Most of us might plan a few weeks in advance, we might even book our summer holidays in at the beginning of the year, but very few people actually make a plan for their life.

Where would I like to be in five or ten years time? How do I want to be? What kind of life do I want to live? Where? With whom? What kind of job or pastime do I want to be doing and enjoying?

And this is one of the many Life Coaching tools – the five year plan.

But before you go off, drawing up your plan and running off making big changes in your life, stop for a moment.

Lets take a step back and think about the destination again.

Where are you going? Let’s take a few moments to really think about where you want your life to go.

A few very useful question I ask people are;

1. How would you feel if you won the lottery?
2. What would you do with the money?
3. How does it change your life?
4. After some years of spending and living the hi life – what do you do?
5. Can you imagine your future life in detail?
6. How does it feel?
7. How can you do that now?
8. How can you move forward towards your current life goals?

You see you really need to figure out where you want to be heading BEFORE you start running away in that general direction.

But now that you’ve got a slightly better idea, we can start planning!

It doesn’t have to be a very detail plan, just a sketch, an outline, I find it works best if you plan backwards.

Year 5 -

Year 4 -

Year 3 -

Year 2 -

Year 1 -

Now you can begin to run towards your future – even though this plan may change, at least you’ve now got a much clearer idea and vision of where you are going.

Good luck!

Escape from the city, and from the humdrum and stresses of everyday life…

Sometimes we all need to escape from the din of city living, step outside of our everyday selves and reassess the way we live, to help us gain new and different perspective on our lives.

Our Weekend ‘Shabbaton’ Urban Guru Retreat is the perfect time and place to do this as it’s entirely dedicated to your personal spiritual growth and development. It is an ideal chance to breathe and focus on becoming more relaxed, spiritualy centred and balanced. It is an opportunity to reassess your life, discover your souls path, and a chance to focus on cultivating your own happiness, inner joy and peace of mind. So when you do return to your life you can begin to live it on a higher plane, were you can be more focussed, calm, and alive.

Urban Guru Retreats, usually take place over a weekend (or Shabbaton) Friday – Sunday, in a converted farm near Buxton in the Peak Park UK. They are very laid back and relaxing, the weekend is a mixture of lectures and workshops, focusing on wide variety of themes.

This included workshops in various forms of Kabbalistic meditation, from the early Merkvah school – to modern day forms of Hassidic consciousness expanding techniques.

The themes of the lectures vary – and they can focus on that weeks Torah reading – although not always so. We try to keep some semblance of a traditional Shabath from Friday to Saturday night although we are not dogmatic about it.

As participants are asked to refrain from using there mobile phones throughout their time at the retreat etc…There are group activities and ‘prayer’ workshops, as well as one on one learning and mentoring.

All the activities are completely voluntary… if someone doesn’t wish to participate and even just spend the entire weekend in their room that’s fine – if that is what they need to do.

The food is Kosher* and Vegetarian and were possible locally produced and/or organic. It is generally for small groups with a maximum of 12 people.

Are they the same ? or just a bunch of Dyslexics magicians ?

(If you could put all of the Urban Guru’s wisdom in to a couple of dozen quoteable quotes this is what they might look like – Read the following to save yourself from reading anything else the Urban Guru has written or is likely to ever come up with.)

That whatever you see in others is a reflection of yourself. – Urban Guru

Personal redemption is not only possible and achievable but – that it is your natural state. – Urban Guru

The classical teacher pupil hierarchy is fictitious. – Urban Guru

There is no distinction between spiritual and physical. – Urban Guru

The world is divinely miraculous. – Urban Guru

Your state of mind can and does transform reality. – Urban Guru

We can choose to be like the sun or like a backhole. – Urban Guru

There is no messiah! (except the one that says You are Your Own Messiah). – Urban Guru

You have the answers to Your life! not me! – Urban Guru

The Essence of God is not found in heaven but here on earth. – Urban Guru

You can always discover new things about yourself, if you realise you can never truly know yourself. – Urban Guru

If you cannot empathise and sympathise you are utterly alone. – Urban Guru

Life’s journey is a lesson in compassion for ourselves and others. – Urban Guru
You only see what your heart desires. – Urban Guru

Nothing can help you, help yourself, except you. – Urban Guru

Life is too short to be in a rush. – Urban Guru

There is no one in your head, except you. – Urban Guru

It takes two people deeply listening to each other for one person to communicate. – Urban Guru

It is not what is said that matters, but how it is heard. – Urban Guru

Life is perfect just as it is! that’s the irony. – Urban Guru

I believe in the divinity of all matter, everything matters! – Urban Guru

Worry is good if you’re worrying about the right things. – Urban Guru

We can seriously fail to take our life seriously. – Urban Guru

If you only lived once, it would be your eternity. – Urban Guru

This is your heaven and your hell, isn’t it simply divine? – Urban Guru

Your mind shapes your world and only You shape your mind. – Urban Guru

We get so caught up with the way we think the world is, without taking time to ask her. – Urban Guru

Life and the world are a mirror to teach us who we really are. – Urban Guru

Nothing’s Perfect! Or is it? – Urban Guru

Every moment you don’t know the simple bliss of being, your life is a hell of your not knowing. – Urban Guru

You Are The Buddha! – Urban Guru

One of the greatest things I teach you is that – There is nothing I can teach that you don’t already know. – Urban Guru

Within us we have all the answers to all the questions, but most don’t even know where to begin to look. – Urban Guru

Whatever you do, both individually and what we do collectively comes straight back and either slaps you or kisses you. – Urban Guru

You create your own reality every moment. -Urban Guru

Nothing you buy can bring you happiness. – Urban Guru

We live in a supremely intelligent universe but most of us don’t think we are part of it. – Urban Guru

Think good and it will be good. – The Rebbe

Think Rich and You’ll Be Rich!. – Urban Guru

You have everything you need. – Urban Guru

It’s not only what you eat but also How you eat. – Urban Guru

It’s not what you drive but in what state of mind you travel in. – Urban Guru

The time of your redemption has arrived, it is now, in this very moment. – Urban Guru

Realising who you are, starts with admitting that you are not the only thing that exists. – Urban Guru

Becoming who you are, involves loving all of that exists – which includes you. – Urban Guru

Everyone is redeemed –but most people don’t know it. – Urban Guru

The natural state of any human being is joy and bliss. – Urban Guru

To empty oneself of separateness and fear, is the first part of living with joy and contentment. – Urban Guru

Everyone is far more beautiful than they realise. – Urban Guru

Your body is far more intelligent than you give it credit for. – Urban Guru

Trusting in the Universe is a gamble –but if you truly trust then whatever the outcome, it is the correct one. – Urban Guru

Things are either a lot more complicated than they appear to be or a lot simpler, the truth could be both. – Urban Guru

Enlightenment can sometimes be like trying to start a fire with two pieces of wood, or a flint and at other times it’s like turning on a light bulb. – Urban Guru

Happy Happy! – these are the words of the wise. – Urban Guru

Enlightenment can be triggered by reading the side of a cornflakes packet, or not ever reached through the study of all of the world’s sacred writings. – Urban Guru

It’s not the message that’s important. – Urban Guru

When ‘Love’ is the answer, you don’t need to remember the question. – Urban Guru

It’s OK to regurgitate other people’s ideas, as long as You remain authentic. – Urban Guru

All the answers we search for are the questions we fail to notice. -Urban Guru

In order to hear another, you must doubt yourself. – Urban Guru

If you can create a void/womb within yourself, only then can you give birth to an idea. – Urban Guru

Reading this or anything will not bring you enlightenment. – Urban Guru

There is no competition. – Urban Guru

We all focus on the external, but are not happy, we spend billions on beauty and looking good, because deep down we don’t feel beautiful or good. – Urban Guru

Who is strong? He who is the master of his/her imagination!. – Urban Guru

We are all the greatest untapped resources! – Urban Guru

This is your last incarnation! – Urban Guru

You are the fountainhead of infinite wealth! – Urban Guru

You are a king/queen or prince/princess! Start living with this awareness. – Urban Guru

Your joy and happiness are only found within you! – Urban Guru

There is nowhere to run! – Urban Guru

I got chatting to the ex-nun that lives next door (as you do) about the benefits of going to confession. And although I’m not Catholic by any stretch of the cosmic canvas (not even in previous incarnations it seems) I was still attracted to the idea of coming clean about who you really are, exposing your darkest and deepest thoughts and issues, to someone that isn’t gonna tell your mum or dad, or broadcast it on national TV.

That’s probably why counselling and psychotherapy was invented, to give us non-Catholics a little bit of a chance of getting into heaven, or at least sorting our own shite out before we die?

And it got me thinking about how we all see ourselves, am I a sinner or am I righteous?

I know that for the most part, most people think that they are right, correct and that everything they do, everything that we do is justified.

However, on a deeper level many people don’t seem to be truly happy, deep down they don’t feel righteous, but probably consider themselves bad, wrong, stupid, dumb, fat, ugly, sinners.

Not that everyone has a Catholic soul and should feel like a big bad sinner, but from a more humanistic perspective each of us is in some way guilty of at least one sin, the sin of not truly fulfilling our innate divine potential. We are guilty of not living our dreams, of not trusting life, of ultimately letting ourselves down.

The bible says that Noah, (the guy with the boat and the animals, “2 by 2”) was ‘righteous in his own generation’, (cite) which seems to imply that his ‘righteousness’ was a ‘relative’ rather than an ‘absolute’, righteous-dudeness.

Which leads me to this; most people’s conscious mind, for the most part, thinks they’re right and justified. Their unconscious mind however knows the truth.

Heartfelt confession or being truly honest with yourself brings the two minds together, the unconscious mind teaches the conscious mind what the true situation is.

As my spiritual teacher once wrote, ‘the heart is the portal to the transcendent’ it is through our heart, that we are able to be honest, to marry our deepest part of ourselves with our everyday state of mind.

And it is in that union that we learn that, if we listened more closely to our true inner voice, we would make better choices in our lives, we would become righteous in the deepest resources of our very being.

So that unlike Noah we can strive to become more than just righteous in comparison to the generation, culture and society we live in, that is ‘righteous in his generation’ but on some much more profound and substantial level that we actually become beautiful through and through.

It is my wish that this inner beauty and righteousness become manifest within you, because it is who you are already righteous and beautiful, but nobody told you.

“I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!”Tradition has it that the Ten Commandments may have not been exactly like the Hollywood version by Cecil B. De Mille staring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yil Brynner (who seems to play all the baddies) as Pharaoh.

Let’s just set the scene for those of you who haven’t been to Sunday school recently, the Hebrews are camped out at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Moses goes up to receive the Two Tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, there is thunder and lightening, and just before God Utters the Ten Commandments, the entire known world becomes silent, the wind rests from blowing, the crickets stop rubbing their little legs together, the rivers stop rippling, and the birds stop singing and there is absolute silence because God is about the speak not just to one man in on his way to Jericho but to an entire nation, to the whole world.

The commentaries explain that what followed was very scary. As God spoke the first two commandments, it was like an explosive spiritual tidal wave ripping the souls straight out of the bodies of the Hebrews and leaving them for dead, it is told that God had to continuously bring them back to life in order to finish the sentence. So quite sensibly they asked, no, begged Moses to ask God to shut His Big Mouth and let Moses explain the rest of the commandments.

So out of the Ten Commandments as we know them (I’m not gonna test you on them, so don’t worry) only the first two was actually said my God and the last eight were said by Moses.

However, the same tradition also explains that the first two commandments were actually said at the same time, or that there were in fact One commandment, but the Hebrews heard the two elements of the One Commandment as two distinct Commandments. The Kabbalists explain that although only one statement was made because the Hebrews, who had just been emancipated from Egypt as slaves where not able to actually hear the singular nature of the One Statement and because of their dualistic mindset they actually heard two.

The first two commandments are:
1. ‘I am the Lord Your God who took you out of Egypt’
2. ‘You Shall Have No Other God’s’

From the First Commandment the Hebrews learnt all of the positive commandments some 248? And from the second commandment all the negative prohibitions which there are some 365.

However, it is quite obvious on closer examination that the first two commandments are actually one sentence with a comma between them, i.e. ‘I am the Lord Your God who took you out of Egypt, you should have no other gods except me.’

So whether God said these two parts of the sentence at the same time or in a linear fashion is rather irrelevant. It’s clear that God only really said One statement.

There are those that explain that in fact God only said the First Word of the First Statement, this word is ‘I am’ (Anochi) it is actually an Egyptian and not a Hebrew word.  They explain that from this one word which expresses the existence of God, the Hebrews learn the entire 613 commandments.

There are some more modern Kabbalists that take reduction thematic even further, they claim God only Said the First Letter of the First word of the First Statement.

Now those of you not familiar with ancient biblical Hebrew let me explain, the first word of the first statement is the letter Aleph that is also coincidentally the first letter of the Alphabet and has the numerical value of 1.

However, and here is where I add my two cents to this reductionist fashion, and this is just a grammatical observation, the letter Aleph, is the closest thing in Ancient Hebrew to a vowel, and on its own it actually doesn’t have a sound at all.

So we may conclude that what was actually reveal on Mt. Sinai was the silent letter Aleph which represents the One, the Absolutely Silent and Unitary Singularity of the entire Cosmos and Beyond. And from this awareness and realisation the Hebrews learnt all the positive and negative Spiritual Laws that they may live their lives in peace and enlightenment.

I almost always look back at myself, what i’ve done, how i’ve been, what i’ve said, what i’ve felt and thought, and thought “what a freaking idiot i’ve been!”It’s sobering, but good to know that the person I was a minuet ago was an utter idiot compared to the person i am at this very moment and so on.

So of course being told i’m some stupid pot smoking looser hippy type, kinda got my back up, but then i thought about it, yeah – he’s probably right, but so what?

It’s about what’s important in life, is it important to be very clever? is it important to be right? is it important to make sense of everything? if so what is the goal? and is that goal so fantastic that it ignores other weird and more fundamental things that are important too? Like being happy, like discovering a deep sense of tranquillity and inner peace, joy and contentment? obviously these things don’t have to be mutually exclusive, however, being right and being so utterly linear does have it’s price, the price is that you can’t bare to see any other way of doing things as having any legitimacy.

I’m no genius, i’m not even very bright, i’m just me, doing the best with what i have, but surely anyone who is Clever, is Bright and so utterly erudite must have learnt a little bit of philosophy? read a little post-modernism? read a little existentialism? read a little pop-psychology? read a little phenomenology? read a little Buddhism? read a little on hassidism? read a little on fuzzy notions? read a little on almost everything?

and would come to some vague conclusion that – “i’m willing to admit that I don’t really know anything!” In fact even if i spent my entire lifetime reading, learning and internalising all of human knowledge and wisdom, i would still only have got a drop in the ocean?

So can we please all agree Urban Guru is fool!! Yippy!

I forgive myself my human stupidity, I forgive the idiot that i was just a moment ago, because I don’t expect perfection from myself or anyone else – perfection isn’t one of my main goals in life, it’s not high on my priority list as something that’s very important, usually it’s a sign of something not so perfect.

If i were to judge myself at every turn, to agonise about every word or idea that came out of me – i would stop communicating altogether.

For me and i imagine for most human beings that would be a form of death.

I forgive myself for being who i am, i forgive myself for not being perfect, I allow my innate humanity to be one of my most endearing qualities, blar blar dee blarr…

I know why i react to critisism – because it challenges me to become, to let go, to smile, to say to myself, yo dude, maybe the person’s right, maybe i’m talking rubbish once again, hay yo man, i think i need to go lye down a bit and think the whole of my life over again?

or some other drivle?

So in summery;

I am merely a human being – divine being – allowing myself to be and hoping to grow like a plant – towards the blue sky and warm sunshine of contentmen, fulfillment and apple juice.

In truth each of us are already truly enlightened. Call it buddha, moshiach, God or whatever you like. Only when you or I completely surrender to our divine nature do we begin to live a life that fulfills all of our potential.

what does that even mean?

I’ve got an idea about what I mean, what place that this stuff comes from.

We all have ideas and beliefs about ourselvles and who we think we really are. Most people have bought into the theory of evolution and just think that they are little furry monkeys on a tinny spinning planet in some distant backwater of the milky way.

But that is just an idea, which trys to make sense of this world we live in, to give us some wider perspective on the human condition.

But what i’m suggesting is that by limmiting ourselves to a purely mechanistic, darwinian worldview, we limit our potential for growth , for developemnt and for discovering the Unknown within us, everyone and the entire world.

What’s the point of discovering the Unknown within us? Call it buddha, moshiach, God or whatever you like.

- to help you decome a better, happier and more inspired, responsive, gentle, caring, awesome furry monkies of course.

Life can sometimes present us with lots of different challenges, they are of course, all there to help us grow and become deeper and better people because of them.

But I believe that it is our resistance to, what is, to the unfolding of life, the universe and everything, to the day-to-day stuff that happens in our life, it is that friction which ultimately wears us down.

I don’t mean always being an easy pushover on every occasion, because indeed, sometimes Life wants us to rise to the challenge, speak up, act and react, out of pure righteous indignation.

But often it is the less important elements of life that we get caught up with, the daily stresses that gently grinds us down until we fall to pieces.

It is these daily recurrent events, stresses, feelings and thoughts that I’m suggesting we stop and let go of.

I believe, not based on too much fuzzy new-age science, but from watching myself, that it is our resistance to life, the everyday resistance, our feelings of dislike, being upset about whatever it may be that actually ages us, both emotionally and physically.

So if and when you notice yourself becoming tense, or feeling even the slightest bit cross, let it go! Stop resisting, just relax, and allow whatever is, to be.

What does that mean?

It means that when you notice yourself resisting life, before you even make yourself ill, stressed or upset, just let it go.

Learn to recognise that your default mode is one of tranquillity and warm quiet inner stillness and peace.

Everything that moves your attention away from that sense of calm is a distraction; it is a form of mild idolatry.

Your task then is to focus your attention on that river of peace that runs through your veins.

In the strange and sometimes manic but perfectly peaceful personal utopia that I inhabit and co-create, there are occasions when I dialogue with local sages, mystics, high priests and priestesses and even groups of young trainee rabbis.

On one such occasion debating the benefits of rigorous study over the comforts of staying in bed. I was willed, and this is not the first time such a statement has ushered forth from my lips, in a almost Krishnamurti-like utterance; “All I’m suggesting is that you take your life seriously! What you do from then on in is your business.” I continued.

Of course as with any discussion with students of the Talmud, it couldn’t have been left alone, the entire statement had to be dissected, analysed and proved to be utter stupidity, before they were to even hear what it is I was trying to convey.

“What does serious mean?” one asked. They concluded that language itself was problematic because “serious doesn’t mean anything” they insisted.

Anyways, I bravely tried to explain what the opposite of “serious” was and how living a life of frivolity and merry foolishness was not particularly good. (Although ironically, I usually advocate increased merriness and frivolity for most of my life-coaching clients.)

Eventually, when they did agree that it was a good idea to take their life more seriously, they started speaking of ideals such as ‘Truth’ and the inevitability of the search and discovery of ‘Truth’, if one was to take their life seriously.

I reiterated, what I’d said before, (in these circles you’ve got to repeat yourself over and over for them to actually listen) I’m not interested in what happens after you start to take your life seriously, just take it seriously, it is a state of being, a state of mind, a mindset that I’m suggesting you adopt in order that you make the most of your life and make the most of your time stuck in rabbinical school!

Even if you conclude that life is meant to be about fun and excitement, at least be serious about it! Stop being wishy-washy, and get serious! If fun is what it’s about then have serious fun!

This wasn’t going down too well, so I started talking about everything being ONE. And believe it or not that got more resistance, than me telling them to take their life seriously.

I tried to explain that if they were to take the idea of everything being ONE seriously then their life would be completely different. I ended up having to explain that this idea was is actually one of the fundamentals of Judaism and the Kabbalistic tradition, but they found the entire concept very difficult to assimilate.

Anyway by this time, I thought I’d cut my losses and hit the road, I chuckled to myself about the irony of me lecturing to a bunch of very well behaved student rabbis about the virtues of being serious and the experience of ONE.

But if you’re going be serious about anything it’s best if it’s about the Oneness of All Existence.

One of the first and most important steps on the path to personal enlightenment or as I like to say creating a personal utopia, is becoming free of emotional blockages.

The reason why I’d suggest that this is the most important of journeys is that, in order to experience any idea, any profound and life altering notion or concept your heart must be open to feeling and experiencing whatever idea as being real.

Your mind and heart are like two wings of a bird, each of them needs to be functioning well and working together in order to help you fly upwards, towards those illustrious spiritual heights.

So getting to it, this I what you need to do:

Because we’ve all been hurt one way or other over the years, write a list of people that you may have unfinished emotional business with.

Then think about each of them and write them a letter, telling them exactly what happened from your perspective and exactly how you feel. It may not be a lovely letter but it has to be honest.

Of course you’re not meant to send the letter, but rather take each one put it in an envelope and in your minds eye imagine yourself putting the address on it, sticking a stamp on and putting it in the post.

I would recommend that you shred the actual letter and put the shredding in the recycling, as you do so say to yourself, I’m letting this go, I’m allowing the Universe to take care of this business, I’m moving on with my life, My heart is freer. Do this for each letter until you have no more unresolved emotional business to deal with. Obviously this could take a while.

Once you’ve done that, think about each person you’ve written your letter to and forgive them, even pray for them, ask that they be granted peace. Obviously this could take a while (especially if you’ve not really done the letter writing stuff all that convincingly).

Let people know what you feel! Once you’ve done all that emotional healing, you might find that you feel much more alive, more able to express yourself. You might even find that you don’t let the same situations happen again, you’ll deal with them before they become things that you might one day regret.
So, do express your feelings, tell people what you feel, be in touch with your feelings, and allow yourself to be more of an emotional person.

Whatever happens you’ll become a richer and more whole person, even if it does get you into some short-term trouble, with people that can’t deal with emotions.

Remember, to be kind to yourself and others, life is a lesson in love and compassion, for yourself, the people in your life and the entire world.

So it turns out that this little Urban Guru site this year got about 5000 unique hits a month! Which means about 1100 a week, which means approximately 150 a day!

And I know ‘unique visits’ doesn’t always mean 100% real people – but it does give me an indication of the level of real people visiting.

But it’s a lot more than I ever imagined at this stage.

And therefore I feel a slight responsibility to the 100 or so people reading this page every day, to write something a little inspiring, a little hopeful and on occasions something altogether amazing.

There’s a telling Italian saying: “When the wine goes in, the secrets come out!’ and another one that goes something like: “You can’t have a full bottle of wine AND a drunk wife!” But I’m not sure which one is more accurate?

A relatively modern school of mysticism (a subtle reference to the Urban Guru and mates) believe that being slightly inebriated is actually a vehicle for self-discovery and enlightenment. Of course, when you see the entire world, as an ongoing form of Group Therapy, everything, even being paralytic once in a while, is part of the ‘healing’ process.

The amazing thing is about being off-your-face is that it’s not an intellectual exercise, it is an experiential experience!

You’ve got an excuse to let go and be yourself completely, without guilt or any form of societal repression, judgement or shame. Getting drunk reveals who you really are underneath the cosy façade of ‘normality’. But because we often aren’t really in touch with our inner selves or with our true feelings, stuff comes out that we choose to blank out and would rather forget.

But if we go beyond that juvenile form of emotional therapy and embraces the deeper lesson that this ancient liquid intelligence is teaching us, we will soon learn that; 1. Being drunk is ultimately a state of mind. 2. Us being ourselves fully and completely is actually a good thing. 3. Many of societies inhibitions and cultural norms are inventions of deeply unhappy people. 4. You do actually love everyone. 5. You’ve just not realised how sexy and beautiful almost everyone is!

“I’m praying for rain in California, So the grapes can grow and they can make more wine!”

Get in touch with your inner-drunk and tell everyone you love them!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the rhetoric and sentimentality of the current fashionable good cause, whether it’s recycling, CO2 emissions, feeding the starving in Africa or eating more fruit and veg. But the real question is, even if you are a dedicated bandwagon devotee; does that make you a significantly better person?

Haven’t you ever noticed, that, for all their clear skin, the staff in your local Health Food Shop or Environmentally Super Deli seem absolutely miserable and struggle to smile? Don’t you sometimes leave thinking, why do they want to save the world when they’re so miserable? And it’s not just because you’ve driven up in your shinny new car and are wearing a suit. That’s not the reason why they look like they’ve been sucking organic lemons, No!

Their faces seem to say ‘Oh bugger! The end of the world is nigh! Anyone for lentils?’

On reflection, they don’t really care about the world as much as they profess, just as nobody really cares if starving people in Africa know whether it’s Christmas or not.

We love the sentimentality of it, the feeling of being right, doing good when everyone else is wrong and some people just like being miserable.

The proof is, that, if we really loved and cared for the world, then we would start to love and care for the small Universe we inhabit, which we each called ‘My Life’.

So if you want to save the world, start loving and looking after yourself. Discover deep and meaningful happiness, spend time finding balance and actively feel and express real love for your family and friends and all the people in your life!

When you live in balance and love your self, you won’t need slogans or campaigns, you’ll instinctively look after and cherish your environment, the people in your community, your city, county, region, country and in fact the whole world.

Simply choose to live the life you love, and love the life you live.

Why do we make excuses for things like not exercising/not finding a new job/not giving up smoking – and do we actually believe them when we make them?
We are all creatures of habit, most of us like things to be familiar and stay the same, even if that means they aren’t always good for us. Part of the problem is that we often strongly identify our lifestyle habits with our personality and that we secretly addicted to who we think and believe we are, and don’t really want to change.

We subconsciously justify everything we do we believe that we are always right, change means admitting we may be wrong. On a deeper level, many of us actually enjoy our suffering; we enjoy moaning and complaining about our lives, more than we think might enjoy the challenge of making our lives better.

Some people secretly make promises to themselves about things that they know deep down they aren’t going to be able to fulfil. When they fail, as they knew they would, they tell themselves, ‘look you’re rubbish, lazy, good-for-nothing’ etc… Of course whatever we believe about ourselves we create in our lives, so this kind of ‘setting yourself up to fail’ doesn’t help you get the confidence, self-belief or love for life you are going to need to make any significant changes.

Change often means a leap into the unknown, it means risking who we are for who we might become. When we move forwards towards a more positive future we often need to jump, to leap from the place we are to were we want to be, it is the fear of that void, the unknown, the fear that we might not make it that stops us from making the jump in the first place.
What are the most common excuses women make – and how can they hold you back?

There are as many excuses as there are people in the world, we are all addicted to the person and personality we think we are. Realising that you might be addicted to the dramas, excuses you make in your life, is the first step of breaking your addiction. When you’re addicted to a way of life, to a set of beliefs about yourself, you can justify just about anything and the list of ‘reasons why’ are endless.
How can we go about shifting our attitudes so we stop making excuses and start facing challenges head-on? How easy is this to do – and will we always be successful?

Start to be really honest with yourself, spend some time looking within, and begin to ask yourself the really important and difficult questions about your life.

Do I really want to be happy? Do I really want to live my life to the full? Do I care deeply about myself and the people in my world?

Asking yourself why you might have slightly self-destructive tendency?

Simply speaking ask yourself do you want to live or die?

Every negative thing you do in your life, every negative self-belief and self-talk is heading in only one direction, that of a slow, glamorous suicide, and conversely every positive and life affirming thought, speech and action that you invest your energy in is moving you towards a fuller, richer and more meaningful life.

The bottom line is, love yourself deeply! Then you’ll make choices that are realistic, successful and life affirming.

Desirable qualities that I believe that help people make the most of the life coaching relationship:

A willingness and desire to actually improve their lives

A certain amount of open-mindedness and imagination

An ability to be honest with themselves

A certain level of emotional stability

My words burn like thunder through your brain
Delivering high end pleasure to wash-away your pain

• What is your understanding of Kabbalah?

Kabbalah is Judaism’s esoteric mystical tradition, I believe it has existed in tandem with traditional Judaism from its very start. It is the spiritual meaning behind Judaism’s more formal religious observance.  The soul of Judaism’s body, it animates it and gives it meaning and purpose. Kabbalah is Jewish theology, it discusses the nature of God, the nature of the World and the nature and purpose of Mankind.

• What are the basic beliefs behind the Jewish tradition Kabbalah?

It seems to be a little bit of a paradox but I believe that one of the main and fundamental believes of Kabbalah is that God is both truly Transcendent and yet perfectly Immanent. That means God is completely beyond the Universe and the limits of human thought and yet completely accessible and right here in the very place – time and space of the Universe – including You!

God mediates this paradoxical relationship through language – the ancient Hebrew Language & that of Mathematics (which the Hebrew Language is a language of Mathematics too).  The bible – the Hebrew Torah is the blueprint which God creates and manifests the entire physical and spiritual universes.

Moreover, mankind are a reflection of God and thus there is a reciprocal and refectory relationship between the two – this is most clearly demonstrated by the Kabbalistic Tree of Life Diagram, which is meant to express both Man and Gods spiritual anatomy.

Nonetheless, even though the Kabbalistic tradition (which is quite eclectic in its theological approach and) has heavily borrowed from neo-platonic ideas of God’s 10 emanations (Tree of Life Diagram) – God is still completely and absolutely ONE!

• How do you feel the Kabbalah teachings are expressed through the media?

The main mistake is to equate the lovely little cult called the ‘kabbalah Centre’ run by Rabbi Berg – which the entire tradition of Kabbalah – which is as old as Judaism is not older. The Media have grabbed hold of this small cult and now think that it represents the entirety of the Kabbalistic tradition – which it doesn’t.

It’s like saying that the founding fathers of the United States must have been like ‘Ronald McDonald’ because he represents America in the world today and therefore that all Americans were red and white striped socks and eat hamburgers!

The Kabbalah Centre movement/cult is Kabbalah’s equivalent to McDonalds, and although it represents Kabbalah it like McDonals represents America it can not be said to truly express the entirety of American Culture – and the Kabbalah Centre does not represent the entirety of the Kabbalistic tradition.

• Do you think the Kabbalah teachings are positively or negatively promoted through the media? And why?

The media particularly in the United Kingdom (where I live) are very cynical of anything – let alone a weird kinda Jewish celebrity Cult and they have been extremely negative towards the Kabbalah Centre cult, and therefore also unfortunately to the kabbalistic tradition itself. On the other hand – as they say any News is good news -  it has raised the profile of Kabbalah itself and now everyone has heard of Kabbalah even if they don’t know what it is.

• How do you think Kabbalah is perceived through the media by younger generations?

I don’t know – I hope that they can distinguish between a celebrity cult and an ancient spiritual tradition based within Judaism.

• What do you think is the most affective form of media used to promote religions and religious teachings in today’s society?

Myspace? And MTV – no but seriously ‘propaganda’ – TV. Radio, Internet, word of Mouth, Books, tapes, Videos

people don’t want complicated theologies – or philosophical religions – they want simple stuff that answers questions that tells them what is right and what is wrong –

The most effective form of media used to promote religion is ignorance and dissemblance!

• Do you think that celebrities use the media to an extent to promote their particular religion?

Sure!

I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you I trust you!

I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you!

These feelings, they are enough, tender and soft petals, warmed by the fires of my ebbing heart.

Stop! Just wait a moment, there is a little lie that you believe; that you are somehow completely separate from the universe, from the whole. That you are just a little furry monkey trying desperately to hold on to this tiny spinning planet, in some forgotten Wild West Corral at the edge of this dusty galaxy, but that’s not the case.

You are actually an integral part of a responsive and intelligent, feeling universe. You are made of the very same substance as the Big Bang and the very same stuff as whatever preceded Space and Time. You are a little bit of God! (I’m a Guru I’m allowed to say that).

The problem is that you believe that the Gold/God/Wealth and Happiness are found ‘Out There’ in those them there hills, but the truth of the matter is that the source of all of the wealth and bliss in your life is not found outside of yourself, but deeply within.

If you are to discover and claim the material wealth in the world outside of you, you must first discover the mountains of ‘gold’ that you already contain.

You must claim wealth, prosperity and spiritual happiness as your birthright and become a gold-digger in the mines of your heart, and uncover the infinite that you have within you.

If you intend it with all of your internal power, if you begin to imagine it, to feel it, then it must come into being. Even if this means that your cosmic soul has to travel back in time, to the beginning of the Universe and form the very gold that you are about to find in the hills and mountains of the open market.

It is you and your intention, your divine will to manifest your infinite potential in any way you choose. You are a creator of the life you are living; you manifest and create wealth and success in your life.

You are the goose that lays the golden eggs!

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This was first published in the Sep 2007 edition of EN Magazine

I’m not sure if I’ve told you but the “Urban Guru”  is simply a myth, it is a realm of enlightened tranquillity and transparent awareness that exists in a state of potential within each and every urban dweller. It just happens to be that the Urban Guru in me has become manifest that I use the honourable title.

But you, also have the ability to create a serene personal utopia, within your current life, to become your own Urban Guru, to travel within the city without moving, to swim in an ocean of pure cosmic intelligence, to realise the divine nature of your very being with every single moment, with every single breathe.

But there is a bloody war on; it is a spiritual war to free or keep captive, the Urban Guru within you. To allow yourself to become all that you are destined to be, or to remain in a state of dull, stressed, mediocrity.

This battle has been prophesised by many cultures and it has been given different names; Holy War, Jihad, Shamhhala, Amalek, Armageddon, but ultimately all the mystical traditions explain that the great battle is a personal spiritual war.

One of these noble traditions explains that in order to create your personal utopia, the campaign you must wage is for the annihilation of your own internal cynicism.

Internal cynicism is the only thing stopping you truly living the life of your dreams, of becoming extremely successful, of living in your own version of heaven on earth.

To annihilate cynicism, you must become a something of a Jedi Knight, Sámi-Warrior and Buddhist monk, finding peace and stillness within, trusting the unfolding of life, armed with a powerfully loving heart and protected by a potent psychic shield.

Learn to relax, give yourself permission to trust and believe in yourself completely. Give yourself the opportunity to be open to the unknown within you, to all that is good and innocent in you.

When you reach that place you will realise that; You are the Urban Guru!

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This was first published in the Aug 2007 edition of EN Magazine

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