Finding the Guru Within

Ours is a world in turmoil.

Technologically, we are moving ahead at light speed, with advances in robotics and holography, while individually, not much has changed! Still we look for our answers outside ourselves, from outside sources which we have misguidedly determined to be our ‘source’ of solace and happiness. Whether it is within our personal and primary relationships, or within our professional realms or even within our own bodies, we have given our power away to others whom we have mistakenly believed as being the source of the happiness that we so desperately seek.

Finding The Guru Within reminds us that we will not find happiness from outside ourselves. It tells us that while the material world of the Human Consciousness can assist and support us with our growth during our earthly sojourn, it cannot deliver us to fulfillment.  As the Dalai Lama states, “You will never find happiness through materialism!”  

Why?

Because the happiness we seek and so deserve, has its sources ‘within’ us, in the form of what I call the ‘GURU WITHIN’!

Let me explain…

As newborns, we arrive here pre-encoded with everything we need to live a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life. It’s not until we are older that we forget this and begin to look to the outside world for our support. When this fails to deliver the fulfillment we seek that,  we become confused as to why life, despite our success, feels burdensome, meaningless and even empty. It is as if in all the activity, a key piece of the puzzle has gone missing.

This book is about going inward to find that missing piece and reclaim our happiness.  It’s about learning that we all have an inner GPS – our built in inner guidance system - which is customized to our journey and never outdates. It is part of a universal truth that transcends all belief systems, and once activated, empowers us to become liberated and free from all that which burdens us.

When we override our Inner GPS and run alternate Ego based programs, our suffering begins. Things go sideways as we become misdirected and lost. We get caught up in ongoing disappointments, pain, suffering and negativity, as we unsuccessfully search for our solutions from outside ourselves. Imagine an astronaut in outer space who is wearing a specially designed and equipped space suit which has everything they need for their journey built in, yet they do not partake of its support. That is what for so many of us life becomes like - floating around lost in space, searching for guidance which was always available from within.

The trap of following Ego based programs is at one level, they create a surface success. They do get us from Point A to Point B, making us feel that we are on track in our lives and do not require guidance or assistance to see the forest for the trees. Successful people will tell me that they do not need my assistance. They have a successful business, a hundred million dollars in the bank, so why would they invest valuable time when there is money to be made?  Why could I offer them that they don’t already have?

I always begin by acknowledging their worldly success and accomplishments. These are important within the Human Consciousness and are part of what we are here to learn through. I also invite them to consider that worldy success do NOT automatically guarantee fulfillment; that they mustn’t allow their Egos to convince them otherwise, lest they end up like the majority of their fellow human beings – feeling cheated by life’s promises and filled with regrets. And most often, it’s just too late to change things.

Bonnie Ware, an inspirational speaker and the author of the best-selling memoir, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying – A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, was a palliative nurse for many years and interviewed people in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," Bonnie says, "common themes surfaced again and again.

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

(Bronnie Ware Regrets of the Dying)

Note what the men who were interviewed during this study answered when they were asked the question, What is your biggest regret? To a man, they all responded ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.’ So many of us know that, but the madness continues, because the ego-based GPS system becomes our way of thinking - I’m building my next six houses and I’ve already got buyers. I don’t have time to talk to you about why I have to have six glasses of wine every night to be able to go to relax or go to sleep, or why my weight is skyrocketing. I can afford the wine, that’s why I have it. There are so many ways we justify our behaviour even in the face of it being harmful.

Finding The Guru Within is a collection or a repository of a lifetime of direct experience, exploration, insight and integration of what I have discovered are universal truths that meet our needs as human beings on this planet. The book is about how to live life from a centered and grounded space, how to live a life which allows us to flow and create with clarity and enthusiasm and how not to get caught up in the negatives which seem to be inevitable in everyday living. It explores how fear, worry, doubt and pessimism can actually be minimized within our daily lives and our thoughts. It is really a sharing of insights which can help us to navigate the very complex situations within our families, relationships, situations that we find ourselves within at work, which can sometimes be stormy and confusing. The approach of this book is to simply help us to challenge our own thinking and to challenge ourselves in terms of how we perceive life and challenge our own thoughts in that we need to know whether how we think today is serving us today, that how outdated our thoughts and ways of being and acting may have been outdated just like a program.

For the most part, human beings are in denial that we behave this way. We don’t hold ourselves accountable to improve the quality of our lives and many of us play the blame game. It’s always someone else’s or something else’s fault. There is no way out of this mess, there is only a way to get through, and that is by accepting complete accountability and responsibility for our own lives. The way through is by finding and connecting with the Guru within.

We go sideways because we take on society’s expectations - of material success and burn ourselves out while selling our souls. Most of us are in denial that we are doing this, and, where it has the greatest impact in our lives, is within ourselves and our own behaviors. We have abdicated a key quality to improving the quality of our lives and that missing quality is accountability. We have this mess in which we are buried in many aspects of our lives.

There is one way out, and it’s not really out, it’s through. That way is by becoming accountable, and completely responsible for our own lives. That way is through the Guru within.