So, the past month or so, about 80% of the visitors came after they looked for weightloss… wow. Weird. but then again, there are no accidents in the Universe, really, no accidents.

When you can see behind the curtain, like in the Wizard of Oz, you can see the connections, plain and clear.

Let me reveal a little magic for you: at about the same time this rush of weightloss traffic started to come to this site, at the exact time, I had a revelation: that what’s been keeping me fat is what I didn’t know. Ha-ha… not very funny, is it?

About a month ago I heard that sugar, in quantities high enough (how about 6 grams… that’s one and a half teaspoon of granulated sugar… a bottle of coke has 42 grams of sugar in it) trigger a release of insulin, and insulin’s secondary job is to turn sugar into stored fat. Mainly around your waistline.

Now, that, I kind of knew… didn’t live like I knew, but as book knowledge goes, I knew it. But I found out something dramatic for me: a glass of milk contains 9 grams of sugar. My milk consumption was, at the time, a little over a liter a day. That is, my friend, 56 grams of sugar. Neatly concealed in whiteness…

Now, that was a wakeup call. It was loud and clear, that it wasn’t my genes, my age, it was the sugar that I unwittingly consumed that had kept me fat.

I went cold turkey, and cut out the milk. I have been putting a little bit of heavy cream into my tea, since then, and… drumroll please, I have dropped ten pounds, just by cutting out the milk.

I am not eating sweets or fruit either. I am not craving either. I have more energy, and I am getting visibly slimmer.

So, my firend, if you want to lose weight, maybe stop counting the calories, stop counting the fat, stop counting anything other than the sugar… rule: less than 5 grams of sugar in a meal, less than 15 grams of sugar total for the day.

Doesn’t sound very exciting? Hey, you can have an exciting diet and stay fat. I don’t care, I want to be slim more than have my excitement limited to sweetness… how about dating, how about dancing, how about hiking… no one really wanted a fattie for those exciting activities…

I have made my choice.

Now, back to the no coincidence… can you see? I have shifted and my blog has been attracting people like myself. Wow.

I know, I know, talk is cheap. But is it?

I am not talking about boasting, false promising, buttering up, etc. I am talking about all the times when you “just” talk. When you think you are describing how it is. When you think you are telling the truth. When you do your darndest best to describe reality… I am talking about that talking.

The words you use, the pictures you paint do not describe anything. They, instead, create. For you and for others.

When the media screams: there  is recession, they are painting pictures. When you tell someone stories to make them feel better but talk about somber stories with unhappy endings, you are painting pictures of gloom and doom in their world that, unless they are really careful, they will manifest, no kidding.

When you say “I want to lose weight” the picture of you running fast enough that the “weight” stays behind, but the moment you slow down so you can live, the weight catches up with you… have you noticed? If not in your life, in others?

When you say “I have to go to work” you are painting the picture of a prison with no joy, no freedom, no self-expression, no creativity… is this what you want half of your awake time to become? Oh, it already has? No wonder…

If you want to do well, you need to feel well. If you want to feel well, you need to use words that manifest that reality… remember parallel realities? Every word creates — or not — a parallel reality.

Most of us are stuck in a gloom and doom reality. There is a book title, Why you are sick, broke and dumb… or something like that. Can you see that a simple shift in the use of your words could take you to well, prosperous and gloriously bright?

You decide, and you are even motivated for a day, maybe even a week, then it goes away.

What’s the trick for staying motivated? In this and some coming blog posts I’ll give you a few practices you can use.

Practice #1: Schedule In Gratitude and Appreciation

Gratitude  for what? you say, and you shouldn’t be surprised, most of us have a real hard time finding anything to be grateful for. The weather is good, so what. The weather is bad, that’s bad. Consider that your creativity is half dead, and you are a walking dead yourself, like a zombie.

Start small. First start with something that you now take for granted, but you COULD be grateful for. Like someone smiling, even if it is not at you. The traffic light turning to green, even if it is supposed to. That the alarm functioned… even if it seems like that is the order of things. For the toilet flushing when you pull that lever… when you flip the switch and the light comes on. It is not that difficult, you’ll see that your world is full of things to be grateful for, full or miracles.

Your second stage will require more creativity,  but by that time you will have so much feel good energy in you, that it won’t be a big challenge.

The second stage is finding the silver lining in everything. It’s raining? It is great for the plants. It will clean the air. It will force you to wash your car. It allows you to get to that book that you have been putting off reading. Or even: goodie. I can look for the silver lining… yaay.

In addition of going through my day, I spend a few minutes in bed going through my day looking for accomplishments. I am always grateful and appreciative of myself and the opportunities. I sleep better, and I wake up with a lot more energy to keep on being grateful and appreciative.

The third stage is to put your gratitude on loudspeaker. We mostly talk about what’s wrong. That’s what sells newspapers, right? Well, it has also caused where you are today, or on a larger scale, where the world is today.

Break the habit, and talk only about what you are grateful for, what you appreciate, what you like, and the like.

It will be odd at first. People will look at you funny… but don’t let that discourage you.

Some 14 years ago I had an assignment to ask people in my life “What do you love about your life?”

Trust me, at that time, when I looked at people, I could not fathom that they had anything to love about their lives.

There was a sourpuss clerk at the mailbox that I tried to avoid every day lest his attitude would rub off on me. But homework needs to get done, so I asked him “What do you love about your life?”

He started to talk, and talk, and smile, and smile, and there was no end to what he had to say. He still smiles when he sees me. I remind him of what he loves about his life. Go figure…

I have run out of article… Go to the next practice

What I didn’t say in THAT blogpost on my recession blog, because it is ALL spiritual, is what happened in the last two weeks. It’s amazing, and it is probably the most important lesson one can learn about causing one’s life. (You may also want to refer back to my Live abundantly article

OK, here you go, here it goes.

Two years ago I bought a new laptop computer and gave my old one to my Kabbalah teacher, Naomi. It was a good computer, given from the heart.

A year ago I bought another laptop, but this time I held onto my now old one. But about six weeks ago Naomi told me that the old laptop was losing its monitor… it was slowly going blind. “OK,” I said, “I’ll give you my other laptop.”

I regretted saying that, the moment I said it. I need it, I want it… but then I watched myself not even touching it… it just sits there. “OK, I’ll clean it.”

Two weeks ago Naomi mentioned the computer again. “Don’t worry” I said “I just need to find time to clean it up for you. You know removing my stuff, restoring it to a new condition. OK?”

But cleaning a computer up takes two days, and I have been working 14-16 hours every day. I didn’t want to spend two days with that. So on the 20th of last month I had the thought that if I could get the money, I would rather not spend two days cleaning up that computer, I would just buy Naomi a new one. So I said, out loud . “Light, could I please have the money instead of having to clean that computer up? Please?”

Ten minutes later the phone rang and an unexpected order for 380 dollars was placed. 100% profit. OK, I said, half the price of a new computer… Light, can I please have the other half?

On the 24th I shared what had happened with Naomi. She said, “maybe what you have is enough for a new computer.” I looked up on Tigerdirect, and she was right. I found a good and cute laptop for less than $400.

Naomi and I finished our session and I went back to Tigerdirect. Now I was really confronted. I have always wanted a cute little computer like that, with Windows XP (that I like). “I want one for me.” nagged at me. “Maybe I give her my new computer…” I was sitting in front of the computer for what seemed an eternity, then I picked up the phone, and placed the order. With shipping it came to 396 dollars.

So, this is what I did.

That night I didn’t get tired, so I went to sleep rather late. Next morning I woke up, and I wasn’t tired. (I had been tired every morning, for many years…)

I had a great day… even though I got a nasty email from a customer. But I managed to restrict my urge to be nasty back, and she wrote back a nice note of appreciation. Wow.

I watched my face in the mirror, and I was getting prettier every day.
My thoughts about myself were something like “Hey, I am something. I am an amazing human being.”
In the last two days I’ve written 12 articles. I felt and behaved unstoppable. It’s early to say, but I say it will continue.

And when your behavior and your mindset is inspired, the other goodies, like money, fame and fortune will follow. You don’t have to worry about them.

OK, so this is what actually happened. Big deal, you could say, but you would be wrong. It is a big deal.

Why? Because I have distinguished an important spiritual law.

This is how it works: You create an action that requires you to restrict your egoistic inclination. You do it from the correct mindset: you do it to create light for yourself.

You don’t turn it into an ego trip, you don’t brag about it. This is important. It would stop the process cold right here.

You listen to the stirrings of the soul, the whisperings. If you can hear it, it says something nice about you. You express and feel gratitude for that. You listen for suggestions for an inspired action. When you hear one, you act on it, and express and feel gratitude.

All the while you are staying conscious that you do none of the actions for do-gooding purposes (very important), you are doing it to earn light. Spiritual Greed, or Enlightened Greed, as the Rav calls it. Do-gooding comes from Satan, comes from Ego.

You continue this way: listen for suggestions for inspired action, act, and express gratitude.

Don’t worry, the Light will help you along the way. Now you are working together.

There is no mountain that you can’t scale that way. There is no rock that you can’t push to the top of the mountain this way without it every rolling back to the bottom again.* In spite of all the temptation, every step of the way.

So this was the teaching. But the benefits did not stop there.

Another major fall out being able to answer my forever unanswerable question that I’d asked since 1966 when I first went to Architecture School. You see, I only want to do something that I can be really good at, who would want to be mediocre. Not me, thank you. So the question I asked: “Am I talented?”

Unfortunately, until today, I could not answer that question for myself. What everybody else said didn’t matter.

But after this revelation about how it works with the Light, I now have an answer to that question.

You see, architects are taught (in Hungary) in a one-on-one tutoring environment.

You see your teacher three times a week, for five months. That is the length of a normal project.

You put something on paper at home, and bring it in. The teacher puts transparent sketching paper on top of it, and starts working with what you had done. And talks, talks, talks.

You take his sketch home, and put it on paper adding your thoughts and ideas to it. You bring it back two days later. And it goes like that until the plan is done. Then you get a grade. And if your grade is good, and mine were all A’s, then you wonder if you did it or he did it, and if you are talented or your teacher is.

But just like in the above story with the computer: the Light (teacher) did not take the first step, I did. And the first step takes the most courage, because you can be all wrong. Then the Light (teacher) adds to it what he adds to it, and you take it home, and you have a choice to be courageous again or not. To act on the Light’s suggestion or not. To be slavish or to add your own brilliance and risk being wrong.

So I got that I was very talented, and it was a pleasure for the Light to work with me.

And I can keep it this way. And if/when, for whatever reason I drop the ball, now I know how to start the process again. The ball never rolls back again to the bottom of the hill. Because now I am not clueless like most of humanity.

And if you’ve read this far, you are not either… If anything is not clear, please don’t hesitate using the comment form to ask for clarification. Please.

* I am referring to the myth of Sisyphus in Greek Mythology.

I have been observing myself as a spiritual practice. Trying to “remember myself” as Gurdjieff would say it, call upon the “witness” or “observer”. Be awake. Either way, I have noticed something remarkable about myself: see if you can relate.

When I am in front of my computer* (where I spend most of my day) and I encounter something that requires the slightest push on my end, I see myself automatically going to the computer game of my choice, freecell.

I began observing this phenomenon about 6 months ago (it was there, unobserved, for many years). But 4 days ago I decided to employ “restriction,” which is one of Kabbalah’s main tenets, and see what will happen.

For about 36 hours I closed the freecell program as soon as I opened it. Then every time I was “awake” which means I was by myself and I was still observing myself. On the other hand, every time I was on the phone, or watching a video on my computer, or listening to an audio file, my attention wasn’t on myself, and I played… until I “woke up.”

Still curious, more interested in the experiment than conquering the force that moves my hand, I saw something today that is worth sharing.

Since I have started this blog, I have been watching how I somehow leak the energy that is necessary for creative thinking and expression… by talking on the phone, by playing freecell.

Every occasion when I need the little push and I opt to play instead, two things happen: 1. I have diminished the internal discomfort 2. I have successfully diverted my attention from what is important to me.

The first one is good, right? Who would want to be uncomfortable, after all. The second one reveals who or what is underneath this behavior: who would win if I didn’t do what is important to me, if I lived a life of quiet desperation, if I just vegetated, comfortably, but without any accomplishment of my own? Well, Satan, of course. Satan’s other name is Opponent or Adversary. Some cultures call it Ego. I even did once a week-long program where we called it “IT.”

IT has only one thing in mind, and IT is awake 24/7. IT wants you to play small, be comfortable, be selfish, worry about yourself, what you get, what you feel, what you…. it’s all about you. Even when it pretends that it’s about others… after all it is still about “what’s in it for you” in giving.

I have heard that before, others are teaching it… but these aspect of reducing the tension in the moment and thus reducing the capacity for push and diverting your attention long enough that you forget what you wanted to do… except for a gnawing feeling in your gut, that you just missed something important.

* When I am not in front of my computer, I find myself opening the refrigerator in a similar circumstance.

This is exactly the situation with regards to life on Earth, with regards to human beings.

Billions of people wonder, daily, why they are here, and what they are supposed to do. Are you one of them? I sure am and have been.

Billions of people wonder why life isn’t working the way it is supposed to work… because somehow we KNOW that life is supposed to be satisfying, joyeous, and full of light and love and pleasure.

What if there were a User’s Manual, and it were being “translated” little by little, so every human being that is interested in “riding the horse in the direction it’s going” could figure out which direction the horse is going. Because with life it is not that easy: even though the smell (life stinks) gives us clues… but life is ultimately more complicated that riding a horse.

Humanity has received at least one user manual (my hunch is that there have been several isolated attempts at giving us clues… that’s why there is so much similarity among the major spiritual movements on earth… among the teachings of “enlightened beings” like the Buddha, Like The Christ… ).

The “manual” this blog concerns itself most is The Zohar (a book), and The Kabbalah (an oral tradition).

If you wanted to ask the question why we would receive a manual that needs to be decyphered… good question. A good question deserves a good answer:

Have you noticed that what comes easy, what comes cheap or free doesn’t see to have a lot of value for people?

It is because no one really wants handouts, we all want to earn our light. When we get more than we “deserve” or have earned, the uncomfortable feeling of “bread of shame” sets in and somehow we aren’t inspired to use what we got, enjoy it, take real advantage of it. We somehow close ourselves to it.

This is also the case with spiritual knowledge. So the “powers that be” make it difficult to acquire the knowledge so that you can earn it, so that you can use it.

I have 23 years of “heavy duty” transformational training under my belt, and yet Kabbalistic knowledge, even the bite size easy pieces published by the Kabbalah Centre puzzle me, engage me, and it takes me a long time to “get it” and even longer to integrate it into my habits and way of thinking.

But as a result, my relationship to the knowledge is that of ownership. I am working for it long and hard, and I am benefiting from it, tremendously.

The question is: how many people are willing to trade hard work for fulfillment, joy, light, love, etc. That is the real question. If nothing changes, in my opinion, not many.

I hope I am mistaken.

Please talk back to me…

So I went on Google and search for “Kabbalah String.” What a mistake. First off, there were 420 thousand pages listed. Intimidating. Second: most of those sites are hellbent at throwing dirt, venom, spit, at Kabbalah, and everything that has anything to do with Kabbalah. They call it a religion: it is not. They call it a cult: it is not.

I resisted being sucked into reading that trash: I don’t need to get dirty just so that I can find a good picture. Because this is what happens: when someone vomits at someone, everyonoe who reads that… gets some of that vomit get into their soul, into their energy.

Just do an experiement, please. Have someone test your arm’s strength. You hold up your right arm, horizontal and straight, sideways or straight ahead… doesn’t matter. Someone else should gently push your arm down… note the strength it took to move your arm down. It is important that the force used is just slightly bigger than what you can resist. Stage two of the experiment: read some scathing, or cynical, or some other filth distributing stuff… about half a page. Repeat the test.

If you and your helping partner are honest, you’ll find that it takes much less force to move your arm after the “attack from negativity” in the article.

This experiment (simple muscle testing, or kinesiology) shows that your environment, and what you put into your body and mind strengthens you or weakens you.

Everything, I mean everything has a vibration. Everything is energy. This vibration is either harmonious or disharmonious (i.e. chaotic). The harmonious strengthens you, the other sucks your energy.

Do you have so much energy that you want to leak some? Like watching the evening news? Like listening to gossip? Like dishing out gossip? Like forwarding a chain letter that is based on lies intentionally misinforming millions of lazy citizens to slant the elections to this or that direction?

In Kabbalah everything is black and white. Like in pregnancy. You are either pregnant or you are not. At any moment you either increasing light in the world or you are increasing darkness. You always have choice. You can even change your mind in the middle of the activity… It is up to you. Black or white? Can you tell the difference?