There is little doubt that our world has come out of balance.

• The Earth is in the middle of the 6th mass extinction.
• Politically and economically, we are more divided than ever.
• Our waters are polluted, our soils depleted, our forests disappearing, and our planet warming to almost beyond repair.
• We’ve forgotten about our roots, lost track of our food supply, our medical system seems to be more focused on profits than wellbeing.
• Consumption and power seems to trump compassion and enlightenment.
• Slave and child labor, human trafficking, and slave trades are still going strong, human rights violations seem to be the norm, not the exception.
• Marginalized groups live on guard, they regularly play on an unfair playing field and are discriminated based on factors other than equality.
• Corporate profits, government bureaucracy, citizen apathy and an overwhelming ‘pass the buck’ mentality reigns supreme.

The Hopi’s have a perfect word for it: koyaanisqatsi, life out of balance. These are signs of forgetting who we are as people, as spiritual beings in a human body. We’re no longer leading with purpose.

And yet.

There is perfection in this too. What can it show you? What can it show us, as a member of humanity?

And yet.

You were born for times like these.

Suffering and conflict are impacting the world.

And yet.

Here you are.

Being sick, being in war, being in suffering. Is there a purpose to it?

In my estimation, a resounding ‘yes’.

While there are many positive things happening, suffering teaches you how to be miserable a necessary skill to the true walker of the path. Mass numbers of people are suffering yet they are in the struggle for the sake of struggle. You pick the reasons: 3rd world problems like lack of proper sanitation or basic necessities, 2nd world desire for more, to live like the first world, and 1st world problems of being squashed in the race to the top and still not finding the peace they were looking for.
But even in the midst of the struggle, there is an opportunity to transcend the suffering. To rise above it. To live in such a way, that the struggle is non-existent.

There are 3 parts to this journey:

1. Struggle. Using suffering to make meaning of the situation. After you suffer, you look back to find meaning and use it to alter the course. It’s the very definition of a ‘rebel without a cause’.
2. Perseverance. Rising above the suffering. During the suffering, you find more positive ways of coping.  Think of the story of Cool Runnings or making lemonade out of the lemons that life provides you. Here you learn to distinguish between resistance of the flow of life and the obstacles that test your resolve and commitment.
3. Liberation. Moving to a place, a stance that involves no suffering, transcending the suffering. The realization that life is what you create, the power is within you, and no longer needing the story of suffering. It is surrender to what is, the death of the ego in order to reveal your true nature. It is the lighting of your torch that liberates and inspires others to pick up their own torches to light the world to liberation.

This is from one of the most powerful lessons for humanity, Richard Rudd describes this in the 38th & 39th Gene Keys. Learning to transcend the struggle and in doing so, finding true liberation. Living your life totally free, unshackled. Living life fully on your terms. Very few reach this level of transcendence because it is requires a level of mastery not readily accessible at the level of the mundane.

What is your path?

This is where most of us start the journey. A growing discontent that forces change. You either choose to follow your calling or continue the pointless struggle. This is the first step. It’s an act of courage to look back at your suffering and learn from it. Life changing realization and insight can dawn under such self-reflection.

The Struggle

Yet this use of hindsight is slow. Looking back over time not only wastes the present moments during the suffering, but looking back means you’re also missing out on the current moment—however beguiling it may be, it’s the shadow that resides within our collective psyche, the warrior energy that ranges from defeatism to aggression.
It’s like the proverbial grit within the oyster that creates the pearl. That suffering can often bring us to understand our gifts, get clarity on our calling and drive us to action. It’s an essential step in your growth. Elizabeth Gilbert succinctly shares: "I've never seen any life transformation that didn't begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit."

Committing

In making this step, we as expressed by Stephen Pressfield, ‘The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.’ Realize this from the start. While he paints the picture to be rather dire and stark, it’s a journey to honor your own creative faculties, to manifest your life by design, rather by default.  

It's the hallmark of the persistence stage. You may find yourself reflecting on the following: Can you stand being alone with yourself? Can you stand feeling uncomfortable? Can you be like the oyster with a confound piece of sand that irritates you to finally get up and take action? Are you ready to be in the arena going for the prize?

Another huge hurdle is the very idea of competition. In reality, you’re not against someone else, you are following your own path, your own calling. This is one reason I have always loved individual sports. Yes, team sports have their place. Yet the individual athlete shows up and fights for the PB—the personal best.

Your calling asks that you get into the arena. You have to give up the ‘us vs. them’ mentality and realize the real battle is within.

Each time you get up and do your work, is a victory.
Each time you face your fears, is a victory.
Each time you focus on your work, not the result, is a victory.
Each time you act despite your fears, is a victory.

Finding Honour
This perseverance and commitment to your own success is essential to the next stage of transcendence. When you show up each day to fulfil your calling, you create the opportunity to transcend the struggle and reach honour. Giving up the struggle means understanding it is no longer about winning or losing, but playing the game, surrendering to the process.

At this level, you’re living as one with the rest of the universe. A realization emerges that what happens to one, happens to all, simultaneously. The ultimate level of responsibility to face what is yours, not just for you but for all of humanity. There ceases to be separation from live and death,

It ‘love so pure that it sacrifices itself without a thought to serve a higher aspiration’ a pearl of wisdom shared by Richard Rudd on the nature of honour in The Gene Keys.
The warrior, in all their shades, is one to create a better world, challenge the status quo, and commit to a purpose bigger than themselves. These stages, the warrior archetype shines through from the start of conflict, to the steadfastness in the face of resistance, to rising above the need for the win/lose dichotomy to a place of liberating others from their struggles. It’s the journey from finding your torch to the passing on the light to a fellow seeker, illuminating their journey. It’s the immortal nature of their story that stands the test of time, continuing to inspire the next generation of warriors.

On the finish line

"The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we're about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it's got," Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art.

As my track coach in high school said, ‘kick it in.’ Meaning give it your all as you make your sprint towards the finish line. No matter what, keep your eyes on the end goal.
It’s not the type of journey that can be completed in its entirety in a day or a season. Your calling is most likely a lifelong endeavour to fulfil. By its nature your calling involves showing up every day. The trek to the summit requires planning and the ability to withstand the conditions. It takes every bit of courage to rise to the summit. You finish one leg, camp and train for the next level. Each stage is a victory, but you’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize and remember the bigger picture.

What’s the bigger picture?
Liberation, to live your true potential without the shackles that bind us. Both the personal ones that are from our own programming or passed onto us from our family whether through genes, memes or environment, as well as the collective imprisonment through media, governance, corporations, propaganda and culture.
You break through and rise above your programming.
You find clarity and trust your own insight.
You give up your blindness of separation and ignorance and own your wisdom and power.

Ultimately, the conflicts, fears, and distractions that show up in the world only mirror those within. Showing up, facing them head on, committing to the assignment that you’re called to, and becoming a warrior of light is the only way to make progress. You’ll find peace within and without.

You have a choice to be miserable every day or live in the moment and find the peace. The chaos swirls around and there is calm at the center like a hurricane. Chaos doesn’t mean we cannot feel satisfied.

Just because there is struggle and chaos, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your live. It doesn’t have to stop us being happy or finding contentment. That part is up to us. We must learn to live in a duality one where we see the contrast between what we want and what we have, and yet be steadfast in the vision we want.

Ultimately, it’s up to you.
 
The war isn’t won with just you
You came here with an assignment, yet it is not only you that can overcome the collective manifestations of fear, anger and hatred. You have a specific design that gives you unique capacities and strengths.

Each of us must do our part. Each person and creature faces their resistance and joins the movement.

All the epics from the Mahabharata to the Iliad to the Lord of the Rings, share a tenet that the war is won by courageous individuals coming together as one chipping in their gifts and their strengths. They become partners to overcome the struggle. Slowly but surely, the tide turns. The chaos quelled and peace returns.

You have the power

You were born for this time.

‘And that soul moved aside so that this one could go forward, and one by one, each being stepped aside so that the souls with the finest possibilities of creating heaven on Earth could move to the forefront. And here you are! You made it in! And it's my job to remind you that you are the Ones….my divine purpose in this material kingdom is to actively embody this Oneness and live its unfoldment "down here",’ by Angela Peregoff from ‘The Morning Blessing.’

Yet living ‘down here’ means we do have the struggles and limitations of humanity. We forget our truth. Like all potentials within you, transcending your programming is completely up to you.

You have the power to change your epigenome, your thoughts, your environment, and your actions.

Over to You

Consider the following questions:

• What causes are you called to contribute to or participate in?
• Are some struggles in your life not worth it? Can you let them go?
• Perhaps you’re in need of clarity to change your perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
• Where do you need to commit and squarely face your resistance?
• Can you face your resistance without reservation or hesitation?
• Are you ready to transcend your struggle and find ease, grace and honour on your journey?
• Who can you ally with as you pursue your calling? 

You’ve most likely heard, that you are your genes. By and large, our programming includes the disempowerment that each of us is victims to our genes. However, the opposite is true. In reality, the epigenome, the above the DNA, gives us complete control of how the DNA is read, interpreted and executed within our body. Epi-, meaning above, refers to the mechanisms of running the programming and blueprints within our cells.

In reality, you are the director of your life. You choose the script, the actors, the scenes. It’s up to you. You create your reality and have the power to rise above your programming and your DNA.

Imagine a world where all of humanity rose up simultaneously, to claim their birth right: full liberation and empowerment. What would be possible?

​That’s why I’m optimistic. Hopefully now, you are too. 

 Photo Credit: Diana Simumpande

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?
-Langston Hughes

Many of us have dreams of serving the world, leaving a legacy of impact and leaving our mark. Or we want to have an experience of a lifetime, but life comes and goes, and the dream goes unfulfilled. It often seems so far off at times. 

We all start with the idea--fabulous, grand and meaningful. But then, we put it aside. Life steps in and changes plans but the dreams, as Langston Hughes shares in his poem Harlem, and Lorraine Hansberry captures in her play A Raisin in the Sun, the dream goes deferred. 
First I want to start by saying, dream deferment is a complicated situation, based on many factors.
1) circumstances in your environment
2) your own fears and internal resistance
3) criticism, judgement or opinions of others
4)  interruptions from others
5) excuses, justifications, rationalizations
 
 
All of these items have one thing in common. Resistance, with a capital ‘R’.
Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art shares powerful words:
“Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore, the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.”
These paths all lead to 2 choices, one that you heed the call despite, or in spite of the resistance. Or you ignore the call yet again and allow the resistance to distract you from the call.
What happens to you when you defer a dream?
Depression, PTSD, loss of hope to name a few. When you’re forced to give up on your passion or give it up under duress, it can cause physical changes to your brain. Your neurotransmitters change, the signals within the brain and to the rest of the body change. It can cause a listlessness, a lack of direction. You can feel a sense of loss or grief.
Perhaps you lose your way, not knowing why you are here and forgetting who you really are. It’s the makings of a crisis of meaning. One manifestation is the so-called dark night of the soul.
Even living in poverty or constant struggle effects the brain and its structures. These have long term implications on your epigenome and can have lingering effects from previous generations.
In short, it makes it harder to succeed in the future.
 
The science behind your choices
This choice point is paralleled in the brain’s own neural pathways.
As you’re probably aware, the subconscious runs the general programs. When you’re using your conscious brain to think, plan, visualize or contemplate, the subconscious runs the rest of the show. It runs us on autopilot. That autopilot is in the ‘on’ position, about 95 percent of the time.
If your neural networks have been practicing following your calling, facing resistance and being comfortable about being uncomfortable while you are focusing, that’s what will continue to happen when your subconscious runs the show. The opposite is also true.
Neurons that fire together, wire together. The more the specific pathway is used, the more it grows.
Your brain’s circuitry, is modelled on how the universe operates at it’s core. What we focus on, grows larger. What you regularly give your attention to, increases the affinity to that pathway and your brain, body and focus becomes more efficient and interested.
Alternatively, when you continually give up on your calling, complain, make excuses and choose the stance of victimhood, the corresponding network of neurons slowly faces attrition. When that pathway is no longer used, it is culled to make room for more of the complaints and actively looks for more reasons to complain or give up.
Bottom line: you become what you habitually do. And the more you do it, the more you’ll get good at it.
But Let’s be honest, It’s not always easy
Langston Hughes and many other pointed out the injustice of certain groups as they try to get ahead. In a Raisin in the Sun, the African-American family faces tough choices and systemic issues that make success more difficult. Make no mistake, historically, however far we have come, those hurdles still effect a larger percentage of society, than we admit to. This is in large part of this is the narrative of progress and the extent of the military-industrial complex/corporatocracy that rules the majority of the world. Minorities and those not conforming to the mainstream ways, are marginalized and their ideas and contributions do not benefit from the same advantages and weight as those who are in the so-called ‘mainstream.’
Psychologically, emotionally, and physically these structures cause damage to these marginalized individuals. It takes more courage and fortitude for these individuals to step out of their comfort zones authentically and more effort to overcome these systemic biases.
If you’re in this category of standing out because of your color, creed, orientation, gender, ability, belief, wealth, or education, then realize these structures might make following your calling more difficult. However, you can succeed. Overcoming these and other obstacles are part of your unique journey.
My own thoughts are: ‘if I was born this way, then I can succeed this way.’
Stop blaming and start taking responsibility
Instead of letting your dream be differed, I would love for you instead for you to take a moment and make these dreams a reality. Here’s some practical things to get you moving in the direction of your dreams.

A few ideas to get you started:

1) Start an account to fund your dream, aka a freedom fund. 

Take a part of your income and funnel it towards your dream. It doesn't have to be much. For those of you not used to doing this, start with setting aside as little as 1% or .5%. That means for £1 or 50p for every £100 you bring in. For many of us, we do not notice it. You can put it in a separate account or simply hold it in an envelope or jar. My advice: Keep it simple and consistent. Increase your commitment by guarding against spending and increasing the percentage saved.
2) Start saying ‘yes’ to your calling.
Make a list of activities that can take you in the direction of your calling. Each task should be simple and take about 10 minutes. Start each day by selecting one item to finish. This item is the most important task to complete for you. Each day you do this, is a way of saying ‘yes’ to your calling and wires your brain to see more possibilities and become more efficient at the task as you move forward. Celebrate your win and reset the bar tomorrow back at 1 item. My advice: do it within 5 seconds of your inspiration to bypass the resistance. And do it regularly until it becomes a habit. It’s just as important as brushing your teeth.

3) Eat to support your DNA, brain and wellbeing
Everyday your body is conducting necessary repairs, replacing old worn out cells and tissue and copying your DNA. You become what you eat, digest and assimilate, quite literally. Not only will fresh foods give you more energy than the processed counterparts, it’s tasty and more appealing. It’s like building a structure with low quality materials, you’ll also get a low-quality output and product. My advice: start crowding out the foods that are less than ideal with whole, fresh foods.
4) Say ‘No’ to resistance, clutter and distraction.
Just as it important to hardwire your brain to naturally say yes to your calling by overcoming the resistance, it is equally important to cull the habits, focus, thoughts, beliefs, relationships and things that take us in the opposite direction of your calling. My advice: take an inventory of your life and let go of the things that no longer serve you and your calling.
5) Get used to fear.
It’s impossible to make decisions and take action in the direction of your dreams when you are constantly in fear. Your brain and body can only focus on one item, protection from fears or perceived threats, or growth. Each time you focus on growth, you face the fear but shift your focus from fear to possibility. Perception is key. Change and growth require you to see fear in a new light, they are a part of the journey not a cause for alarm. My advice: Learn to listen to your fear, but take regular inspired action in spite of it.
6)  'Assume the feeling of a wish fulfilled'
This is a powerful quote from Neville Goddard. Start by finding out what it would feel like, in your body, if the wish were to be fulfilled. Would it feel different than your negative thoughts--surely! Feel it from the thoughts, the sensations and the emotions in your body. Memorize that feeling by focusing on it every day, as often as possible. In doing so, you not only activate your creative capacities, you unrehearse the old pattern and you build new neural networks in your brain. My advice: every morning before you start your day and the last five minutes before you fall asleep. Watch what happens and take note on what ideas, coincidences and synchronicities show up. 

7) Watch your thoughts, beliefs and perceptions.

Gay Hendricks talks about this in his phenomenal book, The Big Leap. We all have at least a few upper limits in our lives. The key is to realize that often these thoughts & impulses that come up are not real, but rehearsed states. The body wants it's chemical hit for the day and it goads us into feeling our usual way to keep us safe. When we step outside of that, expect resistance in it's myriad of forms. And Michael Neill shares in his book, Effortless Success, that a thought is like the weather. It flits by but we don't need to take it seriously. We have many thoughts, but a fair number are repetitive and come from our unchecked subconscious. My advice: Instead, notice your own patterns and find resources and a support system to help you through.
My final thoughts:
Don’t lose heart. You are the creator of your reality. You have the ultimate power. It’s your story that needs to emerge and you have a hand in the outcome.
Don’t let your dreams get deferred. Don’t wait for regrets to haunt you.
 
Over to You:
Do you have a dream deferred?
What will you do to allow yourself to dream, prioritize and act on that dream?
Why is that dream important to you?
Is some part of that dream already in your life or available to you?
What do you have to let go of to make room for you dream?
What have you been doing, thinking, believing, that keeps you from realizing your dream?

I'm internally marvelling at what a fantastic job the institutions, government, corporations, and media have done in indoctrinating humans to forget their true power. From before birth, especially during our formative years, a massive amount of indoctrination takes place about how to be 'good citizens' and 'good consumers' and 'good workers'.

Have you fallen for it? Don't blame yourself, it's hard not to!

In fact, in the way they manufacture consent in our system is many fold and ever changing to keep us penned in. A form of slavery that is insidious, we don’t even realize the extent the programming has chained us. 

1) The media is a talking piece for the elite, dominant culture to indoctrinate you and the masses. They select, manipulate, manufacture, reject and create sound bites to maintain this and their control over us, all while covertly pretending to be independent and challenging the status quo.
 
2) The complicity between institutions, like schools, universities, research centers, government, all levels from local to international, and corporations, including conglomerates and many charities, seek to control you. They aim to heavily indoctrinate the 20% who will be in control, through key jobs: teachers, doctors, managers, civil servants, etc. so they will in turn indoctrinate and control others, as well as maintain the status quo. The remaining 80% are the proles. We’ll come back to these individuals, but they are the ones who lose out the most in this system.
 
3) When people step outside of the system and speak up they are clobbered. Clobbered by discreditation from the media and other indoctrinated ‘experts’ that will toe the party line and defend the profit interests of the elite. They lose their platform. They lose their ethos. What’s even more interesting is that others, the other sheep who have also been indoctrinated, will clobber these individuals too.
 
4) Democracy, authoritarian governments, left/right wing, are all manufactured terms and ways that we are further controlled. In the so-called ‘west’ we are given the illusion of freedom, but we are heavily controlled. What to buy, who to speak to, what to think about, all our habits are tracked and used to further manipulate. In fact, the entire system is staged and rigged in the favor of the elite dominate culture.
 
5) Advertisers are paying for audiences, they are paying for your attention. And the more connected our world, the more they are tapping into these systems. They want your attention and insidious ways to tap into your attention, your lifestyle and ultimately your money. From birth to cradle, the effects of marketing are far-reaching and impact everything from your choice of careers, to the toothpaste you buy, to the way you view (or are ignorant of) your own empowerment.
 
6) They externalize costs, like child/slave labor, using harsh chemicals and toxins, privatization of water and other necessary commodities, price fixing and other forms of tacit collusion, are ways that corporations reap the profits, leave the mess and ignore those who are hurt by their ways. They silence these narratives that oppose their own through their own talking pieces known as ‘mainstream’ media.
 
7) History is written and documented from the perspective of the elite and the so-called ‘winners’. A narrative of ‘progress’, is well pounded into us. The fact that white lives matter more than others is sacrosanct. Men will be men. The mother earth is made for us to conquer. Minorities and immigrants are drains on society and do not contribute. These and countless other lies are not just told, but lived around us.
 
8) Ever present war and aggression are part of the system of dominance and control. The aggression is necessary to keep people from rising up and is part of the system to distract and maintain specific story lines of progress, protection and other false narratives. 

I’m not telling you this to make you afraid or upset. If it does upset you, well good, maybe it will rile you up into action.
 
I’m telling you this because the truth of the matter is the power has ALWAYS been inside you. You, and ONLY YOU, has the power to change yourself. And in saving yourself, you will save the world.
 

If you’re in the 20% it may be harder to step outside of the system, your very existence appears to be dependent on maintaining it. But take heart and know there are others, like me, who have done it and are thriving.
 
If you’re in the 80% you have nothing to lose. Yes, you may lose relationships, jobs, beliefs but you will have the most to gain. You can take back your health. Take back your relationships. Follow your calling. See and experience the world.
 
In the words of Winston Smith from 1984 (by George Orwell):
"But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire.  They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies.  If they chose they could blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning.  Surely sooner or later it must occur to them to do it?  And yet -----!”

​Will it occur to you? And more importantly, will you do something about it?
Rise up. If you want to learn how to take back your power from these sources and learn to listen to your internal guidance and do the real work you came to do, get in touch. 

I am Anuradha Kowtha CEO of Manifest By Design. I'm a proud American and Brit, and proud of the south Indian heritage from my own immigrant parents. I'm also have a B.S. in Biology, an M.A. in Rhetoric. I'm an experienced educator, researcher, editor and business owner. I'm also an accomplished Bharata Natyam dancer and painter. I've also had the courage to follow my calling: speaking my truth, however uncomfortable, letting go of careers, homes, relationships and beliefs that are not in alignment, and pursuing that life of meaning and freedom that is our birth right. 
​

1) I'm here to empower you, if you are ready to commit to your soul's calling and your liberation.
2) I'm honest to a fault. I won't tolerate lies, excuses and B.S because fulfilling your ultimate calling before it’s too late is far too important. You can't change the world and be impact to your clients if you are hiding behind your b.s. As direct as I can be, I do my best to deliver it with love.
3) My unique blend of design, training and experience means that I am here to be in service of conscious evolution using science based personal development tools. I will empower you to dismantle the programming and beliefs that keep you stuck.
4) I can understand you, your design and help you remember who you are and why you are here, before you bought the lies and dis-empowered beliefs. And express it it, mirror it, and help you integrate it to create the results you want to produce and reach your next level. 
5) I promise that after 12 months working side by side with me, you will be utterly unrecognizable. You'll be creating big things and learning to create sustainable transformation in multiple areas of your life simultaneously. 

In short, your success is my success.

Are you ready to follow your calling to the ends of the earth? To fulfill your highest potential with bravery and courage? It's not a journey for fainthearted. I'm ready, are you ready to go? Request a consultation and let's do this!
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