Soon after the Germans began bombing London in 1940, I was evacuated, like many London children, to the safety of the countryside. I was sent to live with my Aunt Eva, who lived at the end of a country lane near a tiny hamlet called Yelland Cross in North Devon.

I didn’t really know my Aunt very well. But one of my jobs in this strange new life separated from my parents was to fetch a jug of milk each morning from a farm a couple of hundred yards or so down the lane. I would carry the empty jug down to the farm, and Mrs. Wicketts, a warm but rather shapeless woman, her face deeply worn and lined by years of hard work, would pass the jug back to me filled to the brim with warm, fresh, frothy milk.

I share this little story because as I sit here at my computer this morning, I realize vividly that although my outer expression and appearance has changed since that lonely, unhappy period of my life, my spirit has not changed at all. The pure, timeless presence that is the source of my existence — and the source of your existence — is the same now as it was when I lived with Aunt Eva and walked home each morning with a jug brimming with fresh milk.

A door to find inner peace

We live in a time of trauma, tragedy and hardship that can break your heart. A time in which one in every four US women aged 45 to 59 is taking antidepressants. When one in ten of the overall population is on antidepressants. And when two-thirds of the US is obese or overweight.

But hardship can be a door to find inner peace. This is a time when a sea change is possible in our lives. It is not only possible, it is beating at our doors. It is knocking louder and louder at the door of our heart every day – the call of our own inherent greatness.

It doesn’t demand some great achievement, though.  We don’t have to be special as the world rates these things. We don’t even have to be enlightened.

All we have to do is to be still for a moment, and look. There it is. The feeling of our own pure, pristine presence. The sheer happiness and joy of our own eternal presence that is always here. It never changes. It is always the same. It is always at peace. It is always free. It has no part in such earthly phenomena as aging, or death.

Fear dissolves as we reconnect with that part of ourselves that has no part in the whirlwind of change ripping through our lives and through this world.

Tips and resources

If we love our body, we will treat it well and feed it well, as well as possible at least. We will give it the essential nutrients it needs to function at its best and support our spiritual being in these difficult times.

In this regard I continue to be very impressed with the efforts of a company called Wholefood Farmacy, of Tennessee, to assist our general health and well being. The ingredients to health, happiness, vitality, and longevity are no secret. Every major nonprofit health organization in the world has been offering the same advice for many years. Eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water, exercise on a daily basis, lose weight if you need to, don’t smoke, avoid toxins, and reduce stress.

“We have seen the future of medicine and the future is food,” said Dr Mitch Gaynor, of the New York Strang Center for Cancer Prevention. The Wholefood Farmacy combines delicious, organic, healthy foods with convenience and affordability, along with non-toxic personal care items. (Please note I am an affiliate of this company).

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Find inner peace in your own pure presence is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Little moments tend to be underrated in our society. We fantasize about “big” moments still to come that will surely bring us happiness and fulfillment — but it is often the little moments that really have power to change or bless our lives.

The touch of the divine

Many years ago, as a young man, I gave up my life in England and went to British Columbia in response to an irresistible urge to find true meaning and freedom.

It was all very exciting and wonderful. I got a job as a reporter on the Daily Colonist in Victoria, such a beautiful city. But I was troubled at times by a nagging doubt or question about whether I was really doing the right thing in my life — whether I was really on the right path.

One day I picked out a book from the library called Cosmic Consciousness, by Richard Bucke — you can see where my interest and passion was in life — and decided to take the book with me to Beacon Hill Park. It’s a beautiful park in Victoria overlooking the ocean.

It was a gorgeous summer day. The sun shone out of a cloudless sky, and the ocean was shining too, stretched out all around me like a shimmering blue carpet. I sat down on a bench and opened the book — but before I could read a word, a tremendous sense of stillness and confidence swept through me.

It’s hard to describe that moment. It was like God touched me on the shoulder and said I really was on the right track with my strange, solitary quest — a quest no one in my family had been able to understand – to find the truth of my existence.

I knew in every fiber of my being that all I had to do was to keep on going.

I left the park glowing with a deep sense of peace and happiness. I didn’t know how my destiny would work itself out, but I knew everything would unfold just as it should as long as I played my part.

The true potential of now

As change rips through our world with over increasing velocity, life is calling to each of us to open our heart more fully than ever before to the true magic and fulfillment that is always present “now.”

It is in the moment — and only in the moment — that we may sense, and know, the presence of the divine. Not some strange external presence but our own presence, our own peace, our own wisdom. The pure, timeless perfection and love of our own being.

Trust your own being. It is calling to you now in the sacred stillness of your heart. You will never see your true face in the future no matter how hard you try.

What are some magical moments in your own life that have really made a difference?

Worried a bit about aging? Check out my groundbreaking new course on “The true promise and potential of aging.”

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A moment of magic on a park bench is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

“When there is an openness to fear, where can it be found? What a strange creature fear is. It exists only when there is resistance to its existence! When you stop and open to what you have resisted throughout time, you find that fear is not fear. Fear is energy. Fear is space. Fear is the Buddha. It is Christ’s heart knocking at your door.”– Gangaji

In some ways we are immensely strong and enduring. When I think of some of the tribulations — and triumphs — I have experienced in my life I am amazed at what I have come through, the unconquerable spirit that was present.

And yet paradoxically, in some ways each of us inhabits a human self that is also extraordinarily fragile and vulnerable.

For example, in these latter years of my life, though I love the stillness and peace of my own being with ever increasing passion –  and find in my being the meaning and joy for which I longed my whole life — fear still arises.

Perhaps it is because I was a child in the Blitz in London. Perhaps it is because my father was given to sudden bouts of unpredictable rage. Perhaps it’s simply because I was born, like you, into this human condition.

But sometimes something quite trivial – a small health problem perhaps –begins to magnify in me and I begin to worry.

What do we do when fear knocks?

I have learned that what is truly important in life is not that worry or fear come knocking at our door. It is what we do when this happens.

Do I try to ignore my fear? Do I get in a funk because fear or worry has shown up in my life? Do I think to myself, “I can’t be a very spiritual person if I feel fear?”

Or do I realize that fear is actually a door to wholeness and love — an opportunity to experience more fully the gifts of a loving universe?

It is a little bit of ourselves wanting to come home, as Gangaji says in her beautiful quote. It is a piece of frozen energy someone labelled as “evil” that has been wandering the world long enough and yearns to be met with an attitude of acceptance.

What to do with fear? Be willing to accept it. Be willing to feel it and ultimately to forgive it as you stay true to the beautiful Love of your own true character. Fear is transformed when you and I let this mysterious, supposedly hostile entity be blessed and set free in our Love.

Fear has been an outcast long enough

Fear has been an outcast long enough. Of course, I’m not speaking here about “biological” fear, the response to physical danger that is hardwired into our body for its survival. I’m speaking about the psychological fears, big or small, often imaginary, that can sap our creative purpose and spirit.

Ultimately, fear is not a challenge to our true strength or peace or well-being. As I say, it is a call for help – a part of ourselves desperate to come home.

It wants to find peace in me. It wants to find peace in you. And it wants to make us whole, because we are here not only to experience joy and bliss. We are here to grow, and evolve – and transform through our own true presence of Love the fear that has dominated human existence. 

Please write. I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic.

Starting to feel your age? Please click here to know more about how aging is not something to be feared, but is rightly a door to increased meaning and happiness at any age.

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How fear can open a door to wholeness is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Are the winds of change blowing more strongly in your life? They sure seem to be blowing more strongly in my life.

But there is one thing that isn’t changing at all — and that is the balance that undergirds this universe of love. Life loves balance. It loves to get busy, and move, and create. But paradoxically, it also loves to be still. It loves to come to rest, and be at peace.

Take the big blue spruce tree that grows outside the front door of our town home here in Denver. This tree is a master of this mysterious process we call life. Right now, it is still as can be. There’s not even a suspicion of movement. Every branch, every needle rests in an ocean of perfect calm and peace.

But strong winds are forecast for later today. I know it won’t be too long before this large, impressive tree is very busy indeed, branches moving this way and that as it dances irresistibly with the power of the wind.

Sometimes life calls for everything we’ve got

Sometimes life really puts us through our paces too. It calls for everything we’ve got, and then some, like it did for me these past few months when I was working on finishing my course on “The true promise and potential of aging.”

I’ve written some books in my life, but I’ve never attempted a course like this before. There were times when I wondered if I would be able to finish the course — or if I even wanted to finish it. So many new things to learn. So many surprises. Such a lot of plain hard work.

The days immediately preceding the “launch,” as it’s called in blogging circles, were really crazy — a gazillion things to organize, and tie together – not only the course itself, but things that would help spread the word about it, like guest posts and interviews here and there.

But I’m so glad I did finish the course. I’m so glad I didn’t quit, and throw up my hands.

The joy of friendship and mutual support

One of the particular joys of doing this course has been meeting many new friends. There is an extraordinary movement of mutual support, friendship and cooperation moving in this world. Let us not imagine for a moment that any of us are alone in our projects and dreams.

All the forces of love and creativity are on your side as you initiate new projects and aspirations – or meet old challenges with fervor and love. Just consider this beautiful letter that I received this morning from a woman who commented on one of my posts:

“I’ve given birth to my new website and blog. I launched it five months ago. This is a whole new world to me — the world of social media and blogging, connecting, community building, etc. Our kids are born into it, with the lingo as a part of their lives.

“I am a mid-lifer, very soon to retire from my school social work career of 20 years. As I write this I realize I am also giving birth to a new life phase, with retirement from my job right upon me (June 30th). I will be mindful of operating much more from my right side of the brain as I open myself up to what will evolve. It will be hard shedding some of that left side of the brain – the structure, routines, full knowledge of exactly what I’m doing- and go with the more creative, spontaneous part. But I’m ready, willing and excited by it.”

Life is trustworthy

Most of all, as I finish one phase of my own course, and prepare for the next — some one-on-one conversations and explorations with those who’ve signed up for a personal support session with me — the bottom line is this. Life is trustworthy.

Love is trustworthy. The truth that already exists at the core of your own being is trustworthy. Our own true character is trustworthy. Wherever we are in life’s ongoing continuum — busy as all get out, freaking out at some new challenge, enjoying a few blissful moments of rest — it’s all good.

We are here to bless the world with our presence

It’s the drama we call life, and in one sense, paradoxically, we are not touched by any of it. We are spiritual beings whose true home is nowhere you can find with a physical eye or a telescope or a map or even a belief. It can’t even be described.

We are Children of Light, here with a very simple mission — to bless the world with our presence. Thank you again for your interest and support, both for my blog and for my course on “The true promise and potential of aging.”

Incidentally, something else that has knocked my socks off these past few days is the big jump in my subscriber count. Up from 870 subscribers to 1341. A warm welcome to each one of you, new or old.

As years pass by, may you discover more and more vividly the simple truth that only our bodies age. Our unconquerable spirit does not age at all. I wish you peace, happiness and abundance. May you never give up on your dreams. If you wish, please do share any thoughts on the above.

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Hang in there and trust is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

What is your deepest longing?

One of the reasons I’m so grateful for the privilege of aging is that it has given — and continues to give — more space and time to let my own deepest longing be fulfilled, and enjoyed. And made new.

I’m a slow learner, I guess.

“Better late than never,” they say, and that’s sure been true in my own life. In some ways it feels as if it’s only in the last two or three years that my own longing has really come true — the longing I blurted out to my parents at lunch one day when I was 15 years old.

“I want to find the truth of my existence,” I cried during an argument with my dad. Oh my, what a scene there was that day. How angry and upset my father became, angry enough to slap me hard across the face with his hand.

He was a fine, fine man, but we never became close, and perhaps the encounter we had at lunch that day was an example of our separation.

What I really longed for was peace

In recent years, I have come to see that what I was seeking all my life – something that is difficult to describe, but which can be experienced — is a deeper connection with my own unconquerable spirit.

A deeper awareness of the stillness and peace of my own being as the winds of change roar.

It was more important to me than money, fame, a successful career — even my love for my parents and family.

The pain, trauma and tribulations I have known in life — and there have been plenty — are insignificant compared to this stillness that I love. It is my own stillness. Feelings of anxiety and distress still arise – but always this stillness is present.

I have come to see, and chuckle at one of life’s supreme paradoxes — the peace I was seeking so long and earnestly across all the continents of this world was actually seeking me.

It’s who I truly am. It’s who you truly are.

Seek and you shall find

The peace of our own timeless Self is with you and me constantly.

All that is necessary, I discovered at long last, is to be still for a few moments, and surrender, as it were to the timeless presence that is with us every moment of our existence, and which is who we truly are.

“Seek, and you shall find,” the Bible says, and I experience that those five simple little words are true.

All you have to do is persevere in the direction your own inner wisdom dictates and your deepest longing will indeed come true.

What is your deepest longing? Whatever it is, know that if you seek and persevere you will find it.

Love and blessings to you, and I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have on this post.

I want to give a special thankyou to my friend Mary Jaksch, co-founder of the A-List Blogger Club It’s a great community and a great resource for bloggers, and Mary has been and is a tremendous help in preparing my forthcoming course on “The true promise and potential of aging.” There is so much involved in a venture like this. I had no idea. Incidentally Mary has even written two great articles especially for this course. I look forward to offering it very soon.

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What is your deepest longing? is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age