Pleasure & Abundance

pleasure-abundance

For a while there I was putting the cart before the horse.

The cart being money.

The horse being my natural connection to abundance.

I see so many people doing this, and in my experience it’s a real abundance killer.

I want to tell you about how that has really shifted for me this year and offer you some ways you can apply it to you, but first let me give you a little background…

I’m an experiential learner. Always have been.

Sometimes being an experiential learner means you need to walk into a few walls before you find the door…

Experiential Learning

NPA Popped out of me on Feb 5th 2007. I started teaching it to groups in 2009.

It took off like a rocket.

For two years it grew and grew.

By the end of 2010, I was more abundant than I had ever been on every level, including money.

Money, of course, was in the equation for consideration, but it certainly wasn’t front of mind.

I was having a blast and NPA and I were thriving.

Inevitably, when you grow, you hit an edge.

The Edge

Technically, I’d been self employed for many years. But as a 1:1 practitioner the mechanics of a business had been relatively simple, especially as I was, for the most part, under the wings of an international seminar company. I taught their work all over the world, to rooms filled with 100’s of people. My practice filled effortlessly.

The events marketing was handled for me. The business visioning, staff issues, infrastructure, systems, on-site logistics… all taken care of by the company.

Running my own seminar company, was new territory.

And as it grew, I hit challenges I had no idea what to do with. I’d grown enormously in the areas of emotional fluency, spirituality, facilitation skills, human understanding etc. But the skill of running a business was an unexplored area of myself.

I was very much at that beginner stage. I was a newbie, a stumbler, a mistake maker, a rabbit in the headlights at times.

The folk around me were selling the prescribed business mindset hard; the idea that “You need to focus on the bottom line… That’s if you want to have a ‘proper’ business and ‘take it seriously’. You need to grow, and plan and forecast.”

Spreadsheets, balance sheets, profit margins and pension provisioning, apparently were the order of the day…

Karmic Time in the Cycle of Frustration

wigglywormSomething in me, the unknowing self, saw the juicy wiggly worm and not the hook… I bit…

Things plateaued in 2011, and in 2012 took a dive.

My response?

Work harder.
Check the numbers.
Watch the balance sheet.
Mitigate the risks.

I did karmic time in the cycle of frustration…

I was frustrated because over the years I’d done a shit load of work on abundance issues – digging up the emotional dirt and getting to the root of it all – yada yada…

And of course, I was doing NPA on this and that when it was animated to do so. NPA had caused miracles in so many areas of my life, so c’mon – wtf?

Well I often teach that one way NPA works is to show you the next step… after all the Soul sometimes has an agreement that you’ll go slow and squeeze every evolutionary drop out of the experience.

But I was about to get an enormous ‘aha!’

An Enormous Aha

One of the core philosophical principals of Non-Personal Awareness is that all experience is relational.

What’s more, our current relating models suck.

NPA provides powerful new perspectives and ways to approach relationships which can radically shift your personal experience of them. Even as relationships change – be that a growing together or moving apart – you are empowered to experience your wholeness.

My epiphany hit me on a rainy June afternoon in 2014, on the towpath of the Grand Union canal, right behind Tescos in Leighton Buzzard. Proving that God does’t just show up in glamorous locations 😉

This is what hit me:

I was in a relationship with money.

And a shitty one at that.

I’d been looking entirely at myself… but what needed work was the relationship.

Then it came to me:

In NPA I had created amazing ways to work with relational energy.

What if I applied them to my relationship with money?

So that’s what I did, and I invited a small group of people to join me on a course that I called The August Abundance Assembly.

On the course we discovered our natural abundance, cleared our yucky projections around money, addressed the issues in our money marriage and re-kindled the spark we’d lost.

We each came away with 4 unique foundational keys to a stable and productive money marriage, and a clear connection to the essential purpose of our relationship with money this life time.

It was like a divining rod, a compass, a guiding light that could keep us connected to our natural abundance and help our money marriage stay healthy going forward.

Pleasure

Undergoing the course work myself, I discovered that the foundational key to my natural abundance was pleasure.

But I had grown up associating money with a LOT of pain.

Just to clarify something – what pleasure means to me, may be different to what it means to you. People on the course each went through a detailed process to find a ‘cookie cutter’ for their Natural Abundance. Like all cookie cutters, it’s a personal label which points to an energy, and it’s the energy that does the magic.

Once I put pleasure (my horse) in front of my cart (money) some foundational shifts began to occur.

• My relationship with money softened, I got clearer about what mattered to me.. what was MY natural way.
• It re-affirmed that I had what it took if I trusted my natural abundance.
• It sparked off that urge to grow and acknowledge how pleasure wanted to express itself.
• I discovered that my values in this matter were very different to my girlfriend and I realise now that this was a fundamental aspect of our parting.

Once she and I went our separate ways and I was out of the energy of that dynamic, I felt liberated to explore.

A Conscious Shift of Attention

This year I have very consciously put pleasure at the forefront of my decision making. Especially around my work.

As I pointed out in my blog on the 6 stages of the dark night of the soul, as you come out of it, there is a discovery stage. A stage where the best thing is to give yourself permission to run with the new and see what happens.

This process requires you to roll with the changes, and continually let go of the forms, structures and habits that were part of the old self. And over time, things clarify and solidify.

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Basically, I got off the work hard, money focus hamster wheel and just did what felt good.

Of course I made plans, but noticed that pleasure’s plan didn’t really pay much heed to them. The balance sheet that needed attention was the balance sheet of pleasure… and it needed some major income!

So I’ve given myself a LOT of pleasure this year.

And, you’ll likely not be surprised to hear, that money, clients and opportunities started coming out of nowhere. In fact this year I have been more financially abundant than I had been in any of the last five years.

Part of my ‘cacooning’, in a sense has been me taking ‘time off’ to do things that bring me pleasure. Letting myself off the hook of have-to’s that were fuelled by the mis-aligned money-focus lack.

But my decision to truly put pleasure, my natural abundance, at the forefront has been a liberation, a revelation and a real confirmation of the power of that course.

Powerful Contemplations For You

I hope that by you hearing about my experience, you’ve already had some insights.

And I thought I’d lay out some contemplations that will help you bring it back to your situation and begin the process of shifting you to a more wholesome state of abundance.

The act of contemplating the notion that you are in a relationship with money is a powerful thing, so I invite you to start there.

 

It’s also worth taking time to consider the ‘state’ of that relationship, and if it’s not fabulous, what is the impact of that on your life?

 

Ponder what a wholesome relationship with money might be like? And imagine if you had that wholesome relationship, what it might bring to your life? What it might bring to your experience of money and abundance?

Take a little while for these contemplations.  You’ll likely find, it’s a great investment of your time.

Some Specific Questions & A Request

I’ve laid out some specific questions that you can answer in the form of a survey.

To be completely transparent with you, after my experience of the power of the course this year, I’ve been thinking about running it again, with a few updates.

I created the survey because I want to get a sense of where you are and where you want to be in relation to money. And, if there’s a demand, I can create a course that delivers what really matters to you.

That being said, I wanted to do it in a way that gives you a real space for some self-inquiry on the topic. So by filling out the survey you will get some direct insight on YOUR relationship with money.

So, if you’re potentially interested in a course that gets you in touch with your natural abundance, dramatically improves your relationship with money, and gives you a powerful foundation for abundance going forward… or if you’d simply like to undergo the simple inquiry questions, you can click the link below and take the survey.

You’d also be doing me a favour – Just click the big blue button below 🙂

NPA Survey Button

One Final Thing

If you’re having a major aha like I did, and are looking back at what you’ve been doing in your money relationship with darkened eyes… please make some space for self forgiveness right now.

For me, in the time that the cart was before the horse, I actually did learn a lot. And not just in terms of spirituality or life lessons. I learned a huge amount on a practical business level – about marketing, online courses, Facebook advertising, project management, hiring people, firing people etc etc…

So give yourself a break and know that there will have been gains from what has been… and simply start from here…

And you can always do the survey: Just click here.

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The Cripple & The Chrysalis (A True Story)

The Cripple & The ChrysalisI recently had the privilege of witnessing an awesome moment in Nature and, as Nature often does, it blew me away.

It wasn’t just the pure aesthetic beauty; it wasn’t just the drama of an epic struggle; and it wasn’t just the bitter-sweet sadness inherent in the spectacle that moved me to share it.

There was also a Divine reflection, a lesson you might say, on our ideas around success and failure in transformation, and it was that that had me heading for my keyboard to share it here with you…

Inspiration On The Garden Pond

Emperor DragonlyIt’s not something you see everyday, and especially when you happen to have your camera in your hand! This Emperor Dragonfly shows some seriously impressive perseverance to emerge from it’s larval moult. The larva spends a couple of years under water, feeding, shedding it’s skin and growing before it crawls up out of the water. Clinging to a reed, it dries and undergoes it’s emergence as a stunningly beautiful and devastatingly effective airborne hunter.

The emergence normally takes 1-3 hours, but I watched this mighty individual birthing itself, against the odds, over a 48hr period.

The Cripple And The Chrysalis*

Herculean Emperor DragonlySo what could cause such a long emergence?

Well, unfortunately it’s wings were stuck and for a full day it hung from the husk of it’s exuvia (the hardened shell of the larva). In that day the body and the exposed wings become engorged, and by nightfall it had fallen still. I was pretty sure it was dead but to my great surprise and delight, the next day I came out to find it had managed to grasp another reed and is pulling with all it’s might.

Amazingly I am there at the moment it pulls itself free. There’s an audible snap as the restraining fibril breaks and the heroic Hawker scurries to the top of the reed.

Up to this point, having never seen this process before, I expect to see the wings open and expand. However I quickly realise that they have set, are crippled and will never serve as mechanisms of flight.

Emperor Dragonly with Crippled WingsPerhaps it’s my imagination, but I get the sense that it realises this too.

Nevertheless, it experienced several hours of life as a flightless Dragonfly. I like to think it surrendered, basked in the sunshine, took in the view and reflected on it’s time above the waterline. In any case, at some point it’s spirit left it’s body, which I found laying lifeless on a lilly pad later that evening.

Transformational Success & Failure?

In spite of it’s disability and short life this brave and determined individual was deeply admired and certainly left an impact.

Healthy Emperor DragonflyWho is to say what is success and what is failure? You never know who or what you are inspiring in anything you do – regardless of the outcome.

A short while after, a healthy brother flew in, so you & I can see the wings he imagined, to share his vision and know that life as it was imagined exists somewhere.

If you have ideas of success and failure in the realm of your transformation, I invite you to let them go and be present to the beauty and inspiration of what is.

Namaste ♥

*OK insect nerds (I include myself here), I know that Dragonflies don’t do chrysalis and I’m hoping your natural appreciation for beauty will enable you to forgive the poetic licence 😉

[JY-General-Bio]

Tweetables

“Who is to say what is success and what is failure?” via @JoelYoungNPA

“You never know who or what you are inspiring in anything you do – regardless of the outcome” via @JoelYoungNPA

“Know that life as you imagine it exists somewhere” via @JoelYoungNPA

“If you have ideas of success and failure in the realm of your transformation, let them go” via @JoelYoungNPA

“Let go and be present to the beauty and inspiration of what is” via @JoelYoungNPA

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Does Money Matter?

Does Money Matter?This post looks deeper at the thorny area of wealth, money and abundance. It hopes to help you hack through the prickly undergrowth and awaken the sleeping beauty within…

Inspiration

I’m always grateful for comments. I find they inspire me, and my responses are as much a discovery for me as I hope they are for the commenter! My recent postWant Wealth? Get Connected To What Truly Matterselicited a comment from Sara that held questions. As I commented back it took me deeper into the topic. I realised there was a LOT to say and that this response actually merited a post all it’s own. You could think of this post as a ‘Part 2’ and I strongly recommend you read the previous post as a ‘Part 1’ as it will give you a context for what comes below.

Sara’s Comment & Questions

“I’m confused. Are you talking about wealth as a connection to/with abundance or to/with monetary wealth? Both ‘matter’ for more or less everyone yet, as you clearly state, the lack of the later (money) might show us that we don’t value it as much as other aspects of our lives. How so? Given that the vast majority of people live such monetised lives, how come materialising monetary wealth is so darn difficult? Thanks for a thought/comment-provoking read.”

My Response

Hi Sara, Thanks so much for your comment and questions. I LOVE that you found it thought provoking and boy, is it easy to get confused on this one. I’ll give it a shot and answer your questions as best I can from my perspective…

Q: “Are you talking about wealth as a connection to/with abundance or to/with monetary wealth?”

I would say I am inviting people to investigate. Firstly their relationship between them, and then if their story meets the reality, which naturally leads to your second question…

Q: “Given that the vast majority of people live such monetised lives, how come materialising monetary wealth is so darn difficult?”

Monetary Wealth: Easy Peasy or Herculean Effort?

Here’s what I’ve noticed…

For some people, monetary wealth is easy peasy. It has nothing to do with ‘their work being their passion’, ‘them following their dream’ etc etc – it’s just that for them it shows up.

For others, they can do all the ‘right things’, follow their dream etc etc. but when they look at their balance sheet and tell themselves ‘I have to make money’ it all starts to feel like a total grind. Their Herculean efforts in pursuit of the money are largely ineffective. The fact is, when their focus shifts to the money, somewhere inside they die a little… OK, I’m being melodramatic here, but sometimes that’s how it feels, right?

So if you’re in situation 1, money truly matters to you! You love it without issue; without conflict. It’s not necessarily attached to a particular task, purpose or feeling (though it could be); it’s just the neutral truth. In NPA terms we would say that money is a primary active energy within your field of awareness. In simple terms, money truly matters to you so it materialises for you readily.

If you’re more in the realm of situation 2, the neutral truth is that, on balance, money doesn’t truly matter to you. Money is NOT a primary active energy within your field of awareness. Perhaps it’s secondary or tertiary, but it’s not the first point of materialisation and not directly connected to your natural stream of abundance.

But that switch of focus from what truly matters to you, to ‘money’ is where the suffering, stalling and struggle begins. It’s like driving a train alongside the railway track rather than on it; it’s highly inefficient, bumpy, fraught with danger and not very clever.

The difficulty for you in this case, is that the modern cultural mythology and the structures built around that, bathe you daily in the idea that money matters most, or at least more than it actually does to you. Your tendancy is probably to buy into that perspective, and disconnect from your local experience and perspective.

The challenge then is to buck the mythology and trust that money matters enough that it will materialise in support of what truly matters, where money is required to facilitate that.

The self inquiry suggested in the previous blog: Want Wealth? Get Connected To What Truly Matters (as I’m sure you’re aware) is a starting point.

Get Your Train Back On The Tracks

My invitation is to get your train back on the tracks, and here’s how:

STEP 1: Get real about what truly matters, discover the huge wealth of it that you already have and appreciate your natural abundance.

STEP 2: Come to peace with your relationship to monetary wealth as it truly is right now and understand where it sits in the landscape of who you experience yourself to be.

STEP 3: Allow these relationships to evolve in a way that keeps you as connected as possible to; your point of materialisation, your sense of abundance and any newly clarified intentions, in a sustainable way going forward.

Help!!

So now I’ve written all this, I realise two things.

Firstly, that a lot of people could probably use help with those three steps.

Secondly that I can’t fully claim to have it all down myself. BUT what I DO know, is what truly matters to me. And what matters to me is finding creative ways to help myself and others live a kinder, easier and more fulfilling life. I find this effortless and there’s a wealth of it in my life. Furthermore, I realise that NPA, it’s perspectives and the creative ways I’ve come to use it is a perfect vehicle through which these inquiries can be explored.

Wanna Take A Ride?Wanna Take A Ride?

With that in mind I’ve decided to create a month long experiential tele-seminar called The August Abundance Assembly and invite you to join me! That way, together we can travel through the 3 evolutionary steps to connected wealth alignment that I outlined above.

So, if you’re interested in getting back on the tracks of abundance that have been Gracefully laid out for you in this lifetime, and taking a joyful ride on the true-wealth train with me, then hop on over to this page where you can sign up for more info about The August Abundance Assembly, with me & Non-Personal Awareness – and be the first to know when the booking goes live!

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Want Wealth? Get Connected To What Truly Matters

Want Wealth? Get Connected To What Truly MattersIf you want to be and feel wealthy, start getting really honest with yourself about what truly matters.

Matter

Matter. It’s a word that speaks to the formation of the Universe. Quantum forces pulling energy waves into states of tension that give rise to apparent solidity. Energy in tension. I’m sure the phonic simile isn’t lost on you…

This is how your personal reality comes into being and what truly matters becomes more apparent in your field of experience. If you want to know what truly matters, look around your life and notice what there’s already an abundance of…

This is not about positive and negative – discovering what truly matters requires a neutrality of mind, an ability to simply notice.

This sober inquiry will help you land where you are and clear the hallucinogenic fog of positive or negative biased thinking. It has the potential to drop you into truly aligned clarity with an awareness of the intrinsic abundance of your existence.

Connected

The point of this sober alignment, is it gets you CONNECTED to what MATTERS – positive or negative as it may seem right now. It’s the difference between having your fingers on the stuff of life and the ability to move it, as distinct from just running your fingers through empty space. Basically, when you’re connected to what matters, you begin to have a much greater impact when intentions arise.

So, does your story of wealth match the reality of your wealth?

If your story of wealth is that it’s all about large amounts of money, and you have very little, then the fact is that money doesn’t truly matter to you. Once you notice what there IS a wealth of, and therefore what matters to you, you’ll automatically begin to feel the power and flow of your innately creative and abundant self – even if it’s subtle, and even if what matters seems a bit rubbish at first.

Materialise

NPA offers a very simple way to notice those points of connection and in NPA we call them ‘Cookie Cutters’. I often say that I have developed highly sensitive Cookie Cutter ears. In other words I’ve got extremely good at noticing where people are connected to what matters to them. So each process begins with being connected to what truly matters. It’s one of the reasons an NPA session with me and The NPA Process can be so impactful, even if there’s just a few processes in the time we have together.

If you want to manifest the stuff you say you want – if you want to ‘materialise‘ it – then at some point you’ll need to connect to (and start moving in) the stream of matter as it relates to you now.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and please like & share with your friends ♥

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