Hi there

We are oblivious to the majority of hidden messages in the conversations we have with our friends, colleagues, family, loved ones and strangers.  We are even more unaware that they are usually centred around beginnings or endings and sometimes both.  You're contemplating that ... thinking back on the last discussion with a friend or the two minute phone call to a colleague.  What was the topic?  Troubled relationship? Difficult client? Problematic child? No matter what we discuss, we are always hoping something will end and something new will save us from frustration, pain and suffering.

No conversations are more focused on this than the build up to, and then settling into, a new year.  The hopes for closure of the "bad" that hounded the 12 months passed are usually showered with wishes for a new, brighter and much easier year ahead. 

I don't want to be perceived as a relentless teacher who relentlessly points out the low self esteem or those special people I merely want to wish a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  Last year I had to be teacher, however, on more occasions than I can count. I didn't do it to save anyone else; I did it to save myself.  By the time the hours drew near to the start of a fresh and neutral year ahead, I was fighting my own demons of the collective fears that everyone chose to drag along into the new year.

We all know the story ... a man goes to the office and doesn't put on his brightest face, yet nothing is really wrong at all.  As he walks through the office people begin to question him.  You look sick, are you feeling alright?  You don't have that same glow as you always do, are you sick?  Go home, you look sick.  He begins with a bold fight for his truth and tells his colleagues that he's merely having a day of contemplation.  No one lets up and why should they, because as more concerned colleagues point out their perception of his well being, the less he is able to stand up against the collective conclusion of his health.  By lunchtime he's thinking they may be right; he does feel a slight headache coming on and within hours he has forgotten his own truth and fallen into the trap of perception and opinion, dragging himself home in a very sickly state.

We are always given choice, yet we decide on a path according to the consequences we are most concerned about.  I'm always most concerned that people will perceive me as arrogant and a "Little Miss Know-it-all", especially when I am chatting with potential friends, clients, students or lovers.  I watch myself carefully when around my family and have to constantly remind myself that my friends have not asked for my healing while toasting in a new year.  However, in order to save myself from being sucked into the collective unconscious of 2009, I chose to speak up and pull everyone up with me, instead of allowing anyone to pull me down.

Recession, saving pennies, global chaos, new governments, property prices plummeting, food shortages - we've discussed this at nauseam for one reason alone: we calculate on a daily basis the impact these issues will have on our lives. 

I have a dear friend in London who is out of work at the moment as are a number of his friends.  Wishing him a happy new year was one of the saddest conversations I have had in a long time. "What's gonna be happy about it?" was his response to me.  He went on to point out that a good number of his friends were out of work and that some had been trying to find jobs longer than him.  He was preparing himself for a year of poverty, hand me downs and loss of dignity and pride.  Why?  Because the world had told him this would be his fate and because the collective unconscious of 2009 is one of unemployment, chaos, financial struggle and depression.  He could have chosen to find me annoyingly positive, yet he listened to everything I had to say, without argument, without doubt, without fear.  He believed me for a moment in time, because I was the candle in the window drawing him to a place of warmth, hope and opportunity.  I dropped my own fears and slipped on my very bold and outspoken hat of the teacher and I "lectured" him:

In the early 1950's scientists in Japan were studying the monkeys on the island of Koshima.  They were feeding the monkeys sweet potatoes in order to study them closer.  One day a young monkey was not happy with the sand that covered her sweet potato and went to wash it in the nearby stream.  Over a period of time, she had taught her mother and some younger monkeys to do the same.  The younger ones then went onto to teach their parents.  Before long, the majority of monkeys on the island were washing the potatoes before eating them.  Although this intrigued the scientists, this was not the surprising phenomenon.  That came in the discovery that, at a certain point, when a given number of monkeys were washing their potatoes, the same species of monkey across the ocean also began to wash their food.  This discovery became known as the hundredth monkey syndrome and paved the way for the understanding and proof of the existence of a collective unconscious amongst people. 

I had his attention at this point and went on to explain that everything within the human paradigm has a collective unconscious that we blindly adjust to.  Our family has its own, so do religions, schools, sports clubs, countries, businesses, cultures, women and men.  Teenagers around the world are behaving the same and parents around the world fear the same things - all because they are unaware that they are but a number in the collective mindset of the world.

"What's the point of this collective unconscious?"  I was so glad he asked.

"To drag you so deep into it, knowing that our human instinct is to survive.  Knowing you will eventually sink so low that you will hopefully choose to start swimming against the stream in order to save yourself", was my reply.

Sadly, not enough people have the courage or the belief in themselves or the gift of the collective unconscious to attempt to save themselves and they forget their one human instinct - to survive.

I know my friend wants to survive.  I know he wants to do much more than survive. He wants to live and laugh and be all that he can be and what better way than to find himself amongst the chaos of a collective opinion that work is scarce and 2009 is bleak? 

The collective unconscious is very real and so is the financial turmoil, economic crisis and global uncertainty the world over.  The point of this journey is not to deny the realities of this world, but to rise above them and set yourself aside from the masses who will suffer the recession and will battle to maintain the lifestyle they are accustomed to.

The gift of the collective unconscious is to show you that it might be the reality of the world around you, but it does not have to be the truth of who you, as an incredibly resourceful and determined individual, can be.  Just because you neighbour has forgotten to fight, does not mean that you need not put on your armour and head out into the world in order to claim what is rightfully yours - happiness, success, love, fulfilment and joy.

Personal Development seminars, courses and lectures

Please reserve your space for the seminar by contacting me

One Day Seminar - Thanks to the Universe I'm all "F 'ed" up

Fearful or Fulfilled?

You are functioning in one of these mindsets, and it's determining your success, happiness and health

"Thanks to the Universe I'm all 'F 'ed' up" is a one day seminar that dispels the manifestation myths and replaces them with choices and courage so you can identify with your fears and turn them into fulfilment, freedom and fun

This seminar will be run from 15 Woodside Avenue, Sandhurst on Saturday 24 January  from 9:00am to 4:30pm.  The cost of the day is R750 per person and includes lunch and course notes.  Payment secures your place.

Special offer

A R300 gift voucher to spoil yourself @ Shinzou Wellbeing Centre when you book for the seminar.  Check out the fabulous treatments at www.shinzou.co.za

If you are out of town and refer a friend your voucher stands for when you visit.

Contemplate this ...

You are powerful enough to prove even the most learned of men wrong

Law of Attraction: Assistance with "Thanks to the Universe I'm all "F 'ed" up

On the Power of Opinion

Chances are that the hope that I am right is more real than the belief that you have the power to overcome the obstacles ahead.  Right now, that's a great place to start.  Rather believe me than the 99 other individuals around you.  You are that powerful that you could tip the scales.  You could be that hundredth monkey or you could come to where Greg and I are standing and start the count to a new, brighter and more positive collective view of the world and the year ahead.

How?

Through the gift of conversation and through the power of your opinion.  And your opinion is this:  There are abundant opportunities for new beginnings, new ways to tackle your obstacles and fears.  There are magnificent ways to end the fear, the uncertainty and the darkness.  Talk about this, to everyone you know, tell them about this phenomenon called the "Hundredth monkey syndrome".  Become the listener in the conversation and learn to hear the echoes of the collective mindset of those you share your fears with.  The more you actively listen, the more you will hear the unconscious churning of words that people blindly spew out when talking about their lives, their beginnings and their endings. 

I don't have to tell you to do much else than listen, because in that, you will awaken something within your Soul that will feel growingly determined to stand up against the voices, to fight against the opinions and to run into the great unknown with nothing else but the willpower to escape the noise of the collective. 

Try this exercise for a few weeks ...

Take a few pieces of paper and place them around the house, in the car, in the office and obviously, on the fridge.  Write this: It means nothing until I say so.

Then, try drag yourself down, try talk about the negativity around you, try slip back into the blind fears of the unconscious ... try not be an individual.

Greg's view on the world

I am reading one of Osho's works: Being in love. Wow, mind blowing stuff. There is no love in the world, is what he says. You are born knowing nothing but love, but you are vulnerable because you depend on your parents for everything. And that is where the corruption starts. That is where the beliefs of your parents, their friends, your friends, your teachers and all the other members of your collective unconscious start to take hold of you and you get lost. You get lost in all the beliefs that once were justified and relevant but now are just believed. You lose your innocence, your love and the uniqueness and individuality of who you are.

The reason for this is control. We all know someone who has an "uncontrollable" child; a child who fails to conform to acceptable behaviour; one who does its own thing "with no respect for others". Look at how we are trying to control the child to get it to conform. And we want it to conform to standards and norms that lack the love that we are capable of; standards and norms that have been in place for so long that few know the significance of them. How loving is it to take a child filled with innocence and love and drum the ways of this world into it? No matter what your religion or belief you have to believe that a child is born from a place of more love than what we currently live in. Surely? So what are we doing...unconsciously? We are removing the innocence and uniqueness of a being so that they can fit into a society that we spend everyday trying to fit into in denial of our truth and our very being.

For years I have been living a life for others because of this conditioning. I have always wanted to make people like me and to see them happy as a result of my actions. This has included my parents. In fact, they are the ones I have been most concerned about disappointing. So much so, that I reached a point of going into relationships for the other; because the other wanted to. In so doing, I lost myself and forgot what it is that I want. Fortunately this realisation is never too late as the truth is always with you; you only have to drop the lies. It is easier than it sounds. How do you know whether it is a lie or not? If you can defend yourself when under heavy questioning with a clear heart, then it is your truth. If you see yourself getting overly defensive because you are filled with fear of the illusion crashing around you, then you have found one of the lies to drop. Congratulations! Oh, and it is only difficult to drop them if you hold onto them. Otherwise, they simply fall away!

Okay, so this section of the newsletter is meant to be a view on the world. What has been going on? What lies have we been fed and held onto? How have we given our choice away and conformed to the collective? Is YOUR financial situation as bad as THEY believe? Has YOUR life changed for the worst as was predicted? If it has, you have to ask yourself just how much you rely on the opinion of others to determine your health, wealth and happiness. Take back the responsibility for your life and know that you are in charge because it is your life, despite all the conditioning you have carried for all this time - it is still your life and always will be!

Word of collective warning

Everyone reads their horoscope in order to gain insight into the year ahead.  Sadly, if you are able to relate, you are still within the energy of the collective mindset of your sun sign.  Astrology is too vast a study to give an accurate reading for an individual based on the sun sign alone.  Therefore it is designed to work in direct accordance with the collective unconscious.  Unless you take the time to find an astrologer and have a personal chart drawn up and analysed, please take our advice and avoid these forms of divination.  They can be very accurate, that we do not deny, but they are for the masses, for the monkeys and not for the individual you are. 

Uniquely ...

Jodene & Greg