How to Change Negative Internalized Messages

by Egan Sanders -

Often people who are looking to express their full potential ascribe great power to positive thinking, affirmation, prayer and visualization.

A goal is set to create a better life by reversing and transforming negative messages. In working on this goal it can feel as if we are fighting a fierce, uphill battle to change undesirable parts of our psychological and emotional programming.

One source of these self-defeating thoughts is that from birth we pick up and then internalize both positive and negative ideas from our experiences, surroundings and the mass consciousness.

Many negative messages get planted early on and then steadily grow over the years like hidden weeds. They can unconsciously become an integral part of our attitudes, beliefs and reality.

This process can have unanticipated consequences. A drive to create a financial fortune, for example, can be based on a feeling of inferiority.

The desire for fame can stem from a hidden belief that to be of true value you must be loved by the masses. Accepting abuse in a relationship can originate from being brainwashed as a child to accept a low self- image.

Here are a series of loving, supportive messages that can assist you to clear away negative concepts. 

There is no complicated technique to work with them; imagine telling yourself these things as you read them and imagine that everyone you meet and that everyone you know, communicates these ideas to you in their own way.

1. You Are Enough

• You are innately good. Everything about you is created from goodness. You are more than good enough.

• You are valid. Your thoughts are valid. Your feelings are valid. Your viewpoint is valid. You deserve respect, compassion and fair treatment.

• It is okay to honor your deepest, truest feelings. You can trust your deepest, truest feelings. You can listen to and act upon your deepest, truest feelings.

• It’s okay to be different from other people; you are a one of a kind creation.

• It is okay to see things differently than other people.

• You are an explorer. You are exploring life in your own unique way.

• You are fine just the way you are.

2. You are Loved Unconditionally by a Loving, Universal Presence

• Receiving love is as easy as breathing.

• A loving, Universal Presence loves you no matter what. The only requirement to receive love is to exist.

• The presence of love in many forms is always at hand.

• Love is omnipresent. The supply of love is infinite. Love exists everywhere.

• You can receive all the love you desire. You are surrounded by love. When you focus on love, you are love.

• You can allow yourself to have the awareness and acceptance that you are loved, and that you are love, and that you are enough.

• You are equal to everyone else – no matter what. What you feel and think do count.

• You have unconditional love for yourself and all seeming “others”.

• You are able to reframe the seeming negative into the obviously positive by imagining that everything you see and experience is your own creation.

• You are worthy of being loved and accepted just as you are.

• You can praise yourself. You can acknowledge yourself.

• It’s okay to make an honest mistake; you learn as you go.

3. You Can Have What You Want

• You are worthy and deserving. You deserve good things. You have an awareness and acceptance of your intrinsic deserve-ability. You deserve health, wealth, love, expression and well-being.

• There is plenty for all. You have unlimited resources to work with. You can create whatever you want with ease, joy, fun and wonder. It is okay to have and be connected to and surrounded by what you want, desire and prefer.

• It is okay to be happy, to have good things in your life, and feel supported. You are only responsible for your own happiness; by doing what is loving and honoring for yourself you are an example of it to others.

• Your outer world can be changed from within yourself. You are a creator; you can consciously create your reality in any way that you prefer. You are free of the past. You can write your own future. You can easily release anything that is not for your highest good. It is a joy to embrace the new that is truly good for you.

• You look for the outer evidence that supports the reality of what you want in your own life. You can trust the universe to bring you what you want at the right time and in the right way, once you have gotten clear about what you want and asked for it.

• You can trust and allow your Highest Good. You are free.

4. You are Unlimited

• If you persist and insist - the impossible cannot resist. Everything is connected – you are connected to everything.

• You have the knowledge and the power to do, be, have or experience anything.

• You can do it. It is possible. You can create whatever you want to do, be, have, and/or experience.

• You are connected to and supported by the energies, people, resources, ideas and power that allow you the infinite ability to create the reality that you most prefer.

• Universal Law allows you to be a free being and a free creator.

• You can expand beyond what is possible in your reality with ease, joy, fun and wonder. Thriving, succeeding, expanding, and expressing are choices.

5. Life is Good

• Life experiences can all be used to help you grow, learn, and discover fulfillment.

• Life is beautiful and filled with so many wonderful opportunities for you.

• Grace and ease are other ways to meet life’s challenges.

• Ease, joy, fun and wonder unfold before you.

Just one new idea can make a difference when you apply it consistently. There are many effective ways to change harmful, internalized messages.

What would your life be like if even just a handful of the above ideas became permanently programmed into your own mind? It is up to you to give yourself new messages, new actions and a new reality.

mytransformationcoach.net

Converting Fear Into Freedom

by Egan Sanders -

So often, as we grow spiritually, we still encounter fear in various forms. It may be a belief, an old, repetitive pattern or just the fear of the unknown in the journey of expanding our awareness beyond previous boundaries.

Fear of illness, fear of the future, fear of not getting what we want - or in getting what we want; does fear ever end? What do we do with fear? We can ignore it, avoid it, deny it, fight it or be controlled by it. 

If we could just get rid of fear, then we would be free – right? Maybe not. 

In the book, “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, a simple environmental concept is included that is revolutionary.

It is revolutionary in that while it is meant to be ecologically beneficial, it can also be applied to our spiritual lives.

The concept is “Waste Equals Food”. This principle views all products as nutrients. Products are designed in such a way that after their useful life they can provide nourishment for something new.

They either safely re-enter the environment or are used again as another product. Nothing is ever wasted.

If waste equals food, then waste is not actually a bad thing or a problem.

Waste can actually be a good thing that can be put back into the cycle of life. What if the same thing could be done with fear?

What if “Fear Equals Freedom” was a concept we could apply in our lives? 

Fear drains us if ignored and most of it ends up manifesting as physical illness, emotional despair, mental constriction and/or spiritual disconnection.

If we can re-use fear for growth, awareness, empowerment and liberation by choosing to work with it, then fear can be converted into a means for achieving freedom.

As we accept that we create our lives, our realities and our creations; is resisting fear a real solution? Perhaps a new approach can be integrating fear - working with it. 

Here are some ways to make fear equal freedom.

1. Observation

To apply the fear equals freedom concept you must first get into the habit of observation.

Ignoring fear or attempting to run from it just tightens its grip. Action usually lessens fear and the act of mindfully observing what you are afraid of begins the process of investigation.

What can be most helpful is to simply write down what your fears are. It is best to do this when you are feeling fear most intensely. 

Set the intention to allow yourself to fully experience your fearful feelings and thoughts and record them.

Write down whole sentences or fragments of phrases – whatever comes up. It may be a past memory that triggers you or a future concern. The goal is to simply get it all on paper and bring it up to your conscious awareness. 

2. Belief

All feelings and thoughts are rooted in belief.

If your heart races seconds after hearing a police siren or you experience total well-being while watching a pleasant sunset, both are reflecting a belief. 

The police siren may activate fears and beliefs of danger or perhaps getting a speeding ticket and not having the money to pay for it.

Nobody wants to have points added onto their driving record and to pay a higher auto insurance rate! 

In contrast, the sunset can tap into beliefs about the beauty and harmony of the natural world, the colors connecting you to inspiring or peaceful feelings and thoughts.

When you observe that you are feeling fear, ask yourself why you are feeling it. What belief is creating the experience of fear? As you listen and watch what comes to mind, you may be surprised by what the answer is.

3. Enthusiasm

A bucket has a bottom and so do fearful thoughts and feelings.

If you can develop and an attitude of enthusiasm when you feel fear, two things will generally happen.

One, when fearful thoughts or feelings come up you will be somewhat more detached as you observe them.

It still may not feel that great but the role of being the observer empowers you. Two, you will move through the fears more quickly and be able to get down to the root issues. 

This is a good incentive and cause for celebration to actively engage your fears because a new meaning can be assigned to the fear. 

You do not need to resist fear. Enthusiasm about the process of discovery can turn fear into freedom.

When you are conscious of the beliefs generating the fear you can then choose new beliefs that empower you. New beliefs will create new actions and a new reality.

4. Resolution

Emotional resolution comes from living your human experience and using every piece of it for something constructive, productive and positive. 

The most negative things can lead to the deepest realizations. 

Beneath the root of fear is a new foundation of well-being. 

Resolution is not a one-step action; it is a process of working with your thoughts and feelings, examining your beliefs and adopting new actions. 

We all want peace and harmony and if you can turn fear into freedom your path of joy will be smoother. 

Resolution does not mean the absence of all fear. Resolution means that you resolve to face your fears and handle them.

  

mytransformationcoach.net

Receiving Your Reality

by Egan Sanders - 

A metaphysical concept that has seeped into the mainstream is the idea of “Creating your Reality”. We see it everywhere from TV talk shows, books, the Internet and all manner of religious and secular authorities sharing a somewhat similar message. 

From a wide variety of perspectives and in different degrees and words, they say; 'You create your life'.

Creating your reality can sound like work. It can feel like a worrisome burden to be solely responsible for getting your reality the way you want it to be. 

When you set an intention, creating actually becomes more about receiving. After you know what you want, the questions then become; are you ready to receive a new experience? Are you willing to receive new ideas, actions and beliefs that will form the new reality you are seeking?

TIPS TO RECEIVE THE REALITY YOU PREFER:

1. Receive Clarity 

Do you know what you want? Take any situation that is not to your liking that you wish to change and tune into it. Ask yourself what is making you feel unhappy or uncomfortable? 

Once you identify what is not to your liking, then focus on what you would prefer to experience. When you are unclear about what you want to receive, the universe gets mixed messages. If you can simply acknowledge what is not working for you and imagine a positive alternative, you easily create awareness and clarity. 

2. Receive Peace 

Negative messages bombard us from within and without every day. It can be a challenge to choose peace. You may notice that certain negative thoughts, images and memories repeatedly play over and over again in your mind like TV reruns. Someone might even say something scary to you that activates fear. 

You can view these thoughts as if they are like the cries of excitable children who one moment are screaming about something trivial and the next moment laughing joyfully. 

If anything comes up that disrupts your peace of mind and you can take an action on it, then do so. If it is an abstract, vague fear, feel free to let it pass. It’s an old cliché but very true; most of the stuff we worry about never happens. 

3. Receive Love 

If only everyone would love us – all the time – no matter what – life would be perfect! Well, that is only one way to receive love- and an unpredictable one at that! 

endless supply of love can be accessed from within yourself. Are you willing to receive love? We do so many things to get love; the list is infinite. It can feel as if we are always reaching for it. What if we all really exist in a sea of unconditional love? 

What if there was a presence all around us that loved us all the time, every time, no matter what? You always have the choice to receive your own love, regardless of the outer circumstances. 

4. Receive Solutions 

When a challenge is presented it is often accepted as either an unchangeable problem or hard to change. Our minds can tend to look at life from only the ground level, while the Universal Intelligence – which we are all connected to – sees from all levels. 

If you let go of any ideas of how something can be changed or resolved and let go of when it will happen, you may see that solutions simply show up. 

The next time an apparent problematic situation comes up, remind yourself, “There is a solution to this. There is a way I can receive a satisfactory solution.” 

If you set an intention or a goal to clear something up, be prepared to change your perspective, your actions and/or change some beliefs to receive that solution.temporary. 

5. Receive Empowering Beliefs 

At the root of any of our life creations is a belief. What you have now comes from your beliefs. When you truly believe something, you act based upon those beliefs and those actions create your life. 

When something in your life is not the way you would like it to be, ask yourself, “Is there any belief I need to change to get what I want?” The way to receive empowering beliefs is to first question what you do believe. 

That means looking at what you are actually doing – your actions – as clues to what you truly believe. What you tell other people you believe is irrelevant. What you do – your actions – reveals your beliefs. When you change your beliefs and your actions, you can receive what you do prefer more easily. 

6. Receive Abundance 

Abundance can mean different things to different people. The way to receive more good into your life comes down to receptivity. Many people never even clearly ask for what they want. 

When you identify what you wish receive more of an abundance of, keep in mind the availability of oxygen. You breathe in and out all day long, every day, without much thought about the air supply; it is unconscious and automatic. 

What if what you wanted more of an abundance of was as easy to receive as breathing air? What if you did not need to search for it, worry about it or store it up for a rainy day? The essence of the abundance you want to receive is available but to receive it you must be aware that it is there for you and abundantly available. 

7. Receive Time 

Modern life rushes by for most people. It can feel like a blur of movement and activity with few rest stops in-between. Being flexible with your plans and doing what elevates your energy creates more time. 

When you have a choice between different actions to take, notice how each one “feels” to you. You will notice that when you think of an activity your energy level will either rise or drop. If it rises, this indicates right action.  

Dropping energy is a sign that what you are thinking about is either not the right activity, or that it is not the right time to take action on it. 

If you choose to do what raises your energy moment to moment you may experience a graceful timelessness where things happen easily and synchronicity smoothly guides you. It is not how much you can accomplish but the quality of how you use time that makes the difference. 

If you are receptive, you can receive the reality that you prefer. When you want to create a new reality, ponder what you can do to receive it more easily.

mytransformationcoach.net

The Master Within

by Egan Sanders -

There comes a time in an individual's spiritual evolution when every seeker/person on a spiritual or philosophical quest, must come to the realization that all higher knowledge, higher truth and all higher wisdom can only be revealed through their own being.

We all endure periods of doubt and fear and moments where clarity seems to elude us. At times like these, we all yearn for a hand to hold or more often, an inner foundation to stand on -- a place within ourselves that will rise up and elevate us into a position of strength and clarity.

We want our questions to be answered and our dilemmas to be resolved.

Many New Age explorers call this inner foundation the Higher-Self, or the Superconscious mind, while others refer to that well of wisdom calmly residing deep inside our minds, as the conscience or simply the clear voice of the soul.

Regardless of what name it is given, this part of the human psyche is eagerly sought after because on a more subtle level all humans are aware that once this inner voice is found, understood and listened to, one can then attain great wisdom and self-mastery.

Attuning to this opens the doorways to the infinite and when one accesses the infinite, all questions are answered, all dilemmas resolved.



Help Along The Way

Teachers can undoubtedly help you in this journey to the Higher-Self. Those in search of understanding need guides, people to appear at the right time in your growth to lead you to higher and higher levels.

These guides can help you avoid the classic pitfalls in spiritual growth: illusion, doubt, and the innocence of ignorance. They can and do hurry you along through lessons that might have otherwise gotten you permanently stuck, smoothing the way with their insightful thoughts and directions.

Being outside of you, they can be objective and are more readily able to see what's holding you back, or what you need to learn to quickly move on. This feedback and direction can be indispensable as long as it leads you to a greater awareness of your own power and less and less of an attachment to the teacher as you progress.

You must identify the success of your growth with your own effort and ability to be truly empowered.

Written information from books is also important. At this time in history, we are blessed with an unparalleled variety and abundance of teachings available to every member of our society.

Ancient scriptures sit alongside the latest book, giving us the opportunity to look backward and forward, as well as at the most interesting period of history one can experience, current history.

Books can be a wonderful foundation to build upon. The ideas of great philosophers can lift you to great heights. But why? The wisdom of these sages or beings must somehow resonate within you to truly affect and expand you.

If a reader cannot relate to an idea, or recognize a virtue within themselves, then how can any knowledge be received? Written wisdom is only helpful when it leads you back to yourself. Even this article is limited unless it sparks something in the mind of you, the reader.



Direct Experience

The ultimate form of knowledge can only come from experience. What a book says, or what a teacher relates, are truly only words until an individual comes to an understanding through direct experience. Experience transcends all forms of learning because, in those precious moments, you are communing with your own higher being.

It's the difference between happily admiring the Moon through a telescope in your backyard and actually travelling to the Moon and proudly standing in awe upon its surface.

We are all spiritual explorers and should never let another human being take that magical journey for us.

You can visualize, listen to channeled guides, sit at the feet of great masters or buy their videos; but the next time you are in turmoil, trust that you can ease your inner storm. If you have a question nagging at you, trust that you can ask yourself for the answer. Your mind will respond. Your Higher-Self, your Soul, will talk back to you.



Accessing The Inner

A simple exercise to access the Higher-Self is to sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed, take a few slow deep breaths, and get relaxed. When you feel calm, formulate a question in your mind, ask it mentally, and then let your mind become silent.

It's important to give yourself a minute or so of inner silence for a response. Be patient and wait to see what you get back -- it may be a word or a phrase that pops into your thoughts, a picture could drift into your mind's eye, or you may just get a feeling.

The Higher-Self communicates in a variety of ways, so be flexible and open minded.

When you get an answer and you always will, take your response and see how it relates to your question. It may be a direct answer or it may guide you toward a plan of action. By working with this simple exercise on a daily basis, you will find that your Higher-Self is always sending you messages.

This exercise simply allows you to become receptive to that constant flow of messages being sent from your Higher-Self. You can do this in the morning or before bed or even just walking down a street. Try it and watch the results.

In time, you can create a dialogue with your Higher-Self. Work with this. Have fun experimenting with talking to your Higher-Self and you may just discover the greatest teacher you will ever encounter, the master within!



egansanders.com

Choosing and Shaping Your Reality

by Egan Sanders -

THINK of the universe as a circle and that you are in the middle of it. Imagine that the vibrations of your consciousness move outward from you – like waves – and then return back to you as experiences and events.

Our BETA beliefs, emotions, thoughts and actions are the vibrations that are moving out from us - the center of our circle - and then coming back.

They are the literal mechanism of creation.

Until you are aware – consciously aware – of your beliefs, emotions, thoughts and actions, your ability to shape your experience can be limited.

The good news is that it is very easy to become aware.

You simply observe yourself for nothing is hidden unless you believe it is hidden.

Two people can be standing right next to each other and experience a completely different reality depending on their beliefs, emotions and thoughts.

A belief is like a blueprint.

 It is the plan or pattern to which all the materials needed to flesh it out are drawn.

The architect is you. All vibrations are self-perpetuating. Your beliefs are self-perpetuating.

An optimist will see the positive and create those circumstances, while a pessimist will naturally vibrate with a critical viewpoint and see the negative in every situation.

Two people can be standing right next to each other and experience a completely different reality depending on their beliefs, emotions, and thoughts.

This is the great power that each of us has been given.

How are you using it? The universe is impartial. It does not tell you what to believe, think or feel. If you have a negative thought or feeling, you have the choice to give yourself a positive alternative.

In this age of transformation, many people are espousing the idea that we create our reality just with our thoughts.

While this idea is valid, we also have to recognize that as human beings we are a package deal of beliefs, emotions, thoughts and actions.

Our Unique Potential

If the goal of many people is to grow, expand and express their unique potential, it inevitably compels us to work holistically – integrating all the aspects together to rediscover wholeness once again.

Although it may seem a contradiction – the higher we reach in consciousness, the more we may encounter unresolved issues, feelings or thoughts.

Things come up to be healed – to reestablish wholeness.

Does it serve us to deny that which we truly feel or think?

If we affirm something with a smile, but do not fully feel that it is possible, then the outward result will be mixed.

Covering up feelings with positive thoughts may not get to the root of the issue. In fact, it may just build up a stronger charge, which may show up later in a more dramatic form.

Here is a conscious, holistic approach to changing your outer reality by observing and changing your inner reality.

These questions are an easy way to first examine what you are putting out into the universe and then giving yourself a positive alternative.

Conscious Holistic Approach

Begin by taking something that is bothering you; a negative thought, an experience or a situation and use the following questions to gain more awareness of how you are using your creative power.

• “What would I need to believe in order to be feeling this/experiencing this?”

• “What emotion(s) does this belief generate within me? How does the belief make me feel physically? How does it affect my breath?” 

• “What thought(s) does this emotion(s) generate? What ideas, perspectives and viewpoints come up?”

• “What action(s) would these thoughts generate? If I were a person believing, feeling and thinking in this particular way, how would this cause me to act?”

This is step one – seeing what is.

This is owning the belief. This is really looking at the effects it creates. All emotions, thoughts and feelings are the effect of a belief.

These questions may get you in touch with something you have hidden from yourself or bring up emotions that you may not even realize you had. 

Step two - give yourself a new choice. 

Ask yourself what would you truly prefer to experience? What is the positive alternative? Take the negative thought, experience or situation that you used for the above questions and change the belief to a positive one.

Now ask yourself the following questions to align yourself with the positive reality.

• “What would I need to believe in order to be experiencing this positive alternative?”

• “What emotion(s) does this positive belief generate within me? How does the positive belief make me now feel - physically?”

• “What thought(s) does this positive emotion(s) generate? What new ideas, perspectives and viewpoints come up?”

• “What action(s) would these positive thoughts generate? If I were a person believing, feeling and thinking in this particular way, how would I act?” Who would you be?

More than likely you will feel lighter and a greater sense of well being from looking at the positive alternative.

If you then focus on the positive alternative and consistently act the way a person would if they had that positive belief, you will then step into that version of reality.

Too often people do not even question reality or give themselves other possibilities.

You hear a negative voice in your mind and surrender to it.

Voices are really choices. 

The truth is you create yourself anew in each and every moment.

In each moment you choose who you are and the universe automatically supports you in whatever choice you choose. When you believe - you are choosing your reality, and you always have a choice.

egansanders.com

Finding Harmony and Utopia

by Egan Sanders - 
CHANGING YOUR OUTER REALITY:

It’s not uncommon to yearn for a far off utopia due to living in the current chaos of modern life. It seems that we are perpetually compelled to busy ourselves, succeed, acquire, get ahead, be fulfilled and buy luxury items. But does all of this bring happiness?

Have you ever dreamed of living in a paradise – a simpler place of peace, well being and abundance? Perhaps you have visualized yourself with infinite financial resources, living on a tropical island with happy, smiling people. 

What if there actually was an ideal place of harmony that would bring you peace? Are there people already living in paradise? 

Consider the Moken, a nomadic tribe of sea gypsies who live and travel along the coast and islands on the west coast of Thailand and up to Burma.

Although in recent years they have had to deal with tsunamis and governmental interference, they continue to live and thrive by following their traditions. The Moken have some unusual characteristics which seem to create an ideal way of life.

HARMONIOUS CHARACTERISTICS:

1. TIME

There is no word for “When” in the Moken language. They do not time events, measure time passing or focus on timing. Day to day they live in a flowing timelessness.

Things happen in the now which is all that exists for them. This can be liberating in many ways. Because the Moken do not constantly measure time, neither do they keep track of their age. They do not know how old they are and, in a sense, are ageless. 

Other words missing from the Moken language are, “Goodbye” and “Hello." There are no real endings or beginnings in social interactions.

Visitors show up and when they leave they are gone and that is it. Without the notion of time, it matters little when – no word for when - the last visit was or when – see how important that word can be? - the next one will be. 

There is a constant inflow and outflow of people and experiences that happen with spontaneity and synchronicity. They have no schedules or appointment books and yet they always seem to be where they need to be. 

Some questions to ask yourself about time: 

What would your life be like if you were not on a set time schedule? Would it be possible for you to get things done and honor your commitments? Is time real or do we create it? 

2. SIMPLICITY

Want is also missing from the Moken language. In their lifestyle they either give or take, but there is no want. How often do you find yourself saying, “I want this, I want that?”

The Moken attitude is that what is needed will be provided. Like the ocean providing fish or the sky giving rain, there are available resources to draw upon as needed. 

Excess Moken catches of fish are used to barter for other necessities at local markets. There is no lack or a need to store things up for long periods of time.

“Worry” is not in the Moken language either. Imagine going a week without worry – little or big – because there is no concept for the idea of “Worry”. 

The Moken have few desires. Because they are nomadic they prefer to live in a streamlined fashion without excess possessions.

They choose to be free and have no ambition to be wealthy. Many Moken travel about in Kabang, small hand-crafted wooden boats, that serve both as their transportation and living areas. 

Some questions to ask yourself about simplicity: 

How many things do you have? More importantly, do you use them or is your home more of a storage unit? How much time do you spend worrying or planning about finances and/or the future?

The Moken live in sync with the natural world. They live off the sea by using nets and spears to gather food. Moken Children spend a lot of time hunting for coral and shellfish and are able to see very well underwater.

You won’t see many overweight or unhealthy Moken children. Neither are they addicted to TV, video games or iPods - instead they stay in step with the rhythms of nature. 

3. NATURAL

The Moken live in sync with the natural world. They live off the sea by using nets and spears to gather food. Moken Children spend a lot of time hunting for coral and shellfish and are able to see very well underwater.

You won’t see many overweight or unhealthy Moken children. Neither are they addicted to TV, video games or iPods - instead they stay in step with the rhythms of nature. 

In the monsoon season the Moken occupy temporary huts on land. During the devastating 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunamis the Moken lost many houses and fishing boats. 

The devastation would have been worse, but because the Moken are highly attuned to changing sea conditions many knew in advance of the tsunamis and managed to protect themselves.

A large number were spared by taking cover in mangrove forests or setting out to sea away from the storms. It was as if they had a psychic sense that was guiding them.

Some questions to ask yourself about nature: 

How connected are you to your natural environment? Do you spend more time surrounded by technology and modern conveniences rather than nature? Do you trust your own inner senses – your intuitions and feelings? 

4. CHANGE

Change may be the only constant factor in life and it applies to all people. The physical landscape that the Moken inhabit was changed by the 2004 tsunamis.

After the physical tsunami there quickly followed a cultural tsunami. Waves of well-meaning people from the outside world and the media descended on the Moken people. Many wanted to help, some wanted to cover a news story, but all inadvertently brought with them modern distractions and technology. 

Now some of the Moken live on the mainland and have adapted a more Western lifestyle, leaving behind their sea gypsy life.

The tsunamis were too intimidating and now some seek out the security and protection of the mainland. The Burmese government is seeking to control the Moken more and more and tourists now come to the area regularly. Can the Moken maintain their ideal lifestyle? 

Some questions to ask yourself about change: 

Do you find yourself getting caught up in/or influenced by others?

Are you able to hold onto what you want when unexpected events occur? Is change good or bad? 

Perhaps the paradise or utopia we seek is a state of mind. Wherever we live, whatever we do, maybe letting go of worry, when and want will open doors to happier living. All we can ever control are our own attitudes.

egansanders.com