"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Which bit of you do you pick to explain yourself? Your gender, career, or relationship to others? Your hobbies and interests? Your politics? Your faith? Where you go on holiday?
Where do you start?
You are a multi-dimensional being.
Truth is, you wear many hats, taking on a multitude of roles, interests, and responsibilities.
But they’re all games – they aren’t who you truly are.
Seeing them all as games of some sort is actually really beneficial.
Asking yourself, “How can I make this easy?” is helpful here, as is the goal to take things a little less seriously than yesterday.
Life IS just a game, and you can choose whatever you like as the ultimate target. Choose you must – having no aim is indeed aimless and less than satisfying. There’s nothing to push against, and it seems we all need a sun or two to grow towards.
This way you improve your skills, your play in the game. You "self-develop": it seems you get better at playing the more you play.
One such development is refining your target, your definition of a successful game. We often start with fame and fortune, with money and reputation, cars, watches, shoes, and showy things to impress others, but evolve to something less tangible.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in the Little Prince.
Many of us realise that money is nice, but not if it detracts from, say, time with loved ones or your values.
So, your definition of success—your purpose in life—changes.
Yet while the end goal shifts, the player never does. There's a core to you, something that never changes, never shifts, never moves an inch.
You wear a number of hats, but You never ever change.
This is the core of what I practice and teach: essentially, you can't be developed, you can't be improved. Your presence is fully formed, already.
As the spiritual teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj said, “There is not anything I can give you that you have not already got.” Any spiritual teacher worth their salt simply reminds you of who you already are. (Simple, but not easy perhaps.)
Certainly, the more you connect with and live from this true, essential core, the more peace, calm, clarity, and courage you bring forth into life. The less doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, and resentment arise.
There’s a tangible difference in how you live. You don’t scramble and struggle as you might have in the past. You live fearlessly, content in your own skin and with your own definition of success and what’s worthwhile. You don’t self-edit as much, until you totally quit that habit. You can reset and begin again cleanly, apologising if needed, and otherwise simply starting again without all the censure and self-abuse we can get stuck in currently.
But to do this, you have to trust.
Trust that you don’t develop. By the simple act of being present, the presence of now develops you.
You can safely take your hands off the wheel—a relief once you get used to it, but possibly scary at first. “What do you mean, I don’t have to constantly check my progress, refine and monitor?” The cosmic taxi driver needs no assistance, no back-seat advice.
Here you can surrender to an innate wisdom that knows exactly who you are and wants you to realise that as quickly as possible.
All you need is a desire to complete the journey back to yourself. Buddha once said you can only make two mistakes on this path: Not starting, and not finishing.
So, you don’t develop YOU. You are already fully complete. You simply remember and align with the You that is already within, dropping all the ideas of who you think you should be.
It’s a letting go, then. A being free as you are, exactly as you are. An end to judgement and comparison, and a letting be.
Phew. Be relieved. This isn’t hard work. It requires the willingness to be present and play the games from here and now, but precious little else.
Good? Very good!
Go well by letting go. Go play, let the presence of now guide you back to yourself.
Enjoy!
Arjuna
PS.
Now, I may have oversold this a bit. We all have limiting negative patterns and beliefs that we can get stuck in. It can be very helpful to have a tool and perhaps a guide to help you get out.
It’s all well and good to say, “be present,” but sometimes that’s easier said than done. That’s one reason why I suggest getting a tool so you can choose your way out of your mind and into presence.
If you’re drawn to it, learn Ascension. It’s what I teach and practice because it’s simple yet powerful. It gets the job done quickly.
If you’re interested, here are the 2025 dates for courses in North Yorkshire. A beautiful little Georgian house and land provide the perfect retreat: the time and space to come back to yourself.
April 25-27
July 4-6
October 17-19
November 21-23
Remember, if you’ve already learnt, it’s free to repeat forever. Even one day back in the saddle is enough to boost you for a long time. So come — let me know if you’d like a place.
Also – there’s an advanced course/mini-retreat 5/6 April and our 5 day 24-28 September too.
As always, let me know how I can help.