An Excerpt from: ‘The Guru and the Jerk’

My latest work is called ‘The Guru and the Jerk’ and is the first of a new, emotionally honest trilogy

I recently completed the final edit for The Guru and the Jerk.   I had previously released this book only to find that I had neglected quite a few grammatical errors.  My hope had been to release this book as raw as I possibly could, but this approach backfired on me as it needed editing.  So, now it’s done!  The book will be available as a kindle ebook at first, and then later as a paperback.

In this work I bring a ‘no holds barred’ approach to spirituality and self help which I feel has been missing for way too long.  There is just too much misinformation and conflicting opinions and beliefs out there to let this go on any longer.  People are becoming scared of what they think and feel for fear that they are going to create a catastrophe for themselves.  A lot of people are trying to make spiritual bypasses and delve into the spiritual realms hoping that they can create heaven on Earth.  While that’s not a completely bad idea in itself, it does not lend to creating the life of your dreams if you are repressing your emotional states of being during the process.

Thus, The Guru and the Jerk is all about emotional honesty and a hard, behind the scenes look at the making of a spiritual teacher and self help author.

I hope you enjoy the honesty, the frankness, and the realism that I provide while describing my personal journey behind the scenes.

Chapter 8 Spiritual Sexuality

So, what is the difference between me and another guy sitting at Starbucks who is checking out the ladies? Why would I attempt to elevate myself beyond the status of just some dude ogling women at the Starbucks, you might ask?

Well, a couple of things separate me from this idiot.

First, I am emotionally honest about it. In other words, I will openly admit it to anyone who asks me. This, in itself, exemplifies an alternate state of consciousness. In other words, I am not trying to cover it up by either repressing it within myself or lying to someone else about it.

For example, there was a guy sharing my table the other day at the Starbucks in Walnut Creek. A beautiful Italian woman came in who had an extremely athletic build which I found fascinating. I admired the way she had crafted her body through exercise. Every woman is beautiful to me and wears her beauty in her own way. This woman had refined her body in an athletic kind of way. This guy sharing my table was pretending to be busy, doing some sort of work, but he was watching her too. So I said: “She has a nice athletic body, eh?” And, can you guess what his reply was? A slightly embarrassed grunt “umgh” as if he wasn’t really looking at her and who am I to even bring it up!? In other words, total unconsciousness. A person who is this unconscious might be the very person who cheats on his wife. He pretends that he isn’t staring at every single woman around him, but he is busy doing exactly that.

You do not have to worry about the people who put it out there. Emotionally honest people, even if they are rude, are in the light. Let me say that again: Emotionally honest people are in the light. Whereas, emotionally dishonest people (deeply unconscious people), are in the dark. Do you understand the powerful difference here?

One guy might say that he is checking out the chicks at Starbucks. Another guy might say that he would never do anything like that, but he is busy cheating on his wife with a woman he met at Starbucks.

This also applies to women. I’ve dated women who adamantly deny that they crave external validation only to find that they are secretly making eye contact with every single dude that walks by. When confronted with this they are in total denial.

Why?

Because anything that deeply unconscious cannot be admitted as a conscious act.

You might as well ask a gerbil why they are looking at somebody, as ask an unconscious girlfriend or boyfriend that question. The only difference is that the gerbil won’t become angry with you. We could also look at why it bothers you that your partner is looking at somebody or why you notice it or why you feel the need to confront that. This is sort of beside the point I am trying to make right now though.

Here is another way of speaking about emotional honesty: If you run into someone in New York City who doesn’t like you, guess what? They will tell say it to your face – and not in a nice way.

By contrast, if you run into someone in Los Angeles who doesn’t like you, guess what? They will smile at your face and shake your hand. But, you will leave that interaction with an ungood feeling.

Why?

 

Because anyone, even unconscious people, sense that something is just not right. That person who doesn’t like you gave you a cold prickly instead of a warm fuzzy.

Think of it this way: Would you rather have a cold prickly on the outside of you, where you can see it, and not take it too personally? Or, would you rather have a cold prickly somewhere inside of you, and not understand where this yucky feeling is coming from?

Are you starting to get the picture now?

Of course, you can take this to the extreme too, especially a lot of men whom I have observed. “Hey man, I love women, what can I say?” That phrase has been uttered by more than one man who rationalizes that he is emotionally honest as a way to basically try to sleep with as many women as he can. Now we have a dude who is basically unconscious and additionally manipulative. Big fun for women.

I consider myself to be a sexual being. But, what does that mean? By saying that, am I creating an excuse so that I can live my life in a certain way? I think it is new and important for us to address our assumptions about ourselves. More people are beginning to recognize core aspects of themselves, whether they use numerology, integral theory, or transpersonal psychology. Along with them, I am trying to become more aware of various aspects of myself; I am trying to categorize the various aspects of my ‘self’, as it were.

This powerful tool might help me understand myself, but could it become a handicap?

Consider this categorization: “I am a Type A personality.”

This is an example of a gross overgeneralization that permeates our modern day culture. So, you’re telling me that there are two types of personalities: Type A and Type B? That’s it? “Oh yeah, I’m a Type A for sure man.”

This is obviously ridiculous and cannot even remotely encompass the human experience. However, now we have spiritual people doing it with all manner of different types of personality charts. Ok, so in the beginning I would be inclined to agree that this can offer valuable insight into one’s own psyche in that you can potentially become aware of who you are and why you do what you do.

Got it.

But, what if I denote that I am a ‘sexual being’, so to speak? Do I then get to rationalize my behavior by going around sleeping with as many women as I can? Because let me tell you, I can. I could say, “Well, I am a very sexual being and being sexually intimate with women is something that my Soul yearns for. I feel energized and excited by being with different women. I truly love women and love being with them.”

Will you buy that for a dollar?

You can apply the ‘I am an xyz type of personality/soul’ to any scenario to rationalize and perpetuate any behavior. So, it can get messy. So it becomes important to understand the real meaning of ‘Integration.’

An overall update on things

To my wonderful readers

First a big thanks to all of you who continue to support my efforts by buying my books and reading my blog entries, I am grateful.  I would also like to let everyone know that I have taken ‘The Guru and the Jerk’ off of the sales rack temporarily while I have it edited (My original idea to deliver it unedited in lieu of keeping with emotional honesty backfired!).  Please email me if you are one who purchased a previous copy and I will email you the newly edited one.

Recently I received the wonderful gift of a category 5 head cold, which is my fun way of saying that it was a really bad one.  However, after I survived the first couple of days I was blessed to be given some time for reflection.

The first thing I realized was that I was not taking the time for myself that I needed by giving myself a much needed vacation from work.  It’s interesting because I really don’t ‘work’ work as much as I used to, but I still work all day on my writing.  Thus, it can be deceptive in that you may not think that you are really working, but yes indeed you are really working.  And, I can be a true ‘workaholic’ in my approach to life.  I have been known to go for 16 hours at a time combining my personal training business and writing together.  It’s a wondrous life and yet it can be a challenging one too.

In any event the message for me was the power of reflection.

Getting sick can actually have hidden rewards when you are forced to take a break from being on the go.  Even now, although still sick to a degree, I feel as if I have retained tremendous benefit from this illness.  In fact, if it hadn’t kicked my butt as badly as it did, then I might not have been forced to take the time to reflect.  I’m so used to being able to just shake it off and keep going that it takes a real ‘ass kicker’ of a cold or flue to bring me down.

Poised

Now I can feel the excitement and anticipation of creation bubbling up from within me again though.  You may be thinking, ‘but don’t you always feel that?’  The answer is ‘no, I do not always feel that’.  I would argue that I have the ability to feel this way more so than most people I know.  But, this feeling which I am experiencing now is a renewal, an excitement, and an anticipation of things to come.  It’s also a broader view and perspective about what I need to do to change up my game a bit.

Additionally, I received the benefit of self awareness.

I received a message in my dream last night which I feel is highly beneficial.  I used to have a childhood friend who I will refer to as ‘Burt’ whom I spent some years with during grade school and junior high school back in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Burt was basically the most spoiled friend I have ever had and spent all of his time playing video games and eating count chocula or some other kind of sugar cereal.  His mom would cater to his every need and all he had to do was whine or cry a little bit to get whatever he wanted.

Almost two decades later and long after I had left Fayetteville I tried to get in touch with Burt.  I was unable to get a hold of him, but I heard that he had a job as a vendor at a video game store.  Additionally, I heard that at age 30 he was still living with his mom.

Ugh, can you imagine?!

And yet I believed it when I heard it.  You see Burt was destined to become an adult child because he had the killer combination of no positive influence mixed with no ambition in life.

My dream

In my dream I was driving a Porche 911 and Burt was sitting in the passenger side of the car while we were cruising down the road at around 70mph.  Suddenly, Burt reaches over and grabs a hold of the steering wheel with one arm and won’t let go.  I am trying to get him to let go, but he will not.  We veer off the road and crash into a tree!  I am really, really upset and I am looking at him, but he is just smiling.

Then I wake up.

Now, can we guess what this one is about?

Well, I am ashamed to say that it was pretty obvious to me.  The first thing to note is that I woke up immediately after I had the dream which is an additional sign for me to pay attention, because this is a guided dream with a message.  In other words, Higher Self wanted me to wake up so that I would consciously decipher and acknowledge the lesson of this dream.  Thus, I knew to pay attention and not just let it fade away.

In this dream Burt represents my own sub-personality which is an adult-child who sabotages my efforts at success.  In other words, “My adult-child sub-personality takes the wheel and crashes my life”.

Oh, shit!

Yeah, that was a good dream, a really good one.  I won’t soon (if ever) forget this lesson.  I immediately realized a couple of things.  First, I needed to quit playing so much Xbox.  I hate to admit it, but my Xbox playing lately has gotten out of control.  Second, although I believe in indulging myself, I needed to start to discipline myself a little more.  My meaning here is that I have regressed quite a bit over this past year and have quit taking full responsibility for my life.

So it’s time to get back on track!

What a wonderful wake up call, no?  Man, I love when my Higher Self gives me tangible life lessons that I can recognize and decipher.  Love it!

‘The Guru and the Jerk’ now available on Amazon Kindle

I’m very excited to announce the release of my latest work, ‘The Guru and the Jerk: The making of a NY Times #1 Best Selling Author‘ for the Amazon Kindle.

 

This is a piece of work that made me nervous, very nervous indeed.  The reason is that I come clean by adhering to complete emotional honesty about my life over the past three years behind the marketing of Reality Creation 101 and throughout the global economic decline.

I decided that what spirituality and self-help writing were missing was authenticity.  It seems to me that, within the parameters of this genre of writing, that there has become this fear of admitting to your humanity.  In other words, everyone is putting on a big smiley face and pretending like everything is perfect when the reality is that things are never perfect.  Everyone is human and thus has their challenges and faults.  No one is exempt from the human condition.

It’s also true that if you are able to maintain a positive focus in life that more good things will happen in life.  But, this is different than pretending everything is ok to the point where you are repressing your natural emotional states of being to the point where you become neurotic.

Ever hang out with someone who has this crazy plastered on smile on their face, but whom you can feel is holding onto a lot of anger and resentment?

I have.

Let me tell you that it’s rather uncomfortable to hang out with this person as you sense the anger but see the smile.

But, that’s just it.  I feel like a lot of the new spiritual teachings are creating all of these conflicting beliefs about ourselves and how to live our lives to the point where everyone is becoming petrified of their natural emotional states of being.

So, my message in ‘The Guru and the Jerk‘ is that it’s ok to be human.  It’s ok to have emotions.  It’s ok to express yourself.  It’s ok to have a down day.

Take the pressure off of yourself, you can’t be perfect!  No one can, especially not me.

I hope you enjoy the book and I encourage anyone who reads it to leave a review and share your experience.

Blessings fellow humans!

Chris

 

An extreme honor; I am featured as one of the writers on the cover of the biggest issue of Sedona; Journal of Emergence

I have posted the link below to the article and magazine:

 

http://sedonajournal.com/2011/november/preparing-enter-new-earth-without-needs-or-limits

Power Factor Meditation Start Up

There have been quite a few ‘false starts’ thus far so I appreciate you guys all hangin’ in there.  This time period in the history of our Earth, our planet, the human species, has been fraught with forced growth for virtually every single person that I know and many that I do not.  And, there is always untapped potential within each and every single one of us.  Truly, my belief has always been that we are only tapping into around 1% of our potential when there is so much more.

 

The new location is a little tricky to find so please, please take the time to map quest it and get to know the location a little bit.  It’s now in Pleasant Hill at the Conscious Center for Living 140 Mayhew Way, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.

 

The new class times are going to be at 730-830pm and this first start up class is on Tuesday the 13th at 730pm.  If you can, please get there at 715pm so that we can get settled in and start on time.

The cost for the classes as of right now is only $15/person.
If you have a cushion or pillow please bring that to sit on.

 

Please email me at holisticfitness4u@hotmail.com with any questions.

 

Type of Class:

This class will be a standard Power Factor Meditation class in that it will combine mantra meditation, emotional release work, and creative visualization (Please see class description for full details on the homepage).

 

I look forward to seeing all of you there!

 

Blessings,
Christopher A. Pinckley

 

Is meditation the push-up for the brain?

(The following post I got from DailyGood: News that inspires

 

 

LOS ANGELES — Two years ago, researchers at UCLA found that specific regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger and had more gray matterthan the brains of individuals in a control group. This suggested that meditation may indeed be good for all of us since, alas, our brains shrink naturally with age.

Now, a follow-up study suggests that people who meditate also have stronger connections between brain regions and show less age-related brain atrophy. Having stronger connections influences the ability to rapidly relay electrical signals in the brain. And significantly, these effects are evident throughout the entire brain, not just in specific areas.

Eileen Luders, a visiting assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues used a type of brain imaging known as diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI, a relatively new imaging mode that provides insights into the structural connectivity of the brain. They found that the differences between meditators and controls are not confined to a particular core region of the brain but involve large-scale networks that include the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes and the anterior corpus callosum, as well as limbic structures and the brain stem.

The study appears in the current online edition of the journal NeuroImage.

“Our results suggest that long-term meditators have white-matter fibers that are either more numerous, more dense or more insulated throughout the brain,” Luders said. “We also found that the normal age-related decline of white-matter tissue is considerably reduced in active meditation practitioners.”

The study consisted of 27 active meditation practitioners (average age 52) and 27 control subjects, who were matched by age and sex. The meditation and the control group each consisted of 11 men and 16 women. The number of years of meditation practice ranged from 5 to 46; self-reported meditation styles included Shamatha, Vipassana and Zazen, styles that were practiced by about 55 percent of the meditators, either exclusively or in combination with other styles.

Results showed pronounced structural connectivity in meditators throughout the entire brain’s pathways. The greatest differences between the two groups were seen within the corticospinal tract (a collection of axons that travel between the cerebral cortex of the brain and the spinal cord); the superior longitudinal fasciculus (long bi-directional bundles of neurons connecting the front and the back of the cerebrum); and the uncinate fasciculus (white matter that connects parts of the limbic system, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, with the frontal cortex).

“It is possible that actively meditating, especially over a long period of time, can induce changes on a micro-anatomical level,” said Luders, herself a meditator.

As a consequence, she said, the robustness of fiber connections in meditators may increase and possibly lead to the macroscopic effects seen by DTI.

“Meditation, however, might not only cause changes in brain anatomy by inducing growth but also by preventing reduction,” Luders said. “That is, if practiced regularly and over years, meditation may slow down aging-related brain atrophy, perhaps by positively affecting the immune system.”

But there is a “but.” While it is tempting to assume that the differences between the two groups constitute actual meditation-induced effects, there is still the unanswered question of nature versus nurture.

“It’s possible that meditators might have brains that are fundamentally different to begin with,” Luders said. “For example, a particular brain anatomy may have drawn an individual to meditation or helped maintain an ongoing practice — meaning that the enhanced fiber connectivity in meditators constitutes a predisposition towards meditation, rather than being the consequence of the practice.”

Still, she said, “Meditation appears to be a powerful mental exercise with the potential to change the physical structure of the brain at large. Collecting evidence that active, frequent and regular meditation practices cause alterations of white-matter fiber tracts that are profound and sustainable may become relevant for patient populations suffering from axonal demyelination and white-matter atrophy.”

But, Luders said, more research is needed before taking meditation into clinical trial studies.

Other authors of the study included Kristi Clark, Katherine L. Narr and Arthur W. Toga.

The study was supported by the UCLA Brain Mapping Center, and funding was provided by the Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, the Robson Family and Northstar Fund, and the following foundations: Brain Mapping Support, Pierson-Lovelace, Ahmanson, Tamkin, William M. & Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund at the Northern Piedmont Community, Jennifer Jones-Simon, and Capital Group Companies. The study was also supported by the Human Brain Project and the National Institutes of Health. The authors report no conflict of interest.

The UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, which seeks to improve understanding of the brain in health and disease, is a leader in the development of advanced computational algorithms and scientific approaches for the comprehensive and quantitative mapping of brain structure and function. The laboratory is part of the UCLA Department of Neurology, which encompasses more than a dozen research, clinical and teaching programs. The department ranks first among its peers nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding.

For more news, visit UCLA Newsroom and UCLA News|Week and follow us on Twitter.

The Vibrational Effects of Music; A true story

When I lived in LA I eventually migrated my personal training business to a small gym in the bottom floor of The World Savings Building in Brentwood.  There is an entire history of my own personal evolution and growth that took place in this small little gym packed with around 25 personal trainers (which was crazy!).  However, my story revolves instead around the 7-11 convenience store that was located just across Wilshire Blvd.

I noticed that every day around 3pm the store would get bombarded with High School kids from the local West LA School, which was a bit of a rough school in that day.  Every day around 20-30 kids would descend upon the 7-11 and hang out indefinitely.  The owners would speak about getting things stolen and some of the other customers being threatened and intimidated.  In fact, one time I witnessed a High Schooler confronting a customer who was pumping gas in an aggressive manner; needless to say this was a customer who would most likely never return to this particular 7-11.

These guys were desperate to save their business and apparently the police could only temporarily dissuade these kids from hanging out there, nothing permanent or long lasting.

Then one day I heard it, I’m not sure if these guys knew the power they had tapped into or knew what they had really discovered, but somebody must have had some sort of idea.  I heard very clear and loud classical music issuing forth from newly installed speakers in and around the 7-11.  And, you wouldn’t believe the results!

NO, and I mean ZERO High School kids were ANYWHERE to be seen!  I was astounded and amazed and yet, also inspired.  Even though at this point in my journey I was more spiritually arrogant than spiritually enlightened, I knew I had witnessed the power of the vibrational qualities of music first hand.

The Power of Music

And that is it, the vibrational power of music to realign you (or anyone) at the Soul level.  Music is amazing in that it’s one of the quickest ways to access the augmenting power of vibration.  Playing music that you really enjoy will fuel your Soul and get you straight into your own personal vortex of power.  Conversely, music can be used to repel anything of a lower vibration as well.  This is not to place judgment on anyone or anything, but simply denotes that everything has a vibrational essence to it which can be accessed.

In the same way as an angry person cannot remain angry around a group of really happy people (they will either be forced to become happy or forced to leave the area), then someone who cannot handle the essence of higher vibrational music will be forced to leave the area as well.  There is no good or bad, right or wrong in this sense, it is all vibration.  It is merely the recognition of the inherent power of music in its ability to be the vehicle for mass vibrational alignment and augmentation.

 

In the Pursuit of Consciousness: Relating to relationships

The Ultimate Challenge

Here is an interesting question: Who are you within the parameters of an intimate relationship?  Do you understand this question?  I’m not always as clear as I would like to be, so I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page here.  The question speaks not necessarily to whom you are now, but who you will become when you engage in an emotionally dynamic relationship with an intimate, relational partner.  In other words, if you are like most people, then you will begin to transform and morph your behavior once you enter into ‘the relationship’.

Have you noticed it?

More and more single people around these days, right?  Some might say more and more lonely people.  However it is my belief that there are more and more courageous people these days who dare to become emotionally independent, and who dare to dream of self actualization.  Sure, you might argue that self actualization is something that could or perhaps, should, be able to be pursued no matter what your relational status is.  However, I argue that for most people this is a state of being that must be pursued in relative emotional isolation.  Most people who say otherwise are most likely fooling themselves.  Conversely, you could argue that self actualization can not happen without a significant other to be your ‘mirror’ and show you yourself, fully as it were.

There are exceptions to this however, a few here, a few there.  Some folks can actualize themselves and tackle the responsibilities of being a conscious partner at the same time.  However, these individuals are few and far between.  Most people are constantly in an unconscious state of seeking love and validation and thus, the person or people who choose to be single, are often in recognition of the emotionally addictive nature of relationships and are in the process of trying to wean themselves off of this drug.

I can hear you out there

Proponents of the argument for a loving relationship are very vocal when it comes to this philosophy.  They say, ‘But you need to love and be loved to be whole’ or ‘it’s my right to want someone to love’ or ‘you cannot evolve without someone to show you who you are.’  I’ve heard it all, truly.  Everyone has their own individual path to enlightenment and will take that path.  No two paths will ever look the same, but I will tell you this: most people are more likely to undergo conscious evolution outside of a relationship than inside of one.  You can argue all you want with me, but that is the truth.  Most of the fully illumined conscious seekers have taken some years outside of and away from the confines of ‘the relationship’ in order to actualize themselves to the point where they feel emotionally independent and evolved.

Here is the question

What happens if, you find someone, but you are still in the process of evolving and working on yourself?  What happens if you are a conscious seeker who is working to integrate your emotional body (arguably the only aspect that really needs to be integrated) and then this other person pops up in your life?  What if they are also a conscious seeking, spiritual being like yourself?  How do you negotiate this new terrain?

Maintaining consciousness

In the pursuit of consciousness one finds that the trick is not really pursuing it, but rather maintaining it.  Thus, the pursuit of consciousness becomes the maintenance of consciousness from moment to moment.  As a very good friend of mine says, “How about now?” and “How about now?”  If you understand what this means then you understand that my meaning is that the pursuit of consciousness is being with how you feel in every moment.  How do you feel in this moment?  If you are able to be emotionally honest and in touch with how you feel then you may notice, of a sudden, that in this particular moment you are feeling less than integrated; then you can allow this feeling to surface for integration.  This is the ultimate pursuit of consciousness.

So now, engaging in this type of interaction with a significant other?  With someone who will become your mirror and most likely trigger you in big and small ways?  The maintenance of consciousness has never been so challenged as in the arena of intimacy.  Here is the testing and proving ground of any would be conscious seeker and experienced integrationist.  Here is where you will get to find out how conscious you really are.  Are you willing to allow to come up, be with, and ultimately integrate whatever feeling comes your way?  This is the test that many are stepping up to the plate during these extreme times to come face to face with.  This is your test, this is your challenge.  Be who you want to be with by integrating your mirror.

 

Christopher A. Pinckley

Author of Reality Creation 101

On Kindle

That’s why you exist….

“What about creating a very obvious positive current of financial abundance? What about getting so good at visualizing that the money flows through you easily? What about expending money? Giving more people work? Giving more people opportunity? The more you spend, the more people benefit, and the more people get in on the game and dovetail with you. Your role is to utilize the Energy. That’s why you exist. You are an Energy-flowing being, a focuser, a perceiver. You are a Creator. There is not anything worse in all of the Universe to do than to come forth into the environment of great contrast where desire is born easily and not allow Energy to flow to your desire. That is a true squandering of life.”-Abraham Hicks from the homepage

 

Christopher A. Pinckley

Author of Reality Creation 101

On Kindle

“Truly powerf…

“Truly powerful people have great humility. They do not try to impress, they do not try to be influential. They simply are. People are magnetically drawn to them. They are most often very silent and focused, aware of their core selves. … They never persuade, nor do they use manipulation or aggressiveness to get their way. They listen. If there is anything they can offer to assist you, they offer it; if not, they are silent.”
― Sanaya Roman