Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Happy no matter what


Enjoying reading Louis Koster's "A new language for life: happy no matter what" http://www.amazon.com/New-Language-Life-Happy-Matter-ebook/dp/B009R898FY/ at the moment. In a nutshell it's about how we can choose to be happy, independent of what is happening in our lives. It's also about the insight that comes from realising that nothing outside of us inherently has the capacity to make us happy. So what does the author mean by all that? Well you'll have to read his book for that but here's my take on it all below.

Have you ever remembered a happy event and had a smile come to you face. If you visualise yourself as happy then your muscles follow suit. The brain is just a mainframe information processing centre after all. If you tell it you're happy it will send messages to your bodies systems that you are happy. Visualise and feel the emotion and the body will follow suit. Happiness is a choice. It is a habit that we can practise and become skillfull at. In some cultures being happy may be seen as abnormal.  Some cultures value stoicism, the still upper lip, fatalism or a carefree "whatever" attitude. How we respond to the world is largely learnt from our culture, circumstances, our peers and  our family. But we can break free.  Someone has to be first right? The hundred monkey syndrome starts with one monkey. A while back I decided to be such a monkey. Like the author of "Happy no matter what" I'm still practising. Its a skill I practise daily by being aware of where my emotions are coming from, how am I responding to others or circumstances. Changing your response to life is a hell of a big elephant to eat but if you do it one bit at a time you will eventually eat it. Why else are elephants scared of mice.

Part of my own practise is using the basics of Bon Dzogchen meditation as outlined by Tenzin Wangyal in
Awakening The Luminous Mind: Tibetan Meditation for Inner Peace and Joy
and in his
Tibetan Sound Healing. I find boundless space in my solar plexus (under my ribcage) and allow the sense of light and warmth there to awaken into joy. It is not a joy I create but one I am allowing. It is always there. I just choose to awaken to it and allow it to take a greater prominence in my life.

When you start to practise the choice you start to realise that while someone around you might be having a bad day you don't have to have one too. Yes feel compassion for them but you don't have to be miserable too. The world is geared around judgement. Lots of people spend their daily lives passing opinions about other people's actions. When you start to realise that you make the choice about how you react to the world around you suddenly you realise that it is the act of judgement that determines how you feel about something or someone. By taking responsibility for feeling happy of not you become less inclined to judge others because you are no longer making them responsible for your happiness.

For more about Louis Koster and his remarkable life journey visit his website at http://www.louiskoster.com/

Saturday, November 9, 2013

"Trust and Destiny", book 3 of Lefthand Adventures

I'd had "In Deep" as the working title for book 3 of the Lefthand Adventures series but at the last minute it morphed into "Trust and Destiny" with a different cover than I'd planned. It was nice to take a few weeks off while my editors poured over the draft. One thing writing has taught me is that I don't have to be a total do-it-yourselfer. There are people out there with better attention to detail and a better feel for design. I'm really grateful to all those who helped me with this one and donated their time to make it happen. The enthusiasm of my small but growing fan base has been a sheer delight.  When I started out I really wasn't sure what people's response tot the books would be.

As a writer I achieved my first goal the first time I got into print. The next was my first online sale. Frankly when I started this whole exercise I thought it would be nice if I could get a few copies of my books printed for friends and family and if I ever got an online sale I'd be over the moon. Just last week I got my first review in the New Zealand Journal of Natural Medicine for my meditation and relaxation booklet.

If you enjoyed the first two books in the series I know you'll enjoy this one. This is Michael's story:

One minute he'd been Michael Williams, six foot four, short cut brown hair and unassuming brown eyes.  The next minute he'd found himself in a vast boundless void of light and space with no point of reference in time and space. It was immensely peaceful with a sense of oneness and connectedness with everything.  Then he was spat out the other side..


"Who are you?" came a lilting but startled female voice, waking him from his reverie.  


Before him was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She wore a pale blue, almost translucent garment.  Wavy hair the color of softly spun gold flowed down her back.  Her eyes were of clearest sea-green, sparkling like a tropical ocean. He thought he might fall into that ocean and drown in it happily.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

"A lick of Immortality" - The second in a series of paranormal romance novels based around the ongoing battle between the Malakim and the Din

The extremely hot weather we had over the summer that's just finished gave me the time I needed to write "A Lick of Immortality". I can see know why some writers get attached to their characters. I feel compelled to tell their tale and see them through the whole story arc, to the release of all their friends.  It's going to take a few books to do that.  This is the second.

The basic synopsis for this one is this:

Thex wants to free his second in command Arion who was imprisoned in immensely hard crystal at the same time as the rest of his team. He'd like to free his whole team but humans with the level of compassion to do it are pretty thin on the ground. There's still the problem of who will help them this time.

Major John Samuels is just back from a trip to Sydney, tying up a few loose ends before he settles permanently on the outskirts of Boswell.  He plans to settle into the old fishing shack down by the lake that he's been renting but has just bought. He's had some bad news.

Sally, the local vet and sister to the local cop, has been mooning over the Major since he arrived in the town.  She's been looking forward to his return.  She can't work out why but weird things are starting to happen in her life. Simon's kitten might be to blame.  The kitten might be more than he appears.

To tell you more would spoil the story but there's plenty of romance and fantasy along the way.  Beyond the surface story is a wealth of metaphysics covering ascension into a rainbow body, traversing the Bardo, transcending the self and realizing the true nature of the universe. 

The evil Din are still there in the background, causing trouble.  There's a little more of a look at the tyrant Sakla who leads them and his economic empire. We meet General Polemarch who's been Sakla's right hand man what seems forever.  Upal and Mendal who defected to the Malakim side in the first book are still there and assist Thex towards the end of the book.  I think their story will come in book four.

In the meantime I'm plotting Sargent Michael Wilson's story and the rescue of Kiana from the deep.

For me these books are a whole lot of fun.  Writing is turning out to be the hobby I never planned.  Sure I've written a few short stories in the past but whole books...! The process of writing, editing, doing book covers, indie publishing and marketing has really broadened my horizons.  It's strengthened my belief in the interconnectedness of everything as what I've done wouldn't have been possible without the right people with the right skills turning up to help.  I am indebted to them.  Maybe one day I'll make enough from this hobby to reimburse them in some way but for now we're all in it for the love of it.

Monday, March 4, 2013

A plain English introduction to the world of yogic meditation and relaxation : A simple Nuts and Bolts Guide to Meditation and Relaxation


Finally a plain English introduction to the world of yogic meditation and relaxation : A simple Nuts and Bolts Guide to Meditation and Relaxation

This booklet outlines the basics, drawn from across a number traditions. It doesn't try to say that this is the only right way as some dogmatic tomes do, rather it recommends an experiential  try it and judge for yourself approach.

The meditations are all simple and easy to do. Background information explaining yogic anatomy and terms that might be needed to help the practitioner further their interest are provided. While I respect Sanskrit as a beautiful and ancient language I am aware that it deters many from this path. With that in mind I try to explain the system using language people know while giving sufficient terms so that the curious can go looking for further information.

The booklet is well suited for those who want to know how to do meditation without the usual overload of religious doctrine.  The spiritual side is still there but it is presented as a way of using meditation.  Its your choice whether you use the meditations to simply relax and find inner peace or to start a spiritual journey to uncovering the oneness that is always present within us all.

A heart of stone: a metaphysical paranormal romance based loosely on Gnostic legend


My first novella Heart of Stone was an ebook on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008SNZGEG. Priced at $0.99US. Published in the middle of 2012.

On one level this simple, lighthearted and fast paced, very Australian, paranormal erotic romance is a little bit naughty and a bit kinky. Underlying all that is a deeper message about love that is all accepting, transcending taboos and arbitrary values and connecting us with the all pervading consciousness of the universe.

The heroine Tyra is a soon to be retired librarian.  She is woken in the middle of the night to find her uncle has died and a destiny she didn't know she had calls her to a small Australian country town.  To fulfill her destiny she must find her own liberation and make a bond of love that exceeds normal human limits. Tyra must let go of obstacles she has placed in the path of love and let go of boundaries of self and mortality.  And of course there's an ancient evil out to stop her.

The Malakim are the good guys.  Loosely based on angels they are higher dimensional beings seeking to free their own who were imprisioned in crystal by the Din (aka Djinn), the bad guys, 100,000 year ago. Trouble is the bad guys are still around. The Malakim are fairly indestructible, except for the Din's dark light weapon that can turn them into stone. The characters are based on Gnostic legends with the Din cast as lion headed reptiles that can infest a human's aura or take physical form separate from their host but only as a reptile and that tends to go down not too well these days. The Malakim understand the non-dual nature of existence.  In our plane they are really high frequency light and sound but mentally project a form that can interact with the world.  They also like fast cars, pilot interdimensional spacecraft and are pretty damn hot.

A paperback version was released towards the end of 2012 and is available through all good book vendors.  A sequel is called "A lick of immortality" is at the final edit stage and should be out shortly after Easter 2013