Or is it?

I am a strong Christian. An Irish Catholic.

One thing I have observed since childhood is that there are certain parts of Christianity that really try to say, usually, a little guy on the street corner yelling out –

“Repent .. the End is Near!”

They have been saying that for a very long time, over ten thousand years in fact. But, is it?

Is today’s sudden interest in Environmental movements by Corporate Institutions and Governments another dish of the same ingredients – that began with the “original sin” in the Garden of Eve? Is it possible that this is what Greta Thurnberg saying? And the AOC and the World Economic Forum saying and … Biden?

Is it really? Or is it just a re-packaging of the same old message of FEAR. Fear that I have heard throughout my Christian life. This Fear, it seems is simply the fear the majority has of a FINITE life … fear that is transferred from SELF to something else … like humanity being killers of Nature. This projection used to be put on witches and heretics … but now it is on CLIMATE CHANGE.

But why?

Why is there such a push? What is Big Business on this bandwagon? The only reason I can think this way and ask questions is that unlike most people, I am not afraid of my death. I have absolutely no fear of dying. My grandfather taught me many many years ago in my youth – to only worry about what you CAN CONTROL… and do something about.

Over the past fifty years, media-sensitive scientists have learnt that the best way of attracting public attention and government funding is to deliver apocalyptic prognosis – nuclear devastation, meteoric bombardment, an impending ice-age, global warming. Modern scientific forecasters seem to fulfil the same psychological needs as religious prophets who preached that the end of the world represents God’s punishment of the sinful.

So, from this point-of-view, global warming is more rewarding than an ice age because blame can be assigned to the human race. In contrast with natural disasters, the greenhouse effect and the thinning of the ozone layer are attributable to the industrial activities that drive modern profit-based capitalism.

But it is one of delusion … as ultimately, none of us can get out of this thing called life, ALIVE.

Controlling your Death is one of those things you CANNOT have total CONTROL over. I cannot do anything about me living a short life (100 years).

“What’s going On?

I love Marvin Gaye.

I loved his voice, his singing and his complete musical artistry. One of the my favourite songs of all time was his song –

“What’s Going On ..”

Do you remember this hit?

Soul … man … soul.

But that is the question he asked way back in the 70s … and that is the question I have been asking over the last two decades … especially in the last three to five years – “What’s going on?”

What’s going on in our societies … what’s going on locally, nationally and internationally? Do you know? Can we truly say that we can believe everything we have been told to date?

DEPENDENCY EQUALS CONTROL.

Society has a tiny tiny few at the Top of the Pyramid – controlling all the finance, all the energy, all the fuel … and everyone else dependent on those tiny few. The majority have lost their jobs, lost their businesses, lost their dignity … to these few who control everything.

DEPENDENCY EQUALS CONTROL.

Just like a marriage where one partner works and earns the money (a form of energy) and the other invests his/her energy with the upkeep of the home … and invests time and energy in to the raising of their children.

As Some thinkers state, this control of ALL energy by the few, is moving society towards not just a POLICE STATE but a Military-Police State … a fusion of the two. Have you seen the riot police uniforms … the officers are fully attired in military style kits. It looks scary as shit. These are’nt what police officers are meant to look like .. they are supposed to be helping the communities and not giving the impression that they are just glorified men and women of a large Mafia (the Government) who are sent out to do the ‘dirty work’ for those in control.

These modern-day ‘hench-men/women’ who are given legal powers to force the WILL OF THE FEW on the majority, by force and whatever means necessary. To ultimately stop the people from rebelling against them in any way, shape or form.

More and more People are being pushed into the lower parts of the pyramid and they are struggling to just survive. The cost of living is exorbitant, their small businesses are suffering …and families are breaking up and the once cohesiveness of tight-nit groups are falling apart.

What’s going on?

It seems that the majority …. The people in the increasingly filled lower areas of the pyramid is suffering like never before. Because of these selfish few at the top of the pyramid…. The few working through our National Governments.

I’ve said many times before that Life is about Energy Management, not Time Management. And those at the top of the pyramid know and understand that, too. They know that if you can CONTROL Energy … and fuel … ALL forms of ENERGY, you have ULTIMATE CONTROL of the system that societies run on … and you can CONTROL the masses.

Is there are concerted effort by the elite few … the handful of very large Energy Multinationals to increase their market share and … hence, control of the ENERGY MARKET?

And why do they do this?

Because they know that if they control more of the ENERGY … they control more of society because human society was founded on Energy.

From the outside looking in …

… you’d think the world is very stable .. very solid … so entrenched in its foundations … UNFRAGILE. But the truth is …

That is a HUGE LIE.

If this covid period has shown us, one thing is that the whole world is very FRAGILE … so tenuous.

Does this remind us of anything? In modern history? What about ancient histories and civilisations?

What happened to the Egyptian and Aztecs and Atlantians? These societies were once the pinnacle of technological advancement in their time. What happened to them? Where are they now?

Why do people think that society ONLY progresses FORWARD? Why do people think that societies don’t regress? If history shows us, societies DO REGRESS and … die … and disappear from existence. Civilisations that were once the modern-day examples of High Technologies and know-how.

Where to from here for our modern-day technology-infused societies? What did they all thrive and grow and survive on? They had access to Energy.

What would happen if the Powers-that-be removed all energy from the masses?

Have you thought of that possibility?

If ALL energy was stripped – electricity, fuel, heat, finances … everything … what would happen? Society … all societies would COLLAPSE in only a few days. What do you think? Do you have a lantern and kerosene fuel standing by? Do you have matches? What about a wood-fired bbq?

Could our world, that we are living in now .. that we are experiencing be forgotten as a result of collapse … of the Energy crisis … and hundreds of thousands of years from now be seen as a ‘myth’ like the Aztecs civilisations were?

Why not? It is a possibility.

Knowing the Pressure Points.

Any skilled acupuncturist knows the precise location of pressure points and inserts needles with the length and angle when seeking to control you.

Those in control, those of our National Governments know exactly what the pressure points are for the masses. They will apply their ‘needles’ for as long as they desire to get what they want. Knowing the pressure points help them achieve control and stifles any hint of rebellion.

I know one thing – Fear is one of the greatest motivators of human beings. But when Fear is combined with GUILT, now this is a WINNING MIXTURE to CONTROL humans. Why is this increasing awareness in how CRUEL and EVIL, humans are? There are more good things about humans than there are evil … I believe Humans are more good than evil.

Then, why is there a sense of GUILT thrust on to individuals .. that we are all somehow responsible for polluting the environment? Just using our car to live our ordinary lives is instilling unfair GUILT on us. Uncalled for … and totally unfair.

This is probably one of the few ways Governments of the world and Big Business can wield ULTIMATE CONTROL over you … over me … over humanity. Pulling the strings of FEAR and GUILT … on CLIMATE CHANGE.

Exercise of Controlled Destruction

Governments of the world are collectively exercising a Controlled Destruction Plan … they know that to achieve growth at times, just like in nature, you need to destroy the status quo. This destruction is like the CREATIVE DESTRUCTION of an clay artist… mixing clay to his/her liking … and destroying what was … to Create something new … a new status quo.

Yes, like nature’s natural disasters – hurricanes, fires, floods, tstunamis … etc … the existing flora and fauna are put under intense torture … and many die. However, following these destructive forces, comes new life … new growth … new possibilities.

That is what Real Life is in today’s world. Those in power are rolling out a series of manifestations of this controlled Creative Destruction…

Emphasising the interconnectedness and … the FRAGILITY of our individual and collective lives that we live today.

Control of Energy and the control of the use and the access to Energy is fundamental to the control of humanity.

What do Extinction Rebellions want?

There are many pros for the argument of using Electric as the soul source of Energy for everything. They want NO DIVERSITY.

What is the ultimate risk here?

What if there was one big switch and the very few have control over that switch. What then?

Why is everything being done to demonise fossil fuel? Do we want everything to run on electricity? Why? What happens if everything is running on electricity? What happens if there is a power-shortage?

Or … those in control of the grid, decide to switch it off?

Everything goes out … with one flick! That’s what.

All power is gone. Heating is gone. Water is gone. All transport depending on electricity is gone. Everything that requires power through electricity … is gone.

With one switch.

And ..

That … is the ultimate aim. Full and complete CONTROL over the masses.

What can we do?

Let’s not forget that we … all of us … the majority that are not sitting right at the top of the pyramid need to unite.

Unite as one.

We need to ALL stop listening and doing what they are telling us to do.

Why?

Because we have the power to do so now … but this won’t last long as the governments of the world have united to work together to coordinate a mass Global Prison State. This mass collective coorperation between heads of states of the worlds nations is unprecedented on all levels.

We NEED leadership … we NEED to storm these man-made non-random, Creative Destructive strategies that is and still rolled out throughout nations of the world. We NEED leadership to be COURAGEOUS …

We NEED ..

To be and FEEL … human, again.

Not tomorrow … for tomorrow, will never come.

Why is this ‘End Times’ being dressed up as Climate Change this time around? And using a young girl with pig-tails … wasn’t this what Dictators like Hitler and Mao did for publicity … use young girls to make them look less violent, less inhumane?

Is the End Times really upon us? Or is it just the same old fear and (now GUILT) that human beings have believed since the beginning of time?

Personally, I refuse to accept any GUILT as a human being.

And you too, should. Firstly, as a christian and strong Catholic, I believe that I will be ‘saved’ as I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and so am, forgiven. That is my ultimate salvation because I know that God gave his only begotten son to die and liberate all believers. That is the only guilt I will allow myself to be concerned about.

Is everything happening before our eyes is one that is simply DISTRACTION.

Why do people who experience (Near-Death Experience) NDE or ‘awaken’ start to SEE the world differently?

They don’t JUST LOOK … they open up their minds to more possibilities … and allow other perceptions to enter our minds … to open our minds … our consciousness … to tap into the overall consciousness.

Have you experienced a NDE?

I have.

Not once. Twice.

You’re never ever the same. You never LOOK at life, the same. You don’t just change the way you look at life … you change the way your hear is involved in the way you look at life.

No matter who you put get elected … who you put in Power …

Nothing ever changes. Nothing ever works. There is no alternative legal power in place to help us … change the system. Nothing. Zilch!

Nothing can change … because nothing changes. Even if we were to arrest all the politicians of the world, there is still a grid that encompasses the world that controls each and every one of us. The essence here is this: individually, we don’t have any power at all but if people put aside their superficial differences and come together and GALVANISE into a cohesive force, POSITIVE CHANGE can happen.

What if the answer to change … begins with each and every one of us… that the answer begins in our HEARTS. The world needs many things … three of which is more CARE, more COMPASSION and more TRUST. And to do this … I think, we all NEED to OPEN UP OUR HEARTS.

As Above, so Below.

I love watching Marvel and DC Superhero Movies. I love many things about it – the fight of good vs evil, the triumph of morals over evil, the hope of a better world. I particularly love the concept of Science of a ‘multi-verse’ … where we are living in one of many universes.

These movies bring IMAGINATION TO LIFE … allows us to IMAGINE possibilities … and question whether how we can be sure of anything and everything we have ever been told is true? What if, as these Superhero movies espouse and what certain areas of Science theorise… that the REALITY as we know is one which is entirely Holographic …and we are in a giant experiment?

Have you imagined another level of existence above our level of existence? Have you thought about it hypothetically? Is that what that phrase means – “As Above, So Below”? Hypothetically thinking, is that what a ‘Fractal Reality’ is? Imagine if there was another Reality… that this is what another Reality is? Who really knows what this reality is? Who can come forward and say they definitely know what our Reality as we know, is in fact, the only reality there is?

“As Above, So Below.” may be the most profound statement since time began…. if it is shown to be true.

Time will tell.

Thank you

Yours in care, compassion and trust,

Paul

a better life adaptation attitude authentic Awareness balance beauty belief beliefs belief systems better choices Body shape brain change children choices consciousness courage energy essence of life exercise fathers God gratitude Habits hope Imagination life life principles love man Mind muscle philosophy real man relationships self spirituality Strengths success trust truth unconditional love wisdom You

FEAR and DISORDER and … INCREASED UNCERTAINTY are the CATALYSTS for CHANGE, in all Governments of the world, whether we like it or not.

Here’s my hypothesis: Big Business is in bed with Big Government is in bed with Big Science … is in bed with Big Religion.

What say you?

Radical Social and Economic Engineering.

There seems to be a new way of advancing corporate goals. 

Well, it is not necessarily ‘new’ as it has been at work since the seventies. THis method of advancing corporate goals is – using moments of collective trauma (like the current Covid Crisis) to engage in radical social and economic engineering.

THe idea of exploiting crisis and disaster has been the modus operandi of Milton Friedman’s movement from the very beginning – this fundamentalist form of capitalism has always needed disasters to advance.

There has been a huge learning ground from the bold experiments in strict adherence to the shock method/doctrine in Iraq and New Orleans. Human rights have simply been violated, not by sadistic acts carried out by antidemocratic regimes … but in fact, committed by Governments of the day … human rights violations committed with the deliberate intent of terrorising the public or actively harnessed to prepare the ground for the introduction of radical free-market ‘Reforms”.

This happened in the seventies in Argentina and then these Chicago SChool policies was experimented on the people of Chile in the eighties. 

As Friedman understood – 

“The atmosphere of large-scale crisis provided the necessary pretext to overrule the expressed wishes of the voters and to hand the country over to economic ‘technocrats.’

Friedman and his Chicago School followers and movement have been conquering territory around the world since the seventies .,.. Methodically exploiting moments of shock in other countries – foreign equivalents of 9/11, starting with Pinochet’s coup on September 11, 1973. However, it is not until the September 11th, 2001, that its vision had been fully applied in the country of origin: the US of A.

The Corporatist… the New World Order.

Back then, The Bush administration immediately prounced on the fear generated by the attacks, not only to launch the ‘War on Terror’ but to also ensure that it is an almost entirely a FOR-PROFIT venture. New INdustry boomed to life, breathing new life into the faltering U.S. economy.

Former U.S President Roosevelt had earlier warned of the far-reaching tentacles of the military-industrial complex. This went further than that… known as “Disaster Capitalism Complex”, saying –

“This is global war fought on every level by private companies whose involvement is paid for with public money, with the unending mandate of protecting the United States homeland in perpetuity while eliminating all “evil” abroad. In only a few short years, the complex has already expanded its market reach from fighting terrrism to international peace-keeping.. To municipal policing, to responding to increasingly frequent natural disasters.

The ultimate goal for the corporations at the centre of the complex is to bring the model of for-profit government, which advances so rapidly in extraordinary circumstances, into ordinary and day-to-day functioning of the state – in effect, to privatize the government. “

Essentially, the radical privatization of war and disaster/crisis … is a shape-shifter, forever changing its name and switching identities – in most of the world it is called ‘neoliberalism’ but often referred to as ‘free-trade’ or simply ‘globalisation’. 

All these incarnations share a commitment to the Policy Trinity –

1. the elimination of the public sphere (privatisation of many of not all traditional government-run services)
2. total liberation for corporations (we see corporations having powers that go beyond the powers of the individual as a legal entity)
3. skeletal social spending… (the requirement for parents to work from home in the pandemic and have their children stay away from school is a test for the government to slash their subsidies for childcare, for example)

The Chicago School of thinking supports a system that erases the boundaries between Big Government and Big Business. This is neither liberal, conservative or capitalist. As best selling author, Naomi Klein said – 

“It is CORPORATIST!”

The new world order?

“And what is this?” You may be asking.

She goes on to say –

“It’s main characteristics are huge transfers of public wealth to private hands, often accompanied by exploding debt , an ever-widening chasm between the dazzling rich and the disposable poor and an aggressive nationalism that justifies bottomless spending on security”

And also –

“The Corporatist state tend to include aggressive surveillance (once again, with government and large corporations trading favours and contracts), mass incarcerations, shrinking civil liberties and often, though not always, torture.”

Questions need to be asked of the necessity of the changes to the social frabric of life that we live. Where are the Opposition spokesmen? Why are they not speaking out or at least questioning the validity of measures adopted? Every movement is monitored (scanning in and out – increased surveillance).

Why the silence?

Oops, sorry!

Here’s my hypothesis: SHOCK THERAPY is at PLAY again … but this time, FRIEDMAN enthusiast who are in Leadership positions of Nations, see it PLAYED out on a world scale, thanks to COVID CRISIS.

Everyone is cooperating.

If we look back in history… in the eighties, The members of the Emergency team secretly put in place by Paz, the President of Bolivia, had one mission in mind: IMPLEMENT the surprise Policy changes. The plan’s main author, the planning minister: Bedregal, likened them to fighter pilots attacking an enemy, saying –

“We have to be like the pilot of Hiroshima. When he dropped the atomic bomb he didn’t know Jay he as doing, but when he saw the smoke he said:

“Oops, sorry!”

And that’s exactly what we have to do, launch the measures and then: Oops, sorry!” That’s what happening during this covid outbreak.

This idea that policy change should be like launching a surprise militia attack is a recurring theme for economic shock therapists. 

In SHOCK and AWE: Achieving Rapid Dominance, the US military doctrine published in 1996 that eventually formed the basis of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the authors stated that the invading forces should –

“seize control of the environment and paralyze or so overload an adversary’s perceptions and understanding of events so that the enemy would be incapable of resistance.”

The thing is that Economic Shock works according to a similar theory: the premise is that people can develop responses to gradual change – a slashed health program here, a trade deal there – but if dozens of changes come from all directions at once, a feeling of futility sets in, and populations go limp.

Just sit back and reflect on what’s happened in our countries so far … since the covid outbreak and see the mega benefits flowing to large companies like Amazon, Facebook and many Information Technologies companies.

Increased Sense of Hopelessness in the Masses’ psyche is key to Success.

This sense of hopelessness was instilled in Chile in the 20th century and Brazil and Bolivia in the 80s. For instance, the BOlivian planners required radical measures to be adopted at the same time, and all within the first hundred days of government.

The President, Paz’s team insisted on bundling the entire revolution in one executive decree, containing 220 separate laws and covered every aspect of economic life in the country, making it the equivalent (in scope and ambition) to “The BRICK”, the huge blueprint written by the Chicago Boys in preparation for Chile’s Pinochet’s coup. 

The plan could not be amended in any way. It was the economic equivalent of SHOCK AND AWE.

Are we seeing this playing out in countries throughout the world, right now… taking advantage of the Covid crisis? More small businesses go out of business and bigger developers go in and change the whole landscape? 

That’s the way it’s always been, anyway, hadn’t it?

What is the Shock Doctrine?

“What is the Shock Doctrine?” you ask.

It was in 1982 that Milton Friedman wrote the highly influential passage that best summarises the shock doctrine:

“Only a CRISIS – ACTUAL or PERCEIVED – produces REAL CHANGE. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the polically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”

This became the KEY MESSAGE for all economic graduates from Chicago BOOTH. Allan Meltzer elaborated on the philosophy, saying –

“Ideas are alternatives waiting on a crisis to serve as the catalyst of change. Friedman’s model of influence was to legitimize ideas, to make them bearable, and worth trying when the opportunity comes.”

Here’s the scary part: the kind of ‘crisis’ Friedman had in mind was not military but economic. 

This is how he thought it should play out: in normal circumstances, economic decisions are made based on the push and pull of competing interests – workers want jobs and raises, owners want low taxes and relaxed regulation, and politicians have to strike a balance between these competing forces. 

However, if an economic crisis hits and is severe enough – for example, a currency meltdown, a market crash, a major recession, a disease breakout (the covid virus we are experiencing) – according to him, this economic crisis BLOWS everything else out of the water, and leaders are liberated .. yes, LIBERATED to do whatever is necessary (or said to be necessary) in the name of RESPONDING TO A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. 

Have a look at this covid virus and the way the governments of the world actually ALL AGREE and cooperate like never before. This is the first time I have seen ALL governments ACT in UNISON on any matter. 

Look at how each state premier here in Australia enforce curfews whenever they feel like it (or base the decision on one case of the covid for example). There is absolutely NO OPPOSITION to the Government of the day. Has any air time being given to the OPPOSITION parties? How is it that the governments of the day in each country (and in AUstralia, each state) rush through so many laws during this period of ‘lock-down?’

I think there is much much more going on here and it is thanks to Friedman. Crisis (of any kind), are in a way, DEMOCRACY-FREE ZONES – effectively, GAPS IN POLITICS as usual … when the need for CONSENT and CONSENSUS DO NOT SEEM TO APPLY.

This, I believe, is what has been transpiring right before our eyes. CHANGE FORCED on society, right before our noses, under the disguise of the current ‘crisis’. Without dialogue, without discussion, without consensus.

Efficient? Yes. Effective? Yes.

Democratic? No.

TESTING GROUNDS of CHICAGO SCHOOL Policies.

In the seventies and early eighties, Friedman and his corporate underwriters had attempted to mimic this process with their unique brand of intellectual disaster preparedness…. Producing a ten-part miniseries FREE TO CHOOSE.

This series, by the way was sponsored by some of the largest corporations in the world, including – Getty Oil, Firestone Tire & Rubber CO., PepsiCo, General Motors, Bechtel and General Mills.

Are you surprised by the Big Business support? Nope!

At the first time Friedman articulated his crisis theory in the early eighties, the U.S. was in a recession – double whammy of high inflation and unemployment. The Chicago SChool Policies, now known as Reaganomics … was not implemented because even Reagan didn’t have the balls to implement the kind of sweeping shock therapy that Friedman dreamed of, the kind he had prescribed in Chile.

The testing ground would have to be somewhere in the South Americas … a Latin American country. And where? Bolivia, of course.

Who in society bears the Brunt of the Economic Pain?

Ricardo Grinspun, a professor of economics specialising in Latin America at York University said that – 

“With the Kenesian or developmentalist process involving key stakeholders – government, employers, farmers unions and so on. With this process, the parties come to agreements over income policies, like wages and prices, at the same time that stabilization measures are implemented.”

In sharp contrast, the Chicago School Way –

“The orthodox approach is to shift all the social cost onto the poor through shock therapy.”

So, who in society bears the brunt of the economic pain? What happened in Bolivia, clearly points to the Poor.

Is this happening on a larger scale? Are the Richer countries unfairly dumping the brunt of the economic pain on the poor? What about within each country … are the poor marginalized even further? Is the middle-class being thinned out even further? In Bolivia, for example, the Shock Therapy had the same effects that it had in the rest of the region: 

A small elite grew far wealthier while large portions of what had been the working class were discarded from the economy altogether and turned into surplus people.

What did Bolivia demonstrate as a ‘test case’ for the Chicago School Way of Thinking?

Bolivia had shown that wrenching shock therapy still needed to be accompanied by shocking attacks on inconvenient social groups and on democratic institutions. 

It also showed that the corporatist crusade could advance by these baldly authoritarian means and still be applauded as democratic because elections had taken place … no matter, how completely civil liberties were suppressed in the aftermath or how fully democratic wishes were ignored. (It was as lesson that would prove particularly handy for Russia’s Boris Yeltsin, among other leaders, in the years to come). 

In this way, Bolivia provided a blueprint for a new, more palatable kind of authoritarianism, a civilian coup d’etat, once carried out by politicians and economists in business suits rather than soldiers in military uniform – all unfolding within the official shell of a democratic regime.

So, is this current crisis and how governments have allowed it to play out … over an extended period, one of the several benefits of what transpired in Bolivia all those years ago (and still felt by the citizens today).

Economic Re-engineers seek a CLEAN SLATE.

Like all other dangerous ideologies, the Chicago School desire for total beauty … for unattainable purity, the economic engineers desire a clean slate on which to build a re-engineered model society.

This desire is like having God-like Power, to totally CREATE depends on CRISIS and DISASTERS. This kind of freedom to re-engineer society uninhibited, is only possible in times of cataclsimic change – when people with their stubborn habits and insistent demands, are basically blasted out of the way – moments when democracy seems a practical impossibility.

These followers of the Chicago School Shock doctrine believe that ONLY a great rupture – a flood, a war, a terrorist attack – can generate the kind of huge, clean slates they crave on which to work on their designs, uninterrupted. This is what they crave most. 

And during these periods (and intentionally extended periods) of increased uncertainty and fear allows for great flexibility for these Chicago supporters. They get to work and introduce changes (that are free of debates), when the masses are psychologically adrift and physically uprooted and confused. 

These students of Friedman’s framework then go about their work of re-making the world. 

I sit back and go … “wow!”

Where will this take us. I am powerless to di anything, we all are. There are restrictions on gathering numbers … (using reason of covid). What can anyone do … people will not take a stand… as people fear too much already. 

We need to stand together … but that seems highly unlikely.

Unless there is blood shed. Collectively. Let’s hope it never gets to this stage. What is needed is decisions to be collectively made – with all stakeholders of society. Nobody wants civil unrest. We’ve had enough examples in history.

I pray.

Let’s ALL pray. That There is increased transparency from those in positions of power and there is effective communication.

Our world NEEDS it.

Knowing how to start … a conversation..

My two kids don’t like walking with me to school or from school.

It’s not that they don’t like walking, it’s that they don’t like me talking to so many people. What should usually take 10 minutes They cannot believe how many people I know.

I tell them that I don’t know everyone but people simply like coming up to me and talking. Sometimes, telling me their whole life story in under 5 minutes. That is just something I have had to deal with since I was 5 or 6 years old.

Knowing how to start and also how to end a conversation are skills necessary to having good conversations.

A simple smile goes a long way

I smile a lot, always have.

I’m a Smile-kind-of-person.

I smile, even when the person receiving it does not necessarily deserve or ask for it. It can be nerve-wrecking for some people who are not used to receiving smiles.

Many people that speak to me remember my smile. This helps them remember ‘me’. I tell my kids –

“It The QUALITY of your Network is more important than your Quantity. Here’s why –is not that I know every person … it’s that each of those persons, KNOW ME’

Sometimes, it is just from the smile I gave them many weeks … months … years ago.

A simple smile goes a long way …

Your Ability to Start a Conversation is fuelled by good networking.

The fact is that, you won’t get very far in this world if you cannot make eye contact, act confidently and engage in an intelligent conversation punctuated with give-and-take, back-and-forth chat.

Think about it: conversation is a KEY element in almost all relationships we have. If you cannot maintain a conversation – and be a great listener – you will have very few people who would want to work with you.

Where does that leave you?

Empty-handed with no business as very few people would like to network with you. Not being able to hold down a conversation will most likely leave a negative impression in their minds the next time you run in to them.

Small Talk is key to having a strong foundation in relationships.

The ability to participate in small talk is not easy for many people. For those that allow themselves to be ‘comfortable being uncomfortable’, small talk speaks well for you. It leads to exchanges that deepen a relationship.

Your ability to small talk can have a significant impact on your success in life.

According a study at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the most successful students were not the ones with the highest grade-point averages.

No, the most successful were the students happened to be the ones most comfortable with having friendly conversations with others, particularly strangers.

ACTIVE Listening is about ATTENTION to the INTENTION.

To some people, talking may not come as easy as others.

But that should not be the ‘excuse’ you should use to justify you not trying to make ‘small talk’. The other side of the equation, obviously, is being a GOOD LISTENER.

Active listening requires you to WORK.

Yes, Active listening is hard work as you need to stay engaged to the talker. Active listening is about Attention to the Intention of giving utmost respect to the speaker … giving him/her your full, undivided attention.

Being an Active listener is well worth the effort. Believe me, it is.

When you’re a good listener, I believe you improve your ability to win friends and influence others. In my 7 years of owning and managing my Family Gym, many years ago, I spent most of my working days ACTIVELY LISTENING. Listening to members of all ages and from all backgrounds, races and status. I listened to their stories, their fears, their jubilation, their hopes, their secrets … you name it, these ears have heard it.

I even became very good at listening to what they did not say.

It was a big part of how I helped people, help themselves find solutions. It was a big part of allow me to build a strong extended family and increase my influence over all the stakeholders of my gym.

Listening ACTIVELY with ATTENTION to INTENTION allowed me to having appropriate Coaching Conversations with my members of my Gym Family. It is also a big part of the successes I have had in my Coaching Conversations with everyone I have helped over the last 30 + years.

Perfection in Listening is not the goal, the DISCIPLINE is.

I believe, learning and applying the discipline to be disciplined in listening to someone when they speak, derives from Love.

Yes, that’s right, love.

The energy for the effort .. the work to be self-disciplined in Active Listening is a form of will. Self-discipline is not only usually love, translated in to action. A person behaves with self-discipline (in this case, ACTIVE Listening) towards the person speaking.

In other words, any genuinely loving, respectful relationships is a disciplined relationship, within the boundaries set for that relationship. If I truly respect another, I will obviously order my behaviour in such as way as to contribute the utmost to his or her growth.

Here’s something I have concluded –

“The Art of beingWeird is the New “Normal’ a good Conversationalist is like the Art of Self-discipline.”

Genuine Active Listening is like Genuine Love.

It is precious, and those who are capable of genuine love and genuine listening understand that their loving … their active listening must be focused with ATTENTION to INTENTION, through self-discipline.

Your ‘attention’ is not sufficient. You must have the intention to listen and above-all, you must be focused. This is hard work.

To Genuinely Listen is to genuinely Love.

I have found that to genuinely listen is to genuinely love.

This is because to genuinely love, you are extending yourself, your being. When you are extending yourself , you are growing.

I believe, the more I love better .. the more I listen better … the longer I love … the longer I listen … the larger I become.

Like genuine love, genuine listening is self-replenishing.

The more I nurture the spiritual growth of others through my active listening, the more my own spiritual growth is nurtured.

As the singer John Denver sings –

“Love is everywhere, I see it.

You are all that you can be, go on and be it.

Life is perfect, I believe it.

Come and play the game with me.”

So, my readers, that is why I say the Art of having good conversations is like the Art of Love.

Have you mastered the Art of Love, yet? Or are you still learning … like me?

Keep talking … keep listening … keep loving.

Yours in Muscles & Mind,

Paul

Hello… can you hear me? Are you there?