Hi,
It's Giles.
This is a short piece for you to take time out with and reflect on.
A light-hearted story that points to something that's true for all of us.
As such,
There's no effort required while you're listening,
Only something to realise.
Something that can lead to profound,
Permanent change.
So get comfortable,
Relax,
And listen quietly for insight.
Abundance Within For something like 12 years,
Every October I spoke at a national medical conference about career change.
The delivering of the talk itself I used to love,
But I was always really nervous about having chats with people afterwards when they came at me with their specific career change questions.
I just didn't feel qualified to offer solutions,
And any time I spent contemplating the post-talk milling around period was deeply unpleasant.
It was the only thing that might have stopped me saying yes to participating in these conferences.
I mean,
As an aside,
What do you make of that?
I was more nervous about having a conversation with one person than standing up on stage in front of a hundred people.
Minds are bonkers,
They really are.
Anyway,
I'll never forget one year after a particularly effective keynote,
I had a huge crowd standing around afterwards,
All wanting my advice.
I'd overrun,
As usual,
And been kicked out of the seminar room,
So it wasn't like an orderly queue where I had one conversation at a time.
It was just this massive free-for-all,
With everyone asking their question,
And everyone else listening in on the pearls of wisdom this inspiring speaker was about to deliver.
And then,
In front of all these people,
I got asked the most difficult career change question of all.
But what about financial security?
Oh dear.
This was the biggie that I'd been fearing all along.
The threat of this question looming was an insecurity of mine that towered above all else.
It was the question I thought I just didn't have an answer for.
The question that used to keep me up at night.
Because,
If anyone found out that I didn't have a good response to it,
Because I didn't,
Well then I'd be seen as a charlatan,
And all the inspiring words I'd said up on stage would be utterly worthless.
I would never be invited back again,
And that would be that.
My speaking career would be over.
Again,
Mine's truly are bonkers.
And then,
Something amazing happened.
There,
In the moment,
Put on the spot without any preparation.
Not knowing where it came from,
I heard myself delivering the only answer to that question of any substance.
Something I'd never even seen for myself as being true until I spoke the words.
Security doesn't come from money.
It's a feeling that comes from inside of you.
I suggest you work on your inner security instead.
Everyone kind of went quiet after that,
And I could feel a sort of electricity in the huddle of people out there on that balcony.
Because,
Unbeknownst to me,
I had just pointed to a fundamental,
Inarguable truth about how life works,
And it connected all of us in that moment.
Feelings don't come from situations,
Or things,
Or money.
That's simply not possible.
They come from within,
And it's only ever that trickster we call thought that makes out like it could be any other way.
It was quite a big moment for me on my own journey,
Because the fact things turned out like that after my incessant worrying about the question just went to prove the point.
All the insecurity I'd been feeling in the run-up to the conference wasn't coming from the conference,
Or the question I'd been pondering.
It just doesn't work like that.
It was coming from me.
And the answer that my intellect could never come up with,
Causing me great stress as it tried,
Was actually there all along.
It came out when it needed to.
And it's the same for you.
The answers you don't know,
That you feel like you'll never know,
Will be there when you really need them.
You don't have to think them up,
Because they don't come from your intellect.
Just like feelings of abundance and security,
They come from within.
With love,
Giles And as with all my talks,
A deeper appreciation for what I'm pointing to can be had with repeated listens.
You'll hear something different next time.
