This Week's Personal Development Video Seminar - "What Other People Think of You"

In the recent past, economic conditions have led to many people losing their jobs and many more people feeling exposed and fearful.   But the reality is that no job is secure – never was.   Over the fourteen years that I’ve been working with clients, I could safely say that a good third of them lost their jobs – not as a result of economic conditions, not as a result of redundancy – but as a result of sheer bloody mindedness, people playing with other people’s lives.

Whether it’s a CEO who happens to be the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time or top management who were toyed with by a psychopathic CEO, it doesn’t matter – one should never make the assumption that anything is going to last.

What those who have been exposed to the whims of others – or economic conditions – have learned is that everything arises and passes away.   They may have learned it the hard way but, when one realises this fundamental truth – that everything is passing – one suddenly learns one of the most important lessons that any of us can learn as we go through life.   The here and now is what’s important – one can only take this particular moment for granted.  In realising the paramount importance of the here and now, one is liberated from all the ties that hold normal people back – the useless thoughts that we worry about and the subconscious preconceptions we have about our strengths and weaknesses.   These are illusions that are fuelled by the treadmill of normal living and the general, normal assumption that life will continue in the normal way.   An assumption that has been rocked for many over the last eighteen months.  And, in seeing their security and certainty vanish before their very eyes, very few learn the important lesson that I’ve talked of above.  Many feel victimised, some feel angry – most struggle with what could be an incredible and empowering learning experience. 

Never, ever, assume that you can count on the “security” of anything or anyone.   If you give anything or anyone the power to make you happy, by definition, you give them the power to make you unhappy – you relinquish your own personal sovereignty, you become attached to positions, things and people in a world and universe where everything is in a constant state of flux and change.  Take nothing or nobody for granted.   Rather, you need to become detached, needing nothing or nobody to make you whole.   Need nothing, need nobody – prefer to have your very best life, with the very best people around you – but don’t make their presence a condition of your own happiness.

As I’ve already said, your world, our universe is in a constant state of flux – the one thing you can be certain of is uncertainty.  And, yet, people look for certainty and security – often the bizarrest of places – in their job (which could be gone tomorrow), in their friends (one knows one’s friends when the job and fancy car are gone), in their loved ones (who are often the greatest source of irritation) and in money (which never, of itself, made anyone either happy or secure).

There is no certainty, there is no security – in fact, there is no universe from one moment to the next – there is no constant you or me.   Our energy, in conjunction with universal energy, vibrates in and out of existence – it’s doing so as you read these words.  That constant state of flux means that we can continually remake our lives, remake our opportunities, remake our world.  It means that, given the incredible opportunity of losing your job, you can make your life what you want it to be.   In talking with an extraordinary group of managers recently, all of whom are working for a business that has been taken over, none of whom can assume that they will have a job in six weeks’ time, they concluded that their predicament was a godsend – that, all too often in life, outside events compel us to make the bold moves that we should have made ourselves, without needing to be brought to an apparent precipice.

You make your own world, you make your own security, moment to moment, you in conjunction with what quantum physicists call the underlying entity that orchestrates the energy of the universe.  You’re your own master – the sooner you realise that, the better.  You are the only person – the only person – who can control your own mind and, therefore, your own energy.  Outside events, traumatic events like losing your job, don’t control your mind – it is you who decide how to act, or, unfortunately, as most normal people do, react and make matters worse.  You are in control – the choice is yours.

How to make that choice?  First of all, you need to realise that this is not a once in a lifetime choice, it’s a moment to moment choice, because life and the manifestation of the universe are moment to moment.   Secondly, you can only make that choice if you’ve the presence of mind to make it.  That means that you have to re-train you mind to be clear and present (I say “re-train” because we all were clear and present minded when we were children – so it comes naturally).   This is “mental fitness” training that you have to do every day.   In my experience, the best mental fitness workout is meditation – there are many forms, find one that suits both your “self” and your schedule.  Many misunderstand meditation – approach it with an open mind.  And, if you meditate already and you’re still not clear and present – then you need to refresh your perceptions and practices.  Either way, a fit, clear and present mind will make the very most of whatever day to day living throws at us..