This is a continuation of Part 2.

The 3 components of your inner GPS

Your “inner GPS” will help you navigate World 2, since there are no more arbitrary rules to follow…

Knowing

Wanting (which is different from “craving”, which is a want + insecurity)

Common sense (which can tell you when not to go for something)

Feels Bad	Feels Good
Works/Helps	Doesn’t work/Doesn’t help

Common sense will tell you that if you don’t know, you’ll find out.

If you don’t know, maybe don’t rush into things.

Common sense will tell you to stop when something Feels bad and Doesn’t work/doesn’t help.

When we trust more our common sense, we’ll need less rules.

If something isn’t appropriate or safe to do, your inner knowing and common sense will tell you.

In a previous article, I discussed many ways of making decisions. Later on, I found out with Michael Neill a much simpler way of looking at decision-making in his book Creating The Impossible:

“There is no such thing as a decision to make.

Either you know what to do or you don’t.

If you know what to do, do it, if you don’t, don’t.”

Habits that don’t make sense anymore just fall off as you grow in awareness:

As long as this thing that you are doing adds value to your life, keep doing it. You can always put it down after a while.

In other words:

“Drop whatever you need to drop when you need to drop it.”

“It looked like a good idea until it didn’t.”

“When people know better, they do better.”

One of my fears was that by following my desires, it might lead me down a “wrong” path (in the moral sense). Indeed, my thinking has been heavily influenced by Buddhist thought, where desire is usually seen as something to be tamed and ultimately extinguished. Michael shared about a conversation he had had with a Buddhist scholar, who had explained to him that the actual translation of teachings from the Buddha translated into:

“misunderstood desire” leads to suffering.

After some extra research, I am still sitting with contradicting answers. Some sources indicate indeed that the Buddha never said that desire itself is a negative thing, but the craving and clinging lead to suffering, while others are very clear, citing the Dhammapada that the Buddha’s teachings emphasize the extinguishing of desires. I’ll let you explore if you are curious.

Another helpful distinction is the following:

What do you think?

Vs. What do you know?

You can do an exercise saying out loud:

“One thing I think is:”

“One thing I know is:”

We live as if most if not all of our thinking is actually knowing…

I’ll finish this section with a quote from Syd Banks, one of Michael’s spiritual teachers, that touched me:

“If you drop your ego, your image of self-importance and just be you, whoever that is, you’ll find the secret to heaven here on earth. You’ll discover that you are not who you think you are, you’re something nicer, far better, really nice.”

If you’re curious to learn more from Syd Banks, check out:

The Enlightened Gardener

Second Chance

Other books by Syd Banks

On Happy Activism

I loved that Michael Neill shared this idea that we could do “Happy Activism”. What if activism didn’t have to show up with anger and outrage? My sister who lives in Germany told me about some demonstrations where there was live music and it was like a big party. The festivity of the whole thing still conveyed the message, but people felt inspired to join to have a good time. At a subconscious level, I believe it also gives positive reinforcement to mobilize for a cause. I personally have no interest in spending an afternoon walking and shouting with angry people, especially if the whole thing ends up with tear gas… (I have been in student protests in my youth, it was exciting at the time, but my perspective on things has changed since).

Here are some things you can do anytime: being aware, breathing, listening to yourself.

Confidence and humility go hand in hand.

“Confidence comes from not knowing who you are.”

Part 4 to be released soon…