Finding Wisdom in a Wilderness of Waffle!

In our media driven world it is becoming genuinely hard to discern the truth from a thousand voices of distortion, spin, obfuscation and often downright deviousness.  Perhaps it’s not surprising, as much of the information that we need to assess, weigh, clarify to make our daily decisions comes in bite size chunks.  But the fogginess and fuzziness of what we hear goes much deeper.

It seems that in both political and corporate worlds in particular it is often quite hard to find honest voices.  Smokescreens, spinning, deflecting and denying now appear to be the conditioned responses to the call for accountability.  Power is being protected, personal agendas pursued and it’s hard to see the difference between the political and the personal. 

In sport the idea of playing the game for the sake of the game is dying fast.  The prize is paramount, and participation is often relegated to the level of necessity in order to collect the cheque.  The ‘joy of playing’ is a distant echo of sporting times gone by.  Money does the talking and almost every individual sport is now being reduced to a business.  And business is seldom playful.

In the exploding areas of health and well-being there are so many opinions in a jungle of conflicting views.  It’s almost impossible to work out what’s good or bad for your body.  Some say drink lots of water others say no need, some say take vitamins and supplements others say it’s a waste of money, some scientists say we all might have

BSE, others say nonsense, some say cholesterol kills, others say it is essential for good health.  We can believe all too easily and unwittingly the loudest or most recent voice and then cry victim of propaganda and the agenda of commercial interest when we hear contradictory views.

So where are we to find the wisdom that we need to shape our decisions and guide our life .  Ultimately the wisest voice is our own.  Unfortunately so many of us have become so busy engaging with the world, pursuing more work, connecting with more and more people, we have lost the art of ‘listening in’ to our own wisdom and our own intuition. 

Journey to Inner Space

As you read these reflections each week it’s likely some aspects speak to you at a deeper level than your day-to-day thinking.  Perhaps you sometimes sense your ‘inner head’ nodding in agreement and an ‘inner voice’ whispers ‘how true’. It's as if the ideas and insights resonate and you recognize the signposts and symbols of wisdom that words and concepts can be.  Yet all they do is remind you of what you already know, hence the frequent feeling of recognition.  In fact you already know the truths and occasional wisdom that you may find here and you already have access to them directly.  For thousands of years in the East one of the core daily practices was something known as meditation.  It is in the meditative state that we can learn once again to listen to and relearn from our own wisdom.

This journey to the heart of our being and the reconnection with our own inner quiet and wise voice has seven simple steps.  First relax your mind and your intellect.  Give them both permission to 'stand down' and take a break.  Second, gently concentrate your attention by giving your mind a neutral point of focus, either an idea internally, or an object externally.  Dwell on it for a while and practice concentrating upon it.  If your attention drifts away come back and start again.  The third step is visualization as you consciously use your innate creative capacity.  This is a capacity which has been largely weakened in many of us as we have allowed others, and especially our sophisticated media, to do the work of creating for us.  Create a detailed picture on the screen of your mind that is positive and bright but above all peaceful.  Then dissolve the picture leaving only the ‘feeling’ of peace. Then move into the fourth step which is meditation.  This begins by being the ‘detached observer’ of whatever sensations, thoughts and feelings that may still arise. Then, focus all your attention gently on your self, which means become aware of your self being aware!  Become aware that you are simply ‘awareness’.   The fifth step is into silence and stillness.  Don't force this.  It will happen naturally as part of your meditation.  You can invoke it by consciously listening for and to the silence within!  The sixth step is connection and that's when you will begin to 'see' and 'hear' with your ‘inner eye’ and ‘inner ear’ the truths and wisdoms which draw you to such weekly reflections as these.  With patience and practice they will once again begin to emerge from ‘inside out’, instead of ‘outside in’.  The seventh and final step is the contemplation of your own truths and insights as they, like you, have infinite depth and are multi dimensional.

It all sounds so simple in theory, and it can be in practice, but only with practice.  Eventually you may learn to make these seven steps in just one minute, but be patient with yourself as you gradually practice and master each step.  This ‘inner journey’ is probably the most important journey you may ever make.  Sometimes it's referred to as the journey of no distance in one second.  Make it often until you realize you are always there.

What seems to be in the way of you giving some time and attention each day to your self, and the cultivation of your wisdom.

 Reflect if you can create the question you already know the answer – what does this mean and why is this so?

Select an ‘outer space’ in your home now where you can regularly go and practice your journey to ‘inner space’.
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Ross Galán, NLP Spiritual Life Coach
at the Spiritual Life Coaching School