‘It is time to stop the delusion.’

His throaty voice permeated my early morning languor like a warm ray of sunshine.

‘Oh…we are still on this rant are we?’, I chuckled inwardly.

Nevertheless, I know by now that when He speaks, I must listen.

I grabbed coffee and my journal and tuned in.

The self-help industry is perpetuating procrastination. It is a wolf in sheep's clothing!

Wake up! 

Wake up!

Wake up!

Scores of adults are more lost than ever as they try to navigate their way through the insidious shaming, gaslighting, and virtue signalling online; the downright lying and manipulation.

It must stop.

Ask yourself: Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Because as long as you are ‘doing the work’, you are not really in forward motion. 

Remember this:

Tools are just that, tools. No more, no less.

Understanding is just that, no more, no less.

I protested.

Without doing the work, without the tools and the understanding I would be less able to….

STOP!

LISTEN.

To what you just said.

I would be less.

I would be less.

I would be less.

Not true, boo.

Half of the problems in your life are problems the self-help industry brought to your door.

Think back.

Think back.

Further..

Before you knew about triggers, trauma, the inner child, shadow work, ego deaths, tapping, other realms, and all of that.

Back, back, back.

Was life more simple?

Yes, but I’m not sure I was coping with my life back then.

Right. You aren’t sure.

YOU ARE NOT SURE.

Well hold on, I wasn’t coping. I mean, I was off the rails at times…. So no I wasn’t coping.

Right. 

And in your vulnerability, you sought answers, help, and guidance. 

And what happened?

Well.. I lost myself. For a while. 

Right.

The silence stretched out as He let that sink in.

Look around you, He said. What are you seeing?

I see lost people.

I see an unravelling.

Right.

And what is real and true about all this information and all these tools you now know about?

Well…. I searched for the answers…

Feel it. He said. 

Come out of your mind for a second and feel into what is true.

They are a distraction, I said at last.

Tell me about that, He said.

Well, what I’m seeing is that life Before was simpler. You fall down, you get back up.

Now I feel like we fall down and then procrastination sets in.

Instead of getting back up and walking forwards we get back up and turn our heads. We have many labels for this but we stop moving forwards. Tapping, somatic work, journaling, whatever… same, same.

Go on, He urged.

We…..we… I searched for the words. We avoid facing the truth. We avoid the things we say we want. We distract ourselves. Sometimes for months and years. Round and round in circles.

And why is that?

Because……because… we are scared.

Right.

Distracting ourselves with ‘doing the work’ is a handy way of avoiding looking at what is right in front of us. 

Lack of real human connection.

Lack of connection to self.

Lack of facing reality.

Yes, I believe so, I said.

I saw a Facebook post.. This lady.. She said she broke down on the highway and she couldn't afford her car repairs. She couldn’t afford her groceries. And in that moment she realised she had been consumed by the lie. She had bypassed her reality. She was teaching people about business when in reality she hated her own and it wasn’t paying her bills. 

She avoided what was right in front of her by doing more and more inner work because the reality was…….scary.

She talked about her Facebook connections and how they aren’t real. She talked about crippling loneliness. She said none of these people would know or care if she ceased to exist. It’s all a mirage.

The dialogue between us lapsed for a moment and I thought back to a moment in a plant ceremony where I was fighting the plant and listening to the people in the room. There was chanting, there was speaking in tongues, and for a moment it all felt very, very wrong. 

I thought it was the fear, and resistance to the plant. But I’ve had this flashback a few times and each time there is this pervasive feeling of….. Wrongness.

One could get lost in that world.

Seeking answers from outside of yourself.

Because even if the plant opens the portal to your inner world, it is not a world we can easily access on our own, so it’s still looking without for the answers within.

I sat in contemplative silence for a while.

Finally, I asked

So what are you saying?

You know what, I’m saying, He said.

It’s gone too far.

It’s time to stop the delusion.

It’s not about tools

It’s not about bypassing

It’s not about avoidance and distraction and soothing.

Turn your attention inwards.

We all have the answers we seek.

The mission is not what is playing out right now.

The mission is to be human.

Feel it all.

Experience the full spectrum.

Build connections.

We rise together.

If you aren’t really present how can you find meaning and experience gratitude in what is.

If you aren’t really present, Here, you will never get There. There is an illusion.

You create your own reality.

Self-mastery is not what you see happening on the internet.

Self-mastery is leaning into these conversations. 

Feeling all the feelings.

Walking forward regardless. In the dark.

I am by your side and I am all you need.

And I am you.

Excerpt from my journal straight into the lap of anyone who needs this today.

Gin