it, create a revenue stream with it  – anything you want. And you don’t have to pay us a dime.  All you have to do is promise to teach this method to as many people as you can, forward them to the original ETHOS website and to assume your own liabilty in using the method. And, if you make any significant  changes or additions, to post those to our "Addendum" board.

Interested? We’ll be releasing the website and further content very soon. And you’ll be invited to a free class on how to use ETHOS for yourself, your family, friends and clients.

We’ve come to understand it’s not the issue focus that makes an energy therapy work….

It’s not "getting specific"….

It’s not holding, tapping, breathing, visualizing or repeating a mantra…

It’s not your choice of tool at all… they all work.

It’s where you start.

When we start out with every problem we encounter as a limitation we have somehow bought into, the goal is really removing all limitation back to that template of our Unlimited Self. When we start with Unlimited Self as the focus, we don’t need to know the specifics and it doesn’t matter which tool we choose to go forward with, as the power of your intent is fully enough to get the job done.

Tools are nifty though, and our old-brain monkey minds just love tools as focusing aids.

We are now in active beta-test trial of the new ETHOS Method. After several years of having my private client list closed, I am reducing my usual session fees and opening to new clients willing to test-drive this most extraordinary method for the next few months. Want to book an appointment to go further with me in recovering your Divine / Perfect / Unlimited You? I promise you’ll leave each session walking on a cloud – and you’ll learn in session how to stay that way.

These appointments won’t last long – get ‘em while they’re hot! Click here to proceed.

On this fine day I always think of freedom and what it means to me. This year I asked some neighbors I don’t normally find at home during the day. "Freedom," said my neighbor Leonard, a proud Texan, "is being able to sit in my back yard and eat hotdogs and stay drunk all damned day and no one can say a thing about it." Mrs. Leonard hands him another cold one. His fourth, if we count the crushed empties scattered around him.

Leonard has a further epiphany: "Naw, seriously, being free is all about  the gub’mint can’t tell you how to worship and the church isn’t supposed to get any gub’mint support….aw hell…I mean dangit! Freedom don’t mean what it did once." 

Leonard, you said a mouthful. Thanks for sharing your fine hickory smoked brisket, and a Happy 4th to you and the missus.

"I think independance for people of color should have been left in the constitution." said elderly Annalee through a mouthful of her daughter’s strawberry-rhubard pie. "They took it out you know. Jefferson was for leaving it in but of course now we know he was seeing his maid on the side. Poor Mrs. Jefferson. Bless her heart." Annalee and her daughter Ruth live together in a tiny Craftsman with eight cats. She has me thinking about all those not free today because of the color of their skin.

God bless, Annalee, enjoy that pie.

"Freedom is in the mind." said neighbor Akane, a Japanese decorator "it is personally created. Either you have it or you don’t, what the government does or does not do is immaterial."  Well said, Akane. Very Buddhist and very true.

I was thinking about this question myself. Are people free? And whatever the answer is, is that true?

Appropos to the last post being partially about Byron Katie, I dialogued with myself: "People are not free, that is why we place so much emphasis on freedom."  and then: "Is that true? How can I know that’s true?"  And turning this around on its ear I thought: "Freedom is an illusion…lack of freedom is an illusion".

Agree with this? Disagree? Feel free to leave a comment.

Or simply think within yourself…what is the one thing that I am saying NO to, that I really want to say YES to? And what is the one thing I am embracing that I need to let go of?