Being Who We Are

Water Skiing on Lake Viared
Water Skiing on Lake Viared (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was fairly young I realized two things.  I knew for a fact that I wanted to live life to the fullest, being who I really am while enjoying all the material had to offer and I also knew that I wanted to teach spirituality and meditation.   Living to the fullest for me meant feeling alive enjoying what I like. So it included having nice clothes and watches, sharp cars, a beautiful girlfriend etc. and owning my own business.  I knew that I had to own my own business because I got a taste of it early on and loved the freedom and sense of creativity and adventure I felt running my enterprise.  I also knew that I liked fine things and did not plan on living without what I liked.  I truly felt like the world was my playground and I wanted to play.

In addition to the material side, I also was fascinated by spirituality.  It started out purely about the material and using spiritual laws to gain what I wanted materially.  But it evolved into being fascinated and intrigued by the deeper side of life and the men and women who seemed to have it figured out.  I admired the self-help authors and speakers and wanted to have their knowledge and become one of them one day.  The books I read got deeper and deeper and I soon found myself stumbling on to the meditation path.  At this point I looked up to the yogis and meditation masters and wanted to know all they knew.  I also knew in my heart that one day, when I was older, I would be a teacher just like them.  I even had an age picked out.  I figured it would be when I was 50.  This way I would have time to live my other life first.

Luckily for me it did not work out that way.  I lived both lives at the same time.  I started my own business at 19 and have been happily running it ever since.   I enjoyed all the things I liked, cars, clothes, watches, a wonderful social life, with parties, friends, girlfriends and eventually a wife and family which has made my life truly wonderful.

When I was still in my twenties people kept asking me to teach them the meditative path.  They would not go and learn from my teacher, like I suggested.  They kept asking me.  In the meantime my teacher was telling me it was time for me to teach.  I was surprised.  He had other students who were studying long before me and none of them were teaching, but he insisted it was time for me to do so.  So I started right where I was with the people in my world.  Now as I think back, I was teaching even before I officially began.  I was interpreting dreams on the job.  People would seek me out because they knew I was the one to talk to about deep things.  I would talk to my friends all the time about the incredible possibilities and the magic and mysteries I was experiencing.  The whole time I was just being me.  Living both lives the material and the spiritual with them both complementing one another.  By the way I am not quite 50 yet, but I have been teaching meditation for 20 years, loving every moment of it.  It is hard to imagine who I would be or who my children would be if I didn’t teach.  Don’t rob the world of who you are and what you can share. Be who you truly are now.

Sincerely,

Craig

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