You are all welcome. I saw this adorable video and just had to share it with The Bunker. We all can use a reminder of the joy of a child some days. 🙂

I absolutely relate, since I have read some of those and others. Thanks for telling your story Drat.

Absolutely!

Thanks for taking the time to write. I understand your circumstances much
better now (I ate the message, but read it first). My mum and I experienced
something similar with my grandfather – it was incredibly draining, and I
learned I wasn’t as loving or as patient as I saw myself. A humbling lesson,
and I hope I’ve improved (this was several years ago). One other thing that I
did not learn at the time is that it is so vital to look after yourself when
something like that is going on. I hope you are doing this to whichever degree
possible.

I actually bought and read The Power of Now two years ago. It was great at
the time, and gave me a lot of relief. I got and read the Stephen Mitchel
rendition of the Tao Te Ching around the same time, again with great relief. I
didn’t know such wisdom existed, or that it was so simple and easy to
understand. If you’ve ever had to plough (slog) through a lecture by LRH you’ll
have some idea of what a revelation and liberation that was to me. Funny, just
the other day I watched a talk given by Eckhart Tolle at Stanford on
compassion. What amazed me about it is I understood all of it as he spoke, and
paused it only to get a bite to eat (unlike LRH lectures where you go back,
listen again, look for your misunderstood word because you still didn’t get it,
go back, listen again, rinse, repeat, all the while wondering if you’ll ever
make it through and why you’re so dense). What he said made total sense and is
something I needed and can use. When I started reading him I wasn’t sure if
what he’s doing will end up as a cult, but I liked the beginning. Who knows,
maybe it will? When authors/teachers get on to the self-help circuit, they may
end up writing several books to ‘keep up with demand’. I think this demand
stems partly from the fact that some people are addicted to self-help, addicted
to promises and just want to hear about how wonderful it’s going to be, but
can’t face doing the work. They are still running from something inside. Right
now I see him more as the Krishnamurti type who disbanded the organisation
precisely because he saw it would end up like Scientology ultimately did
(before Scientology even existed!).

As for garbage and gurus, seers and mystics on the mountain top – I wonder,
do we put them there? Hubbard put himself there in the end, but I think a lot
of them are put on the mountain top unwillingly, up on a pedestal to be admired
and worshipped. Funny, when the very thing they teach is to take out the
garbage fully conscious in the moment. Maybe power also gets to their heads and
that is one of their lessons. I don’t know if the laws of karma exist, but life
sure seems to play out that way (like your own history repeating until you
learn the lesson, which isn’t always what it looks like at first glance).

Yes, if were doing that course together we might come up with gallows
humour, but doubtless a lot of empathy too. It’s one of the great gifts in
life, to see that beneath all the hurt you are still whole. I think I’ve
waffled on about partially inconsequential things, and I seem to be missing my
humour today, so I don’t know how to say this lightly, but: please take care of
yourself and get support where you can. Life is so hard sometimes, and when you
have to have strength for two it doesn’t get easier. You are in my thoughts,
and I’ll include you in my wishes for a magnificent outcome and a miracle. If
there is any other way I can help, let me know.

You’re lucky with one thing – no kid has ever wished me a nice, BIG sleep J

No. We’ve had, if my memory serves me right, over 3,000.

🙂

No no no no…. I’m entirely with you. Just me, jesting. (I wish we could get away from “douche,” though. Why not gender-neutral “enema”? I guess it lacks the monosyllabic punch of “douche,” and there’s no stop consonant anywhere in the word.)

I just object to the term because if a man nails someone for being a liar or a douche, he’s considered forthright, but if a woman does it, she’s a bitch.

For Co$, yes.

[Note: I wrote this reply to you from within Disqus Dashboard but when I came to Tony’s site itself, it wasn’t there. So, here’s it is again but posted the regular way. The formatting and spacing will probably be strange. Here goes…]

Oh Drat, this post of yours is great! It makes me sooo happy to read
it. I could tell, in Dec/Jan, you had already tied a knot at the end of
your rope and you were hanging on for dear life – perhaps even by your
teeth!

I’m so glad the course is what you were hoping for, although this
type of work is so damn hard and draining. Not only are you finally
feeling rage and anger now, but you able to identify them as the
emotions you are in fact experiencing. And rightly so! As difficult and
scarey as that emotional roller coaster is, it is healthier than flat
lining emotionally. This work is raw and exhausting and most individuals
can (and should) only tackle that kind of work in short bursts,
followed by a lot of emotional and physical rest and time to process it
all. Make sure to treat your self as kindly and gently as you would
someone you cared about during those times. Be your own best friend.

As adults, we often need to re-parent ourselves if our own parents
were incapable or unwilling to parent us properly during our formative
years. It’s not fair, I know. But as an adult, what else can we do? At
least, we now have a second chance to correctly identify our needs,
wants, and desires and then learn how to properly fill/fulfill them this
time around. It. Is. Not. Easy.

I wish I could do the same lecture series and course work that you
are doing now. I bet we’d have great discussions and insights as a
result. Fun, too! Well, I mean we’d make each other laugh. Probably
gallows humor but it still would be laughter. Less expensive than
“laughter yoga,” too.

I don’t know if it’s still offered online but there were some
interesting authors and lecture series being offered as part of the
“Soul Series.” I was familiar with some of them because I was once part
of great book club that discussed these ideas and concepts.

One author whose work I remember being particularly helpful to me,
during an especially difficult period in my life, was Eckhart Tole.
Discovering his work coincided with my close friendship with the head
monk of a traditional, Japanese Zen monastery. My conversations with her
meshed very nicely with a lot of the ideas in Tole’s book, although my
friend would have vehemently denied this.

Tole’s book that I am referring to is titled “The Power of Now.” I
don’t know how well it would stand up to scrutiny and re-reading at this
point in my life but, at the time, is was like my little companion that
I could consult for help throughout the day. It was written before he
appeared on the Soul Series and before he became rich and famous. I’m
not familiar with his later works (post fame) and, to be frank, I’m not
that interested because I suspected a little cult-like movement was
starting grow around him after his appearance on that series. I’d be
surprised (pleasantly so) if he had more than one book in him as there
wasn’t much else to say or add, I thought.

Oops! Just noticed the time. Time for bed. But more important, I need
to drag out the garbage and recycling bins first. Yikes, it is frigid
out there again tonight! Oh well, garbage keeps us humble and grounded.
Can’t always stay on the lofty mountain tops with the seers and the
mystics. Anyway, unless they have followers or disciples, they have to
haul their own garbage, too. 🙂 Well, one hopes they do. :-/

Until next time… As a child once said to me, “Hope you have a nice, BIG sleep!” Bon Soir.