Category: Environment

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The Cripple & The Chrysalis (A True Story)

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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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The Surprising Secret Ingredient That Consistently Facilitates Healing

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The Surprising Secret IngredientNPA embraces and expresses one of my favourite paradoxes in the realm of healing, transformation, consciousness and love.

In this Musing on NPA & Life I want to lay it out for you, and give you an insight into, what I have come to understand is, THE biggest gift you can bring to any healing or facilitation situation.

“I’m Very Grateful”

This week I received an email from a client who wanted to express the gratitude she felt for the sessions we have been having, and offer a testimonial to share with others what she felt she experienced with me and how it has helped her.

The clue to the ‘secret ingredient’ is in here, so have a read and I’ll break it down for you after…

“Working with Joel I have been surprised by, and so appreciated, the tender compassion and acceptance that he has brought to each session. He offered a genuine loving space with no judgement; even of feelings I had previously felt sooo ashamed of.

In the past I have experienced a certain level of acceptance with facilitators but when change hasn’t come or stuckness has shown up, the focus on ‘moving on’ or changing has taken over.

Joel’s approach has the flavour of open-handed compassion and shows a level of acceptance which feels as if it comes very naturally from him. For me though, it was a very new experience and I feel that those qualities have been key to me moving on as I have.  Those more tender/”dark”/”stuck” feelings, having been offered all the time and space they needed to feel safe and relax, let down their defences and change of their own accord.

Here I am a few months later finding myself in a more peaceful and happy place! Feeling more able to deal with life, with more space and compassion now coming from within me! yeah!! I’m very grateful.”

Jane Griffin, Leicester, UK

The Secret Ingredient

So what was Jane experiencing ‘coming naturally from me’? She states; compassion, acceptance, genuine loving space, no judgement. These are qualities which naturally arise from the secret ingredient but are not the secret ingredient itself.

The thing I love most about NPA; the thing that practising it has trained into me, into my approach to working with clients and into my life in general is it’s agenda-less-ness. OK, so that’s not, strictly speaking, a real word but it points to the fact that NPA, in it’s pure form, comes with no agenda. And having NO agenda IS the secret ingredient.

And there-in lies the paradox, and the challenge for many a would-be power-user of NPA, and many a fine transformational practitioner. The question goes: “Surely if someone is paying me money to get some kind of outcome or result – shouldn’t I be doing everything in my power to get them there? Or at least to help them get themselves there!!??”

The trouble is, all that “I, me, them, their, there” stuff is based on personal power. Personal power requires a person. Persons come with an agenda. Agenda’s come with timelines, outcomes, comparisons, judgements, intentions… that leads to right ways and wrong ways both overt and covert… that leads to dogma and dogma leads to blindness… I think you get the idea.

NPA invites you to:

  • Express yourself in your natural way.
  • To say a few simple lines.
  • To notice what happens (if anything).

That’s it. No agenda.

So How Does That Consistently Facilitate Healing?

Let’s break it down

The Problem with AgendasThe problem with agendas – even ones with positive intent, even subtle energetic easily self-deniable ones – is that they apply pressure towards the intended outcome or route. Pressure tends to invoke resistance, resistance leads to persistence and before you know it you’re in a world of friction and potential stuckness. That can lead to further pressure in support of the agenda and so begins an un-helpful loop.

Jane illustrates it when she says, “In the past I have experienced a certain level of acceptance with facilitators” – in other words, there was an agenda with the facilitator, and she goes on to say how the agenda kicks up a gear, “but when change hasn’t come or stuckness has shown up, the focus on ‘moving on’ or changing has taken over.”

As you train more in the art of using NPA, you’ll begin to appreciate the importance and power of it’s agenda-less-ness. The power in NPA is NON-personal; as you get out of the way (drop the agenda) things begin to resolve all by themselves… in wonderful, effortless and sometimes miraculous ways.

Working agenda-less-ly with Jane meant that we met in a state of mutual, gentle discovery. It was like watching a flower blossom… and how personally are you involved in that process?

As Jane put it, “Those more tender/”dark”/”stuck” feelings, having been offered all the time and space they needed to feel safe and relax, let down their defences and change of their own accord.”

They (the feelings) let down their defences and changed of their own accord… And THAT is how having no agenda consistently facilitates healing, transformation, evolutions in consciousness and love.

Let It Come Alive

I have found that people who bathe themselves in the non-personal perspective at The NPA Expansive Weekend and beyond, find that it naturally comes alive in them, and with that dogma’s and agenda’s fall away. They still, of course, are available to passing intentions, outcome notions and the like, but rather than wearing them as uniform, they are passing fancy dress outfits that serve to raise a smile, warm the heart, lift a weight, disarm or arm; they come, and are used when useful and kind, and are discarded effortlessly as the truth of the moment dictates.

In the end it comes down to this, “Less ‘you-who-knows’ and more ‘Life-will-show’, invites the magic moment”

[JY-General-Bio]

 Tweetables:

“Having NO agenda IS the secret ingredient” via @JoelYoungNPA 

“Dogma leads to blindness” via @JoelYoungNPA 

“NPA invites you to express yourself in your natural way” via @JoelYoungNPA 

“The problem with agendas is that they apply pressure towards the intended outcome or route” via @JoelYoungNPA

“As YOU get out of the way, things begin to resolve all by themselves” via @JoelYoungNPA

“We met in a state of mutual, gentle discovery. It was like watching a flower blossom…” via @JoelYoungNPA

“Having no agenda consistently facilitates healing, transformation, evolutions in consciousness and love” via @JoelYoungNPA

“Less ‘you-who-knows’ and more ‘Life-will-show’, invites the magic moment” via @JoelYoungNPA

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Silence Please!

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Silence Please!Real Silence has nothing to do with sound. There is an inner Silence that is always available, no matter what clamber and clatter surrounds you.

The Dance

I have sat with meditation “masters” who would go to great pains to control the environment, and especially noise in the room. I even remember an occasion where the teacher sent a staff member from the seminar room and out to the other side of the street. He was tasked to entreat the gentlemen who were minding their own and drilling the road, to please, in the name of Grace, shut the F*$# up… at least until we had finished meditating. As a testimony to the staff members charm and Grace, they actually DID shut the F*$# up, rather than telling him to do the same.

This dance was based on the notion that the energetics of the space are disturbed by external noise, which in turn can prohibit good meditation.

While I acknowledge that an outer reflection of silence can support ones ability to notice a true inner silence, or at least highlight the noise in your head, the association of the two can ultimately be misleading.

True Silence

True Silence is never disturbed. Not by anything, and certainly not by noise. True Silence is a backdrop of total absence, against which the noise of experience, the one song, can be perceived.

Versions of the ‘Silence Please!’ dance don’t always come as grossly caricatured as the example I gave. It’s mostly a subtle thing, an irritation or a need for such-n-such to be just-so before true bliss can be realised.

If you find your sacred meditation space invaded by noise, and these controls and avoidances (cloaked as ‘honouring’) arise, then I invite you to be still… let your meditation be to notice the Silence beyond the noise. Here you will find the secret to peace in the storm of life.

Namaste. Tick-tock. Om Shanti. Woof Woof Woof. Peace &… Nee-Noorr-Neee-Nooorr. …Love my friend 😉

[JY-General-Bio]

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The Human Is Not Outside Of Nature

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The Human Is Not Outside Of NatureIn the name of connection (and with the noble intent of promoting more sustainable behaviours) it is often claimed that the human race is outside of nature or acting counter to the laws of nature.

The uncomfortable truth is that Humans are absolutely PART of nature. Nature, like us, expresses many apparent contradictions…

Creation: both wondrous and banal
Destruction: both incomprehensibly devastating and of obvious mechanical necessity
Life: both abundant and finite
Nurture and neglect. The fertile and the baron. Endless consumers and Eco-savvy contributors… The list goes on.

We Are Part Of Natures System

The fact is, we are PART of nature’s system. Part of nature’s grander intelligence. At the behest of ‘her’ eonic plans.

What we claim ourself to be doesn’t change the truth at a larger level, it simply colours local subjective experience.

Unfortunately, claiming ourself to be divorced from, separate to or outside of nature gives rise to delusional experiences, self judgement and unnecessary suffering. And these are  not states in which wholesome decisions are made or in which higher objectives are easily reached.

Better that we remember that The Human is not outside of Nature, join with a wider truth and experience reconnection. For every man-volcano that flattens large swathes of forest and arbitrarily kills animals en masse, there are trillions of lichen spores ready to begin the process of renewal and the enrichment of that land.

Just To Be Crystal Clear…

Just to be crystal clear, I’m not suggesting for a moment that we become passive in the face of our impulses to change our behaviour and environmental conduct – rather I am encouraging those *with* that impulse to become even more wholesome and aligned as they go passionately about acting on it.

In the end, Nature will have its way, and we, right now are part of that.

[JY-General-Bio]

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Personal Responsibility in a Non-Personal World

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Personal ResponsibilityAs the whole solid and separate model dissolves, we see it’s impact happening all around us.

The status quo of North Africa and the Middle East is dissolving as unsustainable despotic behaviours take the system critical, people rise and political tyrannies fall. The status quo of Western Culture is challenged as unsustainable economic behaviours take the system critical, people occupy, and financial institutions fall.

Spirituality, like science, throughout the ages has been a reflection of humanity’s understanding and culture – whether we like to admit it or not.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

In the Personal Growth arena we have had a period of being very inner/self focused and have revelled in the idea that we create the entire universe from within ourselves. That’s a large responsibility for mortal shoulders!

Of course, there is a degree of truth to it and certainly there’s been a great need and purpose to come into ourselves, asking ‘Who am I really?’ To connect inwardly, and mature in Spirit as individuals.

We walked from the notion of ‘the power outside’, to ‘the power inside’ – two opposite personalised perspectives. Personal experience has been the primary conduit of human experience – now it’s time to go co-personal.

“It’s time to step into a collaborative mindset and engage WE thinking, not ME thinking”

It’s time to INCLUDE the power of our selves and yet go BEYOND our selves, beyond our local-ness . It’s time to go beyond the idea that ‘If I only think positive thoughts myself, then the whole world will change’. It’s time to step into a collaborative mindset and engage WE thinking, not ME thinking. It’s time for powerful animated PERSONAL PARTICIPATION in alignment with a bigger picture.

It’s time to INCLUDE the power of our selves and yet go BEYOND our selves

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PERSONAL PARTICIPATION

Now, you can approach this from a very personally responsible mind-set and decide, yes, ‘let’s DO that’, but the beautiful thing I notice with people who do a lot of NPA is that it just sort of happens – it becomes the automatic modus operandi all by itself.

This is because NPA aligns you with and beyond the self automatically. It invokes awarenesses and powers with and beyond the self that just start to work through you – and it becomes the most natural thing to behave in much more competition free, altruistic ways.

Personal responsibility and personal power alone are unsustainable models. The natural effortlessness of transformations, changes and growth through non-personal awareness has shown to make them sustainable.

“NPA invokes awarenesses and powers with and beyond the self that just start to work through you – and it becomes the most natural thing to behave in much more competition free, altruistic ways”

 

Learn How You Can Make Rapid Sustainable Shifts…

NPA Basic Training - Start Here“This video programme will walk you step by step through the core training of The NPA Process and give you what you need to get started making a difference in your life right away with NPA.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

So NPA is an expression of the evolutionary changes afoot. It starts out as a way to look at your personal stuff – but what it REALLY does is open you into the non-personal perspective…

JY-GodSky400v3

The ‘Face in the Clouds’ has NOT been added in later – it was noticed only after we reviewed the photo’s from the days shoot.

Into the relational space – the space between us as individuals, which is becoming more solid, more distinct, more tangible. And we start really learning how to operate with this connection between us – not just as some amorphous Unity idea – but as a distinct operational matrix (beyond just the self)…

As I have said – this is what’s happening in the energy of the planet anyway, and if you love to participate CONSCIOUSLY in this amazing shift, you need to go beyond the AWAKENING, go beyond just personal power, go beyond the chase for a holy grail ‘sustained God-Self experience’ and meet your humble authentic expression where you are. You’ll find it’s all right here, right now in the wholesomeness of simply BE-ing. Are you ready?

“The unconditionally loving witness is realised to be awake and aware. It rests as the foundation of well-being and at the heart of your life experience”

Joel Young, Creator & Custodian of NPA

[JY-General-Bio]