Ten Thousand Paths

This is something I came across about 20 years ago at a time when I was receiving some unwelcome attention from over-zealous religious fanatics.

It's a very handy piece that offers strength in common sense, something which seems to be missing amongst the fanatical extremists.

More than that it speaks in strength for anyone, regardless of faith. It also applies to people who are taking a different path to others, whether it be to have a business instead of a job, or even the choices they make in life.

I hope you find something of value in it for yourself.

Ten Thousand Paths

TEN THOUSAND PATHS MAY LEAD TO GOD

WHAT RIGHT IS MINE TO SAY

THAT HE WHO FAILS TO WALK WITH ME

HAS MISSED THE ONLY WAY.

WHAT RIGHT OF MINE TO ARROGATE

SUCH GRASP OF FINITE MIND

AND BOAST WHILE OTHERS VAINLY SEEK

THE GOD I SEEK TO FIND.

HOW COULD THE GOD I LOVE AND TRUST

POINT OUT TO ONLY ME

THE WAY WHICH TRAVEL ALL MEN MUST

TO LIFE ETERNALLY

I’M NOT SO WISE THAT HE DENIES

THE LIGHT TO ALL SAVE ME

WHILE OTHER HEARTS AS TRUE AS MINE

HE LOVES WITH LESS DEGREE

SO IF THE PATH WE TREAD SHOULD LEAD

WHERE BRIGHT CATHEDRALS RISE

OR WEATHERED CHURCH OR RUSTIC SHRINE

POINTS UPWARDS TO THE SKIES

EACH SINCERE TRAVELLER WILL ARRIVE

WHERE LIGHTS OF WELCOME SHINE

AND MYRIADS WILL BE THERE WHO WALKED

A DIFFERENT PATH TO MINE.

by Tom Q Ellis

ESPecially Best wishes,

Chris Johnson

www.thementalist.com.au

All War Is Won Through Deception

All War Is Won Through Deception

by Chris Johnson

(c) Copyright Chris Johnson 2011-2015

Patterns spin themselves around us in our lives, weaving themselves about us in a multitude of hues, tones, dramas and emotions to form the fabric of our universe.

The patterns in my life have been fascinating me over the course of this year. Only in the past 7 days has there been some light coming to pass as one of these patterns revealed itself, presenting itself as a series of problems to me, and shown that it provides its own solution.

It comes through the conflict between personalities, the two classic sorts of dependent and independent. I used to believe that we are either one or the other but today I have realised that we are neither and we are both at the same time.

Confused?

Take an example of two people, each the opposite of the other.

One example I can think of belongs to two people who I used to know years ago who existed in a doomed relationship. He was a tradesman, a boilermaker, and she was unemployed. Her case was only so because she believed that she had no need to work, a belief fostered by her partner who was breadwinner and always brought the money home.

She believed that she was dependent on him for everything :- money, security, love, food, a home and a bed to sleep in at night.

He, on the other hand, learned to take her for granted by believing she would always be home for him when he returned from work. Food would always be cooked and ready, the house would have always been cleaned and ready for his friends to come around and drink and leave the house in a mess again, and he believed that he always had sex on tap when he wanted it.

If she wanted to try something for herself, he always told her that she would never be able to do it. That included something most of us take for granted, such as driving a car.

Eventually her stronger self had reached its pain threshold and lashed out. Her partner came home one day and found that she was gone. All of her possessions were taken from the house, leaving him with his own things in his house.

She has since learned to drive, has found a loving and supportive partner who is now the father of their two young sons, and has a better outlook on life.

The question is :- who was really the dependent one in the relationship?

Personally I think that he was the dependent one. Those who are too dependent in a relationship, especially when insecure in their own abilities as a human being, will generally attempt to suppress the ones they "love" in order to keep that loved one with them. That is exactly what they guy did. In reality he was dependent on her for things to be done around the house and to be there when he needed sexual release. She was more than capable of achieving what she wanted in life. All she had to do was SEE it and then BELIEVE it.

Have you seen the Disney animated film called, "Song of the South"?

It's full of stories, based upon three characters known as Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear as told by "Uncle Remus".

One of the stories tells of how Bre'er Fox and Br'er Bear managed to capture Br'er Rabbit, using his own cockiness against him as a weapon with the help of a tar baby they had created. When the rabbit was captured, the bear and the fox took their time trying to figure out what to do with him. Would they eat him or would they torture him some other way?

Br'er Rabbit said, "You can do whatever you want with me but don't throw me in yonder briar bush."

Of course this just tempted the Fox and the Bear and they tormented the Rabbit with the idea of doing exactly just that. The more they pressed, the more the Rabbit protested until eventually they threw him as far into the prickly briar patch as they could.

Listening, they expected to hear the Rabbit crying in pain and misery... only they heard him chortling and laughing as he admitted that was exactly where they wanted to throw him. You know why?

That was his original home as he had been born there!

You're probably wondering what that has to do with dependent personalities....?

I will explain that in a moment but next I want to bring your attention to one of the oldest personal development books known to history. It's called The Art Of War and was written by a Chinese gentleman by the name of Sun Tzu.

Sun Tzu has been quoted in his works for sayings such as "War is best fought with deception", "pretend inferiority and encourage your enemy's arrogance". My other favourite is "Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster".

Is there a light shining in your mind from those words and what I have already written earlier?

Br'er Rabbit used deception, pretending that he had no control (when really he had it the whole time) and encouraged the arrogance of the Fox and the Bear... until they did exactly what he wanted by throwing him in the briar patch. He lived to laugh for another adventure.

In the case of the couple I used to know, the lady had let her partner think he had fully convinced her of how "useless she was". She let him believe how good he was, all the time planning how to make things work best for herself and her personal growth. (She is doing better than him and he's still doing the same disempowering things as before.)

When dealing with someone who is suppressive, overbearing and hurting you, remember that you really do have the potential to turn things around. If they are doing that, it means they are feeling threatened by you. If their words and actions are aimed at making you believe in your own inferiority, it means that actually have superiority hidden inside you.

When you do that, you have found your own hidden power inside and you can foster and nurture it. Let the other person believe they have beaten you or that you depend on them for something. They may not drop their guard but your own little piece of deception will help to relax their hold for a moment... and then when the time is right, surprise them by bursting from the burning ashes like the reborn phoenix.

If you listen carefully, you may hear Br'er Rabbit's laughter coming from inside yourself. :)

Have a great day.

ESPecially Best Wishes,

Chris Johnson

www.thementalist.com.au

Empty Cup - Part 2 - What To Do With Your Full Cup

What To Do With Your Full Cup

by

Chris Johnson (c) 2014

Bruce Lee also spoke about the Empty Cup with a similar story to the one I detailed in my article from earlier this month.  If you haven't read it, you can find it right here.

In Bruce Lee's explanation of the Empty Cup, he described a glass half full of Coke and another half full of clear water. The Coke was the student's mind and all the knowledge they had found to be true. 

The second glass represented Bruce Lee's mind and knowledge and skill... which the student wanted.

Bruce explained that he could not give the student his knowledge because there was no room for it in the glass. The student would need to empty his own "glass" to allow for what would come from Bruce.

A couple of the ways that we can apply this to our everyday lives will be described from BOTH points of view.

Take the example of what most likely happens in your home life.

You have come home from your day at work which could have been absolutely hellish. Your boss could have been an absolute bastard and the customers could have been grumpy creatures before they even thought of speaking with you about their problems. So by the time 5 o'clock happens your head is full of the day's trials and tribulations.

When you arrive home, your spouse greets you but they have had a totally awesome day. Everything went well for them. They managed to achieve their daily tasks and they seem to have swallowed so much sunshine that they could be farting rainbows.

Both of you are Full Cups at this point and want to blurt out all of the day's events to each other. After all, that's what couples do. They talk, right?

Imagine what happens if your spouse starts talking first. You see his or her eyes light up and... are you even listening to what they say? Probably not because you're thinking about how someone at work expected you to take over a task for her just 2 minutes before you had to go home... and that task required at least 10 minutes to assess before even attempting it. However you chose to handle that, you are aching to tell that battle story and your spouse's words are falling on unlistening ears.

Your spouse may as well be pouring into a glass until it overflows because that's what happens.

On the other hand, if you speak first and unleash your stories and woes upon your poor spouse, you will end up potentially ruining their chances to express themselves too.

Yes, I made this a really tough situation purposely to make you think for a moment.

Here is one solution (but not the only one), utilising the Cup.

You don't have to Empty the Cup completely. Either of you could start by saying, "I have some really great news" or "I have had a really crap day".

Although it's only a little bit, that one little "spillage" from your Cup could be enough to let  you take on your spouse's story before telling them your story if they are to speak first. Alternatively, if you speak first, you have emptied yours ready for their story too.

It works both ways. You can empty your cup or you can help empty theirs... or you can both spill a little bit each.

Another example of the Empty Cup comes about through the workplace. How many emails do you receive or send daily? I mean the ones within the workplace that detail things about updates to policies, new information on products, and so on.

I know of at least one company where the staff receive at least 50 to 100 emails daily AND they are expected to read every single one of them while answering calls in the call centre every day. Remarkably the management know about it and do zilch about it, probably because they are caught in the same poisonous cycle themselves.

Meanwhile their Outlook has just about herniated from the overload as well as their staff who have gone into a zombified coma from too much information.

In this case, as the email sender, you could try changing either how the information is written (eg: bullet points rather than long waffling paragraphs), how many you send (eg: a digest of points, rather than multiple messages, or even a summary) or just send the truly important information (could be hard for some people).

Consider the people you intend to inform of things. They are busy people too and you need to give them a chance to Empty their Cup to take on, and appreciate, your own refreshing Tea.

The other challenge is as the one with the Full Cup. What do you do when you are receiving heaps of emails at work which serve as distractions from your work... and yet paradoxically are meant to help you even though it hinders you to have to take time to read the overload?

You have to Empty the Cup in one way or another. You could speak with the manager and ask for time off to catch up on the emails. If you have to keep doing this, day after day, it may indicate an issue with management themselves or even require asking the senders to change their frequency.

The Empty Cup is always in a better position to take on more tea (information), therefore it is a useful cup. The Full Cup, although serving a purpose, is less useful unless it has been emptied at least a little.

Until next time....

ESPecially Best Wishes,

Chris Johnson

www.thementalist.com.au

The Empty Cup (Is Your Cup Empty?)

One of my favourite stories involves the young and the old Masters in China.

There are many different versions of who the characters really are and the one thing in common involves the setting of how they came to be speaking. It was even "inserted" into the apocalyptic movie "2012".

When you read it, ask yourself, "What am I missing out on because I haven't emptied my cup?"

A young Shaolin monk in Feudal China had an extensive background in the ways of the Shaolin, Tao and Buddhism as well as being an expert on the Nirvana Sutra. As was the custom in those times, he studied under many different masters. Many of those masters he had bested with his knowledge and skill. Finally he came across the most venerable of masters of that time.

He came to study with the Master and, after making the customary bows, asked him to teach him the greater truths.

The old Master sat him down for tea and, while preparing the tea, asked the young scholar about his background. The young man gladly spoke of his past, how he had bested other more learned men than he. To each of the scholar's tales, the old Master smiled and nodded, listening patiently the whole time while making the tea.

When it was ready, he poured the tea into the scholar's cup until it began to overflow and run all over the floor. The scholar saw what was happening and shouted, "Stop! Stop! The cup is full, you can't get any more in!"

The Master stopped pouring and said, "You are like this cup - full of ideas, full of yourself, and full of what you believe. You come for teaching but your cup is full. I can't put anything in. Before I can teach you, you will have to empty your cup."
_____________________

LESSON?
1. Challenge your beliefs.
2. Search not for the truth but first cease your infatuation with your opinions.

In 2 weeks time, after I return from my honeymoon, I will tell you a little more about some of the many ways this can be applied to your everyday life.


Until then,

ESPecially Best Wishes,

Chris Johnson
Mentalist and Psychic Entertainer
www.thementalist.com.au

How To Detox Your Life AND Enjoy The Rewards

Have you ever heard the saying, "Birds of a feather flock together"?

This has a few different meanings. The most obvious one is that Like does attract Like and, when you think about it, we do tend to like people who are like us. That's whether we are in a good frame of life or one that spirals out of whack. Positive people hang with other positive types and the same goes for negative ones.

If you find yourself in a negative frame, you need to start looking at yourself and the people who you hang around (or who hang around you).

What kind of people do you find yourself hanging around or hanging around you?

Let's define a negative or toxic person. It's someone who complains all the time, dumping their problems on you while doing nothing about their situation. They are not supportive (although they may feel they are). They can be someone who makes you feel bad, shoots down your brilliant ideas, big goals, or big decisions that you need to make in order to rise to greater heights.

There are others who either border on psychotic or are square in that territory, very dangerous who hold onto emotions of jealousy of others. They're the kind of person who, like a vulture or psychic vampire, latch onto you when you have a bad day and do what they can to make you feel worse about yourself so they can feed off your own negativity. Picture the person who, as a child, would pinch or punch their sibling and then start saying, "Oh! Why are you crying? What happened?" and then progress as adults to do similar things on a larger scale.

The latter can also call on you, under the guise of wanting to help or support, when in reality they are trying to get under your guard so they can start suckling off your negativity and bask in watching you writhe in mental anguish as they goad you further with well-placed manipulative language.

The sad thing is that these same people are often in a very dark place in their own lives. It can be tempting for some empathic people to want to help them, as anyone would support someone who is simply having a bad day, only to find they are being drawn into another drama. Be aware that many times they are unable to see beyond their own struggles and not open to constructive feedback or changing.

This article is not about them but rather how to help yourself so you don't allow their negativity to impact upon your own life.

Why is it so important to detox your life of them?

"Develop an allergy to negativity"

Negative or toxic people slow you down towards achieving what you want in life. Whether they know it or not, they can either discourage you from your ambitions and ideals or following your dreams by questioning your thoughts and planting doubts in your head. Their energy can affect your own performance, not to mention your stress and anxiety.

It's about looking after your health (mental and physical) and also your own psyche so learn to look after yourself!

I've personally found it important to distance myself from such people, whether they are strangers, friends or even family members. Mahatma Ghandi has been quoted as saying, "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet." After seeing what such toxic personalities can do, can you blame him for saying that so strongly?

You need to create space for positive change to happen. Being in toxic relationships with such people will hold you back from creating happiness and conditions for your own success. Also, releasing negative people from your life will create space for the positive influences to enter your life that encourage, support and helpl you to grow as the beautiful person you deserve to be.

It is your right to stand up for yourself!

There are three basic steps to do that.

Step 1: Decide that you are worth it and tell yourself that.

Some people feel they have to wait for approval or permission to be worth something. You are worthy of achieving your dreams and goals and being the person you want to be. Letting go of any negativity will get you there quicker. Commit to doing it for yourself otherwise that guilt for letting go of such relationships will keep you in the same place.

You're worth it and all I can say is that you just DECIDE. DO IT NOW!!!

What goals do you have. How badly do you truly want them? Are these negative people actually supporting you or are they taunting you with how you haven't been reaching them in their own passive-aggressive way?

Do you want to be happy?

Step 2: Work out who the toxic people are

Toxic folks make you feel worse when you start talking to them. They bring your energy level down, leaving you feeling like you have just bottomed out on empty.

To be clear, there is a difference between someone sharing their problems with you (such as having a bad day, as we all do) and someone who constantly moans, bitches and complains.

The difference is someone who is genuinely struggling is willing to take constructive feedback, is open to change and follows through on it. On the other side of the coin, complainers don't want to change and want you to feel sorry for them and stop everything to do so at the drop of a hat every chance they can get.

They can shoot down your ideas, question your decisions. They can question your relationships, job choices, and other things such that they come between you and what you want. In short, they love to rule and manipulate you with fear.

It can be so well-practised (if they are doing it deliberately) that it is so subtle and hard to notice that you don't realise until it's possibly too late. Otherwise they can be as obvious as a slap in the face from a killer whale. So be on guard.

They don't have to be blatantly obvious to be just as dangerous. Nor do they have to do it knowingly.

Step 3: Let them go

In the famous words of Nike, just do it! Do it any way you can or that you think is appropriate.

Avoid them. Stop picking up their calls. You can apologise for being distant but feel no obligation at all to explain yourself or defend your actions. You don't have to answer to them.

Even if you do try explaining to them, it may fall upon deaf ears as they are not ready to listen and to change themselves. They're happy in their own muck or they may also get defensive or attempt to divert the blame back onto you.

My advice is to do it gracefully and with love - especially love for yourself. Send them away with love and good wishes. If you wish, you can be open to the possibility that if and when they are ready to change and be more positive or supportive then you would be open to rekindling things. If you do give them a chance, be on guard just the same as you may need to break the connection permanently.

Step 4: Be happy

I lied. There is a step 4. Once you have done step 3, it's time to smile and be happy!

Remember to not feel guilt for letting them go. You have just helped yourself by being your best friend.

Perhaps you feel that you should keep them around just because they're a family member. Families are meant to nurture each other and be supportive. Normal ones also let each other live their lives unhindered and you have the right to be positive and happy while living your life to its fullest limit.

You're not obligated to keep them in your life if they have been a negative influence and potentially harming your own happiness. Relationships tend to evolve and some simply run their course. Let that be one of them.

Let the positivity in and enjoy the good times that you have allowed into your life!

You deserve it.


ESPecially Best Wishes,

Chris Johnson, Psychic Entertainer
www.thementalist.com.au

PS: Would you like to make a little extra money? I actually pay people who find me bookings. Drop me a line at www.thementalist.com.au and I will tell you more.

The Devil Made Me Do It.... Really?

One of the biggest lies people can ever tell others (and themselves) when they do something wrong is that the Devil made you do it.

The truth of it is that the devil doesn't make you do anything at all. I mean, sure, he can suggest, nudge you and tempt you, but in the end you make the choice of whether to do right or wrong.

It's a sad fact in humanity, and it may be a growing trend although there may be evidence to the contrary, that people are learning more and more to fail to take responsibility for the actions they take. The blame is not always placed on the Devil as it can also be placed upon a boss, the children, the spouse or even the weather.

The Tarot's Devil card has often been misrepresented, especially in popular culture such as Hollywood movies, as being a card of evil. This is perpetuated further, and just as falsely, by others who "reason" that it proves a so-called Satanic connection of sorts.

Regardless of whether you believe the Devil to be an actual entity or not, it is generally accepted amongst most Tarot Consultants that the Devil card is mostly about ourselves and our choices than it is about some "demonic presence".

Many texts, old and new, state that the Devil card represents an enslavement, fear, and temptation. This is the same meaning that I believe it takes and the same message I give if it comes up during one of my Intuitive Consultations.

If you look closely at the picture of the card, you will see it shows two people, a man and a woman, chained to the Devil. The chains are around their neck and, if you look even closer, you will notice that those same chains are loose. Similar to the elephant I mentioned in another blog post, Ask Me About The Elephant, the chains are so loose that they can escape if they so choose!

The key word here is choice.

These chains in our lives can take many guises, whether it be a bad habit, alcohol and other addictions, self-defeating belief systems, toxic relationships and other types of behaviour. All of these things can be chains to hold us down. Just like any other problem in life, the first step to helping yourself to recovery is to acknowledge that you have the problem.

When you do acknowledge it, however, you do so as the first step towards recovery. NEVER use it as an excuse to hold you back like that chain (which is so big it would fall off you if you just shrugged a little more).

First comes taking responsibility for yourself. Then comes the treatment and help before freedom.

Taken in this context, the Devil Card is a very self-reflective card that allows us to look at our lives and to recognise the things holding us back so that we can deal with them better. The card itself is not a source of evil but the things it represents are self-destructive and detrimental to our physical, mental and spiritual health.

What chains are holding you down in life and how can you get rid of such negative things?

We bring these things on ourselves and the great part is that we don't have to fix it by ourselves. If the Tarot, as a self-improvement tool, teaches us anything it is that we can not make it through life's journey alone.

If you need help, acknowledge it and seek it. Then rid yourself of your slavery to your temptations and excuses.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

ESPecially best wishes,

Chris Johnson

www.thementalist.com.au

PS: Are you missing out on the World's Biggest Psychic Party? You don't have to.

The Seeds Of Life And Death

A few years ago, one of my clients made a return visit. This time she had brought her youngest daughter along.


The 18 year-old girl was deathly thin with cheeks sunken and eyes so dull that she looked really sick. That wasn't what worried me so much. It was when her mother told me that just 2 weeks earlier, she had been a picture of sunshine and good health; a complete opposite to the gaunt figure sitting opposite me. She looked as though the life had been sucked out of her by some kind of astral parasite.

For the sake of the story, we will call her June (since I am writing this in June and I want to protect her identity).

A couple of days after a slumber party with friends, June lost her appetite and stopped going out with friends. After a week, her mother started to worry because now as June was becoming lethargic and was starting to "die from inside". They had been to a doctor who did the responsible things. He had referred her to have blood tests and a series of other checkup with a specialist.

The test showed nothing was wrong physically and the specialist could not explain it. The other girls were all healthy and there was nothing to show what could have caused it.

Her mother decided to bring her daughter to me.

My first question was to ask why she had brought her to me. June was sick and I'm not a doctor.

By this time I was already looking at the girl's palm and examining the life line as well as the colours around finger tips and palm in general. While the lifeline did have a slight faint look towards the end of it, I knew that there was still plenty of energy passing through it. This girl was making herself sick!

I looked her in the eye and asked her, "Why are you making yourself sick?"

Her mother looked surprised to hear this and we both looked at June who denied it although I could see something was battling in her mind. 

Normally I ask first-timers if they have had a reading before. It's a general question usually to let people relax. This time I already knew the answer before I asked the question.

The girl was surprised at first and nodded in confirmation, telling me she already knew what I was going to tell her.

"Then you already know that your friends were extremely irresponsible," I said.

Her friend at the slumber party had done the equivalent of what other teenagers sometimes do at parties with ouija boards (another very strongly misunderstood item). Rather instead of a real ouija board, they created a makeshift version out of cards with words and letters written on them. For the planchette they found a glass and turned it upside down on the table so that their fingers were moving it about and touching different letters and words to create answers to their questions.

When it came to my client's daughter's turn, the "spirit" (which I strongly suspect was not a spirit this time but a very silly girl) announced that June was going to die and that it would happen within 6 weeks!

June's mother asked, "Can you see if it is true?"

I traced my finger along June's life line. "Your energy is strong inside you. The blockage that is making you feel sick is not from anything physical such as illness. It's a dis-ease."

I explained that dis-ease, in this case, was simply a LACK OF EASE. She was worrying herself to death needlessly.

June found it hard to believe at first as she could not believe she was making herself sick until I said, "Were you worrying before the reading?" (Her answer was no)

"Were you worried AFTER the reading?" (Yes)

"Now," I replied. "Would you have been worried if you had not even had the reading? Do you think you would have been sick and dying if you had not been told so?"

The girl stopped to think and I knew she was starting to see the light. So I started explaining some more things to her that were very evident about her hand.

"I'm not a doctor," I told her, "so I won't give you medical advice but I do know plenty of things already just by looking at your hand. This is what I am seeing. I see a hand which has healthy colouring in it, despite the rest of you being pale. Your life line is full of energy so I know that you can live a very long time if left to your own devices. You're a strong girl and you will live for a very long time when you choose to do so."

She looked hesitant but I knew that she could see sense. So I gave her the extra nudge.

"The only spirits that you have to worry about in life are the ones the liquid ones that come from a bottle. No other spirit will ever hurt you and there were no spirits telling you things at that party. It was your friends playing a very nasty joke. Are you going to let them win?"

"No way," she said, brightening.

She also admitted that the girl who "gave the message from the ouija board" was not one of the nicest girls either. I told her that, if anything, the other girl just wanted to spew out her own poison because she was jealous of June.

I've seen June again a few times and I am happy to say that she's not died. Rather she is living a very full life and has many great things coming up for her still. I'd bet my career upon it.

The point of this story is about how much we take on from others around us and about how much what we say can affect others as well.

Be careful what you say to your children, your family and your friends and enemies. The words we speak are the seeds of change. They can be noxious weeds that choke yourself and others to death or they can be beautiful trees full of bountiful life.

You have the choice of what you think and of what you say and we all reap what we sow.

Which do you want to have in your life?

I wish you all the great things that life can offer you in abundance.

ESPecially Best Wishes,

Chris Johnson
www.thementalist.com.au