“OLD WAY – do the stuff to get the thing that promises happiness.
NEW WAY – do the stuff that brings happiness”

My newly completed raised beds, now filled with 10-year rotted manure soil, are thrilling me. Walking barefoot around them over grass muddy from recent construction and wet from a night of heavy rain, I am taking them in and what they mean. What they represent.

They are sort of an exclamation mark, an underlining. Another piece of tangible irrefutable evidence that the journey to peace, joy, and satisfaction is internal first.

Way back in 2010, when I spent life in overdrive (always busy, always demanding more from myself and life, and always striving for shinier, better, bigger, faster and just out of reach) I began to conjure visions of a different experience.

Time freedom, connection, fun, earthy riches, purpose, peace and well-being.

I fertilized and fueled those visions with what I didn’t recognise at the time, but do now, is a spiritual practice. Making time regularly to bathe in the energy of my desires, and appreciate any little moments that brought a taste of them, even though my “real life” was very different.

A one-time atheist, 3D see-it-touch-it protestant work ethic type person, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Creating results through effort, determination, smart and hard graft was the only way I knew.

So I took to this approach with a lighter heart and more playful attitude than I applied to the serious task of “being successful”.

Today I see so clearly, that the vision board and accompanying spiritual practice was the start of the most significant, far-reaching and expansive change journey of my life (and I’ve had several biggies).

It shifted me from, it’s all on me. Survival at all costs. You’re only as good as your last achievement version of living to, I am sourced, guided, loved and safe. No matter what.

There have been many learnings along the way. Much trial and error. Opening my mind and heart to different ways of experiencing life. Practice. Practice. Practice.

You wouldn’t believe some of the manifestations that have landed, outrageous, undeniable, brick-and-mortar, flesh-and-bone demonstrations of what happens when we open up to previously unseen dimensions – energy, spirit, faith, possibility.

Trained to protect and get my needs met in my earliest years, and heartily encouraged by consumer culture, my ego was hugely strong, capable and determined. It has taken a long time to soothe and coax it into un-gripping, stepping down from high-alert, even relaxing as a more normal state.

There have been many tears, fears, trials, and tribulations along the way. Moments when I questioned my sanity and choices good and proper.

Beholding the realisation of one small (and huge) piece from my 2010 vision board with all the highs, lows and in-between of the years since, I am moved to awe and wonder at the perfection of life and all that is readily available when we get out of our own way. When we loosen our grip and open up to the possibility of a benevolent force beyond rational, logical definition. To the experience of easing not efforting through our days.

So many twists and turns have led me to here. (I could tell stories of a handsome stranger knocking on my front door for instance. It turned out that neither of us singletons needed online dating ❤️)

The turning point was looking inwards at how I really felt, not outwards for readymade solutions. Recognising that what I was doing wasn’t working, and opening my mind just enough to try a different approach.

The most liberating thing in all of this?

Understanding that in the words of St Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”.

Everything is always working out, despite appearances to the contrary sometimes.

Healing and growth are ultimately available in the toughest, hardest of situations.

What I now know without doubt is, there is another way to realise your potential and make the most of life. I call it a win-win-win.

It’s a super-powerful way that we can individually and collectively create a radically different experience for ourselves, each other, and the world.

It's a way that is available to you, right now, from where you are with what you’ve got. It’s simple (not easy), free, and anyone can do it. Look within. Ask yourself what experiences are most important to you. And start cultivating them in your inner world as well as in the outer world.

Take baby steps, and enjoy ☺️

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