When any person makes the sincere inner decision to change their lives, they start to run into new obstacles that were previously unseen and buried deep inside themselves. They know they have to move but lack the understanding and knowledge (the mind tools) to make the necessary changes. They run into many blockages, but through impartial self-observation, they figure out what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right.
This is the path, The Royal Road they may have read about in a right book earlier in life. Realizing they have been wasting their lives in delusion and imagination, they get to work. They make big and small discoveries. They decide they must keep walking and seeing new things about themselves. Vernon Howard’s quote: “Now is New” brings on new meaning, even though they may continue to flip back and forth between discouragement and cheerfulness. They study, observe, and experiment with their discouragement. This puts a new light on ‘the Self.’ After long, hard work, they see themselves traveling, moving away from discouragement. They don’t evade their discouragement anymore but use it to grow. They catch themselves smiling more, which seems really strange to their discouraged self. Hooray, they are breaking free of the nonsense of discouragement. They realize the real meaning or purpose of life is to develop inwardly and reach new heights inside themselves. Wanting a richer life, they attract new circumstances; everything begins to change. There is no top to the spiritual mountain; it keeps going up.
As you continue to walk away from yourself, you are also walking toward who you really are: a calm, sane, relaxed, pleasant human who doesn’t hurt himself and, therefore, doesn’t hurt others. Success Without Stress hosts Skype classes ( https://successwithoutstress.us/online-vernon-howard-classes-on-skype/) four times each week where you can hear a Vernon Howard Audio Talk and also hear from other students telling and reporting about their personal experiences while walking the path. Very helpful and informative on your journey. Traveling from discouragement to cheerfulness is the reward.
Years and years ago, I remember reading an anonymous quote in an old tattered book at the public library that went something like this: “Life is a bridge. A bridge from time to eternity, therefore cross over the bridge and don’t build your home upon it.” Something in me responded deeply for we all sense the emptiness of society’s goals and
propaganda and it became a favorite. Keeping a clear mind on planet earth is so important. We have to live in society, but not give our whole lives to it. God loves an individual. Keep your sacred part for yourself.
I love the Vernon Howard quote “Now is New”. In the NOW there is no “me” , just Being. I rarely live in the NOW, mostly in the past and future of the limited mind, suffering endlessly. . Anything this world has to offer is an illusion. I have spent a lifetime of choosing one illusion over another to come to nothing that has given lasting happiness. But, though Vernon Howard’s exercises I get tastes of the NOW and feel the potential to live in the permanent presence of cheerfulness beyond the mind.
Yes, Glenda, with continued work on ourselves in yearning and seeking this something else, “newness in the now,” after long hard work, we begin to notice the tides beginning to change in our favor. This experience is very personal and can only be shared in a very limited way. We all have to go alone. Seeking this something else, even if we experience flop after flop in our attempts, is just fine, for they are all in the past now, and we seek the Now. Vernon’s quote, “The Higher Life exists, which can be seen if we look up,” says it all. All my flops can be backtracked to me not looking up. Wow, this subject of “Now is New” is very inspiring and freeing. Becoming a more conscious human is a noble aim that delivers new rewards. We all must throw off our imaginary selves and continue the climb up.
Even a flop is a special thing for the small amount of sincerity within it. Please God help me to flop more at a faster rate to make more progress.
Vernon said in recent talks ‘Only timelessness can heal’ and ‘Twenty million years from now is right now and in this room’. My efforts to find something new in this world are not wasted if I fully realise their futility and investigate ‘Now is New’.
Yes Leo. Instead of running away from problems, turn around and question them to find out there is no problem. Only muddled thinking which created a problem. There is no self with a problem, just a thought self thinking about another thought problem. The solution is wake up to this self trick. The mind loves to go in circles, step off the merry-go-round (the not so merry-go-round).