Dear Friend

It’s a different kind of Letter this week!

This week we’re shaking things up a bit. I’m going to share with you a post I wrote in social media since our last Letter, and the reactions from friends that arose from my original post. 

I think the anecdotes and experiences we share with each other are super important, and here’s why.

In my work as a teacher of teachers, I have always felt it’s my job to inspire my students to really raise the bar in their own self-worth by becoming aware of, and then learning to trust, their own instincts, intuition, innate intelligence, and—most especially—their own experiences.

It’s my perspective that developing trust and self-worth in ourselves as unique intelligent human beings is suppressed in us during our years of anti-human schooling.

That very schooling ‘taught’ us to believe in the power and efficacy of external authority, and to entrust our wellbeing to a whole variety of experts out there in the society.

But not to trust ourselves. External authority rules, our own inner authority all but blocked from even taking seed.

Yet, those very ‘experts’ out there went to the same schools as we did.

The schooling does everything to dissuade children from expressing themselves, and, again, this blocks us from building confidence and belief in ourselves and our abilities to do things. Children are not allowed to DO anything in the classroom!

Humankind, to a large extent, has outsourced its own innate intelligence, and become the blind leading the blind.

I have met, chatted to, and taught thousands of people from dozens of countries, of all ages and from all walks of life. Wherever I am—in my classroom, at home, on my travels—I find people seem to feel comfortable in telling me their stories, expressing themselves, and sharing their perspectives.

It’s because I’m a very good listener (attentive, with compassion, keep my counsel, seen as trustworthy), and I know that I’m a good listener because I teach my teacher students how to be good listeners, and how to teach others in the listening skill. A teacher who has poor listening skills is not a good teacher at all. Same for any kind of leader, including all parents.

In the classroom I create an environment that supports and promotes emotional wellbeing for all members of the group (including me), and then everybody can and will flourish, realising they can speak without being shot down, negatively judged, or told they are wrong or a fool.

Confidence soars, courage to speak arrives, and anxiety is nowhere to be found.

Listening is the primary, most important human skill, but our schooling blocked us from developing our ability in it. This is a disaster, and is the reason behind probably all the conflict and perpetual human civil war in our world.

And if we have poor listening skills, then it’s impossible to have good speaking skills.

And so it is that we have little trust or confidence in ourselves. If our own experience in our own life runs counter to what the ‘expert’ says, then we tend to believe the expert and assume we could not discern our own experience properly. Furthermore, and I’ve seen it countless times, the society expert often rubbishes our personal experiences if they do not fit with the way they think the world is.

This is not conducive to living with wellness, to living in harmony with joy, fun, peace, love and understanding.

We are not getting precisely what it is we want, and which is our birthright. Humankind has turned its back on its own intelligence of both mind and heart!

Which is why we have to develop trust in ourselves. And urgently so.

When we trust ourselves we can now trust others, and when a human being feels trusted they open up, they talk, they share, they laugh, they have fun, they feel joy, connection, kinship, camaraderie.

Listen to experts as fellow human beings sharing their own life experiences, yes, but be wary of experts speaking as self-promoted experts!

So, with all that in mind, whenever I express myself (because I trust myself) I get the opportunity to hear the reactions from friends, students, family, whoever. Then I have the chance to compare perspectives, and to learn things for myself, to gain a clearer understanding.

So, let me share my post from last week, and the reactions of friends as they shared their experiences. What you’ll be reading are the actual understandings fellow human beings are describing from their own lived-out experiences. This is action research using the scientific protocol:

• observe something (and then I express it to others)

• replicate it (hear what others have to say, does it corroborate my experience, or counter it?)

• verify it to be true, likely to be true, not true, or yet to properly find out.

In this way, by practising expressing ourselves and attentively respectfully listening to others, we learn about life and cultivate our own inner authority.

And that, good friend, is your freedom right there! Inner authority gives rise to inner peace, joy, motivation, understanding, fun and love. It leads to our health, harmony and happiness. It activates our human essence. We thrive.

Spirituality is Sweeter than Sugar

A Reading Activity

Because of the nature of the following reading passage, it lends itself very well to a typical reading skills activity I use in my classroom. Therefore I’m going to ask you to treat it as such!

The following tasks are all designed to guide you into maximising your intake from the reading.

So, follow the tasks and let them guide you in your reading experience.

Pre-Reading Task

Here is your before-you-read task, to connect you with your own understandings.

As usual, please find your notebook and write your thoughts down: the process of writing makes us slow down and think about things, thereby adding to the development of our own inner authority.

1. What do you know about sugar? How much of it do you eat?

2. What does spirituality mean to you right here right now? Not the dictionary definition, your own conception and understanding of spirituality. And if you’re not sure, then you have a lot of company!

3. What dietary changes have you actually made to your eating habits since these Letters began? Have you noticed any benefits? If you haven’t made any changes yet, when do you think you will start?!

When you’ve done the task, read the Reading #1 Task and then begin your reading.

Reading #1 Task

Read just my original post first, and then in your notebook write down a reply to my post, based on what thoughts it triggers in you. Once you’ve written your reply, then read my friends’ replies and see how your reply compares to theirs.

(Not that my friends have anything to hide (!), but I’ll just use their initial letter here.)

My original post:

“How do you know if you are living spiritually or not? What does this strange word even mean?!

Living spiritually means being connected to your heart and soul. But what does THAT mean?!

Easy.

It means you care about your own health and wellbeing and that of all of life out there on our Planet Earth.

It means you are ever-evolving in your understanding of life, of yourself, and of the interconnected nature of it all.

It means you live by this credo:

Cause no harm, accept no shit.

If you do all that, or are learning how to get it all into your life, then you are a bona fide 'Spiritual Warrior', and your world will be most happy to have you acting on its behalf.”

So, before you read on, now write down your own reply to my post in your notebook. Once you’ve done that, read the rest of the exchange and compare your reply to the other replies.

T replies to my original post:

“Perfectly said... I’ve never classed myself as spiritual but the last 12 months I have had this overwhelming feeling of peace and calmness.... Coincidentally since I stopped eating animals and their food, and all other poisons such as medication, coffee, sugar, processed food to name a few and since I stopped accepting shit. I have found this love for my body, mind and soul that has never been there before and I love myself totally now, where as before I changed my lifestyle I was all sorts of messed up....I see colours brighter than ever, I smell flowers that I never knew were there, I hear animals that are too small for me to see and I feel energies and vibrations that show me the way. I have more confidence in myself than I ever have. I have a long way to go but I know this path is my truth and I know that nothing can stop me now”

My reply to T:

“Fantastic to read! I would say it's a journey that we keep on for the rest of our life once started. You have reminded me about my heightened sensory perceptions, which obviously became the new norm for me. Nice to get the reminder! I've had sweet cakes before where the sugar content is really noticeable and feels like a drug or something! The average sugar consumption of Americans is 1 kg each week every week. Mine is virtually zero!”

T replies:

“Yes it is nice to be reminded of things we have forgotten, I have forgotten so much already but it's always a surprise to feel it again..... As a rule I don't consume any sugar unless it's naturally in my food but when I went to Turkey last year I ate some cake and honestly I can't tell you the affect it had on me, it was like being on an instant drug high, I said I'm not having another one but the next day I had 2 and then 3.... The last 2 days of my holiday I was violently ill and my body rejecting it like that confirmed to me that sugar is a no go area and I've stuck to it”

J posts:

“Great comments, guys. Yes, a good diet has so much to do with this way of life and I can relate so much to the positive effects that a healthy diet has on the ability to keep ones' senses open to all the great wonders of life. Refined sugar, especially, is a common one that most people don't recognise as being bad. Another is alcohol, although I never really indulged anyway. Changing my diet and cutting out almost all unhealthy foods has been a game-changer for me. I can think more clearly and am glad to join you both in your gratefulness for everything around us. Our world is truly wonderful.”

M replies to T:

“Lovely comment T, and yes the higher we go the more we see.

Eg I had a reiki student who pointed to a rainbow stag picture and said I love your new picture when it had been on the wall all the time she visited - it’s always been there.

Reiki opened her perception and peripheral vision - amazing”

My reply to T:

“T, one time I had to buy a different loaf of bread, but still using unrefined grains. They were big slices, and then I looked at the ingredients at home (normally i do this in the shop), and it worked out that by eating two slices of this bread I was eating about 4 teaspoons of sugar! I know they use it in Thai cooking, but i eat mostly at home these days. But yes, it's worst in these cakes, and depending on where one is, it could easily be high fructose corn syrup made from GM corn. It couldn't get worse, but this is in so many foods sold in American supermarkets, perhaps UK ones now, don't know.”

T replies to J:

“J, I have a very limited lifestyle now.... 80% fruit and the rest is nuts, seeds, leafy greens and vegetables which are mostly raw and I only drink bottled water or herbal tea.... The things I have learnt about the food industry makes sure that I don't consume it, I can't put my body or mind through that anymore. I've actually cleared up a 21 year old medicated mental illness by living like this. It's a very lonely world though because of the way we have all been educated. I have this dream that if enough people change the way they eat then one day everyone will do the same this world will become as beautiful as it was intended to be for everybody.... We have fed the pharmaceutical and food industries for far too long.”

T replies to M:

“M, that must of been a beautiful experience for her. I love reiki.... I believe it was my diet that woke me up to the world but I knew this was trying to do something to me spiritually but didn't know how what those feelings were because I've never been able to switch my brain off so wanting to meditate was really confusing. I went to have a reiki session and she told me my spirituality was bursting to get out and this just made me cry because as soon as she said it something was released and here we are it's just getting stronger by the day..... I practice at level one so now I enjoy the feelings and releases I can do for myself.... My world is such a very different place.”

T replies to me:

“Phil, Arrrrr yes fructose corn syrup has mislead a lot of people hasn't it, or so I hear.... Its terrible that they can put the word fructose in the title and people think it's healthy. They put large amounts of refined sugars in almost everything don't they, it's an awful industry, they make everything as addictive as possible to keep us sick so then we feed the pharmaceutical industry too.”

My reply to T:

“T, one documentary I watched in my research showed how the big food corporations employ people who carry the title 'Craveability Expert', or something like that, whose job is to create tastes that we become addicted to... think something like Pringles or certain donuts or certain ice-creams - they all have an optimal mix of sugar and fat, and both are refined. Yes, I always check ingredients and nearly always give anything with sugar in it a miss.”

J replies to T:

“I couldn't agree with you more and am so glad to hear that your lifestyle changes have had such a profound effect on your health . I shop around to source the best, fresh food that I can get (which is quite difficult where I live, but I do the best I can). Yes, we need to stop giving our money to the mass-produced convenience food and pharma companies and get back to basic, fresh foods, whenever and however we can.”

T replies to J:

“J, I find it difficult too as I'm not close to any fresh farmers markets and have to rely on the local supermarket which isn't ideal but I just think whatever I'm doing today is 100 times better than what I was doing this time last year and that's what counts for me.”

J replies to T:

“Absolutely T, that's how I look at it. Yes, I could probably source even better food, but I also have to factor in convenience and go with the best available. It's so difficult at times. I visit many shops, which takes up a lot of time, but the benefits justify the effort. Keep doing what you're doing. It only gets better. I'm about six years down the line, now. and I'd never go back.”

T replies to J:

“J, that sounds like you're doing a great job at 6 yrs.... I'm only 14 months on my journey but yeah I agree with you, I'd never go back.”

Meanwhile in a separate thread within the whole communication J comments:

“Great post, Phil. The best thing about living spiritually is that when we are, we know we are and everything evolves naturally. Personally, I wouldn't want to live any differently. Thank you, mate. It was you who introduced me to this way of living and I've never looked back.”

My reply to J

“J, I didn't know that mate! And you're right, when we live this way we have awareness of it. I always think of awareness as the #1 tool for human beings to evolve themselves instead of staying stuck as we were programmed to do.”

J replies to me:

“Yes, mate. I am and will be forever grateful to you for showing me this way of living, both physically and consciously. I just hope that more people will realise and take positive action.”

Reading #2 Task

Now read through the exchanges again.

This time we’re looking for specific information from the text: for each of T, J, M, and myself, write down in your notebook what personal experiences and insights they share relating to:

• spirituality and what it means to them

• sugar and any other unhealthy foods

• ways in which they have improved their own life, and how they feel about it.

Does what they say resonate with your own experiences? What kind of inspiration do you take away from reading what they all communicated with each other?

Post-Reading Task

This is an exercise in reflection, and reflective thinking. Think about the questions and write down your thoughts. One question is about the content, the other question about the reading activity and reading tasks.

Q1: From what you have read in today’s Letter, and by reflecting upon what you have learned in your own life so far, what connection do you think there is between eating a healthy diet and spiritual living? What is a healthy diet, and what is spiritual living?

Q2: In what ways did all the reading tasks add to your reading experience? How did the Reading #2 task and reading it again add to your overall learning experience from reading the passage? Do you think reading something informative and insightful a second time gives you more benefit from the reading?

Weekly Task for Letter #8

This follows on from the reading tasks.

Your task is to do some of your own investigations and research into sugar, in particular all the refined sugars and their substitutes the food corporations have come up with in their constant effort to keep us from seeing clearly.

Try as best you can to determine how much sugar you eat on average per week. We are talking refined sugar, which is pretty much all sugar except that sticky demerara sugar. Consider:

• how many teaspoons of sugar you add yourself, for example to tea or coffee or on cereal

• how much sugar there is in foods you eat with listed ingredients

• and not forgetting snacks which are often the worst culprits

• and how much sugar there is in any drinks you buy; bear in mind that many fizzy drinks are packed full of sugars or equally unhealthy alternatives to sugar, for example high fructose corn syrup.

Undoubtedly, even in a sea of conflicting information when it comes to food and nutrition, refined sugars are definitely not good to be eating.

Having worked out an approximate amount of sugar you eat per day and per week, think how you can dramatically reduce your sugar consumption. Make a plan, action the plan, stop feeding your future diabetes or cancer!

Do some research or chat to friends and find out what alternatives there are to cakes and snacks loaded with sugar. I mean what foods can you eat or make which are healthy and will satisfy your sweet tooth?

We have no space for it in this Letter, but do not confuse all sugars to be the same. The white refined sugar has had all its nutrients stripped from it during the refining process. This is in stark contrast to the natural sugars found in fruits, which are healthy sugars!

Weekly Health Tip

To live spiritually we must develop the power of observation - of the world out there and of the world inside our own skin. This is our ‘direct learning’ experience, and is putting our innate intelligence into action.

One of the most useful things we can observe is our own feelings and thoughts. They arise in reaction to triggers out there in the world, either around us or in the media we consume, or they arise in reaction to our sudden memories of past events, situations, happenings.

Practise consciously developing your powers of observation and self-observation, and you will become more and more spiritual in our daily living.

Spiritual?

Haha, as in the Letter above! But simply put: taking care of your health and life, and wanting to do the same for all of life. Learn the tools, tips, techniques and strategies to do this. Observing is one of the very best tools.

Word of the Week

exercise

What thoughts and feelings does this word trigger in you?!

We will be investigating next week how we can put exercise into our life, regardless of how busy one is, or what kind of home one lives in, whether in an urban or country setting. I have a special approach to doing exercise which I will be sharing in next week’s Letter.

Sentence of the Week

“Use it or lose it, abuse it and you lose it.’

What does this mean to you when ‘it’ refers to your body or mind?

What does it mean when you think of other things in life that could be ‘it’?

I will give you my thoughts next week which will be a Letter tackling that bete noir of so many of us human beings: doing exercise! However, I have some crafty methods which make it all so much doable for you.

Finally

Please expect a separate email from me during the week. It’s not a Letter, but it’s me fishing for some quick feedback from you as to how the Letters have been for you so far.

Meanwhile I bid you a healthy and happy upcoming week!

Philip

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