So whats did we learn from our trip around America .

Well A LOT. But i shall keep it brief and to the point and hope you find the message in it thats for you.

1) It reminded me that every moment we live can be a life change experiment if we want it to be. (you dont have to go roaming the globe)

2) It reminded me the power of a change of scenery to give you new perspective

3) It reminded me that my fears, plans and worries are about as useful as the opinion of an amoeba on a flea on a dog in Africa.

3) It reminded me that sadly most people are still on a hamster wheel, trying to earn their way to happiness. But happily there are also many living to the beat of their own drum. Not caught up in the illusion of ‘more’.

5 It reminded me that,

• Inner peace is found in effortlessness not struggle
• That trials are usually gifts not our enemy
• That happiness is an acceptance not a pursuit
• That enlightenment is a losing not a gaining
• That purpose is now not later
• That our pains are generally caused by underlying pleasures
• That the feeling of fear is only as real as you say it is
• That life IS the destination and you cant get it wrong.

We definitely came back with an expanded sense of peace and purpose that we had never experienced before.

So at the moment Bessie and I are watching with curiosity as a new path emerges for us as things we never could have conceived of become possibilities in our life.

Over the next week or so we will fill in the details. But the lifechangeexperiment continues. This time hopefully to give others the chance of a new life we found for ourselves.

Imgine living for 10 years in a loin cloth , with no possessions. Living in a cave eating only the most basic of vegtables. No bed or comforts. Praying, fasting, meditating and doing yoga all day.

Well weirdly enough when i rolled out of my van yesterday morning i literally ran into a guy who had done just this.

We had the most profound discussion about the meaning of life. He had taken many ‘sacred’ practices to their extreme and come to the interesting conclusion…. For all his sacrifice, discipline and sincere devoted practices to become more spiritual he couldn’t help noticing that the more he did the stronger the little voice of ‘pride’ inside reminding how ‘good’ and ‘devoted’ he was.

He just couldn’t escape the self!  So he came to the conclusion it is not the ‘having’  but the, ‘not holding’ that truly counts

REACHING GODS OUTER POSTCODE

Also was lucky enough to speak to someone who’s profound experience changed their whole life. They now live off the land. Eating the wild vegetation in the San Fran area and spend their life entirely devoted to helping others. WHY?

He told me of a profound Ayahuasca experience he had years ago. (an ancient ritual involving fasting and drinking a ‘sacred’ herbal hallucinogenic).

He described it as bringing him to what he called the ‘outer postcode’ of ‘gods presence’.  He said the feeling of unworthiness and love was so mind blowingly strong it scared the daylights out of him, and in that moment he knew he never wanted to be in that presence again without knowing he had given every last drop of life in service. WOW interesting stuff!

SAN FRAN FUN

Spent some time at fishermans wharf soaking in the San Fran Sights. This place is Awesome and has a really great energy. Kind of a cross of all the good parts of Sydney and Melbourne.

Also spent visited the Muir Woods – 1000 year old giant trees on sacred Indian ground. STUNNING

TARGET PRACTICE

Woke up last night by the cops banging on the van.

When i stepped out to the glare of 2 police cars they informed me that the quiet little hill i had picked to spend the night on (to give us a good view of the stars) was the local shooting gallery for the ‘good ol boys’ in the area.  Apparently they shoot up the hill from over a mile a way in some cases, just for the hell of it!……The cops said they almost had a heart attack when they saw our van sitting there with a great big eagle painted on the side!!! …..GULP!

NEW MORMON MATES

Ran into two beautiful Morman girls who gave us a tour of the Morman complex in Salt Lake City. They also were kind enough to put up with my endless questioning. The complex was spectacular and the girls passion and enthusiasm for their belief  refreshing.

BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS REVELATION

I was most excited to discover that the road i had picked ran straight through the Bonneville Salt Flats – The place they world speed records. If you have ever seen the worlds fastest Indian you know the spot.

BlueBelle Makes friends with a Wooley Mammoth - We couldnt get her away from this thing. Maybe we have a budding  paleontologist on our hands

BIG DRIVE – HUGE REALISATION

It hit us both quite unexpected. A huge change within. From an intense seeking to a deep peace. What changed??

Well driving through some of the most incredible scenery on the planet. Strewn with history, snow and beauty certainly played its part.

And having time, as we drove mile after mile, to really process all the incredible insights we have collected over the last two years.

So the experiment has taken on quite a different feel. Not at all like the first one. In one  sense the end of a chapter, but in another, as if our life is just about to begin. Either way we can both feel the excitement of possibility with every mile we travel and we cant wait to see what pops out of the either over the next few weeks.

(Over the weeks ill be blogging about the key insights that have effected such a big change)

LEND A HELPING HORSE

We stopped of at an amazing place that actually use horses to help people. Like equine shrinks.

Troubled adults and kids, abusers and the abused are all sent there as part of a course to rehabilitate.

Working with the horses. Learning to trust and be trusted by them seems to work wonders, and has changed the lives of thousands.

So next time you need a shrink save some money and talk to a horse

THE GIRLS AT A HOT SPA in STEAM BOAT

SO AMAZING

I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful the scenery has been.  Combined with the geological data we have been learning, the dinosaur fossils and history of the area and the quaint little towns, this part of America truly is Gods own country.

We both finally almost understand the American zeal for freedom and country. (almost haha)

It was the most INCREDIBLE drive over the Rockies. We have also run into some fascinating people over the last week. Including a guy who turned his sizable back yard into a veggie patch to feed the homeless and a family that live in a cave and live entirely off the land.

BEING IN THE NOW…….NOW!!!

Trying to be in the now is something most ‘aware’ people think about. But the truth is. ………..Try to NOT be in the now?? Its impossible.

Watching the miles go by as i drove i noticed no matter how hard i tried the road coming towards me could never be more than the road going behind me in the read mirror.

I watched this effect for miles on our travel and realised just how completely STUCK in the now we really are. Time, emotions, thoughts literally passing through us . I realised how fruitless it is to struggle ‘trying’ to push or pull life. Or worse still wasting time ‘wanting’ .

This was an amazingly freeing realisation.

Next time your in the car notice the perfectly balanced flow of  life coming and going through your awareness, and become aware of how absolutely nothing needs to change to be exactly who you are, where you are NOW!

BLUEBELLE JOINS THE NRMA

One thing being on the road gives you is time to reflect and plenty of other peoples stories to digest.

It seems everybody has a story, and seeing how that story has affected that persons life got me thinking about mine.

Recently a wise person told me ‘You are the cork in your own bottle holding in the living’ and that CORK is often OUR STORY. Who we are, or are not, what we can, or cant do, whats holding us back or preventing us from growing.

To be honest i experienced quite a slump this trip i just couldn’t shake. It seemed no matter how great a time we had i couldn’t fully enjoy it.  Until i realised it was the story i was telling myself about how this trip should be and what i expected from myself and others.

So this xmas im resigned to PULL OUT ALL THE CORKS and see what life looks like when the bubbles on the inside are allowed to escape without judgment or a story to keep them in.

Its an INCREDIBLE thought. What would life look like if you JUST DROPPED YOUR STORY!!

JOSHUA TREE National park Where we woke up this morning _ USE THE SCROLL AT BOTTOM OF PAGE TO SEE FULL PIC.

Did any of you see the full eclipse of the moon last night ? WOW it was dark!

REAL WILD WEST TOWN – With a story

We swung by Oatman. The rickety old wild west hamlet that Clark Gabel chose to spend his wedding night at. The old mining pub (he sayed in) is totally covered top to bottom with around $70,000 signed dollar notes.  Miners used to sign a dollar and pin it behind the bar so when they went broke they always had enough for a beer. The tradition caught on.

Oh but sir i should love to go to the dance

CRAZY WEATHER : Pic left taken out of Starbucks window as i wrote yesterday blog…………. ITs Crazy how much the temp can change just a few hundrend miles down the road.

We are back in T-shirst and flip flops after a wet and foggy trip along route 66 stopping off at some landmark Cafe’s

HITCH HICKING FOR PEACE:=Picked up a hitchiker we saw on the road yesteray. His bike had broken so we gave him a lift to the nearest civilization.

IT turns out Chris was cycling around the world ‘for peace’.

He got fed up with reading self help books and living the high life. So he gave away much of his stuff and hit the road to raise awareness and do a little soulo cleansing on the road.

How bizzare is it that the one person we stop for is doing a similar thing to us

Anyway you can look him up on http://www.facebook.com/pedalingforpeace

WHEN THE VIEW AINT SO UPLIFTING :- Sometimes meditation just aint glamorous haha

Must admit when we were in the canyons , meditating amongst them made me feel like I was sitting with very wise , very ancient very still old men. Sure beat a truck stop.

We ran into these amazing dinosaur footprints way out in Navajo Indian land. It was increadible to actually touch the footprint of a Trex. You could see nails and skin indentations and all.

There were lots of other dino footprints in what used to be a mud pit. AMAZING!!

ENCOUNTER WITH A MYSTERY SCHOOL MASTER

Drinking hot chocolate trying to keep warm we met a tiny serene little lady called Lubi (one of the nickname we give to BlueBelle). Turns out she was, ‘a master practitioner of one of the original 7 Mystery schools, dating back to King Solomon’.(so she said)

It was such a strange chance meeting that I couldn’t resist sitting in for a session with her to find out more.

Much of it was  ’secret’ so i was unable to film , but she promised it would change my state of mind, release negative energy i had stored up and power up lots of good stuff.

How do i feel? Well strangely enough I do feel like i have a fresher state of mind. So lets hope it stays that way. As for all the other promised upsides???   We shall see  Either way it was interesting to lean more about another persons beliefs and passion.

BLEAK INDIAN LANDS

The land out here is really harsh. Talk about the wild west. In Tuba City, part of the Navajo nation there is not much to see but dust and makeshift houses. Many still choose to live with no  water and electricity but we spent some time with some wonderful people and got to learn a lot about the heart of the indian comunity

STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPEND!!! Probably!

When was the last time you were driving along and got pulled over by an ex Nassa communications scientist who went from atheist to trans-gender Priestess of the Temple of Cybele, after a series of vision, and wants to share a message with you?   Not recently??

Wow life is interesting.

Anyway we had a great chat. She was REALLY fascinating. Turns out her ‘philosophy’ goes to great lengths to research with legitimate historians and anthropologists the original matriarchal roots of the most ancient of religions before, as she put it, ‘the war gods’ infiltrated our culture (referring to Yahweh (the Christian god) and Allah)

Anyway it was all very interesting. And strange in a good way (You can learn more of the history of the first religions and the birth of the order here www.cybele2.com )

BACK THROUGH THE GOOD VIBES

We swung back through Sedona on the scenic route on our way to ‘Injun teritory’ – and stopped off to give the rocks a little love before we headed North

BELIEVE IT OR NOT – People come here to UFO spot and even if they dont find little green men, they will see something just as rare, strange and green. A GREEN MCDONALDS !! The only one in the world!

60 TIPS FOR A STUNNINGLY GREAT LIFE

Coming up to a new year i found this great post and thought it worth reposting

Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a live half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips:

1. Exercise daily.

2. Get serious about gratitude.

3. See your work as a craft.

4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst.

5. Keep a journal.

6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”.

7. Plan a schedule for your week.

8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life.

9. Say no to distractions.

10. Drink a lot of water.

11. Improve your work every single day.

12. Get a mentor.

13. Hire a coach.

14. Get up at 5 am each day.

15. Eat less food.

16. Find more heroes.

17. Be a hero to someone.

18. Smile at strangers.

19. Be the most ethical person you know.

20. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence.

21. Savor life’s simplest pleasures.

22. Save 10% of your income each month.

23. Spend time at art galleries.

24. Walk in the woods.

25. Write thank you letters to those who’ve helped you.

26. Forgive those who’ve wronged you.

27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades.

28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love.

29. Have 5 great friends.

30. Become stunningly polite.

31. Unplug your TV.

32. Sell your TV.

33. Read daily.

34. Avoid the news.

35. Be content with what you have.

36. Pursue your dreams.

37. Be authentic.

38. Be passionate.

39. Say sorry when you know you should.

40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another.

41. Have a vision for your life.

42. Know your strengths.

43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack.

44. Be patient.

45. Don’t give up.

46. Clean up your messes.

47. Use impeccable words.

48. Travel more.

49. Read “As You Think”.

50. Honor your parents.

51. Tip taxi drivers well.

52. Be a great teammate.

53. Give no energy to critics.

54. Spent time in the mountains.

55. Know your top 5 values.

56. Shift from being busy to achieving results.

57. Innovate and iterate.

58. Speak less. Listen more.

59. Be the best person you know.

60. Make your life matter.

Borrowed from http://www.robinsharma.com/blog/12/60-tips-for-a-stunningly-great-life/