We live in a world that lets us believe that we’re somebody else. I don’t say that there’s something wrong with this world – we have however, collectively bought into concepts and beliefs that do not reflect the truth of who we really are.
So we go through life pretending we’re somebody else. We can do this for a very long time, for an entire lifetime sometimes, but these concepts and beliefs will no longer serve us when we’re going through difficult times. Suddenly we begin to realize how fake and useless they actually are, and then we become scared, because it seems that we’ve nothing to fall back on. Our ‘virtual reality’ which has become our truth, has been shattered.
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain
This is usually the moment, when you crave to be more real as you begin to understand that the ‘old self’ is merely a collection of memories, experiences and conditioning. Yes, you’ve lived them and experienced them, but they’re not you of course. This process is often very painful and confrontational, because you begin to question almost everything, and you just can’t believe that this has been your truth for so long.
Blaming others and circumstances only works for a short while (unless you keep fooling yourself), because you begin to see a much larger picture, that isn’t just black and white, but contains a full array of colours. Colours of understanding and (self)compassion. In the more spiritual circles they call this ‘the journey’. Personally, I work with this all the time, when helping those with PTSD – uncovering the truth of who they really are. It can be a difficult process, but it is also the most beautiful and rewarding process you can ever experience.
Your future comes with a new awareness
We are now living in incredible times, and we have the opportunity to witness a global collision of two worlds: The old world that no longer serves us. A world of separation, of mental and physical borders, of religious limitations and spiritual boundaries. And there’s the new world that emerges: A world of freedom, of connection, of personal responsibility and collective power.
Thanks to the many challenges in our lives, we are developing a new awareness that has the capacity to propel us into a new and more meaningful future. We are also blessed with new technology, interconnectivity and personal tools and values, to transcend these challenges. As long as technology doesn’t control our lives, it’s a beautiful development. Through social media for example, people start listening more to each other in stead of to their leaders with their political agenda – we move from separation to a deeper connection.
Even though you probably feel overwhelmed, I personally believe that the secret lies in hitting the brakes, really slowing down and understanding ourselves better. One of my beloved teachers once told me that you can be peaceful and fulfilled only if you are authentic and honest with yourself. And if you are authentically kind, if you are authentically powerful, and hold on to what is your truth, and hold dear, you will be called upon to demonstrate this in action, not only in thought.
For the planet to emerge into a more harmonious place, she needs you. She needs you to be bold and real! No matter what others think of your change in attitude or trajectory in life. Do you have that courage to be truly you?
Maybe you feel inspired to watch a talk I recently gave for Unity of Vancouver: Radiating Care.
The qualities of our heart are incredible. When we visit a physician and we get an electric cardiogram taken (ECG), the doctor is measuring an electrical signal produced by our beating heart. The heart is the strongest source of electricity in our bodies. It produces so much electrical energy that it creates a 360 degree electromagnetic field, that surrounds each and every person on this planet. This field extends beyond the skin and goes out into space. But there is more to this…
Our electromagnetic field changes all the time. The frequencies in this field are constantly changing and it’s our emotions who are mainly responsible for these changes. When we change our emotional state, we change what’s being broadcasted through the heart’s electromagnetic field. If we experience emotions like anger, frustration or anxiety, it produces an incoherent field – a very chaotic electromagnetic field. But emotions like care, appreciation or love, produce a much more orderly and coherent field.
Insights offered by the heart
Because our own electromagnetic field is not just limited to our body, we also connect with the ‘large’ electromagnetic field around the earth. I like to call that ‘our cosmic heart’. This large field contains all the intelligence that’s needed to create and sustain life on this planet. It’s an infinitely intelligent field.
So when you want to get an answer to a specific question, you can ‘tap’ into your cosmic heart and the information will get to you. It might sound crazy, but it truly works like this. This is not related to a belief, but to a deep knowing. Beliefs can let you down in certain situations, but a deeper knowing is unshakable. Maybe I can best illustrate this with a recent example.
A lady who followed my HeartMath workshop, sent me an email with a beautiful message, that literally touched my heart deeply. She wrote this (and I have permission to share it with you):
Hi Dirk, I really enjoyed your HeartMath evening. I learned a lot and saw that there is so much potential for more joy in my life.
I wanted to tell you that I had an incredible realization during a HeartMath session while looking after my grandchildren. And last night, your talk gave me more insight into it, where I clearly saw that I had a certain belief that I held onto, which was not even true. Sadly, the belief was, that children though cute, were bothersome and tiring to be around for any length of time. I seemed to feel I had better things to do with my time. But during a HeartMath session my coherence was quite high while the kids were playing around me. So I asked my heart how it felt about the kids, and it was happy, not annoyed or bothered at all! So last night when you talked I realized that I just had proof that it was some kind of false “belief” that told me I was bothered by children.
This incident happened after 2 weeks of HeartMath breathing. When I learned that my heart was happy around the kids, I decided I could respond to them with more joy. At first it felt a bit contrived to do so, but I wanted to change my tune and must have been successful because it wasn’t long before I could see they were being more joyful and loving to me.
I hope you don’t mind my long winded story… but this is actually HUGE for me and I am blown away by how the HeartMath breathing and your meditation is changing my life.
BTW….Your meditations are music to my heart. Right now I’m listening to “Self-Love” more often because it is touching something in me. I cannot form words for the treasure you have created!
How beautiful, isn’t it?! I couldn’t come up with a clearer example of how the heart can offer us deep insights. I can therefore only encourage you to take more time for yourself and start listening to the whispers of your heart. You might want to join me during one of my events, or maybe you prefer to get in touch with me.
Back in 2013, I had a delightful and inspiring conversation with the world renowned, spiritual teacher Mooji. At some point in the conversation we were talking about “the truth” and as softly spoken as Mooji is, he told me: “Dirk… the truth is simple, but the seeker of truth is often complex.”
Keep it Simple
When I heard him speak these words, I almost jumped up from my chair with happiness! That was so profound what he just said and it was if I was listening to myself. I have to admit to you now, that I used to be very careful sharing my views around the simplicity of life with others, because it had backfired at me before – “I just didn’t understand their current situation” or “that was too simplistic of me to think that way”. And honestly, sometimes I started doubting my own view on life and often pondered the question: “What do they know what I don’t understand?”
These doubts and limiting beliefs stem from my teenage years, when I found out that after going through a full day of career testing, the conclusion of the psychologists was that I wasn’t so smart (I wrote more about it in this blog post). This conclusion by others about my abilities became my truth for more than twenty years, and sometimes, it can still hijack my creative process.
“Do you keep your hand on the stove?”
Yes, I am a sensitive person, and so are you, otherwise you wouldn’t even bother reading my blog posts in the first place. But when you are sensitive doesn’t mean that you always have to live at the mercy of what you see or what others share with you. It doesn’t mean that you will have to keep suffering from the events around you. It also doesn’t mean that you have to follow the most advanced spiritual teachings in order to stay sane.
Keeping your Hand on the Stove
I once heard an analogy from Esther Hicks that really resonated with me. It goes a bit like this.
If you have a stove in your house that’s a perfect and cozy way to give you some extra warmth during chilly winter days and nights, you know that it’s very warm and that you don’t want to touch it with your bare hands for too long. At first it might feel good when your hands touch the cast iron shell, but after a little while it will become too hot and you will burn yourself. You know that it doesn’t feel good to keep your hand on the stove. But why is it sometimes so hard to take your hand off the stove?
You might say: “My mother had her hand on the stove. Her mother had her hand on the stove. Our family puts its hand on the stove all the time. It’s just what we all do. The day I was born, they put my hand on the stove!” And now you get to decide how you like it and you find it hard: “Do I dare take my hand from the stove?” When you risk it and try it, you realize that it is sweet relief. But then you might think: “My mother still has her hand on the stove, and my government still has its hand on the stove. They’ve all got their hand on the stove! Who am I to find the relief of not putting my hand on the stove?” All right, put your hand back on the stove if you want to, but understand that it’s you who gets to allow or not allow. These are your choices.
Does the analogy make any sense to you? It all boils down to the knowing that you do have the ability and the capacity to make conscious choices. You don’t need to have Ph.D. behind your name, or be a spiritual expert to understand and embrace this concept.
Inner Wisdom
During the last 5 years of interviewing authors, spiritual teachers, scientists and musicians, I often looked up to people having so much experience and wisdom – “If I could be like them, then my life would be so great and I would feel so much more fulfilled” is what I often thought.
But one day, when I was hiking with my dogs in the pristine nature near my house, just after I did an interview with don Miguel Ruiz, I stopped because I was in awe with the incredible intelligence and simplicity of life. It was so quiet here. “The trees never seem to worry and the creek flows with so much grace” I thought. I also knew that the same intelligence that keeps the trees growing and the birds singing, is exactly the same force that keeps my heart beating. All life is deeply connected to the same universal intelligence. “And if that’s true, then all of Mooji’s or Miguel’s wisdom lies within me as well!” I thought. The truth is that simple, but I was often too complex. I wanted to keep my hand on the hot stove, just because I was living an old pattern, over and over again. I wasn’t present. I wasn’t connected to my heart and therefore not connected to the intelligent cosmic heart. Wow, that was such an insight for me!
Since that experience out in the forest, my life has never been the same again – I read less and less self-help books. I rarely listen to people’s well meant advices anymore, and I absolutely don’t care what others think of me. Why would I? I AM all that I have been searching for! I get it now!
When I become still, especially out in nature, I start feeling a deep connection with myself, with the intelligence that I am part of, and also with you. I deeply realize that life is not about me. Life’s about us. And that’s when I feel I want to reach out to others in need. That’s when I want to remain in silence for even longer periods, and that’s when I am just grateful for being alive and being connected to you, because I deeply feel (as Rumi used to say) that I am not just a drop in the ocean. I am the entire ocean in a drop.
I am interested to learn in what ways you are able to embrace the simplicity of life and how you make choices to live in the present moment in stead of the past. Maybe you even resonate with what I just shared with you and you want to try this for yourself.
Keep it simple and have fun!
In case you want to work with me to start living in the present moment, so you’re no longer have to live in the past, send me an email and I will forward you some helpful information on how to get started.
This is usually the moment, when you crave to be more real as you begin to understand that the ‘old self’ is merely a collection of memories, experiences and conditioning. Yes, you’ve lived them and experienced them, but they’re not you of course. This process is often very painful and confrontational, because you begin to question almost everything, and you just can’t believe that this has been your truth for so long.
I wanted to tell you that I had an incredible realization during a HeartMath session while looking after my grandchildren. And last night, your talk gave me more insight into it, where I clearly saw that I had a certain belief that I held onto, which was not even true. Sadly, the belief was, that children though cute, were bothersome and tiring to be around for any length of time. I seemed to feel I had better things to do with my time. 
I once heard an analogy from Esther Hicks that really resonated with me. It goes a bit like this.
When I become still, especially out in nature, I start feeling a deep connection with myself, with the intelligence that I am part of, and also with you. I deeply realize that life is not about me. Life’s about us. And that’s when I feel I want to reach out to others in need. That’s when I want to remain in silence for even longer periods, and that’s when I am just