21st Dec 09
Winter only half over and the dull, cold months still to come. The shortest day, used to depress me. Things have changed since I found 365 and that odd bunch of people sitting on the cliff edge blowing bubbles. I often wonder what would have happened if I’d walked away, taken a different route, never begun to question why.
But I didn’t walk away.
I was drawn to them before I even knew they existed, I met them when I needed them most. I used to think that was just the way things happened but now I know that’s not how it is at all.
22nd Dec
You probably read my blog for yesterday and thought I was a complete lunatic but hey you’re here again so maybe it isn’t so mad after all - unless you’ve joined me in my madness!
A year ago I was leaving. Leaving my job, leaving my family, leaving my sanity and then I found what I didn’t even know I was searching for on the edge of a cliff, a windswept cliff with a group of complete strangers who knew me before I even knew myself. They’ve gone now, I don’t need them anymore, it was they who nurtured and cared for me simply to watch me fly away but now I know they showed me how to look after myself so that I knew how to let go.
23rd Dec
I want to tell you what happened, a story so strange I know you’ll find it hard to sort it all out. Heck I was in it and half the time I couldn’t work it out. Joy, despair, fear, deep love I’ve been through it all but the absolute peace and sense of fulfilment it has brought me was worth that journey that’s why I want to share it with you because if it can help you like it helped me and then help a million others then I know it was worth it all.
24th Dec
Somehow I want to wait until after Christmas to tell you it how it all happened, you’re busy with food and family, hey maybe you’ll need it even more afterwards! There’s so much to tell. But here I am after only a year a changed person, a better person, a person who feels comfortable inside his skin and outside his skin. The people I’ve met have given me more opportunities than I could have ever dreamed up myself. I’m happy, successful for goodness sake I just want everyone to feel like I do right now. Not because it’s Christmas Day tomorrow but because it’s the beginning of a million journeys for a million people.
25th Dec
Happy Christmas everyone! Tomorrow when things have settled down a bit I want to tell you how I’ve just had the greatest year of my life and about to start an even better one. I have such a story to tell. No not just a story - I’ve got to take you on a journey. I can’t travel the journey for you only with you. When you look at the passing view you will see different things than me, you’ll smell different smells and hear a world more in tune with you. I cannot tell you how to travel I only ask you to take the road I show you and let all your preconceived ideas melt away. Allow yourself to travel a different road from the one you would normally travel. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme, I’m not suddenly going to ask you for your credit card details. I give this freely because of what it’s done for me. I have plenty of money, I’m happy, believe me when I tell you this is a journey that can help you be happy too.
26th Dec
So here’s my story, it all started a year ago on a wild windswept cliff in the middle of nowhere. One thousand feet below me the ocean pounded white horses of foam into the foot of the cliffs. It was mid winter. The day had started out in brilliant sunshine, the scream of seagulls wheeling above the tiny seaside village and the bracing chill of seaside smells, it had promised to stay dry all day, but low cloud had blown in off the sea and given way to an afternoon of drizzling rain. I was soaked. I knew I needed to walk alone that day. I had some serious thinking to do.I had a reasonable job, a decent home and an ok social-life, but it just wasn’t enough. Time and time again I wished to do something significant with my three-score years and ten. Sure I had my dreams like everyone else, my dream was to write a book, no, more than that, if I’m honest it was to quit my job and actually become a writer. I’d had that dream for as long as I could remember, but little chance of living it. Dreams were all very well, but that’s all they are, just dreams, and right now I was bumping along on the sea-bed of reality feeling pretty desperate. I was desperate to get rid of that empty and dissatisfied feeling that had crept into my heart over the last year or so. It was with these thoughts churning in my head that I walked the coast path that winter’s day.As I struggled to the top of yet another summit I noticed a small group of people sitting dangling their feet over the cliff’s edge laughing infectiously. They had pots of bubble mixture and appeared to be attempting to blow the largest and most impressive shaped bubble. My first thought was to give them a wide berth pretend they weren’t there and continue on my well-worn uphill path choosing the route that would lead me slightly inland. But the path must have been deceptive because I found myself walking right among them. I made as if to keep moving on past but felt held by their warmth and openness; it was as though they were so totally comfortable within themselves and that made their company irresistible.“Hi there! We’ve been waiting for you,” one of them said.“Have you really?” I replied panicking slightly.“We wondered how long it would take you.”The comment was so extraordinary that I often wonder why I didn’t just walk away but thank goodness I didn’t because stopping is probably the best thing I’ve ever done.
27th Dec
So I stopped walking and asked that odd group on the cliff what on earth they were doing there blowing bubbles.
“This was our task for the day,” one of them replied.
‘Oh interesting,’ I thought, ‘a weird religious cult.’ I’d read about these kind of groups in the Sunday papers maybe I could do a bit of writer’s research.
“Okay. Who gave you the task?” I asked, trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
“We did, even though we expected rain today, we didn’t know if the bubbles would work.”
I wondered how come they’d expected rain when no-one else had but then they were right it had rained.
Just then a bubble the size and shape of a great bird emerged from someone’s hand and set off out to sea, somehow I wasn’t shocked.
“But why are you doing this?”
“We call it 365,” said one of the girls, “We got together and decided to do something that was a totally different experience every day, we wanted to discover what we really liked doing, where our lives were going and what we had to do to live the lives we should be living. It all sounds a bit self-indulgent telling you that now, but at one time or another we had all hit rock-bottom and then started to ask those kind of questions: maybe you know how it feels? It’s like a voyage of discovery, a journey on which we’re beginning to understand what is in our hearts and how to fill that place of emptiness and dissatisfaction - to be in harmony with ourselves.”
I looked at them suddenly, how could they know exactly the words I was thinking? I felt dizzy, maybe it was the height of the cliff, the ground had just disappeared from beneath my feet. I needed to sit down. I desperately needed to know more, in fact, I needed to know everything.
28th Dec
Next thing I knew, we were sitting in an old stone cottage, warm and dry, drinking coffee and eating the best chocolate cake I’d ever tasted: better than I’d ever imagined anything could taste, actually.
They were all such interesting accomplished, happy people I asked them where on earth they were from. Were they gurus or yogis, were they from another planet or dimension, were they angels or something? They all roared with laughter. I didn’t think I’d said anything that funny.
“Of course not, we’re just like you; we’re ordinary people but living extraordinary lives, that’s all.”
“ALL?” It sure looked like more than that from where I was sitting.
They told me about 365. It had started out as a casual experiment in doing something interesting, different and personally expanding every day for a year. The plan had developed into something that really worked for them, something truly transformational and gave them a good time too. I was trying hard not to be convinced, but I could feel an irresistible urge to be part of what they were doing and enjoy my life the way they were enjoying theirs.
I was struck by the lack of ‘get rich quick or find the perfect partner’ ideology about what they were doing. It seemed that simply doing what they did and being who they really were was the key: they were actually living out the idea of enjoying the journey, not waiting for the destination. Nevertheless, some of them were on their way to becoming extremely rich, others had found the career that interested them, some had found contentment with the people with whom they shared their lives, but the over-riding factor was that they were living life to the full NOW, rather than striving to reach some goal or holy grail in a nebulous fantasy future.
Despite the doubts and suspicions of my cynical mind, they looked like they were having such a ball that by the end of the evening I wanted to know their secrets and to join them.
29th Dec
As I sat in that comfortable old cottage and talked with the 365 group I began to realize that these were things that would make a great book so I asked if all their ideas were written down.
“Of course, but only in note form and not very tidily!”
“I’m sure they could be tidied up. Why don’t you publish them?” I asked
“That’s a great idea. What we need is a writer: are you a writer by any chance?”
“Well I sort of play around with ideas it is pipe dream of mine, I must admit.”
“Wow, isn’t coincidence a wonderful thing?! What’s the point in having dreams and leaving them in your pipe, why don’t you join us and see how you get along, then you could write down the book of 365 down from experience?”
30th Dec
Now I was excited, or was I dreaming or drugged…or both? They gave me what they called the first month’s tasks and some instructions in a tatty manila envelope, insisting I read and follow the instructions very carefully before starting. After friendly goodbyes I left, feeling so inspired and spaced out I didn’t think to ask when or how I might see them again.
It was dusk. I wasn’t sure where I was but it seemed as though I walked for no more than five minutes and I was back at the hotel. I rushed to my room and opened the envelope. Well the envelope seemed pretty real. Inside were a sheet of instructions and some pages of daily tasks, a pot of bubble mixture and an ornate whistle.
‘Well here goes,’ I thought, ‘I’ve nothing to lose.’
31st Dec
So tomorrow I will give you the first of the daily tasks. I just ask you to enjoy them, they’re fun and easy, follow the instructions on each day and just see what happens. Every 21 days you get a reward so look out for those and every 28 days I’ll tell you what happened next on my journey.
Please let me know how you get on. Send me reports, photos and videos it’s so easy now to share your experiences. Their cumulative effect may transform your life, they’ve certainly done that for me over the last year, in ways I never expected and ways you wouldn’t believe, some of which I’ll tell you about… see you in 28 days!
Winter only half over and the dull, cold months still to come. The shortest day, used to depress me. Things have changed since I found 365 and that odd bunch of people sitting on the cliff edge blowing bubbles. I often wonder what would have happened if I’d walked away, taken a different route, never begun to question why.
But I didn’t walk away.
I was drawn to them before I even knew they existed, I met them when I needed them most. I used to think that was just the way things happened but now I know that’s not how it is at all.
22nd Dec
You probably read my blog for yesterday and thought I was a complete lunatic but hey you’re here again so maybe it isn’t so mad after all - unless you’ve joined me in my madness!
A year ago I was leaving. Leaving my job, leaving my family, leaving my sanity and then I found what I didn’t even know I was searching for on the edge of a cliff, a windswept cliff with a group of complete strangers who knew me before I even knew myself. They’ve gone now, I don’t need them anymore, it was they who nurtured and cared for me simply to watch me fly away but now I know they showed me how to look after myself so that I knew how to let go.
23rd Dec
I want to tell you what happened, a story so strange I know you’ll find it hard to sort it all out. Heck I was in it and half the time I couldn’t work it out. Joy, despair, fear, deep love I’ve been through it all but the absolute peace and sense of fulfilment it has brought me was worth that journey that’s why I want to share it with you because if it can help you like it helped me and then help a million others then I know it was worth it all.
24th Dec
Somehow I want to wait until after Christmas to tell you it how it all happened, you’re busy with food and family, hey maybe you’ll need it even more afterwards! There’s so much to tell. But here I am after only a year a changed person, a better person, a person who feels comfortable inside his skin and outside his skin. The people I’ve met have given me more opportunities than I could have ever dreamed up myself. I’m happy, successful for goodness sake I just want everyone to feel like I do right now. Not because it’s Christmas Day tomorrow but because it’s the beginning of a million journeys for a million people.
25th Dec
Happy Christmas everyone! Tomorrow when things have settled down a bit I want to tell you how I’ve just had the greatest year of my life and about to start an even better one. I have such a story to tell. No not just a story - I’ve got to take you on a journey. I can’t travel the journey for you only with you. When you look at the passing view you will see different things than me, you’ll smell different smells and hear a world more in tune with you. I cannot tell you how to travel I only ask you to take the road I show you and let all your preconceived ideas melt away. Allow yourself to travel a different road from the one you would normally travel. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme, I’m not suddenly going to ask you for your credit card details. I give this freely because of what it’s done for me. I have plenty of money, I’m happy, believe me when I tell you this is a journey that can help you be happy too.
26th Dec
So here’s my story, it all started a year ago on a wild windswept cliff in the middle of nowhere. One thousand feet below me the ocean pounded white horses of foam into the foot of the cliffs. It was mid winter. The day had started out in brilliant sunshine, the scream of seagulls wheeling above the tiny seaside village and the bracing chill of seaside smells, it had promised to stay dry all day, but low cloud had blown in off the sea and given way to an afternoon of drizzling rain. I was soaked. I knew I needed to walk alone that day. I had some serious thinking to do.I had a reasonable job, a decent home and an ok social-life, but it just wasn’t enough. Time and time again I wished to do something significant with my three-score years and ten. Sure I had my dreams like everyone else, my dream was to write a book, no, more than that, if I’m honest it was to quit my job and actually become a writer. I’d had that dream for as long as I could remember, but little chance of living it. Dreams were all very well, but that’s all they are, just dreams, and right now I was bumping along on the sea-bed of reality feeling pretty desperate. I was desperate to get rid of that empty and dissatisfied feeling that had crept into my heart over the last year or so. It was with these thoughts churning in my head that I walked the coast path that winter’s day.As I struggled to the top of yet another summit I noticed a small group of people sitting dangling their feet over the cliff’s edge laughing infectiously. They had pots of bubble mixture and appeared to be attempting to blow the largest and most impressive shaped bubble. My first thought was to give them a wide berth pretend they weren’t there and continue on my well-worn uphill path choosing the route that would lead me slightly inland. But the path must have been deceptive because I found myself walking right among them. I made as if to keep moving on past but felt held by their warmth and openness; it was as though they were so totally comfortable within themselves and that made their company irresistible.“Hi there! We’ve been waiting for you,” one of them said.“Have you really?” I replied panicking slightly.“We wondered how long it would take you.”The comment was so extraordinary that I often wonder why I didn’t just walk away but thank goodness I didn’t because stopping is probably the best thing I’ve ever done.
27th Dec
So I stopped walking and asked that odd group on the cliff what on earth they were doing there blowing bubbles.
“This was our task for the day,” one of them replied.
‘Oh interesting,’ I thought, ‘a weird religious cult.’ I’d read about these kind of groups in the Sunday papers maybe I could do a bit of writer’s research.
“Okay. Who gave you the task?” I asked, trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
“We did, even though we expected rain today, we didn’t know if the bubbles would work.”
I wondered how come they’d expected rain when no-one else had but then they were right it had rained.
Just then a bubble the size and shape of a great bird emerged from someone’s hand and set off out to sea, somehow I wasn’t shocked.
“But why are you doing this?”
“We call it 365,” said one of the girls, “We got together and decided to do something that was a totally different experience every day, we wanted to discover what we really liked doing, where our lives were going and what we had to do to live the lives we should be living. It all sounds a bit self-indulgent telling you that now, but at one time or another we had all hit rock-bottom and then started to ask those kind of questions: maybe you know how it feels? It’s like a voyage of discovery, a journey on which we’re beginning to understand what is in our hearts and how to fill that place of emptiness and dissatisfaction - to be in harmony with ourselves.”
I looked at them suddenly, how could they know exactly the words I was thinking? I felt dizzy, maybe it was the height of the cliff, the ground had just disappeared from beneath my feet. I needed to sit down. I desperately needed to know more, in fact, I needed to know everything.
28th Dec
Next thing I knew, we were sitting in an old stone cottage, warm and dry, drinking coffee and eating the best chocolate cake I’d ever tasted: better than I’d ever imagined anything could taste, actually.
They were all such interesting accomplished, happy people I asked them where on earth they were from. Were they gurus or yogis, were they from another planet or dimension, were they angels or something? They all roared with laughter. I didn’t think I’d said anything that funny.
“Of course not, we’re just like you; we’re ordinary people but living extraordinary lives, that’s all.”
“ALL?” It sure looked like more than that from where I was sitting.
They told me about 365. It had started out as a casual experiment in doing something interesting, different and personally expanding every day for a year. The plan had developed into something that really worked for them, something truly transformational and gave them a good time too. I was trying hard not to be convinced, but I could feel an irresistible urge to be part of what they were doing and enjoy my life the way they were enjoying theirs.
I was struck by the lack of ‘get rich quick or find the perfect partner’ ideology about what they were doing. It seemed that simply doing what they did and being who they really were was the key: they were actually living out the idea of enjoying the journey, not waiting for the destination. Nevertheless, some of them were on their way to becoming extremely rich, others had found the career that interested them, some had found contentment with the people with whom they shared their lives, but the over-riding factor was that they were living life to the full NOW, rather than striving to reach some goal or holy grail in a nebulous fantasy future.
Despite the doubts and suspicions of my cynical mind, they looked like they were having such a ball that by the end of the evening I wanted to know their secrets and to join them.
29th Dec
As I sat in that comfortable old cottage and talked with the 365 group I began to realize that these were things that would make a great book so I asked if all their ideas were written down.
“Of course, but only in note form and not very tidily!”
“I’m sure they could be tidied up. Why don’t you publish them?” I asked
“That’s a great idea. What we need is a writer: are you a writer by any chance?”
“Well I sort of play around with ideas it is pipe dream of mine, I must admit.”
“Wow, isn’t coincidence a wonderful thing?! What’s the point in having dreams and leaving them in your pipe, why don’t you join us and see how you get along, then you could write down the book of 365 down from experience?”
30th Dec
Now I was excited, or was I dreaming or drugged…or both? They gave me what they called the first month’s tasks and some instructions in a tatty manila envelope, insisting I read and follow the instructions very carefully before starting. After friendly goodbyes I left, feeling so inspired and spaced out I didn’t think to ask when or how I might see them again.
It was dusk. I wasn’t sure where I was but it seemed as though I walked for no more than five minutes and I was back at the hotel. I rushed to my room and opened the envelope. Well the envelope seemed pretty real. Inside were a sheet of instructions and some pages of daily tasks, a pot of bubble mixture and an ornate whistle.
‘Well here goes,’ I thought, ‘I’ve nothing to lose.’
31st Dec
So tomorrow I will give you the first of the daily tasks. I just ask you to enjoy them, they’re fun and easy, follow the instructions on each day and just see what happens. Every 21 days you get a reward so look out for those and every 28 days I’ll tell you what happened next on my journey.
Please let me know how you get on. Send me reports, photos and videos it’s so easy now to share your experiences. Their cumulative effect may transform your life, they’ve certainly done that for me over the last year, in ways I never expected and ways you wouldn’t believe, some of which I’ll tell you about… see you in 28 days!
