The journey

Here's a sobering thought: every disagreement you've ever had (and ever will have) with another person—be that your spouse or partner, kids, family member, work colleague, staff, boss, friend, random person online, everyone—stems from this one simple fact:

Because what you're experiencing is this thought-created perceptual reality of ‘how things are’ that the other person (who has their own, different, thought-created perceptual reality of ‘how things are’) cannot see.

And never can see, which is why listening, and clear, compassionate communication is so important.

This came to mind for me just the other day when I wrote in another piece, “They've clearly been studying my 4-step process,” … and I realised with dismay that while I certainly mention it a fair bit in my Video Masterclasses (most of them are structured around these 4-steps) I've never actually committed ‘my 4-step process’ to paper!

🫢

So here we go. What follows is the structure I ‘have in mind’ when I'm helping people to make the changes they want to see.

It's the journey through life that I see all of us humans as being on (especially if you're reading this!) and it's the process I went through, as I was waking up to the nature of things.

Below, I shall give you:

1. a brief overview of each
2. ways to spot if this is where you're at on the journey
3. my thoughts on why each is important, and
4. links to a selection of really good examples, from the Daily Reminders Archives.

01 FOUNDATIONS

Looking in a different direction for answers

They say the first thing you need to know, in order to escape a trap… is that you're in a trap! And this is what FOUNDATIONS are all about: making sure that from this point forwards, we're building on a bedrock of right understanding.

You see, we've been so mercilessly programmed to see life as working in one particular way, all of our lives, that it means all of our subsequent beliefs and behaviours, our decisions and actions are built on a very simple, but fundamental misunderstanding.

It means that when we're trying to change something, we're very often innocently working against the natural order of things (a bit like trying to use the wrong end of a pen) and it doesn't really work.

FOUNDATIONS look at the process of change: what's needed (and more importantly, what's not needed); the biggest difference between what we've been taught, and an Innate Health approach, being that there's not really anything you have to do.

Which makes sense, when you read what I've written, above. If you're innocently using the wrong end of a pen, your pen's not broken, you don't need a new pen or a different one, you don't need to go to pen-using school, or anything like that at all! You just need someone to gently enquire,

“Had you tried using it the other way round?”

And here's the most salient point from this step:

Signs of being at the FOUNDATIONS step:

• Nothing works, everything's wrong, and you've had enough
• You've done everything you ‘should’ do, it hasn't really lived up to its promise and you're looking for answers
• It doesn't make sense to you that in some ways us humans are so advanced, and yet there seems to be so much suffering. Why is that?

Why this step is important

Because if we don't get clear on the rules of engagement—how we're going to move forward and see the changes we want to see—we'll approach it all wrong, bring our old misunderstandings along with us, and innocently try and ‘use’ what we're learning as another self-help coping tool.

02 MECHANICS

The nuts and bolts of how our minds, and life, are experienced

Once we're more attuned to the pivotal role of insight, we can relax a bit, stop trying so hard and instead get curious as to why this damned pen we're holding might not be working like it seems it should. (Remembering the third necessary ingredient for change)

Guiding you through the MECHANICS, I'll do everything I can to settle your complaining, impossible-to-satisfy, endlessly-questioning mind, in order to slip some simple home truths about the nature of experience through its defences.

There's not much else to say, other than this is where you'll learn all about the 3 Principles, or the ‘Inside-Out’ or ‘Innate Health’ understanding. There are more Daily Reminders tagged as MECHANICS than the other three steps.

The one, fundamental misunderstanding that everything else hinges on that I mentioned above is what's known as ‘the outside-in illusion’ and can be summed up thus:

Signs of being at the MECHANICS step:

• You're on board with the pen-holding insight analogy—it makes sense—but everything else I share just seems a bit weird and obtuse (sorry about that)
• You've got a bazillion questions and it seems like there must be exceptions to this whole 100% inside-out malarkey
• You don't quite buy it. (But you're strangely drawn to it.)

Why this step is important

Because if we dive straight into the next step—looking at how this understanding plays out in all sorts of different life situations—without having really got to grips with the underlying principles, things won't make much sense, and it'll be a bit frustrating.

03 IMPLICATIONS

Embodying the Innate Health understanding in everyday situations

This is where the rubber meets the road and we see all sorts of changes happening in our lives, as the insights we've had to this point start to ripple outwards. And because what we're talking about here is principles (i.e. the way the entire psycho-spiritual system works) then every life situation we could possibly find ourselves in, can be looked at from an Innate Health perspective.

But here's the thing: we all have blind spots. Areas of our lives where it doesn't look like the principles apply (which is why we perceive them as ‘problems’). And that's where IMPLICATIONS come in. Because I'll examine any and every topic area that I can think of, and something will correspondingly resonate for you. A piece of the jigsaw will slot into place.

It's often once we've had some general insights into the principles, that our understanding goes deeper and deeper, as we uncover more and more areas of life that we see through an entirely different lens. (Using my pen analogy, it's like realising there might be other things, aside from the pen, that we're innocently using back to front.)

Because this step covers everything in the known universe (lol), there's not one overriding message here (there's one at the very top of this post), so I'm going to pick a favourite, that's ripe for misunderstanding:

Signs of being at the IMPLICATIONS step:

• You're totally on board with the inside-out nature of experience but just can't see it for x, y, or z situation
• You have an intellectual understanding of the 3 Principles, but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference to your life
• You feel an urge to share the insights you've had, but don't know how

Why this step is important

Because the biggest insights usually come from seeing the principles in action, in the areas we're struggling with most, in our lives.

04 TRUE NATURE

Exploring the nature of self and identity

Now there are some teachers/guides for whom this is the starting point and the ending point. They talk of little else, seeing no point in messing around with any of the preceding steps, but rather rolling their own versions of FOUNDATIONS, MECHANICS and IMPLICATIONS into this, somewhat deeper subject.

I understand their reasoning and I respect it wholly. Because they're right – the notion of ‘self’ is indeed the alpha and the omega of this entire journey, really. Experience is all happening within us, or at least who we think we are, therefore how we see our ‘selves’ has a huge bearing on everything (especially relationships with others).

But because what we're exploring—our TRUE NATURE—is the very definition of ‘ineffable’ (i.e. impossible to describe using language; “like pointing to fire, with ice,” as a teacher of mine once said), it can get a bit messy and confusing. (It's like asking, Hang on, who's holding this here pen anyway?! And why?)

It's also not strictly necessary. There are billions of people on planet earth living perfectly contented lives, without ever once having considered whether or not they're who they think they are. But ‘ego’ does crop up in a lot of teachings, and it makes sense to get a feel for what that actually is.

I have my own way of doing that (‘light touch non-duality’ I like to think of it as!) and if you've been enjoying the ride so far, I hope I can help you start to unstick this stickiest of all misconceptions: the illusion of self.

At the heart of this step lies this one simple fact:

Signs of being at the TRUE NATURE step:

• Life changed completely when you came across the 3 Principles/Inside-Out understanding, but now you feel like you've slipped back, or are stuck
• You continue to seek ‘something else’, even though you'd rather not
• You feel a bit affronted at the idea that you're not actually who you thought you were, but insufferable prats like me bleat on about it so much, that you feel compelled to keep exploring, determined to get your head round it, come hell or high tide (sorry about that).

Why this step is important

It's not. It's just immense fun, and there's so much to see, and so much changes when we get a fresh perspective on who we really are, that it's impossible to ignore.

So there we are – this Daily Reminder is a journey in and of itself, isn't it?! 😂

I hope you find it helpful and please don't take it too seriously, because of course:

• by definition, it's all made up
• in practice (as in life) it's far messier than this, with overlap and the like
• ultimately there's really nowhere to get to (as we discover in step 4, lol)

But I know you: you're human, which means you have a left brain, and that left brain likes structure and steps and strategies, and mine (and the left brains of my clients) have found this framework to be conceptually very useful, over the years.

It's my stab at making some sense of this wonderful journey for you… YMMV.

💝

Giles

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a.k.a. The Enlightenment Path explained 🧘🏻‍♀️

The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft