Life Trove
A celebration of treasured moments
2 September 2001
1 September 2001
16 August 2001
4 August 2001
Neale Donald Walsch and "Conversations with God"
With his "Conversations with God" series of books, Neale Donald Walsch transformed my conception of God. He also introduced me to the concept of life being God's experience. His first book was bought for me by Rosemarie Saunders, a moment of synchronicity. I read it in The Himalayas while hiking The Annapurna Circuit. I also immersed myself in his books while on holiday in Barbados.
His books I read
Some favourite quotes
- It is the purpose of your soul to announce and declare, to be and to express, to experience and to fulfil Who You Really Are. And who is that? Whoever you say you are! Your life lived is your declaration. Your choices define you. Every act is an act of self-definition.
- The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself but creating yourself anew. Seek therefore not to find out Who You Are but determine Who You Want to Be.
- You are always and forever in the moment of pure creation. The point of life therefore is to create—who and what you are, and then to experience that.
- You do not live each day to discover what it holds for you, but to create it. You are creating your reality every minute.
- My moments of awakening can come at any time, and through any person. These are my moments of grace, when clarity and wisdom, love and understanding, guidance and insight are brought to me and through me. My life has been created to bring me just such moments. That is why I do whatever it takes – meditate, exercise, pray, read, write, listen to music, whatever I find works – to ignite my awareness daily.
- You cannot create a thing—not a thought, an object, an event—no experience of any kind—which is outside of God’s plan. For God’s plan is for you to create anything—everything—whatever you want.
- I truly want what you truly want—nothing different and nothing more. Don’t you see that is My greatest gift to you?
- If there is some aspect of creation you find you do not enjoy, bless it and simply change it. Choose again. Call forth a new reality. Think a new thought. Say a new word. Do a new thing.
- Your job on Earth, therefore, is not to learn (because you already know), but to remember Who You Are. And to remember who everyone else is.
- You think of yourselves as humans searching for a spiritual awakening, when in fact you are spiritual beings attempting to cope with a human awakening. Seeing yourselves from the perspective of the spirit within will help you to remember why you came here and what you came here to do.
- Your soul doesn’t care what it does for a living – and when your life is over, neither will you. Your souls cares only about what you’re being while you’re doing whatever you’re doing. It is a state of beingness the soul is after, not a state of doingness.
- In creating “something else” – namely the realm of the relative – we have produced an environment in which we may choose to be God, rather than simply be told that we are God, in which we may experience our Godness as an act of creation, rather than conceptualisation, in which the little candle in the sun – the littlest soul – can know itself as the light.
- We are all God, Godding – experiencing Our Self through the experiencing of Our parts. We are God expressing Our Self.
- My purpose in creating you, My spiritual offspring, was for Me to know myself as God. I have no way to do that save through you. Thus, it can be said that My purpose for you is that You should know yourself as Me.
- You cannot experience that Which You Are in the absence of that which you are not. Therefore, know that when you experience that which you are not, it is not a failure to experience but a way to experience That Which You Are.
- The parable of the soul and the sun: There was once a soul who knew itself to be the light. This was a new soul, and so, anxious for experience. “I am the light,” it said. “I am the light.” Yet all the knowing of it and the all the saying of it could not substitute for the experience of it. For in the realm from which this little soul emerged, there was nothing BUT the light. Every soul was magnificent, and shone with the brilliance of My awesome light. And so the little soul in question was as a candle in the sun. In the midst of the grandest light, of which it was a part, it could not see itself, nor experience itself as Who It Really Is. Now it came to pass that this soul yearned and yearned to know itself. And so great was its yearning that I one day said “Do you know, Little One, what you must do to satisfy this yearning of yours? You must separate yourself from the rest of us and then you must call upon yourself the darkness.” “What is the darkness, oh Holy One?” the little soul asked. “That which you are not.” I replied and the little soul understood. And so this the soul did, removing itself from all Yea, and going even unto another realm. And in this realm, the soul had the power to call into its experience all sorts of darkness. And this it did. And yet in the midst of all the darkness did it cry out, “Father, father, why have you forsaken me?” But I have never forsaken you, but stand by you always, ready to remind you of Who You Really Are, ready, always ready to call you home.
- Be a light unto the darkness, and curse it not.
- The act of resisting something is the act of granting it life… the more you resist, the more you make it real, whatever it is you are resisting.
- God is love. God accepts you as you are. God expects nothing of you. God does not judge. Nothing makes God unhappy. God would never condemn anyone. You do not need to change anything or “get better” to be seen as perfect and beautiful in God’s eyes.
- God is love. There is no judgement and there is no separateness. And the only ‘hell’ is the one we create for ourselves here on Earth.
- I do not love “good” more than I love “bad.” Hitler went to heaven. When you understand this, you will understand God.
- God offers friendship, not lordship—and in return asks for friendship, not worship.
- See God in everyone and help everyone to see God in themselves.
- God is in the sadness and the laughter, in the bitter and the sweet. There is a divine purpose behind everything—and therefore a divine presence in everything.
- God’s greatest truth is that there is not one way only but many ways Home. There are a thousand paths to God and everyone will get you there. Indeed, all paths lead to God. This is because there is no other place to go.
- There is no such thing as an incorrect path for all paths lead to the same place eventually
- I have sent you nothing but angels and miracles. See the perfection in this moment. Your soul chose your life to create the opportunity to fulfil your soul’s agenda. There is no such thing as a chance encounter. Everything is occurring in perfect order, as it should be.
- The universe is conspiring in your favor. It is placing before you in every moment all of the right and perfect people, circumstances, and situations with which to answer life’s only question: Who am I? Have you decided yet?
- A master understands that life is perfection and always prefers what is occurring.
- Enlightenment is understanding that there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be except exactly who you’re being right now.
- Each moment of your life is a holy moment, a moment of creation. Each moment is a new beginning. In each, you are born again.
- Do what you do for the sheer joy of it. Do what you choose, not what someone else chooses for you.
- The purpose of a relationship is to decide what part of yourself you would like to experience and express.
- In all relationships, there is only one question that has any importance to your soul: “What would love do now?”
- A five-word sentence that could change the world tomorrow is “What would love do now?”
- All you have to do to have love is be love.
- What you do for your Self, you do for another. What you do for another, you do for the Self. This is because you and the other are one. And this is because…there is naught but You.
- When you see others who appear separate from you, look at them deeply. Look into them. Do this for a long moment and you will capture their essence. And you’ll meet you, waiting there.
- Life proceeds out of your intention. Your true intention is revealed by your actions, and your actions are determined by your true intention.
- Have intentions but don’t have expectations, and certainly don’t have requirements. Do not become addicted to a particular result. Do not even prefer one. Elevate your Addictions to Preferences, and your Preferences to Acceptances.
- He who does not go within, goes without.
- FEAR is an acronym in the English language for ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’.
6 April 2001
16 February 2001
5 February 2001
22 January 2001
Favourite movies watched (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Moulin Rouge (2001)
- Amelie (2001)
- Shrek (2001)
- A Beautiful Mind (2001)
- Enemy at the Gates (2001)
- Enigma (2001)
- A Knight's Tale (2001)
- Bridget Jones Diary (2001)
Labels:
Favourite movies,
movies
31 December 2000
Event highlights (London years: 2000 - 2003)
Siegelgale (April 2000 - June 2001)
- Infuzer
- Safehost
- Synthesising financial services
- Bank Hapoalim in Tel Aviv (brand strategy, literature strategy, site review, flash)
Travel
- Africa trip: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya (2001)
- Nepal: Annapurna Circuit hike and Chitwan National Park (2001)
- Istanbul to Cairo tour leading (2002)
Hammersmith Grove life
- Touch rugby & roast lunch
- Rollerblading
- Many plays
- Visitors (Jo & Ant, mum & Mike)
- Cycling
- Thai Chi
- Landmark forum
Volvo.com project (2003)
- Project communication
- CMS training and documentation
- Webcentre site
- Trips to Asheville, Gothenburg, Curitiba and Iguazu Falls in Brazil (2003)
Holiday
- Barbados (2002)
- Croatia (2003)
Cape Town
- 2001: In advance of my trip through Africa, Dirk wedding, Rotunga
- 2002: Mum and Mike wedding, meet baby Matt
- 2003: Jo & Steve wedding
Hiking
- Climbing through Steenbras cracks with Russell
- Annapurna circuit (21 days)
- Malawi to waterfall
Labels:
-2000 2003,
year events
21 December 2000
First trip to Cambridge
Labels:
Ally,
Amanda,
Cambridge,
friends,
London years,
milestones,
My milestones,
snow,
UK
19 November 2000
My beloved MiniDisk player
Ally gifted me this beautiful device and I absolutely love it. It allows me to put several albums on a disk. I take it on the train with me, listening to lots of David Gray and classical music.
Labels:
Ally,
gadgets,
London years,
music,
nostalgia,
technology
17 November 2000
Branding for Bank Hapoalim
At Siegelgale, one of the main projects I worked on was to help Bank Hapoalim, a leading Israeli bank, to rebrand. I worked with Peter Gilson, the CEO, and Anita, a very effective senior consultant.
The last project necessitated weekly trips to Tel Aviv which I loved. The project took well over 6 months and and our project team and clients became a very close knit group.
My involvement
- Helping with brand strategy (brand vision, mission and values).
- Helping to simplify their literature system with the new brand.
- A review of their web site and recommendations on improving it in line with the new brand.
- An online flash presentation promoting the new brand strategy.
Highlights
- Flying business class from London to Tel Aviv each week and getting to recline completely on the chairs. We needed to sleep as we flew at night and arrived early in the morning before starting our workshops.
- Working closely with Tali, a marketing person at Bank Hapoalim, and earning her respect.
- Dinner and after-dinner discussions with Peter and Anita at the Hilton Hotel. We all got very close to the extent that Peter shared one night his "imposter syndrome."
Labels:
branding,
London years,
Siegelgale,
work,
work projects
1 October 2000
Affirmation (London years: 2000 - 2003)
Siegelgale
- Safe Host project
- Intelligo
- Hapoalim web review
- Literature model
- Tallie really sorry to see me go
- Ken Winsor thought a lot of me
- Peter: Synthesis is your gift
- Speaking course - "natural genius"
Tourleading
- Having the courage
- Conquests
- Personality
- Donna - crack me up
- Offered South American trip by Oasis
Volvo.com project
- Courage to go for Volvo job
- Slide showing volvo.com fragmentation and integration
- Site businessl-line descriptors
- Volvo.com training, including trucks
- CMS training manual
- Volo.com web-centre support site
- Volvo.com presentations to web group, especially on usability principles
London life
- Bulk up at gym
- Rollerblading
- Personality with Adam
Courage
- Barclays interview
- Prudential presentation
- Going with tour-leading job
- Going with Volvo job
Labels:
-2000 2003,
proud
16 September 2000
31 August 2000
Challenges (London years: 2000 - 2003)
Finances
- Head in sand re finances
- Bewailing Euro
Siegelgale
- General anxiety that I'm not good enough
- Make promise in performance review - then fear not living up to that
- Hapoalim flash site
- Hapoalim presentation to board (pretend to be ill)
- Long hours, go in on weekends, Mary Ann sees me looking ill
- Hapolaim site audit (invent accident)
- Presentation of strategy to Hapoalim - not prepared and it's noticed
- The end at Siegelgale with Old Mutual brand audit coming (invent New York)
Volvo.com
- First volvo.com meeting: little disagreement with Sharon, realise Matt highly strung
Out of work
- UK unemployed - despair in mornings
- Going to interview while dreading working again
- Paintball martialling: $5 an hour, run in with girl
- Trying to avoid Siegelgale people
Tour-leading
- Initial anxiety when started tour-leading: Resign after few weeks
- Lose all my information on PSION
- Egypt: Forget to fax form ahead of arriving
- Forget to tell group to pack ahead of desert night
- A couple of complaints: forge the feedback forms
- Bladder infection in Turkey on 2nd trip
- Diarrhea in Egypt on final tour
Labels:
-2000 2003,
challenges
11 August 2000
Special connections (London years: 2000 - 2003)
Siegelgale
- Peter Gibson, Anita, Becky
- Gerry, Kate, Brad, Aaron
- Tallie (Bank Hapoalim)
- Ken
- Javed
Volvo
- Caroline
- Matts
- Andrew
- Richard
- Andrew Titley
- Helen
- Mark Vikner
Friends
- Colleen & Steve
- Mike
- Carol, Gus & family
Therapist
-
Eve Dolphin
Extended family
- Adam and Michael
Travel
- Nepal (Sanjay & Grania, Nick & Izzy)
- Africa (Chris, mama, Carl, leaders)
Touch rugby
- Gareth, Wheels, Tanya, Mike
Tour-leading
- Kerin, Ryan, Garry, Donna
- Shona, Niki
- Gus
- Chris
- Paul (sheep farmer)
Love and appreciation
- E-mail to Eve Dolphin
- Mum and Mike wedding speech
- Ally's unwavering support (depression, tour-leader)
- Email to Gramps
- I love you on the ice frosted window of our hired car
Labels:
-2000 2003,
connections