I was told by my Tai Chi instructor that I should be able to balance on one leg for as many seconds as my age. Cool, I’m happy to take 32!

Balance is key to everything you and I do.

We ‘balance our books’, we maintain a ‘work life balance’ (sometimes!), the same goes for our ‘bank balance’, and we take a ‘balanced view’, and so on.

Then there’s the delicate ‘ecological balance’ of the planet, the ‘balance of payments (or trade)’ for a nation, maintaining chakra and energy balance, and more.

To be in balance is to be in a state of equilibrium, it’s the ability of elements or entities to remain ‘in place’ without external support.

You and I maintain that state on a daily basis, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second to ensure that we don’t ‘fall over’ in any context of our lives.

Much of the time we do it unconsciously, it’s a built-in function of our brains. We don’t have to remember what to do while we are walking for example – although we did, early on, need to learn how to do that. We learnt to maintain our balance when we took one foot off the ground to move it forward and trained our brain to do it subconsciously.

And our subconscious mind performs a lot of other ‘balancing acts’ – that we didn’t have to train it to do – functions that just keep us alive.

At a higher lever there’s cosmic balance, gravitational balance that keeps the physical universe in place and spiritual balance between different planes of existence.

But the thing is, balance isn’t ‘fixed’.

Being in balance doesn’t mean that either side of the ‘equation’ is static, rigid, unchangeable, because if it were there would never be any form of change.

We would not progress, we would not move, we would be ‘cast in stone’.

For you and I to change something in our lives we need form time to time, and indeed continuously to ‘adjust the balance’.

Now that’s not just a case of increasing something on one side of the scales and adding something on the other to stay in equilibrium because it’s not that simple.

Balance, you see, is not just two sides of a scale. Not like a scale where you measure an amount of substance against a known ‘weight’ on the other side.

That would just be too easy – and it wouldn’t work because ‘balancing’ is not about measuring or ‘weighing’.

Well, not in the first instance anyway because to maintain a balance you and I do have to measure everything that’s going on as we adjust different elements of our lives.

Because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to understand where we were, and in some way, we’d ‘fall over’.

Changing or adjusting the balance of or within any system requires making a multitude of changes, some small, some large.

You and I do it continuously while driving a car or riding a bike – a constant stream of adjusting this, that and the other to make sure we remain in equilibrium.

But that’s built in – like walking, we’ve trained our subconscious to do all that, so we don’t have to think about it – unless of course we distract our subconscious into working on something else – that’s when ‘accidents’ happen!

All change requires a ‘balance adjustment’.

When you and I start on some sort of ‘change project’ whether it’s to do with our personal or business lives, relationships, health, spirituality, learning, freedom, development, whatever, we have to adjust the balance between a myriad of elements.

If we didn’t do that, or if we didn’t keep the balancing act ‘under control’ then we’d get different results from those we were expecting.

Like a sound engineer you and I have to balance all the levels of the inputs we’re receiving.

As we adjust the level of one thing, it causes us to adjust the levels of several others in order to keep ‘in balance’.

But here’s the thing.

It’s difficult to do that if, to use the sound engineer analogy again, you and I aren’t sure of the ‘sound’ we’re expecting or ‘looking for’.

Because if we get it ‘wrong’ and go ‘out of balance’ then what comes out will be chaotic, or at best, not quite what we envisaged!

There are two things to remember.

The first is to have clarity on the outcome we expect, because, to paraphrase, ‘imbalance is generated through lack of clarity’.

Second, you and I need to know what ‘inputs’ we are working with. Which leads are plugged in on the mixing desk. What is relevant to the change we desire and what isn’t.

Because if we ‘add in’ other stuff, or leave out elements that are relevant, then, once again, we will ‘fall over’.

What’s your ‘balancing act’ right now?

Where are you going and what are the elements that affect that change?

How long can you stand on one leg?

For some reason the topic of judgement or ‘being judged’ has cropped up several times this week.

There seem to be two ways of looking at it.

It’s either something that you and I ‘do’ or in a different way it’s something that is done ‘to’ us.

Sometimes ‘judgement’ is used as a tool for making decisions and sometimes it (or the fear of it) is used as some sort of ‘weapon’ for controlling others.

Most religions, ‘Western’ religions in particular, have this concept that people will be ‘judged’ during or after life and that depending on that ‘judgement’ they will go on to a good place or a bad place.

But of course, they don’t really specify the criteria against which this judgement will take place; that tends to change according to the current ‘politics’ of each religious organisation!

The Spiritualist Church has a more pragmatic and ‘down to earth’ take on this as explained in their 6^th Principle which is – Compensation and Retribution Hereafter for all the Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth

Which is explained thus: (with my emphasis added)

“As with all other Principles, natural laws apply; this one echoes the Law of Cause and Effect (‘what goes around, comes around’). One cannot be cruel and vindictive towards others and expect love and popularity in return. It should be understood that the compensatory or retributive effects of this law operate now, on earth: they do not wait until we begin to live our lives in the spirit world. With this understanding we can try to put right wrongs that we know we have done before we pass from this life.”

What this means is that you and I are not going to be judged by some external entity, but that we should exercise our own judgement about what we have done or have not done.

This ties in with the 5^th Principle – Personal Responsibility

“This Principle is the one which places responsibility for wrongful thoughts and deeds where it belongs, with the individual. It is the acceptance of responsibility for every aspect of our lives, and the use to which we put our lives depends entirely upon ourselves. It is not possible for any other person or outside influence to interfere with our spiritual development, unless we are willing to allow this. As we are given freedom of choice (freewill), so also are we given the ability to recognise what is right and wrong for our own spirituality. We are personally responsible for all our words, deeds and thoughts.”

(Descriptions from www.snu.org.uk)

These two principles provide you and I with a really useful code for our behaviour, and for our ‘protection’.

Quite often we hear people in all sorts of contexts saying that they don’t like being ‘judged’ by other people or don’t like other people being ‘judgmental’

“Don’t judge me”

Well the truth of the matter is that what other people think of you or I is none of our business. It’s what they think, and it probably reflects feelings they may have about themselves.

It’s about them, not about us, and if you or I feel that we are being ’judged’ by others in some way, there is a simple answer – they are probably people that we don’t need to get involved with. (DDWT for those in the know!).

And when you and I find ourselves ‘judging’ or making assumptions about someone else (which we do from time to time), remember that we’re reflecting what is going on inside ourselves – because we have no idea what’s going on inside them.

But what about ‘exercising our judgement’?

This is rather different because now, you and I are usually using that ‘judgement’ based on our knowledge, skills, experience and wisdom, to make a decision that concerns us primarily, although it may affect other people as well.

We can ‘exercise our judgement’ to form an opinion of other people – but only when we have sufficient knowledge about them to do so. It’s not something we can do up front – that would be ‘judging’, and that would be counter-productive.

Exercising our judgement is somewhat similar to the use of the word ‘Judge’ in a legal context.

In a trial the Judge has to weigh up the evidence presented, according to the rules, by either side and make a decision in favour of one side or the other.

Unfortunately, this often depends on who has presented the ‘best’ evidence or sometimes who has presented their evidence ‘best’ and because of this the judgmental process, constrained by the ‘rules of Law’ can result in a ‘wrong’ decision or ‘miscarriage of justice’.

And in the same way you and I can also make errors in our judgement (we’ve all done it haven’t we?).

If we don’t have the ‘full story’, if we don’t have all the ‘evidence’, and if we don’t have sufficient knowledge, skill, experience and wisdom about the matter in hand we can ‘get it wrong’.

But it’s our decision and the 5th Principle of Personal Responsibility applies.

If you or I get it ‘wrong’, then we get it wrong, and once we know that, we can apply the 6^th principle and do our best to rectify the situation or ‘put it right’ as soon as we can.

And, again in line with that principle, we may well have to suffer some sort of ‘retribution’ for ‘getting it wrong’.

Sometimes that happens straight away and sometimes the consequences arise later, but you and I can be certain, that it’s not going to be ‘stored up’ for a ‘judgement day’ when we eventually arrive on a higher plane of existence!

Judge wisely, and if you feel you’re being judged – ignore it.

“I need your support”

“I’ve been supporting you”

“Our cause has many supporters”

“Can you support your argument?”

You and I hear a lot about ‘support’, and from the way we use the word it seems to have many meanings.

In the dictionary as a verb to ‘support’ means to ‘hold up’, ‘bear weight’, ‘give assistance’, especially financially; and as a noun ‘material assistance’ or the thing that holds something up physically.

Indeed, in the Oxford English Dictionary there are no fewer than 19 meanings for the word.

No wonder we get confused!

‘Support’ is a very useful word, a very attractive word, but the thing is, because it has so many meanings, it can easily be misused.

As a word it sounds positive, but it can quite easily be subverted and used negatively.

It all depends what someone is trying to say and if they are wanting to turn something essentially negative into a ‘positive’

People may say that they’ve ‘supported’ you, when wat they really mean is that they have ‘put up’ with you or tolerated you or refrained from preventing you from doing things you wanted to do.

“You’ve had my support’ or even more revealingly, “You have my tacit support”, means that, no, you don’t really have support, they aren’t going to help or encourage you, they’re just not going to try and stop you.

And in the case of ‘tacit’ support – “I’m only putting up with this because I have to”.

There are clearer examples of negative support as in ‘This new operating system doesn’t support that software’ where ‘support’ means allowing certain programs to work. Common usage in the IT industry which is now spreading to other areas as well.

But what about more positive support.

Essentially support as a noun, verb or adjective has to do with keeping something in place, keeping it stable, but it also means, or is used in the sense of, raising something to a higher level, or complementing something or someone else, like a supporting artiste, or a ‘support team’.

So, when you and I use the word we need to clarify what we mean.

When we agree to support someone or something, does that mean we agree to help prevent it, or them, ‘falling back’ or are the people we are supporting expecting to be ‘lifted’ in some way by our support?

When you or I agree to work alongside someone as a ‘supporter’, say as a co-worker, business partner, or supporting ‘act’. What level of support do they really want?

Are they the ‘star’ and we’re the support band? I’ve seen many ‘top-liners’ seriously upstaged by the ‘support’ – is that what ‘support’ means? I don’t think so.

We have to be careful and clear on what is expected in this context so that we don’t overshadow whatever or whoever it is that we’re supporting.

You see, ‘support’ can be active or passive.

Passive support probably means that you and I don’t have to do much as supporters, maybe a word of encouragement here and there, perhaps some advice if requested, or maybe just a financial donation or our mere presence at an event.

But active support, which is often what people really want, although they may not say so, is different.

As active supporters of someone or something you and I will have to do some work.

First, we need to be clear where we are in relation to whatever we are supporting.

As ‘Brucie’ used to say, “higher or lower”. In the ‘scheme of things’ where are you and I relative to who we’re going to support?

Generally, if we’re providing services or product then we’re probably helping to push up (or maybe at first shore up) the object of our support.

Conversely if we’re providing coaching, consultation or advice then we’re probably going to be the one to pull up whoever or whatever we’re supporting.

The thing is, that if we, as ‘supporters’, get it wrong or if it is just unclear, then it might not work as well as the object of our support expects, or it might not even be helpful at all.

And it’s also difficult sometimes to say ‘no’ if someone asks for support. Other than totally ignoring the request when did you last say ‘no’ to this question?

Yes, there are different ways of answering when you’re not particularly interested or don’t agree with the objective you’re being asked to support, but generally if you don’t want to give support it’s not easy to decline without offending or upsetting someone, even in a small way.

But when you or I do want to support something then we owe it to whoever is asking, to define what sort of support they want.

We can then, once clarification has been obtained, make an offer on the best type of support we can (or want to) give. Will it be active or passive, will it be to maintain the status quo, to push up in some way or to lift up in some way.

Where and how are we giving our support?

And if you or I are asking for ‘support’ the same rules apply.

We must be really clear about what we’re asking for, and we must find the right supporters to lift us, push us, or just hold us in place in whatever it is we are looking to achieve.

As always, resistance is created through lack of clarity, so be clear about what support you are offering or asking for and how it is going to be delivered.

Go support!

In a recent survey asking people the three things they wished for most, a consistent response was “Peace” or “World Peace”.

Most people would consider ‘peace’ perhaps to be the absence of conflict, and that might be in any context from personal to global, but the absence of all conflict on the planet would seem to be a very difficult state to attain.

But then there’s internal peace, peace within ourselves.

Most people find this very difficult again to achieve as most religions and faiths seem to have a vested interest in maintaining adherents internal conflict so that they turn to the ‘faith’ as an answer.

But there are some faiths, particularly those in Eastern culture that specifically encourage internal peace and provide techniques to achieve it.

Consider what causes conflict, what makes it so difficult for the majority of humanity to achieve either internal peace or peace with each other?

It’s back to those two key motivators that influence most people on this world, fear, and greed.

Fear, or as some would have it ‘false evidence appearing real’, is generally based on ignorance.

Not knowing what other people might do, not knowing how other people think, not knowing what might happen next, and so on.

Fear of the unknown.

There are many passages in religious texts that clearly state that ‘ignorance is sin’ but most people downgrade this definition in favour of believing that ‘sin’ has something to do with sex – it doesn’t, there are no references that state that sex in itself as a ‘sin’, rather the opposite, in that it is more of a duty to ‘go forth and multiply’.

The ‘original sin’ and the ‘fall from grace’ have nothing to do with sex – at least not until the other factor in conflict, greed, comes into play.

The fall from ‘grace’ is about the abandonment or loss of knowledge – ‘sin’ is ignorance.

Ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds conflict.

So, what about ‘greed’?

Greed can come in many forms and perhaps a better word to describe this emotion is lust.

Lust for power, lust for money, lust for sex, and so on

‘Greed’ encompasses most of the ‘seven deadly sins’ and the others are accounted for by ignorance.

The trouble with that list is that people misinterpret it, especially the ‘sin of lust’ which many people assume simply means ‘sex’ although the two are entirely different concepts.

‘Lust’ despite popular usage, is not just about sex. It’s also about Gluttony, Pride, and Envy, as well as being the same as Greed.

The other two ‘deadly sins’, Wrath and Sloth, are accounted for by ignorance.

These two ‘super-sins’, Ignorance and Lust are the cause of all conflict, internal and external, and the enemy of Peace.

Peace therefore is not just the absence of conflict but also the absence of sin – although it’s really the same thing.

But how does humanity, or just you and I, achieve this state called peace?

Actually, it’s not that difficult.

The mistakes that society makes about achieving peace are first, that it can be achieved by one big action, by ‘everyone’ agreeing, or by a ‘peace treaty’ which actually means very little.

Neville Chamberlain’s ‘piece of paper’ springs to mind.

You see, people say they agree, or agree to differ, but they don’t, they continue to hold incorrect beliefs about the other side (ignorance) or continue to believe they are entitled to something held by the other side (lust).

The second mistake is that ‘peace’ is someone else’s responsibility – someone else will ‘resolve the conflict’ on their behalf, while they continue without changing anything in themselves.

Peace can only be achieved one step at a time – and that process starts with you and I.

The sins of Ignorance and Lust are easy to remove, and when we’ve removed them we automatically become at peace with ourselves.

And until we become at peace with ourselves it’s not possible to be at peace with others.

You and I can resolve ignorance by knowing that we ‘don’t need to know’ and removing any preconceived ideas about things that we don’t know to be true.

When there is something that we don’t know that crosses or approaches our timeline we can speculate on potential responses, but we must not make assumptions, which our subconscious then turns into ‘facts’, about anything we don’t really ‘know’

This is what is called keeping an open mind while being prepared for any eventuality.

Assumptions are, more often than not, wrong, so our mind prepares for the wrong outcome or contact, and everything falls apart resulting in internal and/or external conflict.

When you and I keep an open mind and ‘go with the flow’ whatever ‘happens’ is what the Universe intends to happen

Getting involved with assumptions, fears or plain ignorance just screws everything up.

Lust is usually about wanting something we don’t have or wanting more of something that we do have, and it can be quite focused.

But it’s a bit like driving a car at a brick wall.

What we lust after is on the other side of the wall and to get it we have to conflict with the wall, with whatever is in the way of our objective – usually another person or other people.

Lust arises among people who forget, or just don’t understand, that the Universe will provide.

You and I know that when we have complete clarity about what we want, about who we want to be, and understand the fundamental Laws of Attraction, Gratitude, Reciprocity and so on, then the Universe will provide.

What we want will come about, not always in the way we might have envisaged, but it (or something better) will happen, and within the timescale we set (or sooner).

You and I know hat we don’t need to know too much about the ‘how’ of these things being achieved, it’s ‘above our pay grade’, but those who suffer from lust focus more on the how they will get something they want and just go for it not understanding that the Universe will react to their actions with some form of retribution.

Get clarity on your visions and dreams and don’t be concerned about how it will happen – the actions you need to take will come to you.

Disregard what you don’t yet know and don’t make assumptions about ‘alternate realities’; you will be drawn to learn about whatever you do need to know.

Have a peaceful week.

Have you noticed the ‘ships’?

The ships that denote how people relate to one another.

“I don’t want a relationship” someone commented recently.

Well, that will be hard – because unless you’re living alone in a cave on a desert island, completely ‘off the grid’, out of touch with the world, the you really cannot avoid relationships of one kind or another.

And even if you are completely alone you’ll still have a ‘relationship’ with yourself!

You and I have ‘relationships’ with everyone else on the planet – and even with those who are on a higher plane having departed the physical world – even if for you it’s just a memory.

It’s all down to semantics again, and ‘common usage’. That word, ‘relationship is often misused to mean something more or different to what it is.

A ‘relationship’ is simply a logical chain of connection to other people – all other people.

But some talk about a ‘committed relationship’ or just a ‘relationship’ meaning a close or intimate connection with one other person, or a legal relationship such as a marriage or some other sort of ‘permanent’ connection.

The thing is that you and I need to move beyond the basic ‘relationship’ and use other words to describe the various situations we are in with other people.

But then confusion crops up again, particularly with the word ‘partnership ‘which can mean all sorts of ‘_ships’ to other people.

Partnerships can be a legal arrangement or not. There are ‘civil partnerships’, business partnerships and other forms of living or working together.

A partnership is usually formed between two or more people who are out to achieve the same objectives or goals bringing different skills, knowledge, experience and attributes to the ‘party’.

A variation on partnership might be ‘membership’ of a group of people sharing common interests or objectives.

Another category of ‘shipping’ includes relationships like apprenticeship, internship, scholarship, leadership, and mentorship where one side of the relationship agrees or contracts to be trained, taught, led or guided by the other.

All of these situations are of course ‘relationships’.

But there is one type of relationship that is different.

This is the most important ship of the line. The flagship of the fleet which over-rides all of the others, and which can be added to and augment all of the others.

The one that, lack of which, even at a very minimal level, can cause all the others to fall apart.

The most important ship, the most powerful ship in the fleet is friendship.

Friendship is different from all the others and more powerful as it binds people together, not like the others in a logical way, but in an emotional way.

Without friendship –

• A marriage of whatever type will eventually fail
• A sexual relationship will not last long
• Families will break up
• A business or other kind of partnership will collapse
• And all the other ‘ships’ will founder and sink.

And the stronger the friendship, the stronger the ‘logical’ relationship is likely to be.

But what is friendship? What is a ‘friend’?

A friend is someone you support and who supports you in whatever you each do – whether you agree with their opinions or actions or not.

A friend is someone who you help and who helps you without necessity for reward (although money is still the silent applause for a job well done even if it is by or for a friend)

A friend is someone who is ‘there for you’ and for who you are ‘there’ in an hour of need.

Friendship is given unconditionally. Whatever they do, or you do, you remain friends. However, there can be agreed boundaries to this.

True friends will often agree to disagree about certain things without affecting the friendship.

You and I find our friends usually through common interests or a common background, but it’s also quite possible to become firm friends with someone you strike up a conversation with on a plan, in a train, or at a meeting.

And friendship can of course, also grow from an existing ‘relationship’.

It starts with rapport, that mutual feeling of ‘liking’ each other, the charisma of being a ‘nice person’ that comes across, that unseen and unnoticed spiritual connection that just happens.

It will then move in one direction or another, down a blind alley, or towards a new relationship of some form – and ‘logical’ relationships that start with friendship are always much stronger.

So, if you’re looking for a new relationship of any description, personal or business, why not start by making some new friends.

Establish that rapport and take it from there with everyone you meet.

And if they don’t respond, move on, it’s just not meant to be at this juncture in the space-time continuum – you never know what might happen.

I’m going to make new friends this week.

(And I don’t mean the social media definition!)

How about you?

I never paid much attention to it, so I don’t remember how it worked but ‘The Generation Game’ was a long running part of one of those extremely popular weekend TV spectaculars hosted by people like Sir Bruce Forsyth and others.

But this insight isn’t about a game, well, not a game as such but perhaps it is a ‘game’ that continues to be played out between successive generations – at least for as long as I can remember and probably for centuries before that.

What is a ‘generation’?

Roughly speaking, very roughly, it describes the 20(ish) year gap between parents and children. Twenty years being the long term historical average age at which women would bear children.

Nowadays that age is creeping up with many women not having children until they are well into their thirties – although some do seem to go I the opposite direction and have children at younger ages.

If I were asked to guess I’d say that the ‘gap’ between generations was now averaging out at around 25 to 28 years – just my guess, if anyone has better information I’d be interested.

These days you and I hear about several different generations, and this may or may not be correct but that doesn’t affect the point I’m going to make.

I’m a ‘baby boomer’ – one of those born immediately after World War II between 1945 and 1955.

Unsurprisingly this is the ‘largest’ generation around today. We grew up in the 1950’s

Next, we have those born in the 60’s, Generation X, in the 80’s, Generation Y or ‘Millennials’, and the ‘latest’, Generation Z born in the first years of the 21^st century.

This is just a very rough summary, if you’re interested there’s more information out there.

But the thing is that each ‘generation’ tend to see themselves as a group with some level of coherence.

They share different attitudes and different concepts form those held by their predecessors, particularly about what has gone before, and about what previous generations ‘did’ or ‘are doing’ that affects them now.

There is also a tendency in a generational group to dismiss what has gone before as of no consequence. ‘They’ are the generation that is going to ‘get it right’, make the ‘breakthroughs’ and ‘save the world’ for future generations – for their children and children’s children.

Sounds a bit Biblical doesn’t it – which goes to show just how long this has been going on!

Each new generation (including us BBs) think that they have ‘all they answers’, they are the pioneers, they are the ‘chosen ones’ to go forward.

In a sense they are right, and the human race will progress to its next evolution because of what successive generations do.

Right now, there is a massive technological and spiritual revolution beginning which will cause humanity to make a significant step forward – but this isn’t the result of what Generation Z, Y, X or the BBs are doing now.

It’s a result of all that these generations and those who have gone before have already done.

The problem is that each new generation chooses to dismiss a lot of the achievements and actions of their predecessors, dead or alive.

I hear many younger people (Y’s and Zs) expressing a belief that ‘older people’ don’t understand or can’t cope with technology.

They forget that the ‘boomers’ grew up in the technological revolution and were witness to the beginning of the ‘information age’.

And they forget that ‘IT’ was first developed by people two generations before that. They forget about the work done by people like Alan Turing and before him, Tommy Flowers the Post Office engineer who actually built the Colossus computer that helped crack the Enigma code – and there were people in the generation before that working on these ideas.

If those foundations had not been laid there would be no IT or AI industry today. We would not have the internet and constant communication. There would have been something else. We might have been somewhere else on our evolutionary path.

But what about the ‘game’?

The game that successive generations play is to focus on the ‘mistakes’ made by previous generations in order to enhance the concept that they are ‘right’ and everyone before them was ‘wrong’. The concept that they are the ‘chosen ones’.

It’s a very sinister game, probably why the media relish it with headlines like ‘the older generation has given our future away’ or ‘why should older people have all the wealth’.

It’s the belief of each successive generation that they should ‘start’ where their parents left off and that if when they reach adulthood they don’t have all the things that their parents have at that time then they are being ‘cheated’ or ‘hard done by’.

They dismiss the fact that for their parents to get where they are when their children become adults they have had to earn that ‘position’ in life. They have had to go through struggle and hardship to get to where they are, and in doing that earn valuable life lessons.

Although each new generation of adults may want to start at the position where their parents ‘are’, it doesn’t work like that.

As ‘new adults’ we must go through a life learning process to progress – we aren’t our parents, and we can’t start from their position. We need to learn key life concepts for ourselves and we can only do that by going through it and doing it.

There is stuff that cannot be taught in school. It can only be learnt in life and it can only be learnt by making our own mistakes.

And as adults we have to let each new generation do that. Whilst we protect them as they are growing up, we must allow them to make mistakes, because without mistakes there is no learning and no progression and no evolution.

You and I as adults in ‘different’ generations need to forget about the ‘mistakes’ our predecessors made and focus on our own mistakes.

You and I have made mistakes in our lives and we’ve learnt from them. You and I will make more mistakes and we’ll gain more learning and understanding about who we are and where we are going. It’s nothing to do with our predecessors. They gave us our start. We wouldn’t exist without them.

As humans its now our responsibility to move forward, not to backtrack and try and ‘fix’ what may have been done ‘wrong’ before, but to forge the way ahead towards the ‘next level’ of our existence.

Make a mistake, learn something!

I’m sure I’ll make at least one today, and I’ll learn from it.

“Act your age”, “I was looking for someone younger”, “What do you think you’re doing – at your age?”

I been hearing these comments a lot recently addressed to me and others around my ‘age’

This may sound like a bit of a rant, and I suppose it is, because as a ‘victim’ I find this stuff very ‘ageist’.

It would be considered at least politically incorrect (an attitude I don’t subscribe to by the way) or actually illegal, to make comments like these on the grounds of gender, religion, ability or race – or pretty much any other parameter.

But is seems, except in the field of recruitment, that people have no qualms about making disparaging comments or decisions based on age, or to openly hold strong prejudices and discriminate on the grounds of age.

Now don’t get me wrong, this works both ways. The ‘young’ discriminate against the ‘old, and the ‘old’ against the ‘young’ – whatever those adjectives mean.

But the thing is that age is not real, it’s only a function of time which I’ve previously suggested is not ‘real’ either.

You and I are spiritual beings inhabiting a human body – an ‘earth suit’ as Mary Morrissey would put it.

And You and I, the spirits who inhabit these bodies, do not age. – we gain knowledge and experience over time and according to the paths we take, that turns into wisdom. The longer we maintain our bodies the wiser we get.

Older and wiser – with the emphasis on the latter.

But people who don’t understand who they are, believing they are actually the body they live in, make assumptions.

That the ‘young’ know nothing, and that the ‘old’ have one foot in the grave and are of no use to society any more and have, or will, just become a ‘burden’.

The ‘old’ can’t ‘perform’ any more, and the ‘young’ don’t know how to.

Those who consider themselves ‘in between’ are the worst ‘ageism’ offenders and it’s based, like all prejudices, and all ‘issues’ on fear.

The up and coming young with new ideas and behaviours are seen as a threat, and the old are seen as what younger people are afraid of becoming – useless, incapable and a burden on society.

All irrational nonsense but as many philosophers have pointed out, what you think becomes true. If someone believes they will become incapable when they reach a certain age, then they will.

Only those who understand that the spirit inside their bodies has no age, have taken control of and look after their physical side, know that the age of the body is irrelevant.

The media don’t help – especially the advertising industry heavily populated by younger people who have a concept of age based on their grandparents.

But time moves on and ‘grandparents’ aren’t the same now as they were 50 years ago – and they are getting younger. (I know a grandparent who is younger than my stepson – and he’s only 47!). Certainly not the ‘guaranteed over 50’s plan’ image portrayed by a well known insurance company.

And then there’s the idea that us ‘old folks’ aren’t up to speed with technology, forgetting the fact that it was our generation (or even the one before) that ‘invented’ it. Some of us have been working with it and watching it develop since before some of these ‘youngsters’ parents were born!

Just because a person’s body is ‘a certain age’ has no bearing on capabilities or interests. But of course, the body does deteriorate however much ‘maintenance’ we give it and there may be some things older people cannot do any more but they don’t care because they’ve already done it!

But the ageists take no account of anyone’s history, capability, interests or ambitions – they just make assumptions based on gross generalisations.

Unfortunately a lot of people fall for this ageist propaganda, and when they reach a certain age they become what they think they are expected to be.

They stop. They ‘retire’, They shut down, and they abandon any vision of the future they may have had because they have been convinced that they are ‘too old’ and the ‘old’ aren’t supposed to have a future.

They just sit down and ‘wait for God’ – such a waste of potential.

No vision – no spirit – no life.

You and I though, do have a vision – or at least I hope you do – a vision to sustain us for as long as it takes to be achieved.

Interestingly, despite the ‘American Dream’ of smart cars, fine houses and exotic holidays, for most people it’s not about that.

Most of the ‘visions’ I’ve discussed with people, especially ‘older’ people, involve helping others to achieve something. There is a material element as well but that’s never the primary driver.

When you and I have visions that contribute to the overall improvement and evolution of the human spirit in its entirety, ‘age’ becomes irrelevant.

Your vision and my vision will sustain our physical lives until they are achieved – as long as they are clear and are about becoming ‘a person of increase’ in the good of humanity. (As described by Wallace Wattles in ‘The Science of Getting Rich’)

I’m further clarifying my life sustaining vision.

You?