Recommended reading on how to achieve Fundamental Wellbeing and journaling my quest to quiet my mind and achieve the pure love of Christ
I’ve been reading a lot of books lately including “Becoming Genevieve” by Genevieve Davis, “The Enlightened Gardner” by Sydney Banks and “The Finders” by Jeffrey A Martin. Each of these books talk about achieving a state of being of inner peace, a lack of judgement of self and others, a oneness with the Universe (or God). And they all come at the topic from a different angle.
I’ve been attracted to these books because I have been asking God for a greater portion of the pure love of Christ (or charity). Bottom line, I want to get to the point where I don’t let people irritate or upset me. I’d love to get to a place where other people’s criticism or judgement rolls off my back and I love them just the same whether they show love to me or not.
Each of these three books talks about people from various beliefs and backgrounds who have been able to find this inner state of peace and acceptance. Genevieve Davis shares her personal journey of transformation to fundamental wellbeing in Becoming Genevieve.
The Enchanted Gardner is a novel about a gardener who has achieved it.
The Finders is the most in-depth. It is actually written about / to and for the people Dr. Martin calls “Finders” … people who have found inner peace. Dr. Jeffrey A. Martin is a psychologist who spent years interviewing thousands of “Finders” and documenting them. He says atheist’s and believers alike have been able to achieve this state.
What is the common thread?
Finders have been able to quiet the inner narrative voice – the mind-chatter of criticism, judgement, second-guessing, over-analyzing, ruminating, self-defeating programs, conditioning, and the stories we concoct about ourselves and others. Finders minds have become quiet. They know that the narrative voice IS NOT THEM. They know that they are something more profound and deep than the voice rattling around in their heads.
Finders know that the narrative voice isn’t truth. It’s just one piece of input that you can choose to take or leave. Finders have achieved a state of Fundamental Wellbeing.
“The Finders” book is about what being a Finder looks like – how Finders describe what has happened to them. Finders come from all walks of life. Most of them don’t go around talking about what happened to them. Many don’t even know what precipitated the change. For some it’s gradual. For others it’s fast and transformative. People around the Finders usually don’t even notice the change in their Finder friends and relatives. But the Finders themselves experience a profound internal change.
Another thing Finders have in common is that they have all lost any fear of death. Most of them lose their everyday negative emotions as well. Sure, if there is the loss of a beloved child or parent, they’re going to be impacted by that, but overall, they’re in a contented state of acceptance of what is.
The Finder Continuum
There are at least 20 different “locations” along the spectrum of Fundamental Wellbeing. Some of these locations sounded more appealing to me than others.
While “The Finders” tells you about what it’s like to be a Finder of Fundamental Wellness, it doesn’t tell you how to get there. If you want to know how to achieve Fundamental Wellbeing, the book leads you over to a free ebook download entitled, “How To Reach Fundamental Wellbeing.”
This ebook goes through the various categories of activities you can engage in to increase your chances of becoming a Finder. Over the years, Dr. Martin has led hundreds of people through his course to become Finders of Fundamental Wellness. He’s learned what works, what doesn’t, the tips and traps, and how to avoid “the dark night of the soul” which some people experience on their way to achieving Fundamental Wellness. Approximately 70% of the people who went through his course have achieved some level of Fundamental Wellness. That’s really quite astounding, if you think about it!
In my work helping people discover, align with, create, and deliver their soul’s song, a large chunk of my time is spent helping people clear the mind clutter and get rid of the junk that causes them to self-sabotage. While much of what I do with people is helping them clear away the spider webs of their minds and perhaps get the spider to stop making so many new webs, ultimately, people have to take personal responsibility for dealing with the spider. The spider is that narrative voice that keeps spinning stories, negative thoughts, judgements, criticism and self-defeating thoughts which lead to self-defeating behaviors.
Stumbling upon The Finders book documenting that almost anyone can learn to quiet their mind is incredibly intriguing to me.
So, I have set out on a quest to become a Finder of Fundamental Wellbeing. Dr. Martin numbers the various locations within “Finder Land.” He focuses primarily on 1-4 and touches on 5-9. Then he describes the two paths that split off from there without going into much detail on the locations above 9. No location is considered better than another but each location has different characteristics.
The location that intrigues me most is Location 3, which is where a lot of religious / spiritual people tend to end up. They believe in fundamental truths. They are lovely people to be around. They care about other people, but they don’t let other people’s negativity drag them down. They have very few, if any, negative emotions. They have achieved “the peace that passes all understanding.”
#3 sounds like this “pure love of Christ” place I’ve been looking for.
As I seek out a state of Fundamental Wellbeing, I’ve decided to use some of Martin’s basic strategies on a daily basis to see if I can find my way to a greater connection to Christ (or location #3).
What I’ve Done So Far and My Current Status
First of all, I must say that I have been praying for the pure love of Christ for several months now. And I have seen some visible results. I believe that the pure love of Christ is a gift that Christ bestows upon his humble followers. It isn’t anything we earn. So in saying I’m “working” toward this… I realize that the work is primarily to align myself with Christ… to draw closer to Him.
I’ve never been one to have a lot of negative thoughts about myself. My parents did a great job of building my confidence. But, like most people, I can spin some tales about why other people act the way they do. I can also spin stories about my past and why things happened the way they did or second guess my choices.
In the last month, I have been less likely to spin stories about my past or about other people. I’m more likely to step back and allow people to be themselves and love them for who they are. I’m less likely to have expectations that people will be upset with me or be critical of me.
I have noticed a pattern. If I am irritated with someone or go on the defensive before I have to interact with them, I am more likely to get negative reactions from other people — even if my words and actions to them are kind and well-intentioned. If I go into an encounter with someone expecting the best and staying in a state of peace about the person, I get positive results from the interaction. In other words, when I’m not spinning stories, my encounters with people are much more positive… even with people who historically haven’t liked me.
Finding Your Own Path to Fundamental Wellbeing
According to Dr. Martin, everyone achieves a state of Fundamental Wellbeing in a different way. The methods that work for me may not work for you. He recommends picking a method and using it for several weeks and see how it works for you. Is your inner voice becoming quieter? Are you more at peace? If a method is not working, try something else. And even if you find something that is working for you, go ahead and try other new things too. And if something worked for a while and stops, it doesn’t mean that it might not work again for you later.
Last night while pondering on this I felt led to create a “prescription” for myself. These are the things I’m going to try and see how they work. Most of them I have already been doing and they have proven incredibly helpful in quieting my mind. For example, after reading Gregg Braden’s “The Wisdom Codes” I started memorizing and repeating scriptures in my mind with a specific intention in mind. This has been very effective in quieting my mind and helping me achieve intentions.
You’ll notice much of my “prescription” is built around this method that is working for me with some variations to it.
Things I’ve Already Been Doing
- Read scriptures 10 minutes / day. I haven’t been super consistent, but going forward I’m committing to daily do this.
- Memorize and meditate on scripture – repeating passages in my mind throughout the day or for a longer period at a time (at least 40 minutes/day). I’ve been doing this as I garden, drive, as I do yoga, or in odd moments throughout the day when I have free time. The passages I’ve memorized so far are:
- The Lord’s Prayer
- Psalm 23
- 2 Timothy 1:7
- Joshua 1:9
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
- Isaiah 54:17
- Proverbs 3:5-6
- 1 Thessalonians 5:13-14
I do this type of meditation in nature. Specifically while I garden, as I spend time in our field, out by the creek or with the old oak tree.
3. I also use a form of meditation to Christ in my mind where I come into His presence in my mind and have a conversation with Him. I’ll continue to do this 1-2 times/week.
4. Continue to do a stretching yoga / Thai Chi hybrid a couple times/week.
What I’m Adding
Primarily what I’m adding is daily consistency with what has brought me success so far.
- Get up earlier each day and start my morning with scripture reading / prayer / meditation.
- Journal daily about any insights I receive and document my progress.
- Practice mindful gratitude for at least 10-15 minutes a day.
Finally, there is another meditation I use to help me sleep if I wake up in the night (I’m menopausal, so those hot flashes can wake me up and make it hard to go back to sleep). In my mind I repeat a simple mantra like, ‘I Am that I Am” and visualize a symbol like the Yin/Yang symbol. This quiets my mind and allows me to rest and also receive insights.
So that’s it so far… tune back in. I’ll be posting more about what I’m learning about Fundamental Wellbeing and logging my progress and what’s working, what shifts I see, etc.
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