Category Archives: mental-health

by | January 3, 2023 · 12:32 pm

Raising your vibrational energy for 2023

Starting another New Year you have all the possibility of rewriting your future by raising your vibrational energy to the level that attracts the circumstances, people, and opportunities to make this your best year yet.

It is a time to release attachments and addictions to associations, habits, thoughts, beliefs, and the negative self-talk that limits your power and keeps you at the level of the eagle that is scratching with the chickens, unaware that it can in reality soar high in the sky.

The Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl theorized that the absence of meaning and purpose in life inevitably leads to the pursuit of distracting “pleasures” and addictions. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, describes in his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, the deep yearning of every individual to live a life of purpose and meaning whatever the external circumstances.

There is a deep yearning within every human being to be seen, recognized, and appreciated for who they are with their unique individual capabilities, strengths, and vulnerabilities.

Relationships

It is why relationships, the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis, are such an important key to happiness. There would be only a select group of very few people you would be willing to spend alone with on an island. The people you spend the most time with influence you in multiple and many subtle ways. You inevitably adopt the views, mannerisms, and beliefs of the people closest to you. Surround yourself with people who emanate positivity, joy, and kind-heartedness and you will become like them.

Health should be a top priority

If you are eating low-nutrient processed foods, and not getting enough sleep and exercise you will never raise your energy frequency. It’s a downward spiral that inevitably ends in poor mental and physical health. We are not only social beings but our metabolism is simply not built for a sedentary lifestyle. The best way of staying physically active is to find a set time – at best early in the morning – for a regular exercise routine. Start with just a 15-20 minute exercise sequence a day and then gradually build on it. Trying to do too much at once most often fails. Choose an exercise that you enjoy doing. For me, the most enjoyable part of the day is taking my dog for a walk in nature. Getting enough daylight sun on your body is very important because the body produces Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D helps boost the immune system, improves sleep, and maintains a strong bone structure.

Attachments

Attachment to that which was and is no more can be like a huge dragnet pulling you away from seeing the opportunities, joys, and magic of the present moment. Thoughts dwelling on the past are mostly blurred by emotion and very seldom reflect the true events. The “monkey mind” constantly dances between the past and the future. The worrying mind will paint the worst possible scenario of all that could happen. The result: frozen paralysis.

Breathing into the present moment

By consciously focusing the mind on your breathing rhythm you will be instantly pulling yourself back to the present moment. Breathing meditations release tension and tightness in the body. Deep breathing through the nose releases nitric oxide which widens the blood vessels allowing for better transportation of oxygen to vital organs.

What information are you feeding your mind with?

The business model of most mass media is based on fanning the flames of negative emotion. Outlandish conspiracy theories hate tweets and irrelevant gossip are shared millions of times. Negative emotions however are a threat to your long-term health. Anger, resentment, fear, and anxiety keep you at the lowest possible vibrational frequency. It is that frequency that you are most easily manipulated because you are disconnected from your true self. Karl Marx described in 1843 in a celebrated dictum “religion is the opium of the people.” The place of old-school institutional religion has undoubtedly today been taken by the 24-7 drumbeat of mass media, influencing and manipulating the minds of hundreds of millions of people in an alternate reality. Information and knowledge cannot be compared to wisdom.

Gaining more wisdom

We are drowning in information and starving in wisdom. Some ways of gaining more wisdom:

  • Surround yourself with wise, intelligent people who offer a different perspective to the one you might have.
  • Read regularly and read books that have an impact on your life
  • Listen more and ask more questions, rather than talking

Wisdom has depth and nuance far removed from transitory mainstream superficiality. It can be developed and strengthened and is not limited to the wise and old. As Albert Einstein once said: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | December 20, 2022 · 10:09 am

The twin threats to humanity

It’s the time of year to reflect on the major events of the past twelve months and how they will possibly affect humanity’s very survival. While the media narrative is focused on mostly external threats we are losing sight of mental well-being that will equally determine our capacity of dealing with the major challenges ahead.

The sages of old and the great Mystics teach us that God expresses himself in and through nature in experiential spirituality. God can only be experienced. He cannot be believed. Religious doctrine mainly tells us what to believe and how to behave but possibly it’s biggest sin has been in elevating man as a separate entity from a nature that had to be subdued and conquered.

The spiritual disconnect

It has inevitably led to a spiritual disconnect of modern man who sees the hill as a mineral resource, the indiginous plant and tree as a threat to monocultured agriculture, the animal as expendible if it cannot be put to domestic use and the rivers and seas as a resource for harvesting fish.

Within our lifetime we are therefore seeing the largest extinction of species since the Mesozoic era (252-266 million years ago with the multiple effects of climate crisis, desertification, deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, factory and monoculture farming all playing their part in this mass extinction.

We are just beginning to see the first signs of climate impact on food chain supplies, and what it could ultimately mean for the survival of future generations. Coffee, a must-have drink in most western countries, could soon become a luxurious rarity. Already many coffee bean producers are having trouble with harvests because of extreme drought and rain periods caused by climate change. Some of the world’s major staple food regions will in less than one generation be unable to produce food for ten billion hungry people if water shortage and desertification continues at the current pace.

Dr Florian Schierhorn, research associate at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, cites latest research showing maize yields in the world’s major breadbaskets under increasing pressure worldwide as a result of climate change. 

Photo by Zetong Li on Pexels.com

We are an integral part of nature

It is part of modern man’s delusion that he sees himself as external to nature, failing to realize that he/she is an integral part of creation and that the way he lives, impacts and shapes the world. The bottom line: If we don’t change the way we live, think and what we believe, we as a civilization will not survive the next century.

But all hope is not yet lost. A crisis is always a wake-up call that something needs to change. In 1987 the world signed the landmark Montreal Protocol phasing out the production of ozone depleting substances. A report in nature magazine reveals that if nothing had been done, many of the world’s plants would have disappeared by today, destroyed by harmful UV rays piercing through the earth’s protective ozone layer.

So, if humanity could do what it did it 1987, why has it so far lost at least 15 years in seriously addressing climate change? The reason is that a large portion of educated, well-meaning and decent people are being brainwashed by grievance culture that thrives on rage, negativity, and hate. We are finding ourselves in an era where values and common norms of decent behaviour and kindness have fallen by the wayside. The basic tenets of science are being questioned with the environmental and climate protection movements becoming part of the culture wars.

The big brainwash of grievance culture

Negative news sells and generates advertising revenue. The tabloids, and the Twitter feeds are constantly feeding the minds of millions of people around the world with “junk” and false information. If we feed our bodies with junk food we will become ill and it is the same way with feeding the mind. A mind constantly in anger, fear, greed and anxiety will eventually also impact the physical body.

If your mind has been hijacked by toxic emotions, you are unable to reflect and think rationally. If you are fearful your instinctual or reptilian survival mode part of the brain will have been triggered into fear and flight mode. You will believe the strangest of conspiracy theories spun by the tabloids. One of the recent ones: Meghan Markle a sleeper agent of the U.S. government while another that Harry and Meghan were secret British agents wanting to recolonise America?!

Depression and anxiety has become endemic

It might be funny but there are people who actually believe what they read and want to believe. Depression and unhappiness has become endemic in our culture. It is human nature to compare with others. Millions of people feel deeply unhappy, a failure and inadequate if they cannot conform to the physical and material attributes of the rich and famous. Could this be one of the reasons why we are seeing so many suicides among teenagers who spend much of their time on social media and following the lives of “influencers”?

The mental health of the collective unconscious mind is under siege. More than ever before we need to teach ourselves and our loved ones on the importance of standing guard at the doorway to the soul. What serves me in a higher sense to become a happier, kinder and better human being? What interactions and conversations with my fellow human beings serve me and others and what do I need to stay away from?

Soul connection forms the essence of BEING. If you are connected to the essence of your BEING and you begin to realize that you are a unique individual, with unique talents and a unique purpose in life, you will begin to live a happier and far more fulfilling life.

The journey of life is a pilgrimage. When you have climbed a hill you realize that you are not yet at the end of your journey. There is another hill to climb, another valley to traverse. Another lesson to learn. Every crisis and a wrong turn in the road can also be an opportunity to turn back, to press the reset button and to start afresh.

Take a walk in nature to clear the mind and to realign body, mind and soul. Take a moment to reconnect with your breathing rhythm and connect that inhaling and exhaling sequence with the breath of life all around you. What do you smell, hear and see. Do you notice the harmonious cadence of the bird song, the fine texture of a leaf, the beauty of a flower growing from the crevice of a rock?

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau –

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | December 13, 2022 · 6:29 pm

Is society fraying at the edges?

Life is a choice. You can see the colour, the nuanced beauty in all, the diversity of creation and the magic.

Or, you see everything in just black and white

Within the walls of a turreted castle in the east German state of Thuringia a disparate group of plotters including a judge, a celebrity cook, a prince, and a former general of an elite army unit planned seizure before Christmas this year of the country’s parliament and replace modern Germany’s political structures with a monarchical Reich with a king at its head.

In the past, the fringe group of “Reichsburger” fanatics was at the receiving end of jokes but the country’s security services were sufficiently concerned that they launched one of the biggest security raids involving several thousand police raids on more than two dozen properties. All the plotters will now be spending Christmas behind bars.

What makes well-educated, upper-middle-class people lose the plot?

Most western countries are having to deal with rising populist movements that question the very foundations of democratic norms and values. Meanwhile in Russia “Tsar” Vladimir Putin decides to invade one of the world’s major breadbaskets plunging much of the Third World into a food crisis, an energy price shock in all the major economies and the largest refugee crisis in central Europe since the end of World War II.

The pandemic and its repercussions have only compounded the underlying currents that come with major economic and social changes that we are seeing in much of western society. Communities, institutions and beliefs that have stood rock solid for centuries are seemingly fraying at the edges.

Family and community

From the end of the 1950s we have seen a growing emphasis on individuation as opposed to community. Personal expression, freedom of movement and living one’s life purpose to the full has come at the expense of the individual being subservient to the needs of the community, the group or the family as a whole. It has come on the tailwinds of the harmonious 1950s family unit being exposed as the myth it always was. Women were largely disempowered and forced to service large babyboomer families. A revolt was inevitable. Young women were at the forefront of the 1960s anti-establishment movement. Divorce, multiple patchwork families, same-sex marriages are on the one hand commonplace but also deeply disoncerting to fundamentalists. Women are mostly the first to end a dysfunctional relationship. It is very often the male part of a relationship that refuses to change from the traditional role model and pursue a path of self-development and reflection.

Photo by Krizjohn Rosales on Pexels.com

The male identity crisis

Young women are far outpacing their male counterparts on all levels starting from school achievement to successful career paths while men form by far the largest group affected by addiction, mental health problems, homelessness and violent crime. Especially during puberty young men are in need of fathers stepping up to their role in providing structure and orientation. Sadly, this is mostly not the case with the “absent father” playing a major role in the mental health problems of young men who seek orientation in the antiquated gun-slinging “heroic” male figureheads that we find in extremist movements and computer war games.

What you feed your mind with you become

The Internet has revolutionised our world and opened up unlimited communication and new job opportunities. The downside is that it has also scuttled many traditional industries including the local and regional newspaper that was a platform of diverse debate and different opinion. Social media, especially Twitter, has become a platform for grievance culture and confirmation bias. Automated Google algorithms feed us with what we want to read, confirming existing views and biased opinion. We live in information silos. What we feed our mind with we become. And what we notice is that a lot of unhappy people are becoming more unhappy and discontented from what they read and hear. A large portion of the daily information intake is designed to appeal to negative emotions of hate, lust, and greed. Good news just doesn’t sell.

The spiritual disconnect and the crisis of religious institutions

For centuries religion has told us how to behave and what to believe, citing divine will. Much of religion and the priesthood suppressed and separated religion from spirituality. Sexual misconduct and abuse has exposed the hypocrisy and alienated millions of faithful from what they perceived as their spiritual home. The spiritual disconnect and the crisis of the religious institutions has led to countless pseudo-religions that compound the mental health crisis.

For so-called “primitive man” God was never part of a religion but part of fundamental daily experience lived every day in interaction with the world of nature. When God is experiential we cannot believe. We can only experience.

The mental health crisis

The opiod crisis, and other addictions only pinpoint a major mental health crisis. How can you become more resilient and aligned in a fast-changing world that seems increasingly frightening to more and more people? Apart from the basic biological needs that make us no different from the animal kingdom, humans have the deep need to be seen and to be heard. We are spiritual beings in need of purpose and a place in community. Some tips:

  • One of the most effective ways of preventing physical and mental job exhaustion is to nurture friends and relationships. Surround yourself with positively-minded people who uplift and support you.
  • Find a spiritual community to practice a religious ritual that is free from dogma and constraint. It has real life-extending and stress-reducing benefits, according to scientific studies.
  • Spend alone time in nature. The green and blue spaces of nature have a real positive effect on boosing your immune system and aligning yourself with a higher sense of Being.
  • Find a personal mentor who acts as a sounding board in refining your goals and sense of purpose.

First and foremost maintain a critical mindset to your own thoughts and beliefs. They might have been influenced by external voices that have little in common with your individual and authentic soul purpose.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | December 6, 2022 · 4:26 pm

And the cow jumped over …

Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jump’d over the Moon,
The little dog laugh’d to see such Craft,
And the Fork ran away with the Spoon

A 16th-century children’s rhyme has us believe that a cow managed to jump over the moon, filling children going through difficult times with happiness and delight.

We can just imagine a stubborn and bored cow steadfastly munching grass in the same meadow every day of every year until something happens that changes her entire life when she tries something that she has never done before.

Be the cow that jumps over the mind

There is something the champions in our world do very differently from most other people: They have learned that their habits, mindset, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes determine the outcome of everything they do.

But most of us are caught in the treadmill of fixated beliefs and thought patterns. Albert Einstein refused to believe in the unpredictability of the world, saying:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

As we begin to end another year, you might be frustrated about all those unfulfilled wishes and dreams you had at the beginning of the year.

Most intentions and vision boards stay dreams, because they are not followed up by action. One method of counteracting such a trap is by reverse engineering. Set an exact time and date by when you want to achieve something and then go back in time to the present day with a clear plan of action by when you want to do what.

Let us say you want to do more for your physical fitness to boost your health and metabolism, and at the same time losing a certain number of kilograms. Your target could be walking 10,000 steps per day in half a year. If you start walking 10,000 steps on the first day you will soon lose motivation. Start with small steps: 1,000-2,000 just to give you a kickstart, and then gradually increase that day by day.

The same applies to saving or getting rid of debt. Start by paying off the smallest credit card debt. Once you have achieved that you will be motivated to pay off the next credit card and then the next until you are finally free of debt.

Stress puts you into tunnel vision

A major obstacle to fulfilling your dreams and getting rid of old habits is emotional stress. If your body is regularly flooded by stress hormones such as cortisol you are permanently in fight or flight mode. Your body is programmed to survival and you will be in tunnel vision. You will be stifled in your creativity, missing out on opportunities that the universe is laying out right in front of you.

Monitoring how you breathe is one of the best methods of stress control. A stressed emotional body will breath through the upper chest and throat. Place one hand on your heart and the other hand on your lower belly. Try inhaling and exhaling through the nose at least twelve times, feeling the exhaling sequence deep down into your lower belly. Already you will feel your body and mind relax.

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

Head mind or heart mind

The stressed head mind is constantly dancing in the past and future. It is fear based and often rooted in trauma and fear going back to some distant past. Grievance culture on social media feeds on toxic emotions of the head mind. These are all those feelings of hate, greed, regret and judgment. The opposite is heart mind. In our digital and media-based culture, the word “love” is used all too commonly in everyday language. The common definition is an “intense feeling or affection” for a person or a thing. The ancient Greeks had four definitions for the different types of love: Philia, Eros, Storge and Agape. 

  • Philia – the type of love found in strong friendships
  • Eros – the love found in romantic relationships
  • Storge – the type of love found in close family bonds
  • Agape – the highest form of love that is selfless and unconditional

The cow has decided to jump over the mind to reach the highest form of love that lies deep within the heart within authentic soul nature, liberated from external conditioning and programming.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | November 29, 2022 · 5:56 am

You are a magnet for …

Anger is a hot coal that you hold in your hand while waiting to throw it at someone else.” —Buddhist teaching


Life is seasonal and when times get rough you might just be one of those rare individuals who discover inner strengths beyond measure while the crowd sinks into the shadow world of grievance culture. Minorities, the weakest, and all those in society who don’t fit the norm are targeted.

When toxic emotions and fear rule the mind, there is a disconnect from authentic soul nature. The demons of hate, xenophobia, and intolerance take hold.

Within the soul is embedded all knowledge

According to Plato and spiritual teachers such as St. Augustine, your soul has within her all knowledge and wisdom. What you practice outwardly acts like a magnet to your innermost being.

What you emanate you attract. If you are surrounded by negative and angry people ask yourself: „What is it in me that attracts such people? What do I need to change within to attract kindness, empathy, thoughtfulness, generosity, and gratitude?

Blaise Pascal said: „All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

It is stopping to reflect: Where do  I come from and where am I going? A walk in nature, meditating in stillness, and finding solace in solitude are those precious moments of reconnection to the wisdom of the soul.

The 13th-century Dominican Mystic Meister Eckhart quotes a sage with the words: „Unless you transcend world and time, you will not see God. “

According to these ancient Mystics, God is embedded in the heart of the soul. God is unseparated from all things.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Evolution and consciousness

The purpose of all creation and soul nature is evolution of consciousness. It happens in the adaptation and interplay between the outward and the inward. How this works is best understood in studying nature that constantly moves in the polarity between the Yin and Yang, yet ultimately in a spiral of completion and change. God finds expression in nature.

On another level. The evil that we see and experience in the world exists at the same time that there is goodness, innocence, and purity. We have been given the power of choice, choosing at every junction one or the other. Meister Eckart writes that the soul must return to God by „means of good and divine works“, in service of peace, justice, and wisdom.“

Especially during these times when we witness unimaginable atrocities of war and terror in Ukraine, we ask ourselves why an omnipotent God is not intervening. Why does he allow this to happen?

Evil in its harshest form also means complete disconnect and absence from God.  Its only purpose is to serve as a clarion call into action of what is the opposite of destruction and hate.

It is a small yet comforting thought that in terms of nature’s law of the seasons the flowers of spring inevitably come, even after the harshest and coldest of winters.

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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by | November 22, 2022 · 12:10 pm

What my elderly dog is teaching me

In human terms, my elderly Dalmatian is well over the age of 80 teaching me many lessons on the passing of form and inevitability that comes with life‘s seasons.

Since Klara first raced into my arms at the age of four months I‘ve known her as my best motivating coach for long walks where she would race ahead tail wagging with joy as she utilized all senses of sound, smell, and touch in complete situational awareness.

From my earliest childhood, I‘ve had dogs around me, and believe they are creatures sent by the Creator to help us become better humans. I was devastated when at the age of three we had to leave our Ridgeback mix „Pajatz“ at the farm in South Africa when the family moved to town.

One of the distant memories is Pajatz constantly standing guard around me. I would gently stroke him behind his ears as he nudged his cold nose into my face. On one occasion he instantly killed an approaching poisonous snake. Dogs are loyal and love unconditionally like few humans can. They will not hesitate one moment to sacrifice their lives in order to save yours.

They will be the first to greet you when you come home. My fox terrier „Stompie“ would be heading for the garden gate some minutes before I came home from school in boundless joy as if we had been separated for weeks as soon as I arrived.

Dogs are emotional shifters

All stressful thoughts and experiences of the day would be instantly removed as „Stompie“ demanded his pat and bring me a ball for him to chase. Later in life during my job at a news agency in Hamburg, Germany I would sometimes bring my dog Akim along. He was a great shifter of toxic emotions. 

Very often colleagues coming to me with an issue would forget the problem after „conversing“ with Akim who even featured in a widely publicized article on the positive effects of well-behaved dogs on office staff.

Klara was my constant companion and sounding board when I dealt with separation, a very stressful divorce, and giving up a home of more than 20 years. Strapped in the passenger seat of my car we took a two-day journey to our new home in Majorca, Spain. She was the star of the show every time we stopped at a petrol station traveling through France.

In contrast to rainy, foggy northern Germany the Mediterranean island of Majorca in our first month on the island offered beautiful blue sky and comfortable walking temperatures in the low 20 degrees Celsius.

With Dalmatians relatively rare in Spain, I every so often hear enthusiastic children running toward us with shouts of „Dalmata“. Klara would stand with stoic calm as an entire school class would converge on her with each child wanting to touch her.

Like dogs, we are social beings

Being rather an introvert my dogs have helped me converse with total strangers and taught me much about happiness and relationships. We have such an affinity to dogs and they to us because we are social beings who thrive when interacting with others. We need our tribe, our herd, our pack, community, friends, and neighbors to stay mentally healthy. Dogs tied to a leash or kept in a pen all day become aggressive and neurotic. Humans living in reclusive isolation become depressed. Solitary confinement over an extended period is one of the worst forms of torture.

During our five years on the island, we have explored mystical paths in the Tramuntana mountains, climbed several 1000-meter peaks, and walked many of the most beautiful beaches, coves, and forests.

Yet, gradually as age takes its inevitable toll I‘ve noticed stiffness in her legs and body. She needs more rest and sleep. Recent health issues included removing two infected teeth and a lump on her leg. But Klara will still follow me with determined loyalty wherever I go and it‘s now my responsibility to choose trails where she is still comfortable and will not over-exert herself.

A walk in the Tramuntana mountains of Majorca

Wisdom comes with age

While younger dogs throw a yapping tantrum, Klara will stand with calm presence as if saying: „Not important. Seen it all. Heard it all. Let‘s now attend to other matters.“

It’s an important life lesson that I have transferred into my return-to-work programs for staff coming back into the workplace after a long-term illness. Unforeseen accidents, life-threatening diseases, and symptoms of age are external circumstances out of your control that will force you into surrender. 

A dog will never mull over that which was and is no more. It is all about what is possible in the here and now. What is still good? What is possible? What can I be grateful for?

We will be making the best of Klara‘s remaining time before she departs for doggy heaven. Life passes us by in rapid succession. What do you do with the remaining days you have left? What relationships need nurturing? What thoughts, beliefs, illusions, and regrets need to be given up? 

As form declines and dissolves awareness grows that spirit in its essence never perishes As the great 13th century Mystic Meister Eckhart is quoted as saying: „In eternity all things are present.“ Or as best-selling author and spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says: “You are a conscious agent or a soul that’s having a human experience.”

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | November 14, 2022 · 5:23 pm

What fills the soul?

„It is veils that wrap past, present, and future time from your view. When the veils are withdrawn one can see all.“

—  Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani 963 – 1033

The birth of a newborn entering the world is of pure and bare innocence. But as the sages of old teach us the child grows older with layer upon layer in the form of conformity, unworthiness, fears, and insecurities covering the true self. The journey of life then proceeds in another process of unwinding and uncovering the layers of what is true soul nature.

Choosing a spiritual path, which comes often after an epiphany or a wake-up call, then becomes a process of peeling back the layers of programming, trauma, and limitations that have been holding you back from living your truth.

The 19th-century American teacher and philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott said “there are truths that shield themselves behind veils, and are best spoken by implication. Even the sun veils himself in his own rays to blind the gaze of the too curious starer.”

Unveiling the soul is a journey that cannot be fast-tracked. Each uncovering of a veil is preceded by a chapter that has to be lived into maturity.

The shifting of old paradigms

As consciousness expands the veils start thinning and you enter a higher vibrational energy. Old paradigms of self start shifting, and rigid belief systems start falling by the wayside. It is the necessary precondition to make room for the new.

Institutionalized religion most often wraps individuals into a cocoon of what to believe, and how to behave. The purpose of life is to discover your individual true soul path. The journey of life is a journey into BEING.

While religion constitutes a set of externally induced worship practices, beliefs, and ways of conduct, spirituality is experiential. It is a deep connectedness to the moment, opening the cracks to the soul and to something much higher than the self. The spiritual seeker is on a “pathless path” of self-discovery. There are no external rules. The seeker follows an inner call to spirit.

Your voice matters. The world needs you with all your unique abilities and creativity. You are a beautiful person. You have the choice and you are the captain of your soul.

It requires at times a stock-taking of what fills and nurtures your soul. What makes you happy and live a life of bliss?

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Your relationships are key

One of the biggest tests is to let go of people who are not good for you. They are your secret enemies who are actually preventing you from peeling away the next layer. But you are afraid to lose them or are afraid that you will no longer be loved. Surround yourself with people who emanate positivity, who encourage, nurture, and feed your soul.

Your relationships are key. From the day you were born, you have been surrounded by parents, siblings, carers, and teachers who have molded you into who you are. As a child, you had no other choice but to conform to the norms and behaviors of those around you. But as you grew into puberty and adulthood you will have begun questioning and seeking your own identity.

  • Who am I?
  • Where do I come from and where am I going?
  • What is my soul’s purpose?

What fills and nurtures your soul is a very unique and individual process. But here are some guidelines.

  • It will be serving and in service of something higher than the self.
  • It is unconditional and liberated from the transactional.
  • It triggers within you unlimited creativity and joy.

Do you remember when you were a child before you were conditioned by external expectations? At a time when you were closely aligned to your true soul nature, you might vaguely recall what activity, relationship, and state of BEING elevated you into a high state of bliss and happiness. All these are clues that you can pursue in creating the matrix of the path to purpose and meaning.

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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by | November 8, 2022 · 7:23 am

Inner stock-taking

As we near the end of another year it’s time for inner stock-taking: Was it worth doing what I was doing so far this year? Is it worth devoting my life to it? Where do I need to realign with my inner calling?

Daily habits can either lure you into a state of slumber or elevate you into utilizing all your talents and creativity. Setting aside time each day to practice positive habits is one of the most powerful tools in self-development.

The compound effect of daily habits has a huge impact on how your life is today. A daily routine to keep body, mind, and spirit healthy is key. An exercise routine coupled with meditation is extremely powerful.

A morning ritual sets the anchor for the day. What do I need to concentrate on doing today? What do I need to be aware of? What lower vibration, emotion, or energy from the night do I need to release. What is my positive mantra for the day?

But finding a good closure in the evening is just as important. What were my happy moments of the day? What can I truly be grateful for? What was the primary lesson that I need to record in my journal?

A more in-depth stock-taking of accomplishments, failures or even disappointments is recommended at least every quarter. A reflection with a mentor, guide, or coach can provide much clarity. A mentor is a sounding board and will help you refocus on what is truly important and help you remove the clutter that is no longer serving you.

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The biggest obstacles

There can be many obstacles coming your way that easily detract from the bigger picture and the goal-setting that you envisioned at the beginning of the year. Here are my biggest three.

Surroundings:

Are your surroundings in harmony with your calling? Is your room, apartment, or office cluttered with old things or stale energy from the past? The landscape of the house, village, town, city, or country you live in influences you in many subtle ways. The community, associations, and social conditions around you determine the vibrational field.

Associations:

Jim Rohn once said: “You‘re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Are those people you are around with having a positive, energizing influence on you, or are they pulling you down into a lower vibrational field with their negativity or narcissistic self-absorption. Who are the people that you would like in close proximity? Who are those that you need to limit contact with and those that you need to be keeping far away?

Distractions:

The pull of external distractions is probably the biggest obstacle of the three. Are social media, your mobile phone, Netflix, and all those things screaming for immediate gratification pulling you away from your mission in life, your most important objective, your dreams, your convictions, and your philosophy? Distractions can pull you into numerous directions where your thoughts are constantly dancing around in the past or the future.

Be kind to yourself

Even if you have failed to accomplish the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year and are in sadness and regret over missed opportunities or failures, it is important to remain in a loving and cherishing mindset to your inner self. Sabotaging yourself with negative self-talk can in extreme cases even pull you into a depression.

Be aware of the human condition that remains imperfect. You will have failures and disappointments. You will fall back into the trap of old habits. Life is happening all the time with its daily challenges and ups and downs. But the obstacles in the shape of people, events out of your control, unforeseen loss, and tragedy have shaped you into the person you are today and elevated you on a soul level.

You are on a journey of reconnecting to soul. You are much more than your physical body and its needs. As you walk the path of life you might deviate, and choose the wrong direction but ultimately set yourself onto the true path based on the learning experience you have had so far.

In a relaxed state of mind, in a space of solitude and contemplation, you will see things from a different perspective and be open to opportunity and growth.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | October 31, 2022 · 10:13 am

The Lord of Evil

Since the beginning of time humanity has been in a constant struggle between good and evil. We discover who we are in confronting evil and at the same time the darkness and the light within. The external is a reflection of that which is within. Evil manifests itself where there is a complete absence of what is good and pure.

In Greek mythology, the evil Goddess Eris has the only purpose of sowing discord. She causes a conflict among the Goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite by throwing a golden apple among them with the words: “to the fairest”.

No other God wanted to be put on the receiving end of the wrath of the three Goddesses by choosing one of them as the fairest. The Goddesses then ask the mortal prince of Troy Paris to do it for them. Each tries to bribe him by pledging great gifts, and Paris then gives the apple to Aphrodite who had promised to make the most beautiful woman on earth fall in love with him.

The woman chosen was Helen, the queen of Sparta and wife to Menelaus. When Paris eloped off with her, Menelaus declared war on Troy, rallying all the Greek kings, and triggering the Trojan War.

Another Greek Goddess, Enyo, delighted in war and destruction, bloodshed, and the sacking of cities.

The fallen angel and the lure of power

Christianity describes the devil, Satan, as a fallen angel and the very personification of evil. He was expelled from Heaven at the beginning of time after attempting to become equal to God.

The archetypal motif of the fallen angel or Lucifer is found in Summerian folklore, Roman mythology, Germanic tribes, and the Vedas.

In popular culture, we find Darth Vader, a fictional character in the Star Wars series. He is the dark father and the personification of evil in popular culture, serving the empire as its chief enforcer.

The windows to the soul

Eyes are said to be the windows to the soul with the bible quoting several passages in this vein. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,” (Matthew 6:22). “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:23).

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I remember very well when my elderly German neighbor, who had experienced the horrors of World War II, remarked on Vladimir Putin’s ascension to power in 1999. “You can’t trust him. His eyes are cold like those of a wolf.”

U.S. President Joe Biden told Putin during a closed-door meeting in 2011: “I looked in your eyes and I don’t think you have a soul,’ and [he] looked back at me, he said, ‘We understand each other.'”

Often evil disguises its real intentions behind a smokescreen of lies, disinformation, and false flag operations. It is the playbook of such Lords of Evil as Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. In our lifetime we have to face the truth. We have another Lord of Evil in Vladimir Putin. Over decades he has not only duped western politicians but much of the rest of the world. Let’s connect the dots just to illustrate how much this Lord of Evil has sown destruction and discord.

  • Under Putin, Soviet-era repression has given way to a marriage between kleptocracy and organized crime, turning Russia into a “Mafia state”.. Organized crime has become an outgrowth of the political machine. Mafia cells have undertaken assassinations, facilitated coercion, and extortion. Outspoken Putin critics such as Garry Kasparov have all the while warned and revealed the true nature of the monster.
  • During a closed-door meeting in the year 2000, Putin is said to have offered the wealthiest Russian oligarchs a deal: Surrender to my authority, and you can keep your mansions, and multibillion-dollar corporations. Those oligarchs who reneged on this deal and undermined Putin were thrown into prison or died under mysterious circumstances. Putin’s wealth is a secret but it can be safely assumed that he has used the oligarchs as a major source of his hidden assets.
  • Turning Russia into a Mafia-type state has given Putin huge resources to weaken Western democracies. Putin has repeatedly voiced his disgust for the multi-culturalism, sexual diversity, and free speech which he sees as a direct threat to his authoritarian and 19th-century imperialist dreams. Over the years he has funneled huge resources to rightwing and extremist groups in western countries, spreading lies and disinformation on social media through Russian state-funded bots.
  • And then in February this year, the Lord of Evil decides to invade Ukraine, the world’s breadbasket, triggering the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II and possibly the deaths of millions of people in Third World countries due to famine. Meanwhile, we have become almost emotionally immune to the daily bombardment of playgrounds, hospitals, and residential buildings in Ukraine as Putin wages a war against innocent civilians.

What does humanity have to learn from all this?

We need the enemy, and the opposite perspective to gain clarity on our own core values and choices. Often the question is asked: “If there is a God, why does he allow evil?”

But we have been given the power of choice. We cannot blame dysfunctional human actions on the Creator. God has often been seen as a strict father figure punishing his flock for sinful or bad behavior. The Mystics in contrast view God, the universal creator or the divine as “a state of Being” – the connection to pure love, kindness, and compassion. The manifestation of evil would therefore be the opposite condition – the state of complete absence of God.

Napoleon Hill once said that every evil carries within it the flames of self-destruction. It was a warning by the famous mentor to his students, political and business leaders to reflect carefully on their actions and goals. When they are not in sync with the universe and designed for the benefit of all, those flames will come back to burn you.

Sometimes those flames can come in the form of such deep disgust and regret with the “Self” that it manifests in self-destructive behavior such as addiction or serious illness.

The tragedy is that the character once held by the stranglehold of the shadow demons finds himself incapable of self-reflection.

Most suffering that we experience in our personal lives or that we witness in the external world is a result of bad human choices and actions carried out from a low level of spiritual disconnect.

The word “evil” is often used in a confusing context to blame, vilify or distract.

The wisdom of the ancient Mystics can be a good guideline. Basic human nature has not changed much over the centuries. There will always be a segment of people who don’t give any regard to the outcome of their actions. Meister Eckhart, the great Dominican friar of the early fourteenth century, warned against those whose “sole concern is how to gain honors, wealth, and pleasure.”

These people, according to Eckart, are those who lack all sense of humility by “running in front of God.” Inevitably their lives will be haunted by what they call bad luck or a bad hand. They will be blaming God, fate, people different from themselves, and basically everyone for what has gone wrong in their lives. They are filled with hate, resentment, and anger. They are the malignant narcissists of our age who seek only personal validation and glory.

As the Lord of Evil and his followers spin the narrative of hate, division, and destruction some comfort can be taken from the fact that evil ultimately destroys itself because it is out of sync with the laws of the universe. The thoughts, actions, and energy you send out inevitably come back to you.

In the same way, the path of light which is that of kindness, unconditional love, compassion, unity, tolerance, gratitude, and acceptance will bless you in a multitude of ways. You will be living a happy and blissful life if you make yourself an instrument of divine purpose.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | October 24, 2022 · 12:10 pm

Beware: Toxic emotions are a health risk

Are you getting caught in the maelstrom of grievance culture permeating the public narrative? Beware you are not only risking your health but also blocking the path to your inner voice and soul destiny.

The medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher Maimonides devoted a considerable time of his teachings on a holistic approach to health including physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being, pinpointing chronic anger as being particularly harmful.

What the sages of old knew from observation and intuition is being confirmed by research. If you don’t have your emotions under control and are constantly triggered into negativity by external circumstances you are weakening your immune system.

At the same time, you are lowering your energy vibration. If your mindset is focused on the negative you will only be seeing the negative and attracting the same.

Your brain stem, also known as the animal or reptilian brain, is programmed to survive. When your thoughts are focused on a perceived danger your survival brain prioritizes survival functions such as an increased heartbeat and higher blood pressure. You are in fight or flight mode.

When you are in an emotional state of intense anger, pain, or fear you are no longer in control. Your prefrontal cortex part of the brain that is crucial for creative thinking, and problem-solving is basically switched off.

A short-lived stressful situation can have a positive effect in helping you slam on the brakes in a traffic situation. But it is the severe and long-term stress with the body permanently being flooded by stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline that is the killer. Your vital organs such as the heart, kidney, and liver are working overtime. Your digestive system is affected, ultimately causing inflammatory disease, according to a study

A poll of 14-to 24-year-olds showed that the frequent use of social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter increased feelings of anxiety and inadequacy because they facilitated negative comments about self-image and appearance. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found a strong correlation between the use of negative language on Twitter and heart disease mortality.

You have the power of choice

The good news is that you have the power of choice. A proper diet based on foods with a high nutritional value, regular physical exercise, attractive surroundings, walks in nature, a regular spiritual practice such as meditation will immensely boost your capacity to deal with momentary difficulties and challenges of daily life.

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You might want to listen to my podcast interview with best-selling author Liam Naden on harnessing the infinite power of the brain.

Emotional shifting is a practice where you first of all accept the situation you are in. Accept that you are angry, fearful, or sad. It is better to surrender to those feelings than to fight them. You are in survival mode with the monkeys dancing in your head painting horrible scenarios of the worst possible outcome of a situation. You are in survival mode.

Now take a step back, inhaling and exhaling through your nose. Focus your thoughts on your breath counting to ten. You might now be in the position to emotionally shift. Replace fear with trust, sadness with a happy moment, and anger with calmness of mind.

As the echo chambers of the external world continue their negative drumbeat it is more important than ever to stand guard at the doorway of your mind. Surround yourself with upbeat, positive-minded people. Be grateful for the small blessings in life by practicing a daily gratitude ritual. What was my best moment during the past 24 hours? There will be such a moment and relish it.

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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