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