Creating a new reality
I’m currently retracing one of my father’s journeys, devouring ancient wisdom videos and books based on personal growth and metaphysics. I’m sure that like the Camino de Santiago, I will continue to discover new things about myself and my life.
As a few of my Artful Compendium followers and friends are embarking on inner journeys, I wanted to share a few of my ah, ha moments I have had so far on my journey, through the Epistolary (letters) literary genre.
To you,
Running out of options, ideas, and thoughts on shifting your current reality, you are about to embark on a journey. I understand, hell I was in your footsteps twelve maybe thirteen years ago.
Right now, you like me all those years ago, are probably so focused on fighting your present reality, wanting to change it, that you may not have thought about YOU.
I had not. I never was, that is until I read this quote…
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete.”
Richard Buckminster Fuller
It is hard to believe when you are worn out from the fight, that the truth is YOU don’t have to settle for what is your current reality.
I liken the discouragement, fear and anxiety I felt during those dark days to the archetypal school-yard bully. I was so busy fighting to change something that wasn’t working that I lost my personal power. Did you know that ancient wisdom decrees that the only way to take back our individual power is to respond not react? I didn’t. But know I do.
I also understand that love, happiness and calmness of mind is the pathway to SUCCESS, which Dr Maxwell Maltz (Psycho-Cybernetics) defines as:
S Sense of direction
U Understanding
C Courage
C Compassion
E Esteem
S Self-confidence
S Self-Acceptance
Using his definition of SUCESS, Maltz sets the task of taking stock of YOU! Maltz stresses the need to be realistic and be honest. And that you ask yourself these questions:
- What are your weaknesses?
- What are your strengths? What are your values?
- What do you want to achieve in this lifetime?
Be truthful because trying harder on fixing your current circumstances will probably kill your chances of success.
Price Pritchett’s A True Story from his book you2 is a poignant example of the corner that we often get backed into when locked into the fight to change our current reality.
“I’m sitting in a quiet room at the Millcroft Inn, a peaceful little place hidden back among the pine trees about an hour out of Toronto. It’s just past noon, late July, and I’m listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on a few feet away.
There’s a small fly burning out the last of its short life’s energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the windowpane. The whining wings tell the poignant story of the fly’s strategy-try harder.
But it’s not working.
The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It is impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and determination.
The fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill.
Across the room, ten steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks. With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could be free of this self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility is there. It would be so easy.
Why doesn’t the fly try another approach, something dramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the idea that this particular route, and determined effort, offer the most promise for success? What logic is there in continuing, until death, to seek a breakthrough with “more of the same”?
No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it’s an idea that will kill.
“Trying harder” isn’t necessarily the solution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promise for getting what you want out of life. Sometimes, in fact, it’s a big part of the problem.
If you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances for success.”
My takeaway from this story is “quit trying harder.” However, the lightning bolt moment is “you need to know where you want to go.”
One rainy Anzac Day morning, three or four years after my initial journey to fix my life, I sat down and watched the movie The Way. I had seen clips of the Camino de Santiago walk on TV when we lived in England, and thought it looked hard, hot and miserable. I didn’t expect to be awe-struck and compelled to undertake the walk. Given my core muscles were depleted after years of work and study, I was unprepared for the rigours of distance walking. No surprise then that my first Camino was not successful. I was though compelled to return, committed to my physical wellbeing and inadvertently changed my reality.
One of the scenes early in the movie, The Way’s echoes the need for us to understand our inner self. The main character played by Martin Sheen was asked if he knew was he was walking the Camino. He said that he was doing it to honour his son, who died on his Camino’s first day. The reply to this answer was that “you do the Camino only for yourself, only for yourself.” To do this, you have to know why.
To create a new reality, you must have absolute clarity about the life you want to live—the person you want to be. You are your biggest asset.
In each of the videos I’ve viewed and all of the books I have read to-date, there is a unanimous message; it is that we become what we think. If you are despondent, then you will attract more of the same energy to you. If you are grateful for what you have, then you will start to attract abundance into your life.
Bob Proctor has dedicated his life to “the secret to living the life that you want.” His YouTube site is a hidden treasure chest of information that will get you started on your journey.
Start creating and get ready for an amazing journey.
Kia kaha!
The Artful Compendium.com 
5 Responses to “Creating a new reality”
Thanks for sharing. A simple question comes to mind. Just wondering why your story is illustrated with pictures of the Gizeh plateau?
Several years ago I visited these Pyramides, so I do have some ideas about- and memories of this place, but everybody for sure has his or her particular connotations in relation to this mysterious ancient ‘world wonder’. Which is yours?
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Great question. My go-to for photos is my own portfolio, partly because I’m mindful of copyright but mostly as I feel that it makes the posts more personal.
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Sorry hit send too quickly? During a two-week stay in Cairo, I felt these photos captured the awe, mystery, and wonderment that overcame me during that time. All feelings that I think my Dad had when he was devouring the messages in the books he was reading.
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Sorry to see that you aren’t blogging anymore. I would love to know how your walking is going after your Caminos. Which are posts I enjoyed reading.
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Thanks for your feedback, Suzanne.
This post has spurred my creativity and, yes, is leading me in a new direction. Walking is still very much part of my life. However, I haven’t venture too far beyond my backyard. When I do, I will write another post. Artful Compendium will remain as travel, art and walking. There will be a new website later in the year to channel these learnings and topics.
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