So, learn to drop your ego. Strive to live without your ego. Expose what’s under there and don’t be afraid to share your vulnerability with the world. Drop into your heart and then beam your heart-shine out to all those around you.
Be open! Move people around you with your openness. Let’s make heart-shine the new norm, let’s collectively drop the ego.
An open heart is powerful. It prizes other hearts open. It beams, it inspires, it affects, it touches, it melts egos and it gives other people permission to be open too. It’s amazing how much you can shift the energy of a space or situation just by being open.
Warrior practice
For this practice, essentially, you need to start practising staying open in your life, and living from your heart, rather than from your ego.
One way you can do this is to try looking into people’s eyes when you pass them in a shop or in the street. Rather than obeying the instinctive urge to look down or avert your gaze elsewhere, catch that urge and look them in the eyes instead.
I don’t mean stare at them in a rude or uncomfortable way, but just for you to acknowledge that person with your eyes rather than avoid them. Tell them with your eyes, ‘I see you’. It doesn’t need to be anything other than that. Just an acknowledgement.
This simple gesture can be surprisingly powerful. So many people feel overlooked in life and ‘seeing’ each other in this way is powerful because we all want to be seen. This is what people the world over are yearning for – to be seen, and to be heard. So, be the ‘seer’.
The more of us that start dropping our defensive egos and start becoming our authentic, vulnerable ‘heart-selves’ in everyday life, the more amazing and faster this planet is going to evolve. I feel it coming.
5. LET STILLNESS BE YOUR FRIEND
The ability to be still and centred, in a world that is anything but, is a powerful skill to master. People who know how to be still emanate a certain peace. They are that rare person who sits on the tube in the middle of London’s rush hour with a peaceful and knowing smile on their face. They are the very same person who will offer their seat up on that tube – for someone with a greater need for it. They are that person who will nod you a hello, even though they don’t know you. Why? Because they are present.
When we are still – we are calm. When we are calm we can make healthier, more mindful decisions. We can think about the other – not just the self.
The ability to see beyond just the self, to be present for others, to be in service in your life is a beautiful thing.
It’s not an effort to be in service, it’s just naturally what happens when you drop into being more still in your life. There is a natural overflowing towards other people. You start to spread good vibes wherever you go: on the bus, on the train, on the tube, walking down the street – everywhere!
Your inner stillness naturally changes the world around you. People can’t help but feel it, see it, hear it, smell it and taste it. All their senses are aroused by your stillness, they just don’t always realize where this ‘nice vibe’ is coming from. It’s a great attitude to carry, to wield. It takes practice, it takes willpower, but, man, is it worth finding!
The world is crying out for people to be more still. So, go seek out your stillness…
Warrior practice
When you wake up in the morning, see if you can break that pattern of rushing straight into your day. Catch the urge to turn your phone on to check your emails and messages. Don’t do it. Instead, see if you can feel your stillness.
Practise starting each day in stillness. Take a few minutes to be still rather than charging headlong into your day. And whenever you feel like you are in need of a moment of calm during the day, take one. In your busy working day, stop and take a minute to be still – at your desk or stepping outside for a moment – when things are starting to go too fast.
Watch how your life starts to change as a result, in ways you couldn’t previously even imagine...
Start to practise living your life from this place of stillness rather than from your ‘rushy’ place. Yes, it takes some practice but, yes, it is also very possible. And it heaps rewards upon you of a most awesome kind.
6. TAME YOUR MIND – WITH MEDITATION
Sit.
Quietly.
Mellow down.
Let all the thoughts in your mind settle.
Our thoughts can feel like snowflakes in a globe that have been shaken around for too long – that’s just life. Any tool that can help us stay calm and chilled in this busy age has got to be a valuable thing. And one of the most amazing and effective tools for coping with the modern world is… meditation.
To meditate is to develop one’s awareness of the present moment – something that is hugely beneficial, as we have already discussed. Meditation is a brilliant spiritual tool for dropping the mind and becoming still.
And it is through meditation that I have learned the most enlightened, mother-of-all Buddha secrets, which is:
What we’re all searching for is in fact already here!
Right here, right now, and available to each one of us. All our endless, frantic searching for happiness seems a bit bonkers when we realize that all we really need is already here. This is what meditation is about. It’s about developing a practice of just being ‘here’, in the present moment. It’s about stilling the mental chatter, dropping into the present moment, observing the breath and slowing it right down.
Once all our thoughts have settled we are able to access the simple deep peace that lies beneath our thoughts. This is our natural state of being.
And the more you practise this, the more a calm, meditative mind-state will become the norm for you.
It requires some discipline – a warrior has a routine. Mine is yoga first thing in the morning and meditation last thing before bed. That works for me. You might want to try meditation first thing in the morning, as that seems to work for a lot of people. When you use these, you’ll find how powerful and completely life-changing they are.
Warrior practice
This is a meditation practice and it comes in two parts. Stage one is a beginners’ meditation – great for anyone who is new to this – and stage two is a more advanced practice for people who wish to extend their exploration of meditation and try out something a little more cosmic. Trust me, it’s worth it!
Stage one
Find a space where you won’t be disturbed for half an hour or so – somewhere nice and quiet. Be creative and determined in making it a space that works for you.
Sit comfortably on a chair or the floor, back straight, relaxed but alert.
Light a candle and place it in front of you, roughly at eye level.
Look at the candle, focusing your eyes upon the top of the flame – its white tip. See how pure it is. How steady.
Keep your attention on the flame, beginning to notice how your mind is starting to become a bit ‘quieter’. Feel your breathing slowing right down.
Feel yourself relaxing.
Keep your eyes on the flame. See your mind like the flame: pure, light, quiet.
Imagine the flame inside your mind purifying any negative or unnecessary thoughts. Feel your breathing slowing down even more.