Monthly Archives: February 2023

by | February 28, 2023 · 5:06 pm

Finding purpose with deep walking

Living a modern sedentary lifestyle glued to a screen rebels against our very human nature that is designed from the dawn of mankind to walk. Homo Sapiens has populated the planet walking, which is today one of the most underrated, yet most effective ways of keeping body, mind, and soul healthy.

A body of research has meanwhile confirmed the many positive effects only a moderate amount of walking per day can positively impact your health.

The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which has been tracking the health behaviors of more than 200,000 women for more than three decades, has revealed that walking for an average of 30 minutes a day can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes by 30 to 40 percent.

Walking at this rate can also lower the risk of breast cancer by 20 to 30 percent.

A 2018 study by UCLA researchers has found that a sedentary lifestyle is also bad for mental health.

The researchers did brain scans of 35 people aged 45 to 75, finding that those who sat the most had more thinning in an area of the brain involved with memory, a change that may be linked to cognitive decline and dementia.

Living a sedentary lifestyle surrounded by things created by the “head mind” will never make you feel the same sense of aliveness and awareness that you will feel through the intuitive “heart-mind” when walking in nature. The universe, or God, finds expression through nature.

In my latest “Living to BE” podcast I discussed with my pilgrim friend Kevin Considine the many life lessons deep pilgrimage walking has to offer. Kevin has walked more than 14,000 kilometers on ancient pilgrimage paths since he retired eight years ago.

Scientists have found that exposure to blue spaces such as lakes, rivers, and the sea are particularly beneficial to mental health.

A team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) undertook the first international review of 35 studies on “blue spaces.” They concluded that outdoor blue spaces not only reduce stress levels, but also improve general well-being.

Crossing the Pyrenees mountains from France to Spain on one of my pilgrimage walks

The difference between a hike and a deep-walking pilgrimage experience

One of the most popular paths is the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain, which has been traversed by pilgrims for centuries. In recent years, it has been rediscovered by tens of thousands of people from all walks of life as a path of healing and self-discovery.

Some of the world’s most creative and talented artists, including Johann Sebastian Bach, William Blake, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau explored their inner worlds on long walks, acutely aware of the positive effects in opening the senses to nature.

The conservationist John Muir, tormented by nightmares and anxiety after nearly going blind in a work accident, immersed himself in nature on a 1,000-mile journey on foot from the banks of the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico.

On my first pilgrimage walk to Santiago, I too was tormented by a dysfunctional relationship, a stressed-out job and childhood trauma that I had suppressed for many years. Any amount of therapy did not have the same effect as facing those inner demons on long, lonely walks of solitude in nature. I have described in detail my journey in my two books: Walking on Edge and Deep Walking for Body, Mind and Soul.

Experiential spirituality at its best

The universe speaks to us in many ways but nowhere more than with such clarity when body, mind, and soul are completely immersed in nature and not distracted by the pull of countless things in our daily, modern lives. It is experiential spirituality at its best.

A particular fascination with the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain is that these ancient pilgrimage paths have been walked by pilgrims for many centuries. It is marked by numerous crosses and symbols left by the pilgrims of old, many of whom did not survive the long trip. I would concur with my pilgrim friend Kevin that the route is filled with the spirits of pilgrims who have gone before, who guide us on the way.

Many a person has started the more than 800-kilometer walk from Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela as a hiking or sporting endeavor but ended the walk as a pilgrim. It is a part of the Camino mystery. It has a different impact on every individual, awakening channels to the soul that you had never dreamed possible.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | February 21, 2023 · 2:20 pm

Realigning with the heavenly ladder

The sages of old teach that every individual latently can achieve the heights of mental and spiritual capacity but that most people impose limitations upon themselves that prevent them from living their full potential.

Last week I visited the northwestern German town of Münster, famous for the Peace of Westphalia treaty of 1648 ending the 30-year war. It closed a terrible chapter in European history of warfare between not only nations but between Protestants and Catholics, claiming the lives of about eight million people.

The artist Billi Tanner aptly chose the Lamberti Church in the center of the city to install a golden-lit “heavenly ladder” extending from within the church to the spire on the exterior.

She says about her work: “During these times the heavenly ladder (from Jacob‘s dream in Genesis 28,12) stands primarily for the three divine values hope, faith, and love. If all people were to live by that wouldn‘t that be wonderful? “ The biblical story tells us that while fleeing from his brother Esau, Jacob saw in a dream Jacob a ladder, or staircase, reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it.

The heavenly ladder has become a powerful symbol connecting the heavenly realm with our earth-bound purpose. It can be interpreted as the step-by-step ascent to spiritual growth in becoming who you were meant to become from the day you were born but also as a symbol of the descent from heaven of angels who guide us on this path.

A firm base as a precondition to higher experience

The steps on the ladder are passages of initiation as we progress and grow through life. Alignment with both heaven and earth, our mental and physical capabilities is essential. If you learn to understand yourself you can basically accomplish everything.

A ladder not rooted to earth will fall, meaning that you need first and foremost to have a firm foundation as a precondition to higher experience. The Jewish Mystics were very aware of this, teaching their scholars to master a basic trade to earn a living. Work was seen as an important tool of training for higher consciousness. Taking a proper attitude to whatever we are practicing as a craft was seen as decisive in training inner traits such as clarity of thought, reliability, and self-discipline. Earning a livelihood was seen as central to finding a divine purpose.

While the base of the ladder was firmly grounded the pinnacle of the ladder stretched all the way to heaven and paradise. But action is necessary by taking each step up the rung. Symbolically all that you experience in life is a school for the elevation of consciousness and the precondition to taking the next step. You have to go through a new period of apprenticeship each time.

The ascent up the ladder is ultimately an ascent to another dimension as we walk through the path of life. We are called upon to climb the celestial ladder with growing awareness, and not to be pulled downward by the forces of distraction. What we are experiencing on an individual level is also experienced by humanity on a collective level. During these times of renewed talk of war and confrontation between nations, we should never lose our capacity for faith, hope, and love.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | February 13, 2023 · 1:24 pm

Escaping the treadmill of the monkey mind

One of the tragedies of the human condition is being stuck in the „monkey mind“ that is dancing in thoughts of what was and is no more and the fear and anxiety of what the future might hold. 

Thoughts trigger emotions and emotions trigger reactions that inevitably have a major impact on your vibrational frequency that will in turn inevitably attract what you emanate.

If your mind is focused on scarcity you will see around you only scarcity and attract the same. If you are primarily a person in gratitude and abundance you will live in abundance and see abundance everywhere. It‘s what we call the magnetism in the law of attraction.

Our culture’s predominant messaging is external gratification which inevitably nurtures a scarcity mindset. However, just by putting this age in which humanity finds itself, in a historical perspective we are experiencing unprecedented abundance. If you are reading this you would very likely have internet access, a stove, a fridge, and a supermarket in the vicinity offering a multitude of foods. You are living the life the kings and queens of the 14th or 15th century could only have dreamed of. Hygiene, health care, transportation, and almost every level of human existence have made immense strides over just the past 100 years.

Tremendous technological progress has however stunted spiritual growth. We are so fixated on immediate gratification that we are losing our minds. Buddhists call it the attachment to the 10,000 things. We are only confronted with mortality when a close loved one has passed, and otherwise prefer to banish illness, frailty, and death to hospitals and old age homes. 

In the Middle Ages, death was a constant reality. Fatal diseases were rampant. What we would today term a simple injury could rob the life of a young person within days. Men died in battles and women during pregnancy or childbirth. You were one of the lucky ones if you survived until your mid-40s. This inevitably focused people‘s attention on the eternal. Some of the greatest artwork and architectural masterpieces were dedicated to the divine and inspire us to this day. Philosophical thought and the teachings of the sages and mystics were timeless in their wisdom.

Meister Eckhart, a 13th-century Mystic and Dominican monk, quotes an unknown sage with the words: „World and time are small things. Unless you transcend world and time, you will not see God. “

Finding a connection to soul

The French 17th-century mathematician Blaise Pascal said: „All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”  The disconnect from the yearnings of the soul manifests itself in the craving and attachment to form that is always transitory. 

Stress always starts with the thought of wanting to be in someplace other than where you are currently finding yourself.

To find alignment with soul you have to detach from the illusory distractions of the external world. Focusing your mind on the gentle flow of your inhaling and exhaling breath is just one form of meditation. Humming the OM, a prayer, or a mantra first thing in the morning or just before closing your day at bedtime is another. Practicing some form of meditation daily has multiple positive effects on body, mind and soul.

Move your body

Physically moving your body unsticks the mind. Your body posture and physiology are an authentic expression of your mindset. Anybody can see whether a person is sad, angry, kind, happy or exuberant. Take a walk in nature, and open your senses to the sights, smells, and sounds of your surroundings. The green and blue spaces of nature will instill in you the feeling of connectedness and BEING.

Service for others

Preoccupation with the needs of the ego is a hallmark of our narcissistic culture. Individual needs are prioritized over the needs of the community. Fellow living beings and the environment are sacrificed for short-term human needs. Extraction of natural resources is prioritized over preservation and recuperation for future generations. Nationalism, tribalism, factionalism, and other forms of fundamentalism define themselves in the separateness from the „other“. 

All the wise sages of old teach us that living a life of service is the recipe for happiness, soul connection, and purpose. The higher we rise in this understanding the higher we rise „in the connection to God“, according to Eckhart. The soul „returns to God through good and divine works.“

Study

The 33rd U.S. President Harry Truman said: „Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” What you feed your mind with that you become. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote that „the dream of your life has been dreamed from eternity.“ Your life is meant to grow and to become one part of humanity that also is destined to evolve and become on a collective level. Learning and studying the teachings of the wise will make you wise and give you the skillset for your life in service.

The spiritual teachings of the mystics emphasize the inseparability of body, mind, and spirit, and finding discipline in the daily training of meditation/prayer, and exercise of the body so that you have the strength and power to serve. Procrastination would be a disservice to your higher self. 

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | February 6, 2023 · 9:29 pm

The virus of victim culture

How would you feel when after your passing you were shown by an angel the life you could have lived but didn’t live because you were too afraid to take action or spent a life in misery by blaming everyone else, especially your elementary family for what went wrong in your life?

To some degree, it’s everyone’s story. Families and relationships are strained by divorce, emotional abuse, financial issues or poor physical and mental health. But the external world, especially social media, indoctrinates us with the message that we are always supposed to be happy. Life is never like that. The seasons of nature teach us that we go through cycles of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Our grievance culture thrives on negativity which has become like a virus infecting individuals and millions of people in entire nations. A person infected with grievance culture is incapable of self-reflection and taking responsibility. He would rather wallow in feeling sorry for himself for what all the others did to him in creating the situation he finds himself in. By blaming others he has a perfect excuse for not taking action to change the status quo.

Victim culture can poison entire nations

On a macro-level, it is a hallmark of fascist and extremist movements led by demagogues who have the ability to channel the toxic emotions of hate, anxiety, and fear into blaming ethnic minorities, other religions, political parties or genders for everything that has gone wrong in society. The fascists of Nazi Germany found fertile ground in stirring the flames of existing 19th-century Prussian militarism, hurt national pride, and prejudice toward the Jewish minority.

Comparisons with the current situation in Russia are striking. The Russian leadership is effectively using hurt national pride after the collapse of the Soviet Union to justify the invasion of another country. The messaging from state Russian media is that NATO was responsible for starting the war and that the atrocities committed by Russian troops are fake news.

A democratic modern Germany and the European Union could only be built after total defeat of Adolf Hitler and the realization that nationalism can never be a solution. In the same way dramatic changes in Russia will possibly only came after total collapse of the current authoritarian economic and political order.

Grievance culture is an addiction to a mindset. The individual is in total denial that there is a problem. The healing process is then only possible during an epiphany that comes with a flat-on-the-ground moment. The frustration level, disgust, and pain threshold has reached such a level that the first steps toward changing the situation are taken.

Photo by Simon Berger on Pexels.com

Life is cyclical: Winter is a time for reflection and opportunity

The winter cycles of life when we are in pain, grief and suffering offer also the greatest opportunity to an elevation of consciousness and change. Conflicts in relationships, in a job, or in a family are signposts pinpointing that changes need to be made, and that the status quo is no longer working. You are given an opportunity by the universe to dig deep into your inner resources, your inner truth, and your soul purpose. The winter cycles of life are a time for withdrawal and self-reflection where the ideas, and opportunities for the next cycle, spring, are born.

Some of the most successful start-ups have been founded during an economic downturn or recession. Several of the world’s most outstanding business and political leaders transmuted the winter years of their lives into activism, leadership, and creativity. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, never losing sight of the long-term goal to become president of a non-racial democratic South Africa.

Martin Luther King wrote about his own suffering:

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive.”

Success for these outstanding personalities came after many trials and tribulations where any normal person would have succumbed to bitterness and blame. We see often only the end result of their accomplishment and not the rough path, the inner work, discipline, and dedication they built to get there.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

One more thing...If you have found this article interesting you might want to subscribe with the “follow” button above or recommend my FREE weekly Blog to friends and family. My books can be ordered at all places that sell good books in both paperback and kindle.

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