It is rare when an individual truly knows what matters most in life. I realize this may piss some people off to say this. After all, who am I to say what you should want most. However, I have dwelt with this very question since I was 5 years old and have learned a few things about understanding it.

Throughout my life, seeking answers to what I really wanted out of my life,  I could not help but suspect that the actual answer was masterfully disguised, buried under a facade of external diversions. The more I asked it, the more clear it became that I did not have the right angle. If only I could get beneath this fog, I thought. I was committed  to finding an answer because it felt to me that without tapping into my Truth, my life would simply be wasted. Deep down I knew I had a special Purpose, a Calling, an Awakening that once revealed, would totally transform my life. Yet, I could not get to it.

Sorting through all the constant bombardment of thoughts, perceptions and emotions, coupled with the daily demands imposed upon us from the outside is not an easy task. It actually can seem monumental at times. How does one breakthrough this entrancement? Believe me, I have spent the majority of my professional career and the total focus of my doctorate coming to decipher the secrets. Yet, at the same time, I have also found myself succumbing to all the distractions that endlessly come our way.

My search led me to a deeper understanding of far reaching effects of cultural conditioning. This incredibly powerful process takes hold at an early age.  We are all subtly taught what is to be important, what to want, what to buy, how to live and what our true priorities should be. Through powerful means, our cultural conditioning commandeers our attention. It can’t be avoided.

The end result – we are each conditioned to perceive life a certain way. Without really having the chance to choose, we now choose what we have been conditioned to want. And, even more relevant is that we are actually conditioned to never even ask the important questions – What do I really want? Who am I? How can I express my greatest talents and realize my true potential?

Being unconscious and living on auto-pilot is the norm on this planet. Most people really do exist in a fog, though they don’t usually recognize this. What is appalling to think about is that most people live out their lives rarely cognizant of what really matters most to them. They remain ignorant of who they really are.

So when you ask yourself the question – what really matters most to me – who is answering? Is it your programmed personality (false self) or your Authentic Self? While you may think like most people that you are clear on what you want, have you dug beneath the surface to ask why you want that?

On auto-pilot, in drift mode, you do not really have control of your choices. Choices have been pre-programmed. You simply like everyone else attend to what has been deemed important by powers outside of you. Your life will just play out in pursuit of purposes not your own. You will continue to make choices not really of your own choosing.

How to break free and emerge from the fog? My suggestion: observe what you attend to moment by moment.  Simply that. Stay with this until you begin to realize what is really going on within you. Over time, you will begin to notice that your attention is in a sort of ‘drift mode’ most of the time. It drifts from one preprogrammed focus to another, driven by agendas that are mostly not of your own choosing. This unconscious process has been happening most of your life. Bred to fulfill the needs deemed important by our culture, we want the things we have been told to want.

Getting beneath the facade is essential. To do this is a matter of regaining control of your ability to attend. In fact, we really have control over nothing else.   What I am saying is that unless you take back control of your attention, take it back from the conditioned entrancement imposed by cultural conditioning, you will never be free nor will you wake up to who you really are.

Attention has its root in the reticular formation in the brain. It is exactly where our life happens – moment by moment. The accumulated effect of what we have attended to each moment represents the actual content of our life. To what do you give your most precious of gifts – your attention – on a regular basis? Where you direct your attention is where you life happens. And here is the mind blower – who is it that is deciding where to focus attention?

Most fundamental to making a genuine connection with your inner Truth is to somehow bypass the almost constant demands on your attention that are dictated by the False Conditioned Self.  Your Truth only resides within your core Authentic Self.  The Authentic Self is all about waking up to who you really are (behind the illusions of conditioning). It is about waking up to why you are here and how you will make a difference to yourself and the world with your unique set of talents and capacities.

Why I feel it is so paramount to discover your Calling or true vocation is as you do, you must by default, become aligned with your true or Authentic Self. As this Vocational Awakening occurs, you start the process of individuation in earnest. You begin to act from the Core of who you are which is also one and the same with Source Energy or the vsat Creative Intelligence. You, in other words, come into a state of natural flow and unfoldment of all of your potentialities. This is where your attention must be directed to.

For over 30 years, I have been focused to this mission – to wake people up to their true vocations or calling. Why? Because Vocational Awakening and Self-Realization go hand in hand. In this transformation, one begins to break out of the cultural conditioning that has commandeered the attention to purposes not really of your choosing. Without this, life remains just a dream, an illusion, playing out scenarios created by others.

Waking up then, Self-Realization, is nothing other than regaining control of your attention and focusing it to what really matters. This is what my training is about. There is nothing else that really matters more than recapturing your Essence, breaking through the hypnotic trance and becoming your own person. It is only then that you tap into your true passion, talents and become the person you are truly capable of being.  Join me in discovering your Calling, your Truth and the person you were born to be.  Join me in creating a new world.

I offer two free career tests you can download easily. The purpose of these is to get in touch with your “life purpose”. Yes you do have one! In fact, it is quite unique. It is also critical that you express your purpose and the talents or gifts aligned with that purpose. Why? Because the world needs your unique gifts and you need to align with and express them if you are to fully live to your true potential. You were born for this.  For your free tests, click here: vocationalawakening.com/freetests

The Wisdom of Y-E-S

A few years back my business advisor suggested that I start a new practice in my business. He said, “Starting today, start saying Yes!” He followed this with, “then start saying Yes in the rest of your life.”

It just seemed so odd, so I immediately began finding reasons why this would not work. He followed with, “Right now, you are saying no. God does not say no, why should you?” So I thought, why not. Make it an experiment to see what happens. I have trusted him in the past and his advice was always good.

So I began saying YES. I said YES to situations that came up in my business, with my kids and in my life in general. It was quite a reversal in my normal way of responding to what life presents.

Something amazing began to happen. Subtly at first, then more obviously, I began to realize how powerful this simple word really was. All manner of personal transformations began happening, in surprising ways!

It was like opening a door. At first it was hard, especially with my kids (ages 9 and 14). For the parents reading this, I know you can relate as to how much of a shift this requires. Kids ask you for stuff constantly. Just don’t let them know that is what you are doing!

So here is how it really works. Life presents you with something, a decision, a circumstance or turn in the road. Your job – say YES! That is it – just say YES.

The just saying YES is the easy part of course. Then comes the follow through. The follow through requires some genuine creativity. Now you have to figure out how to walk through the opening you just created. This is where it gets really interesting.

In this, you are aligning with the powerful flow of Source, accepting whatever life presents. Being in the flow of life is what it is all about, that is, if you want to feel truly alive. I discovered that stretching, transforming into the future comes from YES, not NO.

The Simple Wisdom of Y-E-S

What I discovered in the few years I have been working with this principle is that NO closes doors. It constricts you and it certainly obstructs flow. NO says not now and closes denies hidden opportunities. It also changes my kids when I say NO, I can feel a let down, a constriction in them.

YES, as I discovered, actually ignites a whole new outlook on life. It also precipitates deeper self-understanding and personal growth. YES aligns you with the very essence of life itself, with Divine creative energy.

It’s funny that I missed this incredibly simple, and yet revolutionary strategy for the majority of my spiritual life. I like to consider myself a spiritual person. However, to me, that means self-actualization, rather than the spiritual distractions of ego. To me spiritual is about living to my full human potential, in this body, now.

Nothing happens by coincidence in life. Carl Jung called it synchronicity. We can say that God or the Divine or Spirit provides us exactly with what we need for our personal growth.  That said, and perhaps believed, then do you say NO to what has come your way, to the gift that life has presented to you?

This is a good question to ponder. Kids certainly learn more about life when you say YES. They learn that the universe says YES, that there are unlimited possibilities in life. The power of YES truly lets your spirit soar.

This is something further I discovered. Years of cultural conditioning started getting reversed in a relatively short period of time. Old negative patterns, unconscious habits, began to give way to the person I truly was and had always wanted to become.

What was truly incredible is how my kids changed. The resistances and little conflicts stopped. They began to feel closer to me, and even became more creative. A powerful bond began to form. They felt loved because YES gives the gift of attention, and time, the greatest gifts you can give to your kids.

Your inner kid needs the same gift. Even more remarkable was that it was through this practice that I found myself feeling younger. Life became more magical and I began noticing the synchronistic harmony of events as they unfolded for my highest good. All manner of positive events began appearing in my life.

Does it work in business? It sure does. It opens you to new opportunities and breaks the habit of just saying NO out of past conditioning and unconscious habits. Yes stimulates commitment, which generates true creativity, the essence of entrepreneurship.

Now I can guess what you might be wondering. How can you say YES to absolutely everything? Well, perhaps not. However, observe yourself when you respond to what presents itself. Just try this little experiment for a while and observe.

Try saying YES the next time the opportunity arises. As you do, notice your bodily reaction. With YES, does your body feel more open, relaxed, energized? Then try saying NO and see what happens. Your body will actually reveal the truth.

This simple practice is much more about just saying YES. What is important to recognize and align with, on a spiritual level, is the Divine Presence. Life itself is always saying YES to our desires and intentions. YES gets you back in alignment with the flow of the universal life force.

After all, the greatest spiritual practices are usually the simplest. The truth of who you really are reveals itself as you align with Source. YES easily creates this alignment. Ultimately, when you say YES to all that life offers to you, good or bad, you will awaken to the Self and the Oneness of all. This is when the real magic happens.

Blessings and Awakening,
Doc