The Benefits of Awakening

On The Coming Home Retreat - an enlightenment intensive

The benefits of awakening are related significantly to greater fulfillment in life.

You can take any workshop on success psychology, on how to be more effective in achieving and manifesting your goals in life, and to a certain degree you will be happy but if you do not know who it is that has attained the success you will have failed at being fulfilled in life. You will have become a successful failure. History is full of highly accomplished people who at the end of their lives have sadly grieved because they did not find true happiness. The tragedy is not that they died but that they did not truly live.

To truly live means to be living truly

This means, you are fully being who you are and totally being in life. The catch is, you cannot truly be yourself if you don’t know who you are and you cannot fully engage in life if you don’t know what it is. This is such a simple and obvious fact that we overlook. Why do we do this?

The problem is that most people believe they know who they are and what life is. The reality is they only think they know. They are living from an intellectual concept that has been reinforced over time by the family and culture they grew up in. It is as if we are all actors born and raised on a stage, taking our cues and roles from all the older actors. We gain acceptance from others, by taking on an act and think this acceptance verifies that our self-image is who we are. It is not. It is just a socialized personality.

If you are not fulfilled in life, yes it maybe that you are not reaching your goals but

it may also be that you are not fully in your life because you have a mistaken idea of what life is really all about and you don’t know who is living your life. We are busy being someone else trying to fulfill a goal in life that is not real.

This is one of the main problems: we are unconsciously stuck in a personality thinking we know who we are but we really don’t. We suffer out of our own unconsciousness, not really knowing why we suffer.

When you live from a personality, you live in a reduced state of experience.

The personality is in reality a false identity state that is created from a belief about yourself and life and others. “I am no good”, “ I am unlovable”, “I don’t exist”, “I am not important” or “Life is too hard”, “You can’t trust others”, “Love hurts”. Every experience you have is filtered through this personality and accepts or rejects the life experience that reinforces or does not reinforce the belief. You only see what you believe and reject the rest. The false belief is in reality superimposed like a shell, over yourself and you act according to this belief and continue to re-create the same suffering. If you believe that you are unlovable you will act this way and of course people will treat you as not lovable.

There are thousands of seminars and techniques that propose that the remedy to all of this is to just change your beliefs. “Change your beliefs and change your life” i.e. to affirm, declare or even implant in the subconscious (through forms of hypnotherapy) that you are lovable. But this is just changing around the furniture in the mind. It is superimposing another personality over the self. It is still a mask.

So to live from a personality means that all life is buffered and that experience is experienced selectively only from a point view. Your aliveness is dulled and you live in a prison bounded by the walls of your personality. Existing this way, will give some degree of happiness but you won’t find true fulfillment in it.

The Possibility For Greater Fulfillment

However if you directly experience who you are or the one that is behind the personality and in fact the one who created your personality, the chance of greater fulfillment exists.

The possibility is that you can become more engaged in your life. You are more available to all experiences in life. You will experience joy more fully and also sadness more fully. You will laugh more and more deeply and when it is appropriate to cry you will cry more deeply. You will allow your experiences in life to flow through you and complete them rather than block them, deny them or suspend them because of the filtering quality of your personality. Therefore you will feel more in the flow of your life.

You will have more rewarding relationships because you will be more available to others. Relationships are all about the authenticity of the connection. To truly have a satisfying intimate relationship it is essential that you know who you and what others are. If you do not who you are connecting from and what you are connecting to, you will only connect to others through the mask of a false personality. Trying to navigate through the maze of two personalities to truly touch one another when you are not self-realized is impossible.

With awakening you are more engaged in life

You can take any growth technique or religious practice and make more rapid and on-going progress with it because you can bring to bear your own personal power of choice to be open and grow. In the success area of life, you can make real progress toward real goals, and actually be happy, because it is now the real you living your life.

It can turn a person on to truth and the actuality of that truth in day-to-day life. A person can discover that there is more to life than just gratifying the senses; that this whole business of life is not just some random occurrence with no direction or purpose. One can make these discoveries not as ideas but as living facts. Such discoveries fundamentally alter one's life.

When you realize that essentially we all want to be seen for who we truly and relate to others authentically, you will understand that just on a daily basis you living from your true self in real contact with others actually uplifts others.

In the end, however, life has only one purpose: the realization of your true nature. Experiencing directly who you are is the fulfillment of life. That union with Truth, no matter how brief, is our purpose, and fulfilling that purpose is the greatest benefit gained from enlightenment.

One of the quickest and most powerful methods of experiencing self-realization is through self-inquiry through the use of the  question "Who am I?" combined with communication to a listening partner. This practice is employed consistently on a modern retreat called The Coming Home Retreat also known as an enlightenment intensive. It's no longer necessary to spend months or years meditating in a cave to achieve this state and to bring more life to your life.

The Wonderful Side Effect

As a side effect, people on the intensive people gain communication skills by practicing the self-inquiry technique almost without realizing it. Lack of real communication and real listening without evaluation or interruption causes the greatest suffering in life and on a Coming Home Retreat people can make significant gains in this ability just by participating in the retreat.

To find out more about the retreat click on: THE COMING HOME RETREAT

After a Coming Home Retreat, participants commonly report feeling:

• More authentic
• Peace, contentment and lightness permeating their body
• Totally embodied as if they have finally come home to themselves
• Loving-kindness towards themselves and others
• Greater self-acceptance
• Psychologically whole
• More inner strength and inner resolve
• Freer to express themselves around others
• Improved intuitive ability
• Enhanced and balanced energy levels

Participants also commonly report having greater capacity to:

• Be open and authentic in relationships
• Persist and accomplish personal goals
• Face and overcome problems and difficulties
• Fully experience love, joy and happiness
• Understand the deeper truths in traditional philosophy and religion
• Naturally and honestly be themselves in relationships
• Be assertive and communicate their needs
• Find meaning, inspiration and insight in daily living
• Make rapid progress in their personal and spiritual growth

A few of the many testimonials about the Coming Home Retreat

Had I not attended your Coming Home retreat back in the spring, I would not now have the unshakable strength of knowing deeply who and what I am which sustains me on a moment to moment basis in a quiet, steadfast, joyful way. 

I don’t know why nor can I explain it but I continue to wake up happy every day, thankful every day and smiling at work even though I’m in an impossible situation.  Now that can only come from the direct experience I had at your retreat and without it, I’m sure I’d be discouraged, depressed, muddling through, cranky and grousing like everyone around me. 

I have more energy now than I’ve ever had in my life, my husband has been unendingly and enormously supportive and understanding and life is good.  Tough, but good.  Sometimes life has to slam me up against the wall and let me deal with it so I can discover more of who I really am. 

So thank you Russell for helping me to see the reality and beauty of life, how I am not separate from all life but am one with all life and how the Universe supports us on so many levels in so many subtle and very palpable ways.
Gail Buss Philadelphia

________________________________________________

Having just completed my first Coming Home Intensive I am amazed at how the process used at the retreat can produce such a deep awakening experience, not just in myself, but in others who also attended the retreat. Before the retreat, I had no idea what to expect or what would happen, I just trusted that it was something I needed to do. And to my surprise, on the third day something did happen; there was an opening, a shift in consciousness, and everything became obvious. I came home. 

I am that infinite timeless space, the Watcher, the Supreme, the Absolute, the peace that passeth all understanding. That which cannot be named.

I now realize that what I have been searching for is already here, it has always been here, just waiting for me to notice. It surrounds me, is in me and expresses through me, the other and all things. It is the eternal ever-present.
Helen Simon - Mississauga

____________________________________________________

My biggest realization is that I have never been anywhere else but here.  I can now see that throughout my life, I have always been here. That I was never absent once, never alone from myself.

Even the awakenings, the peak experiences that I had, were just bigger demonstrations of my presence. But they were, you could say, just larger or more evident exhibits of My presence, perhaps more noticeable.  All along though, I just couldn’t see myself, which was extremely confusing even as my desire, longing and sheer drive to see my Self continued.

Every experience, every relationship, every heart break, every disappointment, every love, every sunset, every teacher, every tree, flower and blade of grass, always pointed back to me; they have all been reminders and sign posts.  It’s taken me a long time, though, to recognize Me, to see Who they were pointing to. 

This morning I was even grateful for the feeling of self-consciousness, because the feeling of self-consciousness points to the Self, to Me.  When I realized that I had always been here, in full view, never really lost, the most obvious and familiar thing to my entire life, I just started to laugh.  
Pat Parisi - Toronto

__________________________________________________

Hands down, THE BEST thing I ever did for myself.

A little over 2 years ago, I was in a bad place . I felt like I lost myself and when I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t recognize the person staring back at me. I was desperate for something, anything, that would pull me out of the fog that had precipitated into my life with no signs of clearing any time soon.I needed to get away with myself.

For 4.5 days, I embarked on a journey of self-rediscovery in a simple yet effective way. I came out of it connected to ME again. It was the best experience of my life. It is something one cannot EXPLAIN but can only be EXPERIENCED to truly grasp.

This retreat set the tone for MAJOR transformation in my life. I am now stepping into the life I want to create for myself, I know who I am and the self-love and growth continues to expand daily. This experience WILL change your life. It is not religious and it is not listening to someone talk about concepts and theories. It involves participants going deep into themselves in a very caring and supportive environment.

If anyone is feeling lost in life or is interested in spirituality, I highly recommend this retreat. That is how important this work is to humanity. Do something for yourself and go! You won’t regret it!
Janine Beamish - Oakville

______________________________________________________

I have found the practice of Coming Home to be an invaluable experience along the journey of discovery. I more or less stumbled on my first one, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. However, it has had a lasting effect on my daily life.

I feel a greater sense of confidence, equanimity and, surprisingly…wonder. The methodology combines a form of Zen koan practice with Western relational psychology, though it is not aligned with any theoretical or philosophical school. The format is simple and demanding.

To discover the truth of ourselves and of existence, we must necessarily move beyond the numerous and ingenious devices we employ to avoid its raw reality. For some people, the search for that truth is the only really meaningful activity of life. I would recommend the practice to anyone who falls into that category. 

When I emerged from the retreat . . .all of my worries  about the future and my resentments about past hurts seemed, in that moment, very small when compared to the vastness that is both what I am and the reality in which I participate.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer. From THE INVITATION(c) 1999 published by Harper San Francisco. All rights reserved. Edited and presented with permission of the author

_________________________________________________________

I have now stepped fully into my Self and My Life.

I continue to face fears and clear false beliefs (every day since the intensive!) but have such energy for this. I am now intimately acquainted with my personal power and strength. I AM that power and strength! I know how to take full responsibility for my life and this is a LIBERATION, not an arduous task.

Everything I have ever lived has brought me to this point of true awakening. I feel such immense gratitude and feel my heart opening wider and wider. It's incredible, really. I can't believe how beautiful life is. There are no words.

Name any self-help book: I’ve read it. Any motivational speaker: I’ve heard them. Audio programs, MP3 downloads: I’ve listened to them. Yes, they contain incredible insights that point at the Truth but these cannot take you there. Only radical self-inquiry of your OWN Truth can take you there. The Coming Home Retreat was the only thing that took me there. It will change your life
Kathyrn Jefferies Phd Barrie - author of Awake Education for Enlightenment

_______________________________________________

Coming Home Retreat Leader

Russell Scott. is one of the new generations of "no dogma teachers" and the author of the best selling and award winning book: "Awaken the Guru in You". He has led over 300 retreats in Canada for the past 35 years. As a former owner of the Ecology Retreat Centre in Ontario, he pioneered programs in green building, sustainable living and spiritual awakening. He has guided 1000’s of people in his one-to-one and group programs break through past limitations so that they can walk in the beauty, honesty and magnificence of who they really are.His greatest joy in life is watching people fall off their seats in fits of laughter when they realize their true nature.

For more information about the Coming Home Retreat (the enlightenment intensive) contact Russell Scott at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or go to: THE COMING HOME RETREAT
Website: www.awakentheguruinyou.com

Living Truly is Truly Living

The Benefits of Awakening

The benefits of awakening are related significantly to greater fulfillment in life.

You can take any workshop on success psychology, on how to be more effective in achieving and manifesting your goals in life, and to a certain degree you will be happy but if you do not know who it is that has attained the success you will have failed at being fulfilled in life. You will have become a successful failure. History is full of highly accomplished people who at the end of their lives have sadly grieved because they did not find true happiness. The tragedy is not that they died but that they did not truly live.

To truly live means to be living truly. This means, you are fully being who you are and totally being in life. The catch is, you cannot truly be yourself if you don’t know who you are and you cannot fully engage in life if you don’t know what it is. This is such a simple and obvious fact that we overlook. Why do we do this?

The problem is that most people believe they know who they are and what life is. The reality is they only think they know. They are living from an intellectual concept that has been reinforced over time by the family and culture they grew up in. It is as if we are all actors born and raised on a stage, taking our cues and roles from all the older actors. We gain acceptance from others, by taking on an act and think this acceptance verifies that our self-image is who we are. It is not. It is just a socialized personality.

If you are not fulfilled in life, yes it maybe that you are not reaching your goals but it may also be that you are not fully in your life because you have a mistaken idea of what life is really all about and you don’t know who is living your life. We are busy being someone else trying to fulfill a goal in life that is not real.

This is one of the main problems: we are unconsciously stuck in a personality thinking we know who we are but we really don’t. We suffer out of our own unconsciousness, not really knowing why we suffer.

When you live from a personality, you live in a reduced state of experience. The personality is in reality a false identity state that is created from a belief about yourself and life and others. “I am no good”, “ I am unlovable”, “I don’t exist”, “I am not important” or “Life is too hard”, “You can’t trust others”, “Love hurts”. Every experience you have is filtered through this personality and accepts or rejects the life experience that reinforces or does not reinforce the belief. You only see what you believe and reject the rest. The false belief is in reality superimposed like a shell, over yourself and you act according to this belief and continue to re-create the same suffering. If you believe that you are unlovable you will act this way and of course people will treat you as not lovable.

There are thousands of seminars and techniques that propose that the remedy to all of this is to just change your beliefs. “Change your beliefs and change your life” i.e. to affirm, declare or even implant in the subconscious (through forms of hypnotherapy) that you are lovable. But this is just changing around the furniture in the mind. It is superimposing another personality over the self. It is still a mask.

So to live from a personality means that all life is buffered and that experience is experienced selectively only from a point view. Your aliveness is dulled and you live in a prison bounded by the walls of your personality. Existing this way, will give some degree of happiness but you won’t find true fulfillment in it.

However if you directly experience who you are, or the one that is behind the personality and in fact the one who created your personality, the chance of greater fulfillment exists.

The possibility is that you can become more engaged in your life. You are more available to all experiences in life. You will experience joy more fully and also sadness more fully. You will laugh more and more deeply and when it is appropriate to cry you will cry more deeply. You will allow your experiences in life to flow through you and complete them rather than block them, deny them or suspend them because of the filtering quality of your personality. Therefore you will feel more in the flow of your life.

You will have more rewarding relationships because you will be more available to others. Relationships are all about the authenticity of the connection. To truly have a satisfying intimate relationship it is essential that you know who you and what others are. If you do not who you are connecting from and what you are connecting to, you will only connect to others through the mask of a false personality. Trying to navigate through the maze of two personalities to truly touch one another when you are not self-realized is impossible.

With awakening you are more engaged in life, you can take any growth technique or religious practice and make more rapid and on-going progress with it because you can bring to bear your own personal power of choice to be open and grow. In the success area of life, you can make real progress toward real goals, and actually be happy, because it is now the real you living your life.

It can turn a person on to truth and the actuality of that truth in day-to-day life. A person can discover that there is more to life than just gratifying the senses; that this whole business of life is not just some random occurrence with no direction or purpose. One can make these discoveries not as ideas but as living facts. Such discoveries fundamentally alter one's life.

When you realize that essentially we all want to be seen for who we truly and relate to others authentically, you will understand that just on a daily basis you living from your true self in real contact with others actually uplifts others.

As a side effect, people on the intensive people gain communication skills practicing the co-evolution technique almost without realizing it. Lack of real communication and real listening without evaluation or interruption causes the greatest suffering in life and on an Coming Home Retreat they can make significant gains in this ability just by participating in the retreat.

In the end however, the Coming Home Retreat has only one purpose: the realization of your true nature.
It has its own value because it is the fulfillment of life. That union with Truth, no matter how brief, is our purpose, and fulfilling that purpose is the greatest benefit gained from an enlightenment experience.
In short, after a Coming Home Retreat, participants commonly report feeling:
More authentic
Peace, contentment and lightness permeating their body
Totally embodied as if they have finally come home to themselves
Loving-kindness towards themselves and others
Greater self-acceptance
Psychologically whole
More inner strength and inner resolve
Freer to express themselves around others
Improved intuitive ability
Enhanced and balanced energy levels
Participants also commonly report having greater capacity to:
Be open and authentic in relationships
Persist and accomplish personal goals
Face and overcome problems and difficulties
Fully experience love, joy and happiness
Understand the deeper truths in traditional philosophy and religion
Naturally and honestly be themselves in relationships
Be assertive and communicate their needs
Find meaning, inspiration and insight in daily living
Make rapid progress in their personal and spiritual growth
A few of the many testimonials about the Coming Home Retreat

Had I not attended your Coming Home retreat back in the spring, I would not now have the unshakable strength of knowing deeply who and what I am which sustains me on a moment to moment basis in a quiet, steadfast, joyful way.  I don’t know why nor can I explain it but I continue to wake up happy every day, thankful every day and smiling at work even though I’m in an impossible situation.  Now that can only come from the direct experience I had at your retreat and without it, I’m sure I’d be discouraged, depressed, muddling through, cranky and grousing like everyone around me.  I have more energy now that I’ve ever had in my life, my husband has been unendingly and enormously supportive and understanding and life is good.  Tough, but good.  Sometimes life has to slam me up against the wall and let me deal with it so I can discover more of who I really am.  So thank you Russell for helping me to see the reality and beauty of life, how I am not separate from all life but am one with all life and how the Universe supports us on so many levels in so many subtle and very palpable ways.
Gail Buss Philadelphia

Having just completed my first Coming Home Intensive I am amazed at how the process used at the retreat can produce such a deep awakening experience, not just in myself, but in others who also attended the retreat. Before the retreat, I had no idea what to expect or what would happen, I just trusted that it was something I needed to do. And to my surprise, on the third day something did happen; there was an opening, a shift in consciousness, and everything became obvious. I came home. 
I am that infinite timeless space, the Watcher, the Supreme, the Absolute, the peace that passeth all understanding. That which cannot be named.
I now realize that what I have been searching for is already here, it has always been here, just waiting for me to notice. It surrounds me, is in me and expresses through me, the other and all things. It is the eternal ever-present.
Helen Simon - Mississauga

My biggest realization is that I have never been anywhere else but here.  I can now see that throughout my life, I have always been here. That I was never absent once, never alone from myself.  Even the awakenings, the peak experiences that I had, were just bigger demonstrations of my presence. But they were, you could say, just larger or more evident exhibits of My presence, perhaps more noticeable.  All along though, I just couldn’t see myself, which was extremely confusing even as my desire, longing and sheer drive to see my Self continued. Every experience, every relationship, every heart break, every disappointment, every love, every sunset, every teacher, every tree, flower and blade of grass, always pointed back to me; they have all been reminders and sign posts.  It’s taken me a long time, though, to recognize Me, to see Who they were pointing to.  This morning I was even grateful for the feeling of self-consciousness, because the feeling of self-consciousness points to the Self, to Me.  When I realized that I had always been here, in full view, never really lost, the most obvious and familiar thing to my entire life, I just started to laugh.  
Pat Parisi - Toronto

Hands down, THE BEST thing I ever did for myself. A little over 2 years ago, I was in a bad place 🥺. I felt like I lost myself and when I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t recognize the person staring back at me. I was desperate for something, anything, that would pull me out of the fog that had precipitated into my life with no signs of clearing any time soon. I needed to get away with myself. For 4.5 days, I embarked on a journey of self-rediscovery in a simple yet effective way. I came out of it connected to ME again. It was the best experience of my life. It is something one cannot EXPLAIN but can only be EXPERIENCED to truly grasp. This retreat set the tone for MAJOR transformation in my life. I am now stepping into the life I want to create for myself, I know who I am and the self-love and growth continues to expand daily. This experience WILL change your life. It is not religious and it is not listening to someone talk about concepts and theories. It involves participants going deep into themselves in a very caring and supportive environment. If anyone is feeling lost in life or is interested in spirituality, I highly recommend this retreat. That is how important this work is to humanity. Do something for yourself and go! You won’t regret it!
Janine Beamish - Oakville

I have found the practice of Coming Home to be an invaluable experience along the journey of discovery. I more or less stumbled on my first one, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. However, it has had a lasting effect on my daily life. I feel a greater sense of confidence, equanimity and, surprisingly…wonder. The methodology combines a form of Zen koan practice with Western relational psychology, though it is not aligned with any theoretical or philosophical school. The format is simple and demanding. To discover the truth of ourselves and of existence, we must necessarily move beyond the numerous and ingenious devices we employ to avoid its raw reality. For some people, the search for that truth is the only really meaningful activity of life. I would recommend the practice to anyone who falls into that category. When I emerged from the retreat . . .all of my worries  about the future and my resentments about past hurts seemed, in that moment, very small when compared to the vastness that is both what I am and the reality in which I participate.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer. From THE INVITATION(c) 1999 published by Harper San Francisco. All rights reserved. Edited and presented with permission of the author

I have now stepped fully into my Self and My Life. I continue to face fears and clear false beliefs (every day since the intensive!) but have such energy for this. I am now intimately acquainted with my personal power and strength. I AM that power and strength! I know how to take full responsibility for my life and this is a LIBERATION, not an arduous task. Everything I have ever lived has brought me to this point of true awakening. I feel such immense gratitude and feel my heart opening wider and wider. It's incredible, really. I can't believe how beautiful life is. There are no words.
Name any self-help book: I’ve read it. Any motivational speaker: I’ve heard them. Audio programs, MP3 downloads: I’ve listened to them. Yes, they contain incredible insights that point at the Truth but these cannot take you there. Only radical self-inquiry of your OWN Truth can take you there. The Coming Home Retreat was the only thing that took me there. It will change your life
Kathyrn Jefferies Phd Barrie - author of Awake Education for Enlightenment

Coming Home Retreat Leader
Russell Scott. is one of the new generations of "no dogma teachers" and the author of the best selling and award winning book: "Awaken the Guru in You". He has led over 300 retreats in Canada for the past 35 years. As a former owner of the Ecology Retreat Centre in Ontario, he pioneered programs in green building, sustainable living and spiritual awakening. He has guided 1000’s of people in his one-to-one and group programs break through past limitations so that they can walk in the beauty, honesty and magnificence of who they really are.His greatest joy in life is watching people fall off their seats in fits of laughter when they realize their true nature.
For more information about the Coming Home Retreat (the enlightenment intensive) contact Russell Scott at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.awakentheguruinyu.comLiving Truly is Truly Living
The Benefits of Awakening

The benefits of awakening are related significantly to greater fulfillment in life.

You can take any workshop on success psychology, on how to be more effective in achieving and manifesting your goals in life and to a certain degree you will be happy but if you do not know who it is that has attained success you will have failed at being fulfilled in life. You will have become a successful failure. History is full of highly accomplished people who at the end of their lives have sadly grieved because they did not find true happiness. The tragedy is not that they died but that they did not truly live.

To truly live means to be living truly. This means, you are fully being who you are and totally being in life. The catch is, you cannot truly be yourself if you don’t know who you are and you cannot fully engage in life if you don’t know what it is. This is such a simple and obvious fact that we overlook. Why do we do this?

The problem is that most people believe they know who they are and what life is. The reality is they only think they know. They are living from an intellectual concept that has been reinforced over time by the family and culture they grew up in. It is as if we are all actors born and raised on a stage, taking our cues and roles from all the older actors. We gain acceptance from others, by taking on an act and think this acceptance verifies that our self-image is who we are. It is not. It is just a socialized personality.

If you are not fulfilled in life, yes it maybe that you are not reaching your goals but it may also be that you are not fully in your life because you have a mistaken idea of what life is really all about and you don’t know who is living your life. We are busy being someone else trying to fulfill a goal in life that is not real.

This is one of the main problems: we are unconsciously stuck in a personality thinking we know who we are but we really don’t. We suffer out of our own unconsciousness, not really knowing why we suffer.

When you live from a personality, you live in a reduced state of experience. The personality is in reality a false identity state that is created from a belief about yourself and life and others. “I am no good”, “ I am unlovable”, “I don’t exist”, “I am not important” or “Life is too hard”, “You can’t trust others”, “Love hurts”. Every experience you have is filtered through this personality and accepts or rejects the life experience that reinforces or does not reinforce the belief. You only see what you believe and reject the rest. The false belief is in reality superimposed like a shell, over yourself and you act according to this belief and continue to re-create the same suffering. If you believe that you are unlovable you will act this way and of course people will treat you as not lovable.

There are thousands of seminars and techniques that propose that the remedy to all of this is to just change your beliefs. “Change your beliefs and change your life” i.e. to affirm, declare or even implant in the subconscious (through forms of hypnotherapy) that you are lovable. But this is just changing around the furniture in the mind. It is superimposing another personality over the self. It is still a mask.

So to live from a personality means that all life is buffered and that experience is experienced selectively only from a point view. Your aliveness is dulled and you live in a prison bounded by the walls of your personality. Existing this way, will give some degree of happiness but you won’t find true fulfillment in it.

However if you directly experience who you are, or the one that is behind the personality and in fact the one who created your personality, the chance of greater fulfillment exists.

The possibility is that you can become more engaged in your life. You are more available to all experiences in life. You will experience joy more fully and also sadness more fully. You will laugh more and more deeply and when it is appropriate to cry you will cry more deeply. You will allow your experiences in life to flow through you and complete them rather than block them, deny them or suspend them because of the filtering quality of your personality. Therefore you will feel more in the flow of your life.

You will have more rewarding relationships because you will be more available to others. Relationships are all about the authenticity of the connection. To truly have a satisfying intimate relationship it is essential that you know who you and what others are. If you do not who you are connecting from and what you are connecting to, you will only connect to others through the mask of a false personality. Trying to navigate through the maze of two personalities to truly touch one another when you are not self-realized is impossible.

With awakening you are more engaged in life, you can take any growth technique or religious practice and make more rapid and on-going progress with it because you can bring to bear your own personal power of choice to be open and grow. In the success area of life, you can make real progress toward real goals, and actually be happy, because it is now the real you living your life.

It can turn a person on to truth and the actuality of that truth in day-to-day life. A person can discover that there is more to life than just gratifying the senses; that this whole business of life is not just some random occurrence with no direction or purpose. One can make these discoveries not as ideas but as living facts. Such discoveries fundamentally alter one's life.

When you realize that essentially we all want to be seen for who we truly and relate to others authentically, you will understand that just on a daily basis you living from your true self in real contact with others actually uplifts others.

As a side effect, people on the intensive people gain communication skills practicing the co-evolution technique almost without realizing it. Lack of real communication and real listening without evaluation or interruption causes the greatest suffering in life and on an Coming Home Retreat they can make significant gains in this ability just by participating in the retreat.

In the end however, the Coming Home Retreat has only one purpose: the realization of your true nature.
It has its own value because it is the fulfillment of life. That union with Truth, no matter how brief, is our purpose, and fulfilling that purpose is the greatest benefit gained from an enlightenment experience.
In short, after a Coming Home Retreat, participants commonly report feeling:
More authentic
Peace, contentment and lightness permeating their body
Totally embodied as if they have finally come home to themselves
Loving-kindness towards themselves and others
Greater self-acceptance
Psychologically whole
More inner strength and inner resolve
Freer to express themselves around others
Improved intuitive ability
Enhanced and balanced energy levels
Participants also commonly report having greater capacity to:
Be open and authentic in relationships
Persist and accomplish personal goals
Face and overcome problems and difficulties
Fully experience love, joy and happiness
Understand the deeper truths in traditional philosophy and religion
Naturally and honestly be themselves in relationships
Be assertive and communicate their needs
Find meaning, inspiration and insight in daily living
Make rapid progress in their personal and spiritual growth
A few of the many testimonials about the Coming Home Retreat

Had I not attended your Coming Home retreat back in the spring, I would not now have the unshakable strength of knowing deeply who and what I am which sustains me on a moment to moment basis in a quiet, steadfast, joyful way.  I don’t know why nor can I explain it but I continue to wake up happy every day, thankful every day and smiling at work even though I’m in an impossible situation.  Now that can only come from the direct experience I had at your retreat and without it, I’m sure I’d be discouraged, depressed, muddling through, cranky and grousing like everyone around me.  I have more energy now that I’ve ever had in my life, my husband has been unendingly and enormously supportive and understanding and life is good.  Tough, but good.  Sometimes life has to slam me up against the wall and let me deal with it so I can discover more of who I really am.  So thank you Russell for helping me to see the reality and beauty of life, how I am not separate from all life but am one with all life and how the Universe supports us on so many levels in so many subtle and very palpable ways.
Gail Buss Philadelphia

Having just completed my first Coming Home Intensive I am amazed at how the process used at the retreat can produce such a deep awakening experience, not just in myself, but in others who also attended the retreat. Before the retreat, I had no idea what to expect or what would happen, I just trusted that it was something I needed to do. And to my surprise, on the third day something did happen; there was an opening, a shift in consciousness, and everything became obvious. I came home. 
I am that infinite timeless space, the Watcher, the Supreme, the Absolute, the peace that passeth all understanding. That which cannot be named.
I now realize that what I have been searching for is already here, it has always been here, just waiting for me to notice. It surrounds me, is in me and expresses through me, the other and all things. It is the eternal ever-present.
Helen Simon - Mississauga

My biggest realization is that I have never been anywhere else but here.  I can now see that throughout my life, I have always been here. That I was never absent once, never alone from myself.  Even the awakenings, the peak experiences that I had, were just bigger demonstrations of my presence. But they were, you could say, just larger or more evident exhibits of My presence, perhaps more noticeable.  All along though, I just couldn’t see myself, which was extremely confusing even as my desire, longing and sheer drive to see my Self continued. Every experience, every relationship, every heart break, every disappointment, every love, every sunset, every teacher, every tree, flower and blade of grass, always pointed back to me; they have all been reminders and sign posts.  It’s taken me a long time, though, to recognize Me, to see Who they were pointing to.  This morning I was even grateful for the feeling of self-consciousness, because the feeling of self-consciousness points to the Self, to Me.  When I realized that I had always been here, in full view, never really lost, the most obvious and familiar thing to my entire life, I just started to laugh.  
Pat Parisi - Toronto

Hands down, THE BEST thing I ever did for myself. A little over 2 years ago, I was in a bad place 🥺. I felt like I lost myself and when I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t recognize the person staring back at me. I was desperate for something, anything, that would pull me out of the fog that had precipitated into my life with no signs of clearing any time soon. I needed to get away with myself. For 4.5 days, I embarked on a journey of self-rediscovery in a simple yet effective way. I came out of it connected to ME again. It was the best experience of my life. It is something one cannot EXPLAIN but can only be EXPERIENCED to truly grasp. This retreat set the tone for MAJOR transformation in my life. I am now stepping into the life I want to create for myself, I know who I am and the self-love and growth continues to expand daily. This experience WILL change your life. It is not religious and it is not listening to someone talk about concepts and theories. It involves participants going deep into themselves in a very caring and supportive environment. If anyone is feeling lost in life or is interested in spirituality, I highly recommend this retreat. That is how important this work is to humanity. Do something for yourself and go! You won’t regret it!
Janine Beamish - Oakville

I have found the practice of Coming Home to be an invaluable experience along the journey of discovery. I more or less stumbled on my first one, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. However, it has had a lasting effect on my daily life. I feel a greater sense of confidence, equanimity and, surprisingly…wonder. The methodology combines a form of Zen koan practice with Western relational psychology, though it is not aligned with any theoretical or philosophical school. The format is simple and demanding. To discover the truth of ourselves and of existence, we must necessarily move beyond the numerous and ingenious devices we employ to avoid its raw reality. For some people, the search for that truth is the only really meaningful activity of life. I would recommend the practice to anyone who falls into that category. When I emerged from the retreat . . .all of my worries  about the future and my resentments about past hurts seemed, in that moment, very small when compared to the vastness that is both what I am and the reality in which I participate.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer. From THE INVITATION(c) 1999 published by Harper San Francisco. All rights reserved. Edited and presented with permission of the author

I have now stepped fully into my Self and My Life. I continue to face fears and clear false beliefs (every day since the intensive!) but have such energy for this. I am now intimately acquainted with my personal power and strength. I AM that power and strength! I know how to take full responsibility for my life and this is a LIBERATION, not an arduous task. Everything I have ever lived has brought me to this point of true awakening. I feel such immense gratitude and feel my heart opening wider and wider. It's incredible, really. I can't believe how beautiful life is. There are no words.
Name any self-help book: I’ve read it. Any motivational speaker: I’ve heard them. Audio programs, MP3 downloads: I’ve listened to them. Yes, they contain incredible insights that point at the Truth but these cannot take you there. Only radical self-inquiry of your OWN Truth can take you there. The Coming Home Retreat was the only thing that took me there. It will change your life
Kathyrn Jefferies Phd Barrie - author of Awake Education for Enlightenment

Coming Home Retreat Leader
Russell Scott. is one of the new generations of "no dogma teachers" and the author of the best selling and award winning book: "Awaken the Guru in You". He has led over 300 retreats in Canada for the past 35 years. As a former owner of the Ecology Retreat Centre in Ontario, he pioneered programs in green building, sustainable living and spiritual awakening. He has guided 1000’s of people in his one-to-one and group programs break through past limitations so that they can walk in the beauty, honesty and magnificence of who they really are.His greatest joy in life is watching people fall off their seats in fits of laughter when they realize their true nature.
For more information about the Coming Home Retreat (the enlightenment intensive) contact Russell Scott at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.awakentheguruinyu.com

The Dyad Technique for Insight or Enlightenment

Position:
Two individuals, not involved in trying to straighten out their relationship, sit a comfortable distance apart, directly across from each other in chairs or on floor cushions.  They decide who will speak and listen first and what instruction(s) they each will work on, from the list of instructions provided.  It is not necessary that they work on the same instruction. The listener (or a facilitator) will operate a timer that chimes every five minutes

Step 1.
Instruction: The listener gives the speaker their instruction in the “Tell me” form eg. "Tell me who you are." "Tell me what life is," "Tell me a problem you are having”. The facilitator or listener starts the timer.

Step 2.
Reception: The speaker accepts the instruction and proceeds through steps 4 to 7

Step 3. 
Listening: While the speaker proceeds through the steps, the listener watches, listens and tries to understand, without interrupting, commenting, nodding, or evaluating in any way.

Step 4.
Object: The speaker first gets a real sense in the moment of the subject they are working on eg. self, life or a personal issue.

Step 5.
Intention: The speaker then intends to directly experience the truth of the subject they are working on.

Step 6.
Contemplation: While holding this intention, the speaker remains open to an experience of the truth of the subject they are inquiring into, and anything else that may occur in the mind, emotions, or body as a result of this intention, without filtering anything coming into conscious awareness.

Step 7.
Communication: The speaker then gets across to the listener whatever occurred as a result of contemplating, trying not to leave anything out or add in anything. The speaker tries to keep a balance between silent contemplation and communication. When the speaker completes their communication, they put their hand on their heart.

Step 8.
Acknowledgment: The listening partner then says "Thank you," acknowledging the speaker for his or her response to the original instruction. The listener goes back to Step 1 and gives the same instruction again or the next instruction in the series of instructions.

Change-over: When the five-minute timer sounds the roles reverse. The speaker becomes the listener and the listener becomes the speaker proceeding through Steps 1 - 9.

The total time of the dyad is 40 minutes, segmented into 8 - five minute periods of speaking and listening.

Agreements for an On-Line Session or In Person Retreat

 

Trust
Confidentiality – keep confidential what others say or do during and after the session or retreat.

Safety
Non-evaluation – avoid blaming, evaluating or criticizing other participants
Self-Reference – Use “I” statements and avoid referring to what others share
Non-interference - allow others to go through whatever they are experiencing without facilitating their process, ie. let go of giving advice and encouraging more sharing.

Focus
Non-distraction – avoid reading, writing, cell phone calls, drinks, food and e-mails not related to the session during the retreat (and on-screen time if on a Zoom )  Follow the guidelines for creating your space.
Gossip – maintain silence outside the dyads around family, friends, etc
Grounds – stay within the boundaries you have set if there is a walking contemplation.
Cross-talk – refrain from crosstalk during group together time.

Clarity
Food – eat moderately simple meals, prepared if possible, in advance.
Reduce coffee and smoking and avoid alcohol, recreational drugs, etc.
Abstinence- refrain from sexual activity

Effectiveness
Technique – set aside other techniques for the duration of the retreat or session.
Schedule – Follow the schedule and set-up instructions of the staff.
Bathroom – avoid bathroom breaks when a listening partner, sitting contemplation and lecture and take only as long as necessary
Humanity – Ask your questions, receive guidance, be okay about making innocent mistakes and avoid taking minor corrections personally

For information about a dyad retreat go to:
https://awakentheguruinyou.com/coming-home-to-your-true-self.html

For information on how to participate in a Dyad session or retreat e-mail:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Being in the present moment is a common intention now for many on the spiritual path. Many years ago Ram Dass wrote a book on this goal called “Be Here Now”. There are many other books on this subject, the most popular of which is Eckhart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now”. All these books extol the value of letting go of the past and the future and dwelling in the now. When we can do this, we always find the experience beautiful, expansive, peaceful, and wakeful.

But what do we do when the present moment is not so pleasant? 

Well one thing that doesn’t work, which I have heard many people do, is to blame ourselves for not being spiritual enough. eg. “There must be something wrong with me because I am feeling sad and I cannot stop thinking about ________ (insert the subject).”  Or we try to keep pushing aside the surfacing material by focusing on the breath or a mantra or whatever meditation technique we are using.

If we are not successful we just add frustration to our self-judgment. So what do we do when the past or future infiltrates the present and the monkey mind becomes the gorilla mind?

Here’s 3 options:

1. Self- Inquiry. 

• Drop the focus of your meditation technique and use the arising material as your focus.
• Sit with all the thoughts and sensations and switch to self-inquiry by noting all the sensations in your body eg. the location, shape, color, weight, mass. texture, etc, and the feelings: eg sadness, anger, fear, guilt, regret, grief, etc
• Begin asking the sensations and emotions questions like What is this all about? When did these begin? What happened then? What must I be thinking to feel this way? What is really true?  
• Go back and forth between sensing, feeling, and questioning until there is an insight about the material and you are feeling calmer. 

2. Surrender

•   Let go of your meditation technique and allow yourself to experience all the phenomena (emotions and sensations) that are stuck in you. To the best of your ability let the feelings in.
• Let the expression of the feelings happen: collapse and cry in sadness or grief, punch the air in anger, shake with fear. The feelings will reach a peak, subside, and then clear. You will feel washed and clean.
• New understandings almost always appear. Peacefulness will come to your mind later and you will be more able to dwell in the now.

 3. Get Help

• Instead of thinking that meditation will solve all your problems, seek out help in coaching, counseling, or psychotherapy.
• A short-term dose of help in  3 - 10 sessions can clear away, what years of meditation cannot accomplish. Then you will find you can drop the past and the future and show up more in the present.

Sometimes we need to get out of the now, for a short time to get back into the now.

If you need more information on getting help check out INsight Coaching (Clearing) 

and book a Free 40 minute Breakthrough session at the bottom of that page. 
(I offer 8 free sessions a month.)

If you are interested in learning more about applying the self-inquiry technique, attend the upcoming ClearMind - PureHeart   meditation, yoga, and sound healing retreat,

This is one of the meditation techniques you will learn.

About the Author:

Russell Scott is one of the new generation of "no dogma teachers". He is the former owner of the Ecology Retreat Centre in Ontario Canada where he pioneered programs in green building, sustainable living, permaculture and spirituality. He has led hundreds of self-inquiry retreats in Canada for the past 35 years. As a “self-realization guide” he has assisted 1000’s of people in his one-to-one and group programs break through past limitations and inner sabotage so that they can walk in the beauty, honesty and magnificence of their true nature. His greatest joy in life is watching people fall off their seats in fits of laughter when they realize who they really are.

• consciousness,
• the enlightenment intenisve
• enlightenment
• Self-acceptance,
• spirituality
• meditation
• self-inquiry

Awaken the Guru In You

 The spiritual seeker's guide to inner peace, self-acceptance
and who you really are

Luminations

When we gaze
Into the firmament of the night
There is an effect|
That only all stars can relate –
That in shining one to the other
Stars do themselves create
And in all the life that’s given
Light is just another form
Of love.

Russell Scott, 2001

PRAISE FOR AWAKEN THE GURU IN YOU

“Awaken The Guru In You offers a revolutionary, liberating process of self-inquiry for “guru avoidant” spiritual seekers wanting to accelerate their path of insight and awakening to the divine truth within themselves.” —Christy Whitman, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Having It All

“Russell Scott has walked a path deep, painful, funny, and above all, fruitful. His awakenings and insights pour forth from these pages. The simple approach of Co-evolution and the dozens of practical exercises in this book will set your inner process on fire, empower you and help you build an amazing life for yourself.”—Lawrence Noyes, author of The Enlightenment Intensive: The Power of Dyad Communication for Self-Realization

 “Awaken The Guru In You introduces a powerful technique called “The Co-evolution” process. In the 30 years I have known the author, I’ve witnessed its transformative healing effects in myself and hundreds of people. He shares illuminating insights into the character of many gurus (spiritual teachers). While many have great wisdom, Russell warns us that they are human beings who, all too often, fall victim to their ego and succumb to folly. In this book, Russell guides us in a very illuminating and often humorous and irreverent voice, to get in touch with our own inner Guru. Indeed, that is very wise advice!” —Terry J. Hodgkinson, author of Memoirs of a Wandering Ninja –Walking the Path of Enlightenment

“Awaken The Guru In You is a wonderful guide for people who wish to explore their consciousness. Russell’s retreats, his one-on-one sessions, and his book, all serve this purpose admirably. I have benefited greatly for several decades now, from the co-evolution technique described in this book. Rather than present any dogma or belief system, Russell guides people to find answers within themselves. I have found a deeper understanding of myself, and have become much more peaceful, calm, and at ease as a result. I heartily recommend this book to anyone pursuing their evolution.” —David Bryan,Chopra Center Certified Meditation Instructor, author, The 7 Principles of the Affluent Soul

Read more ...

Here's a powerful poem by Rob Brezny that is so appropriate to the times we are in right now.

My commentary on this poem is below the video. Click on the video to hear it.

Why I Relate So Much to "Painful Blessings"

When one first hears the term “painful blessings” one may be confused, thinking, “how is this possible that blessings can come from pain?” Is not a blessing something positive?” This is true, but upon examining my life and the lives of some others, I see it is often the case that something considered negative can produce something positive.

I knew a woman who was in two physically abusive relationships. She had the courage to leave these relationships and through counselling and coaching, regained her strength and self-esteem. She now helps other women exit from similar relationships.

I knew a man who after a failed marriage and business ended up on the street addicted to opioids and just about died. With a lot help through municipal social programs and counselling, he was able to recover and go back to college and is now working as an addiction’s counsellor.

These are examples of how a terrible suffering, when overcome, can become a mission in a person’s life. Not only is the suffering a blessing to oneself, but it is also a blessing to others who are experiencing a similar pain. It can turn into a deep calling, which gives meaning and purpose to life that previously lacked these.

Waking Up

The poem also refers to the concept of “waking up” which he suggests is a turnaround in a person’s life, when the person painfully sees the “illusion” of their path and actions in life. They see the stark destructive reality of the way their life actually is and decide to turn things around and move in a positive direction.

He applies this individual phenomenon of “waking-up” to us collectively, suggesting that we are waking up to the painful reality of “the masters of illusion and destruction…and their wars and tortures, their devils and borders, extinctions of species and brand-new diseases…”
When we look to the world it is not very hard to see what he is addressing. We have decades of examples:

• The tobacco industry denying cancer and heart disease caused by cigarette smoking
• The Catholic Church hiding the sexual abuse of young children by celibate priests 
• The oil Industry knowing for 20 years its contribution to climate change of the burning of fossil fuels and actively denying it
• The financial industry selling sub-prime mortgages knowing full well they were unsound
• The pharmaceutical companies promoting the use of opiate drugs like oxycontin completely cognizant of their high addictiveness
• The agriculture industry (GMO) promoting the use of glyphosate on GMO plants and hiding their research of its cancer causing effects
• Mining companies burying toxic mercury on or close to indigenous reserves and not disclosing this.

I am sure you can find many other examples of this. It is very clear that we have been lied to for many years by these big organizations and corporations. The poet refers to them as “well-dressed monsters”, in other words individuals or corporations that look respectable but in fact are predatory. 

The New Corporations

This aspect of these corporations is being starkly revealed in the New York Times best seller book “Winners Take All” by Anand Giridharadas and the recent documentary called “The New Corporation” that exposes the new strategy of the super-rich to rebrand themselves as good Samaritans, solving the world problems (which they in their business practices have created) all the while secretly accumulating more and more wealth and power.

The bad news is the painful recognition that the rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer. The reality is the main purpose is of a corporation is to make a profit, even if it means harming others, killing species and harming the planet.

Blame?

Some may say that we should not be blaming these individuals. Partly the problem may be that we may not understand what blame really is. The dictionary defines blame as: “to assign responsibility for a fault or wrong”. So, using this definition, in the case of sexual abuse by a priest, who is to blame if a priest convinces parents that their daughter should be sent to him for religious education and then he sexually abuses her. Blame in this case, is fully on the priest.

However, if the daughter told her parents what was happening, and they kept sending her to the priest they would be colluding in this deception and they would be partly responsible. So, the difference here is one of awareness.
If a person is told by a pharmaceutical company that an opiate is non-addictive and the company knows it is addictive and the person gets addicted and commits suicide, I would suggest the pharmaceutical company is to be held responsible or blameworthy.

And this is an example of a “Painful Blessing” that has actually occurred, where “key players in the nations opioid industry contributed over 65 million dollars since 1997” to non-profits to advocate the use of opioids even as the toll of addictions to the drug, grew. (Kitchener/Waterloo Record Dec 16, B3)

So, as we venture forth into the new year, there may be more and more painful recognitions that may be hard to see, acknowledging with unbelievable surprise the secretive tactics that certain “philanthro-capitalists” have been engaged in and the extent to which they have inflicted pain on others to accumulate more wealth and power.

The Power to Change the World

The good news according to the poet is that we are waking up to this, seeing beyond the “veil” of illusion and acknowledging that we have the power to change the world.

He suggests that this power, is more than physical, it could be a spiritual power, that is, a universal power of life and love, not based on self-interest like the “well-dressed monsters” but based on freedom, compassion, and justice. This power is even more profound when we embrace the perspective of “Pronoia” which to him means that “life is a conspiracy to liberate you from ignorance”.

In spite of the fact that there has been great suffering, we can use the suffering to wake up to what has caused our pain, gain wisdom and from that wisdom work towards creating the kind of world we want. It is a positive approach, akin to what an elderly friend once told me. “There’s nothing so bad it ain’t good for something”

We are seeing this now in the world with the death of George Floyd stimulating the Black Lives Matter movement, the election of politicians in the US promoting a fair minimum wage and the Green New Deal.

I love this poem because I see some of the pain I have personally experienced is now the source of great wisdom and I now see the concept of “Painful Blessings” occurring in the world.

This may not be the time of Revelations as described in the bible, but it may be the time of the great “Revealing”. Gloria Steinem once said “Know ye the truth and the truth will set you free, but first of all it will really piss you off”.
I see this as the challenge right now.

It is the challenge of being open to investigating and seeing what is really going on in the world, sorting truth from fiction, taking positive optimistic action, and avoiding being too consumed with anger while staying in touch with the love that life has for us and we have for it.

We can turn around and create a brand-new world.

Its time.

Russell Scott

Years ago, in my late 30’s, I worked in commission sales.

It was not in my temperament to be a salesman and consequently I hated my job. I did it only to make money to support my family. After 7 years in the business, I got to the point where every time I tried to make a cold call, the phone felt like a heavy brick. I could hardly pick it up.

For months, in the morning, I could barely get out of bed, feeling trapped.  One particularly difficult morning I decided to stay in bed. But instead of wallowing in despair, I decided to investigate the state I was in. I got curious

What was really going on here?

I let myself feel all the emotions of sadness, defeat, and hopelessness, but also tried to isolate what really was going on underneath the state I was in. After about two hours of just sitting in the morass of feeling and asking “What is the truth of this state?”, it suddenly dawned on me that underneath this condition was the thought “I will never get what I want”.

The Shift

I felt a slight lift in the heaviness when I hit that insight. I got even more curious and asked, “How do I know this thought is always true?”

Then I noticed the obvious.

There I was at the beginning of the day deciding I will never get what I want, and the day was not over yet. This did not make any logical sense.

I noticed two outstanding words “never” and “always”.

These were ultimate words describing a condition that was forever. So, I asked myself, “Is it always true that I will never get what I want?”  It immediately became clear that this belief was not forever.

As I looked at my life, I recalled that many times I had worked hard and achieved what I wanted and there were times I did not. The reality was that sometimes I got what I wanted, and sometimes I did not.

With that understanding suddenly I felt a lifting of the heavy state I was in, eclipsed by a new glimpse of optimism. I began to feel I could get what I wanted even though it could take time and I did not know how.

My life changed in that instant.

I decided to take a few clients in my coaching/clearing practice in my spare time, and six months later out of the blue, I was invited to work at a treatment centre and train as an addictions counsellor. It was work that I my soul yearned for.

An Exploration to Try

I tell this story l to inspire folks who feel stuck in a dark place in life. If this is the case for you, here’s a summary of an exploration to try.

• Let yourself feel the state of hopelessness you are in Ask yourself: “What must I believe to experience this?”
• Inquire: “Is this thought always true?” or “Will I never achieve this goal?”
• Look at exceptions to  the inevitability of the belief. “Were there times when this belief was not true?” Find some examples.
• Ask yourself “What is actually true?” and replace “never” and “always” in the statement of the belief, with “sometimes” and see how this feels.
• Find a few beliefs that are more realistic. E.g. “Sometimes I fail to get what I want, but when I fail I will learn what didn’t work, and use this awareness to refocus my direction to get what I want”
• When you feel a shift into a more optimistic state, it is a positive indicator that you are moving in the right direction.

Be patient and observe the change occurring in your circumstances. Opportunities you never planned, may come your way. Take advantage of them. In many ways, outer circumstances reflect inner beliefs.

If you try out these steps and they work. Let me know. Send me your report. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Be You To Fullness

Russell Scott

www.awakentheguruinyou.com

Decades ago, Louise L Hay wrote a best-selling book called, You Can Heal Your Life, on using affirmations to improve your life. She had specific positive statements to relieve almost every mental. emotional and physical condition. Admittedly the book has helped lots of people to take a more positive approach to personal challenges. It has assisted millions of people but its promise for a cure-all panacea has fallen short.

For some these affirmations have worked remarkably well and for others they have not. Why is this?

Conceive - Believe - Achieve

Well here is my take on why sometimes affirmations do not work. Let me refer to one of the first bibles of success psychology Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. He proposes a simple mantra for attainment: “What you can conceive and can believe you can achieve”. In other words, if you have a well-defined goal and are confident you can attain it then you can reach it.

Examining this statement is the key to where our use of affirmations can breakdown. If a person has a clear goal and articulates it in the form of an affirmation, for example “I have a new job in a small wonderful advertising firm where I am fulfilled and financially prosperous by January 2021” and they repeat this over and over again, they have taken the right first step. But then for some reason the opposite happens. They get fired from their old job, must give up their apartment and live with their parents.

The good luck they were hoping for turns to bad. They take the defeat personally and berate themselves concluding there is something wrong with themselves because they could not get the affirmations to work when they read about so many success stories in the book.

What has happened here?

There is a breakdown in the second step. In their hopeless situation of a terrible job, they were affirming a goal they did not consciously believe they could achieve. Their subconscious mind, which responds more to feeling, felt the opposite (I cannot get what I want). As a result, the negative belief is what got enhanced and the situation that was attracted was consistent with the negative subconscious belief.

Lack of belief was the problem.

If that is the case, what is the solution?

Two Solutions

There are two solutions to this:

Solution 1.

Create an affirmation you can believe in by thinking of an intermediate goal that you know you can accomplish, that moves you towards the larger goal. Then affirm that, for example: “By the end of this week, I have made an appointment with a career counsellor.”

When you have reached that goal, then create another goal for your next step. As you experience success achieving the smaller goals you will develop a belief that you can reach the larger goal. Then you can start affirming the larger goal.

Solution 2

On a file card write this affirmation and fill in the blanks: “I am finding my way to _____________ (insert larger goal) by ____________(date). Say this over and over to yourself several times a day.

This a great affirmation because almost anyone can believe they are finding their way and it can be applied to any goal. It is universal.

Then when situations or people in your life appear to help you or give direction, explore the possibilities. You will find that the path to your goal starts to open up and as a result you will develop more confidence that you can achieve your desires.

I have used this statement many times for many years and it has helped get me through the darkest times of my life. It is an amazingly simple technique and magical in its effectiveness. (The good thing is you don’t need to buy a whole book of affirmations.)

Try these out and see how they work.

This is a basic understanding of how to get affirmations to work.

If you are interested in learning to more effectively apply these techniques come to the ClearMind - PureHeart meditation retreat  at the Ecology Retreat Centre.

In addition you will learn powerful meditation skills that will supercharge your ability to create what you want in your life. Sound like a good thing?

Check out the information at: CLEAR/MIND - PURE/HEART

Be you to fullness
Russell Scott
www.awakentheguruinyou.com

In May of 2020, I celebrated my 70th birthday.

It was a puzzling experience. I never knew what I was supposed to be like when I turned 70.  When I was in my 20’s I considered a 70-year-old, as an “old foggie” not with it, decrepit and behind the times.

Yet now that I am 70, I probably feel much more aware, worldly, and astute then I was at 20. Oddly, I still feel young inside, in fact not much older than 40 except when I gaze in the mirror and gasp “who the hell is that” thinking that aliens have replaced my body with a wrinkly one with chicken neck, when I had my “beauty sleep”.

But the reality is that turning 70 was a milestone. I am grateful to have arrived here and still be alive, maybe with less hair on my head, but with a lot more sober wisdom.  

However, for some my age, I have observed that the milestone is more like a millstone. It is as if the heavy weight of life experience is hanging around their necks, dragging behind as they walk. I see some stooped over weighted-down, with a deep chiseled facial scowl exuding an attitude of cold hard criticalness, angrily holding onto that milestone unable to let it go.

To be honest I even see younger folks in this same state – the state of persistent bitterness about life.

And you know what, I completely understand how this can happen. Life is certainly not easy. It is a darn hard struggle, often full of suffering, pain, disappointment, and trauma. I must confess I too have spent my time in this prison, cursing god for inventing this ridiculous thing called life.  It is the biggest who wants it energy drain product around.

So, it is understandable some of us get so bitter.

Why We Become Bitter

I was pondering this condition, the other day in a self-inquiry process (that is part of my Circle of True Friends support group for people that have done my workshops) and an important insight suddenly dawned on me:

“People become bitter when they don’t realize what they have gained from difficult experiences”.

This really hit me as being true but I wasn’t sure, so I thought I’d test this out.

I began to examine some of my tribulations in life, asking myself what I possibly gained from them. I saw that:

• I got involved with a certain individual because I did not follow my intuition and now, I have learned to listen to that still small voice within.
• When I went through that dark night of the soul, I gained the ability to find the strength and resilience in myself. Now that inner strength helps me more easily get through any difficulty in the future.
• I came to hate a sales job so that I could get really clear on what I did not want to do so that when my true calling appeared, I could recognize it.
• When a person hurt me, instead of collapsing, I learned to get up off the ground and say, “no more”. Now I can speak my truth with a solid voice with less fear.
• When I said a hurtful comment to someone and they were hurt, I understood how important it is not to respond in reactivity but to consider my words carefully and compassionately before I speak. I now treat people better (and consequently they treat me better).

Remarkably, when I viewed my suffering asking “what did I gain from this” I noticed a shift.

Integration

The bitterness related to those experiences and people dissipated and magically morphed into gratefulness.

As this happened, I was reminded of an insight someone shared on one of my workshops. “Life is like school only we get the test first and then the lesson”. Such a great piece of wisdom.

I do not know about you, but I think when we experience pain and do not see the lesson that is when we get bitter. The pain lingers in experience and the experience is not complete until we recognize the gain from the pain.

When we do, an integration occurs: that which we feel has brought us down paradoxically, lifts us up. We become wiser and improve our ability to live in life. We find meaning in our hardships.

Neat stuff eh? Who was it again that invented this thing called life?

So, I guess the next time I look in the mirror, feeling a bit bitter about whoever/whatever, I am going to thank every one of those wrinkles that have come from my suffering, for the gifts they have given me. I will take off that millstone to grind up the sharp stones on my path into some nice smooth sand.

Be you to fullness

Russell Scott
www.awakentheguruinyou.com

I had a dream where I pretended to be
Mr Potato Head with all his accessories.
I was given in happiness to a family
But joy soon turned to tragedy.

Their mischievous children just played with my face
Leaving my features all over the place.
I just wanted to look pleasant but that didn’t work
Cause they were only laughing when I looked like a jerk.

I kept changing myself so I could be accepted
But no matter what I did, I wasn’t respected.
So it got to the point where there was nothing else
But to try to get back to being myself. 

And it occurred to me that the self that I sought
Could only be found by letting go of what I’m not.

So I took off my feet and I couldn’t walk
Took off my mouth and I couldn't talk
Took off my ears and I couldn't hear
Took off my eyebrows and I couldn’t lear
Took off my nose and I couldn’t breathe
Took off my moustache and I couldn’t sneeze
Took off my eyes and I couldn’t view
Took off my arms and I couldn’t do
Took off my legs and I couldn’t kneel
And when I let go of my torso, suddenly... I felt more real.

I was surprised at myself that I was still there
With all of my parts strewn everywhere.
So I asked myself. “Now who am I?”
And out of the blue came a simple reply:

“The one I’m asking for, is the askee.
That one that is left, is just me being me!
And I jumped up and down full of glee,
Free of being anyone particularly
With the great mystery
Solved
So Obviously

Russell Scott

www.awakentheguruinyou.com