When it comes to my spiritual journey, the Universe always puts the perfect book in front of me at the very moment I need it… the moment my spirit can finally resonate with the life-changing revelations held within.
The most recent gift of perfect universal timing was OUT ON A LIMB by SHIRLEY MacLAINE!
“Maybe one human soul was everything. And such a reality was up to each of us to relearn. Maybe the tragedy of the human race was that we had forgotten that we were each divine. And if we realised that, we could dispel fear from our lives. In dispelling fear, we could dispel hate. And much more. With the fear we would rid ourselves of greed and war and killing. Fear was the root and circle around which our lives revolved – fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of humiliation, fear of loneliness, of being unloved, of ourselves, fear of death, ultimately fear of fear.
“Fear itself was insidious, infectious, seeping in from one point of unreality to permeate all our lives. Perhaps our belief in death was the gravest unreality of all. If we could truly know that we never really died, that we always got another chance, that no pain, no humiliation, no loss, was ever final, total and forever, maybe we could understand that there was nothing to fear. It could be that human beings were using their talent for complexity as an excuse to avoid the responsibility for being what we really understood we were from the beginning – basically part of what we called “God”, and without limitation masters of our own divine potential.
“Perhaps reality was only what one believed it to be anyway. That would make all perceived realities real. Maybe that was the lesson I was learning – learning to think with unlimitedness… to believe that one can do anything, soar anywhere, become everything.” ~ Shirley MacLaine 1983.
Fear, that debilitating affliction, is simply not real… we create it ourselves and allow it to control us. There is nothing to fear but fear itself because it is our own self-destruction.
Of course, the real struggle is making these revelations a living part of my daily existence… the desire to stay unchanged is always strong and to want to remain in a familiar and safe place is very human.
I’ve seen from past experience, however, that when these books are handed to me I do eventually learn much of what was intended.
~ Michael Young 2019
PLEASE… READ THE BOOK… BEFORE you watch the movie below. 😉
We are in a state of separation between spirit and matter, between our very souls and materialism. We are half-awake with our toys and technology. We don’t hear our souls crying to be recognised as part of creation, so we will wake up. The world we have made and live in does not bear witness to the divine. It bears witness to our greed, our delusions of power, and to the righteous of religion. We kill for the determination of our religious power. We kill for the individual’s democratic right to plunder the Earth as we separate ourselves more and more from the Earth’s divinity. We live separate from our true selves.
The Buddhists speak of non-attachment, which is different to detachment. I was beginning to see the difference. Our attachment to so many things makes us forget why we are here and what we are supposed to be learning about ourselves…
I always thought SHIRLEY MacLAINE was a nutter. (I’m sure that’s what “they” wanted me to think!)
Now I realise that she is just a few steps ahead of me on the same spiritual journey as millions of others.
I’ve just started reading her 2011 book “I’m Over All That”.
This book has sat on the shelf in my bedroom for a long time. The shelf where I have a collection of books for “future reading”. In fact, it’s been there for so long I have no idea where it came from or when it was purchased… or how it got there at all. Late last week I was walking past the shelf, and “saw” the book for the first time… like it had not been there until that moment when it suddenly caught my attention.
I love how the universe provides me with an endless supply of “the right book at the right time” to help me along my spiritual/life journey. The book I was previously reading was one that had to be digested in slow portions because it was way beyond average daily reading… “Catastrophobia” by Barbara Hand Clow, which I now realise is a book that Shirley would definitely have read herself. (That magical “one degree of separation” appears again in my life.)
My initial thought at seeing “I’m Over All That” was, ‘that sounds like me talking, I’m over it all too,’ followed by ‘this will at least be something light to contrast with the heaviness Catastrophobia.’ As I started to read, I realised it was actually necessary for me to have read the two previous books so I could appreciate all the wisdom that was waiting for me in this new book.
The timing was simply beyond what I would expect for my life, but as always, it was perfect. I’d been struggling with a cold/cough/sinus infection for over six weeks. I caught it at the Cher concert we recently attended, probably because I’ve worked from home for over a year my immunity to minor bugs has lowered, so it was easy to pick up something form all those “germy people breathing all over me” in the crowded venue. I was getting depressed from the long illness and didn’t understand why it was hanging around when all my blood etc tests showed me to be healthier than any average person.
I read a comment in Shirley’s book that suggested illness is often a sign that we need to change something in our life. Long story short that led me to ask my “people” (guides, angels whatever you prefer) who gave me an immediate answer, which I then started to question, so I consulted my Angel Cards which, in only ONE selection pounded home the same point… that I had to re-balance a certain distracting obsession in my life immediately. So I made the agreement with them and, with the help of my doctor, I began to see an immediate release from the illness.
No, I won’t tell you the specifics, but suffice to say it was one of those very “human” situations where you know the obsession or addiction to some distraction is taking over your life, but you just keep ignoring all the signs… until the universe has to back you into a corner and MAKE you see what you are pretending to ignore. This time I was backed into the corner and handed a book written by Shirley MacLaine published seven years ago to slap me back to reality… and get me writing again as well!
There’s so much in “I’m Over All That” that resonates with me, it’s like I’m becoming more and more like Shirley without even knowing her… or put more simply, we are on the same spiritual journey through a very similar list of life lessons. (By the way, if you want to know why I’ve called this post “Shurri” you’ll have to read the book 😉 )
Here’s just one of those passages:
I’m Over Fear Taught In The Name Of Religion. (Page 28).
I never cease to be amazed at how far some religious people will go to turn their destinies over to god rather than take charge of them for themselves. If the devil really does exist, he would beat his chest with pride at how significant we humans have made him. More movies and books have been made heralding his existence than anything else… because the FEAR of him makes so much MONEY. Fear seems to be the most common human emotion and the easiest to exploit. Fear of god, fear of the devil, fear of terrorists, fear of death, fear of life, fear of race, (fear of authority), fear, fear, fear. Learn how to propagandise FEAR, and you can control a civilisation and make a LOT of MONEY…
In fact, everywhere I have traveled in the world, the conflicts I’ve seen stemmed from organised religion in one way or another…
What I was learning about religion around the world as I traveled was that it afforded each denomination and culture an opportunity to BYPASS RESPONSIBILITY for itself and assign that task to god. (Also creating their devil in the image of their longtime cultural enemy or their “imagined” enemy, also declaring them an enemy of their god to justify their godless hatred and war.)…
Therefore, I gave up religion a long time ago. I’m over all that religion thing and have been ever since I put my experiences with my own karma together with my strong sense of SELF-RESPONSIBILITY…
“Half awake and halfin dreams, seeing long forgotten scenes…”
This morning, in that magical half-world between sleep and waking, I imagined that Frida, accompanied by Benny, would perform “Andante, Andante” at the ABBA Day in Sweden this year. Then I imagined all four of them would be there and perform “The Way Old Friend Do”. I also dreamed that I was up in the country at my grandparents’ house for school holidays in the 1970’s… where I received my very first ABBA tape!
Then I heard the news and I immediately thought it was 1st April… an April Fools joke… but it’s 28th April 2018 and it is OFFICIAL news… ABBA HAVE RECORDED TWO NEW SONGS: “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”. At least one to be released in December and the video will be performed by the new Avatars from the upcoming “Live” stage shows.
To top that off, a little later, my partner puts his phone down in front of me and starts playing a new track… FRIDA’S new version of “Andante, Andante” which proves that her voice is as beautiful as ever. Of course, it was a little disappointing that it was sung in Spanish but the other news completely removed all the sting from that.
What an amazing day to wake up to… an ABBA MIRACLE!
ABBA’s return to the recording studio is one of the most long-awaited, surprising band reunions in music history – and here’s what to expect from their “magical” reconciliation and their first song in 35 years.
In an exclusive Australian interview with Fairfax Media, long-time ABBA business partner and confidante Gorel Hanser, who was in the studio for the reunion recording session, reveals: It’s a ballad.
The song, I Still Have Faith In You, was specifically written for this reunion by the ABBA men – Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson – and is not a dusty composition pulled from the bottom drawer from the 1970s.
It’s sung together by the ABBA women, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, re-igniting their instantly recognisable vocal duel but with neither taking a solo lead.
And the making-of story behind this reunion was a warm, emotional affair when the four band members – two pairs of former spouses – finally came together again to record their first music since 1982.
“It was wonderful,” Hanser says. “It was magical. It was a very warm, relaxed, happy atmosphere, no hard feelings, no stress… it was like 35 years hadn’t passed. Like back in the old days. It was very emotional.”
The band left the studio “very happy, all of them”.
In a statement, the ABBA members said: “We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go in to the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good.”
The recording session was driven by a semi-reunion project flagged two years ago, a vaguely defined show involving ABBA reproduced as digital avatars. That ABBA-avatar project is still going ahead but now with this new original music attached, Hanser says.
“Along the way, Bjorn and Benny talked about maybe it would be good to have a couple of new songs included in this show… and then they wrote some new songs for this show. This was something that gave them the idea of writing something new for ABBA, for a special cause, for a special project.”
The band has recorded two new songs: I Still Have Faith In You, which the world will hear for the first time when the avatar show is revealed in a TV special in December, and another song, Don’t Shut Me Down, that is likely to follow as a single release when it premieres on the avatar tour.
“The first song is more of a ballad, the second song is more of an up-tempo song,” Hanser told Fairfax Media.
And how did the band go about matching the ABBA sound of the 1970s and 1980s to a new era?
“I think you do it the same way as you have always done it – the best you possibly can,” Hanser said.
“They have always done it their own way. They did it today the way they always did. The way Benny writes music. And the lyrics are more mature… the way they are today.”
You will recognise ABBA, no problem – but it is ABBA 2018.”
As to the question fans worldwide now want answered: Does this mean a possible on-stage reunion? Hanser has bad news.
ABBA famously knocked back an offer of $1billion to reunite for a world tour and apparently it’s the same response now.
“No,” she says. “They will not be performing as a group again.”
That leaves the avatar tour as the only live hope for the ABBA faithful, and that tour is certain to include Australia, where the band first exploded as a music force in 1975.
“Australia is a dear, dear country to ABBA, absolutely,” Hanser said.
This morning I stumbled across an email notifying that a package would be delivered for my partner today. It included the option to select “safe delivery” so I responded that it could be left at the front door. I was then out of the house for the rest of the morning, thinking it would be delivered regardless of me being there to sign for it.
When I get home after midday I see a card in the letter box saying the parcel can be collected from the local Post Shop after 4pm today. Damn! I had just been at that very shop half an hour before, how annoying to have to go back there tomorrow when I already said to leave it at the door. (It was actually small enough to go in the letter box anyway).
I walked back into the garage and was about to close the door when I see the postman come around the corner and stop to deliver something to the house across the road. So, with the collection card in hand, I crossed the street and asked if he had the item with him. (Sometimes they are delivered by a separate van service). He did, now I have it and I don’t have to make a special trip to the Post Shop tomorrow. (No, I didn’t complain about the disregarded delivery instructions!)
Yes, PERFECT timing … the magic of SYNCHRONICITY strikes again… I must be still on the right path for my life and making the right choices! 🙂
On Thursdays, I usually put the garbage bins out at around 8 am because they’re never collected until Thursday afternoon. Last night, Wednesday, I had the thought to put the bins out then… so I did.
This morning, at 7 am, I was still in bed when I heard the Garbage truck collecting our bin. Good thing I listened to that thought last night!
We recently spent a week on the Gold Coast, a last minute arrangement to get some sun and relaxation. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, checked in to our room then went for a walk to the main shopping area about 20 minutes away.
After checking out where the restaurants were, we found the local Woolworths to buy a few supplies for our unit. Supplies in hand, we decided to take the long way out of the shopping complex, then walked back up the main mall to check out the restaurants in that area.
As we were about to head back home we noticed a couple of faces heading our way that looked familiar. At that very moment, taking the other exit from the supermarket we chose not to, were two friend from Melbourne we had not seen in a couple of years. They live on the other side of the city and we travelled thousands of kilometres to The Gold Coast to run into them! They were there for the weekend.
We organised to meet on the Monday and had a lovely afternoon catching up … all thanks to the amazing SYNCHRONICITY in my universe.
SYNCHRONICITY can still happen even when you feel physically out of synch…
Yesterday, I had the sudden thought to pick up my phone and send my partner an SMS at 9:26am:
“R U a NO for exercise tonight?”
He replied at 9:28am (unusual because he normally does not answer his phone at work):
“OMG! I literally thought to just pick up my phone to let you know about that … No, I will give it a miss until I regain my strength. I was about to suggest you should Give it a miss as well…”
I replied:
“Yes, I will … but at least the synchronicity still works … the rest is a real struggle today … 😦 ”
Decided to go to my hairdresser this morning, on a whim, to get a shorter restyle. No appointments so just drop by, queue and wait your turn. I arrived there 15 minutes before they open so I could be first in.
He started cutting my hair, two others arrived after me and took a seat in the waiting area. Then, this big, loud guy comes in, sits in the cutting chair next to me and interrupts the conversation I’m having with Steve, the hairdresser. I understand immediately that he is loud because he is insecure but he still annoyed me.
Then Steve and I both realise that last time I was there, this same guy came in and sat in the same place and did the same thing … Steve was amazed. I had the chance to explain to him that was just another example of the magical ‘synchronicity’ that happens in my life. The universe’s way of showing me that I am exactly where I should be in my life journey. LOVE IT!
They say it takes a village to raise a child … well; it seems it takes a team to raise this author!
To get me to this point, on this day, it has taken the input of many people. Most recently they include my writing colleague and dear friend Vicki Williams; my spiritual “angels on Earth” Jo, Anisa, Elicia and Ross; and my partner David. There is now a new person added to this list; accidental bestselling author, personal trainer and ex-footballer ANDREW JOBLING.
On a recent day away in the beautiful town of Daylesford in the Victorian highlands, while waiting for my friend Vicki to have her crystal ball reading with Elicia at The Empress & Wolf, I wandered into an amazing bookshop. Paradise Bookshop is one of those magical places that is, like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside than it seems from the outside. It’s a heaven filled with the written word; everything from rare first-edition copies of classics to the very latest releases.
As is usually the case these days, I wandered in and was led fairly quickly by my ‘people’ to the reason for my visit; a section at the side featuring a few displayed books on “How to be a successful Writer”. I looked at a few of them but felt strongly compelled to buy Accidental AuthorbyAndrew Jobling. The cover was simple, fresh and classy. Page count was under 200 and the font size medium. The description on the front was compelling: “If an ex-footballer, non-reader, personal trainer and non-academic with no experience or qualifications can write bestselling books then you can too!”; it also reminded me of my own personal trainer. However, the real clincher was the final part of the description: “You will be ready to write your own bestseller before you finish reading this book.” SOLD!
Being a foreigner (not originally from Victoria) and not interested in AFL, I had no idea who he was but just ‘went with the flow’. I wandered though the shop a little more then decided to head to the counter. I purchased the book, complemented the elderly gentleman at the counter on his magical bookshop, and then dropped it off on the back seat of my car before continuing my window shopping.
The next day, at home, I started to read Accidental Author and found it very compelling. Well written but most impressively honest, funny and highly motivating. My ‘people’ had “hit a home run” again. (Oh, a sports analogy … that’s ironic coming from me!).
The one thing that blew me away more than any other was when Andrew shared the simple statistic on page 57:
“Just to put this into perspective for you, I would say that there are many people in the world who would like to write a book. Out of these people, probably no more than one or two percent of them will actually start the process. Out of these people who decide to become an author, only three to five percent of them will end up with a published book!”
Suddenly, the light went on in my head.
So, out of 10,000 people who want to write, only 100 actually start and only 4 become published authors. Then I realised… I already AM a published author… because my story was published in the book BOLD in 2015 … so that makes me one of those 4 out of 10,000! WOW!
So, when combining that revelation with the discussion about Blog’s we had at our WYNDHAM WRITING GROUP last Sunday, the explosion of inspiration resulted in this … my new BLOG… MICHAEL YOUNG: The Author’s Journey.
My immeasurable thanks to all who helped me get here,
Love and Light to you all,
Michael.
16Aug2017
P.S. Stay tuned right here at my Blog for upcoming post about the people and events mentioned above… 🙂
MICHAEL YOUNG 