Cradle To The Grave

When I was working at the Moonview Sanctuary in Santa Monica, I had the chance to play with some of the most successful, wealthy, and powerful people in the world. It was an incredible honor, but I was forced to "up" my game considerably--there was no room for error at all when you deal with people used to getting results NOW, with access to the most talented and effective facilitators on the planet.

Experimenting, I developed a cluster of effective techniques I would routinely use with them.

1) Stress relief through the Flow State Performance Spiral, and the "Be Breathed" exercise.

2) The Five Tibetans

3) The Hero's Journey

4) Heartbeat Meditation

The first three I used for most of the time I was there. But the last year or so, I began to use something a little different in addition.

5) A pure "white light" meditation. Once the client had visualized the maximum light he could generate, I led them to condensing that light down to a child form. It works this way: you visualize the largest younger "you" you can create with whatever amount of light you can find. Most people could create someone about nine years old. A few could manage only an embryo, or a single cell. These were the most damaged cases. I would have them speak to these "younger selves" and often, what those "selves" conveyed was a reminder of the goals and dreams they had had early in life. Fascinating. I remembered Harlan Ellison's definition of success: "to bring into existence, in adult terms, your childhood dreams."

6) The next piece, the last innovation I devised at Moonview was to take them in the opposite direction, to their oldest self. Their "elder", their "deathbed" self. And have that Elder give them advice. This often was very similar to the "deathbed values," the things people most often find of real significance at the end of their lives. These usually revolve around intimacy, self-expression, contribution, honesty, love, and personal integrity.

Now then...the trickiest and best thing that I may have done in the entire time I worked at Moonview followed. I combined these with Tad James' "Time Line" concept, and had them visualize a line of light connecting their oldest and youngest selves. To see themselves on a journey between the cradle and the grave. The trick, I said, was to have both their youngest and oldest selves approve of the actions they take, their associations, and their goals.

It was unbelievably powerful. Powerful men and women were uplifted, or broke down and sobbed that they had betrayed their childhood dreams, or were on a path that would lead to deathbed misery. I was shocked at the quality and quantity of high-level advice, both spiritual and practical, that they generated, at an unprecedented flow-rate.

It made me want to add a second statement to Harlan's, one viewed from the other end of the equation: "Success means to live your life, in worldly terms, by the values you will hold on your death bed."

It seems to me that these to can be, should be, MUST be combined to create an awakened adult human being. I would like comments back from readers--can you see a flaw in this reasoning? Because unless I am convinced there is, I have just defined the next course I must create, and the future of my teaching.

Once these twin strands are combined, all else is merely perspective, or means to this worthy end.

Thoughts?