What is Seeking to Emerge

10/10/14

Last night I attended an evening of networking called, ‘Getting To The Future First,’ for the purpose of promoting of an adventure to the arctic with a group of unstoppable change-makers all wanting to improve the world.

Surrounded by stylish dark suits, high heels, short skirts, champagne flowing and delicious canapés, in one of the most stylish venues in the city I found myself asking; “What exactly am I doing here?”

I had been invited to many of these events before as I had promoted this adventure on my radio show. The evening was hosted by a wonderful entrepreneur who has a mission to bring together like-minded individuals with money and means to have an adventure in the arctic and a conversation around how to best make a difference in the world.

One of the questions asked to the audience that night was… “We all have brilliance inside us, so what is seeking to emerge?” We were then asked to mingle and meet people who could help bring out the best and most innovative parts of ourselves which lay dormant within.

A panel of business experts was seated in the centre of the room and we were invited to asked questions. One of the questions asked was; “Who is happier, the Dalai Lama or the rich entrepreneur & business person?” This was met with, ” please keep the questions about business,” by the MC. A question worth answering, I thought…

I love meeting new people who have a mission to make a difference in the world. Amongst the suits, the heels, the tight dresses and the egos enjoying the free drinks and food while vying for the next big break and the right person to meet who will help their success. Extraordinary people were there to be met, but the pull to get back to another extraordinary person who I’d met on the street outside as I made my way through the city centre, was overriding my desire to stay. You see I had made a promise to him I would come back after I had attended the meeting. And I was itching to fulfil my promise.

James was crouched over on bended knee face down on the pavement holding an old styrofoam cup above his head with a few twenty cent pieces in it. The sight of him lying there in the gutter overwhelmed me as I walked down Martin Place in the city rush hour. People were buzzing all around him scurrying to their next destination, so many in a hurry, just as I was.

I stopped to watch the passing parade ignoring this sad posture of a man curled up on the pavement. They stepped around him seemingly blind the his plight. I have been witness to many beggars, homeless and street people before, but the sight of his emptiness and despair was something I could not ignore. My heart went out to him and the voice in my head said; ‘you can not walk past his cry for help.’

I crouch down beside him and placed my hand on his back, but he didn’t move. So I said in a small quiet voice, Can I help you? He looked up at me with sad beautiful blue eyes filled with tears. He was in true despair as his body language had revealed, and he started to cry at my suggestion to help him.

A young man, just 30 but looking much younger, he was covered in dirt, bruised, scarred and smelt of old smoke. He shook his head and threw his hands up in the air as if to say, ‘it is hopeless.’ He then told me his sad and sorry story of misery and woe.

He was married with children, but one child had died. His wife had left him for someone else, he had lost his job as a concretor because of his damaged knee and had been diagnosed with cancer. Not to mention the many years of drug and physical abuse. He told me there was no hope and no one could help him, not the government agencies who are there to help people like him, not centerlink, not the homeless shelters, no one.

I asked him if lying amidst the busy rush hour of the city begging was the solution to his problems. He said No

So I helped him up and we made our way to a bench to have a talk. As soon as we did another homeless man placed himself in his spot on the gutter.

“look at that guy, James said to me, ” he stole my spot and the money he makes tonight he will use for his drug habit”

Even though James told me all was hopeless, I could see he had a glimmer of hope in his sad blue eyes, and so I charted my conversation around wanting to reveal this to him and move him from his place of despair.

You have light in your eyes, I told him, I can see a future waiting for you to belong to.” He looked at me as if I was the only person who had ever said these words to him, but still in his despair, he could not hear my words and continued to tell me more of his horrific history.

We sat for about 20 minutes as I listen to him. He was eager to talk, to have an ear to hear him. This was not a solution to his plight, but it helped to know someone wanted to listen. I asked him to find some better thoughts and a more positive story, something he understood but could not do as he continued to allow the avalanche of bad news about his life consume him.

I had nothing to give him really, money was not the solution, as so many of us think it is, and he knew this too.

He once had a life to be proud of, a wife, children, a job, but this had all disappeared and his thoughts only centered around all the wrongs in his life, as he continued to repeat his sad tale to me.

In my attempt to help him, I asked him if he could find a better story and tell it to me on my return from my event. I know he couldn’t, but this gave him something to think about as he searched the boundaries of his mind. He said he would try, so I left him there on the bench with his thoughts and a tiny glimmer of hope that someone cared enough to talk to him, and promise to return to hear more of what he had to say. I wonder if he thought.. she will not come back?

When I emerged from my stylish event, I found him back in his ‘spot’ on the pavement, but this time sitting up rolling a cigarette. He looked up at me as I approached, not surprised or pleased, just numb, completely void of expression and joy.

He said he didn’t even have enough money to buy more tobacco for his rollies. “Give them up.” I said, ‘no one can afford to smoke these days!” he agreed, but I am sure his smoking was one of the last pleasures he afforded himself.

Come on, I said, let me get you dinner and a place to stay.

“We can get something to eat up there,” he said pointing up Martin place. So we headed up to the charity vans where volunteers were giving out sandwiches, snacks and hot drinks.

I called a few mens boarding houses, cheap hotels, charities and homeless centers looking for a bed for him for the night or the week, but many were full and the others wanted credentials and ID from him, which he didn’t have. They were not prepared to give him a bed without it. He was happy to go back to his little spot on the street where he had left the rest of his gear and stay there for the night, he told me. It was home to him, for now.

Again I felt I couldn’t offer him much in the way of physical comfort, but a few words to give him some mental comfort, was something I could provide.

We sat on the bench while he drank his coffee and talked about his plight. Again, a barrage of negative stories about his life, his hates and upsets about other people and how they live a terrible life, continued to dominate his conversation.

His focus on all the things that were going wrong in his life and in the life of people around him, was completely hindering his ability to see his potential for change and a better life, and hiding the gifts and light that is seeking to be revealed.

I told him stories of hope, about people who had been drug addicts all their lives, but had found peace and comfort and got off the drugs to lead productive lives. About other homeless people who had discovered talents they didn’t know they had and got off the streets. I told him stories from my life about how I overcame sickness, pain, grief and sorrow.

I asked him what he liked, and if he could dream, what would be his dream. I asked him what he was good at, what was his favorite thing. He couldn’t find anything he liked, or was good at, he was on a roll and the momentum of his words was getting greater and greater as he continued to relay the pain of his life. One negative thought attracting and creating the next..

He said it was too hard to find a positive thought, as he continued to be bombarded with a barrage of negative ones.

Hard yes, but not impossible, I reminded him. And free!

It doesn’t cost a thing to look for a better feeling thought, and the physical rewards are so much greater than we can ever imagine.

There is Magic in changing the way we think and feel, and this magic only takes a little bit of effort to focus in a different way. Changing our circumstances can happen in a heartbeat, when we take the time to change the stories we tell ourselves about what is not working in our lives.

I told him about law of attraction and how when we focus on all our problems, we invite more of them into our lives. He understood this and agreed that he was the reason he was in the state he was in.

Then he said he was bashed and kicked recently. Once again I challenged him to find something better to think about and told him another story of my daughter, who while suffering heartbreak from a recent break up, was being abused from people in shops and cafes for seemingly no reason. As she was telling me this on the phone one day, she stopped mid sentence as she realised the abuse she was receiving was a vibrational match to the way she had been feeling about the breakup, and as she came to this conclusion, she said to me. ” I really have to change my vibration to a better feeling, don’t I?”

He understood this and started to look into his own life, at how bad things had happened to him when he was in a bad feeling place.

After what seemed like hours of conversation, I challenged him to get some paper and a pen and start to write about positive things he sees and likes. I gave him a few examples..” I like the wind on my face, I like the colour of that shirt, I like the bustle of the big city, I like to taste of my tobacco…. I like… I like … I like… I appreciate, I’m grateful for…

“Can you find SOMETHING to like James? I challenged him again. Can you find ANYTHING to be grateful for? I said.

I am grateful I met you, he said…

Hallelujah we have a break through!!! I thought.

Anything else?… what about these beautiful people who leave their homes and families each night to come out into the cold and the wind and serve people food. People who go out of their way to help others in need for no money or payment.

“Yes Yes!” he said as he looked at them with grateful eyes. “I am very grateful for them. I am grateful for many people who have tried to help me”, he said. The tide was turning, his demeanor was changing and James’s Brilliance was starting to emerge.

I left James with some money, which he tried to refuse, some hope he was not hopeless and the challenge to write in a book of positive aspects. He promised me he would get a pad and pen and start to write.

How well do you think he’ll do? Will he fulfil his promise to me and write? Will he find some peace of mind and start to emerge from his dark corner of the world. I guess this story will continue as I seek him out to see how he is doing.

But James’s story is a common one. We do not have to be down and at and homeless to do what he was doing with his powerful focus and vibration. He had been doing this for long enough, his vibration was manifesting as his physical reality.

We all do it, like attracts like and thoughts attract thoughts. I sometimes find myself getting on a roll, as I worry or get upset at the unjust behavior of others, but I know I can pull myself out of it and find the light again by stopping my negative thoughts as I make the effort to find a better feeling thought. It only takes One to start the roll and another to get the momentum going. When we do, we start a new journey of returning to our joy again, and as we find it, law of attraction will continue the roll because our positive thoughts attract more positive thoughts. When we find ourselves standing in the light once more, we will find Anything is Possible!

Helping others is one of the best ways I know to help ourselves. If you are feeling down and out, use your powerful focusing skills and find a better feeling thought, then go out and find yourself a James to talk to.

Let me know how you go and let me know what emerges from them and what you discover about yourself …