Introducing the one-day website course

For the last few weeks, I’ve been preparing to launch yourwebsitecourse. A one-day workshop that teaches people everything they need to create and manage their own website, using WordPress.

Yes, I’ll be sharing a few tricks of the trade. But seeing as I’m the only person who knows some of those tricks, I think that’s fair enough.

Anyway, I won’t keep you any longer. Here’s a link to the website with all the details, in case you missed the links in the image and the first sentence of this post. Of course, the course can be taught anywhere there’s a suitable venue and a few students prepared to receive a tidal wave of useful information. If someone just popped into your mind while reading that, send them my way. The price is deliberately small so the largest number of people can benefit, although class sizes will be limited to a maximum of eight.

(I did say this blog would have something to say about copywriting occasionally. This is it for now. Coming soon – doing one thing at a time.)

How to survive the global emergency

Think of this as the pre-flight briefing. You know, the bit where they say, “In case of emergency, put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping those next to you. Do not worry if the bag does not inflate, air is flowing”. In other words, make sure you are OK before trying to help other people.

How? You’ll be delighted to hear that it’s effortlessly easy – and something you’ve been doing since the moment you were born. You breathe.

[Don’t be surprised if your thinking mind jumps in here and screams, “THAT’S RIDICULOUS! LOOK AT ALL THE REASONS THAT’S NOT TRUE!” This is completely normal and I’ll explain why in a couple of paragraphs.]

Give yourself 30 seconds to try this now: Take a deep breath and notice the sensations as you breath all the way in, and all the way out. It doesn’t matter what you notice – the feeling inside your nostrils, your chest rising and falling, your stomach moving, the sudden realisation that you can feel your feet on the floor, or hear a noise that’s been going on all the time – any or all of that. What is important is to notice it. To pay attention to it.

The wonderful thing about paying attention to the breath and the body is that your thinking mind calms down. [This is why it objected before. Your thinking mind wants your attention. Unfortunately, it takes that attention and drags you into worrying scenarios that will never happen exactly like you imagine. It wastes your time and causes you unnecessary stress and anxiety. More on all that later.] When the thinking mind calms down, peace breaks out. This peace is always there, hidden by the chaos of usually negative, repetitive, compulsive thinking – like the blue sky obscured by passing clouds.

The trick is to stop the mind. Even a gap of one second is enough to give you some relief. Here’s a sentence that did this for me a few years ago: “Don’t believe everything you think”. These days, I’d go further and say don’t believe anything you think. Written or spoken, whatever appears after “I think…” can be considered personal opinion. Significant, yes. But not the truth.

Back to our global emergency. The oxygen masks have dropped. The pilots, our political leaders, are behind an assault-proof door. Hopefully they’ll figure out how to land the thing safely. But for now, all we can do is put on the oxygen mask and breathe.

Whatever happens, we’ll be OK. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think so (see above). As soon as you start taking care of yourself, noticing your breath, and glimpsing the peace that exists between and beyond thought, you will see for yourself.

 

PS I will also talk about copywriting on this blog. But for the moment, this is more important.

To save the world outside, we must start with the world inside

Indulge me, if you will, while I explain what on earth I have been doing for the last three years. You may find some of this uncomfortable – and that’s OK.

When I wrote the post before last, I was in crisis. My relationship with the mother of my children had come to an end the previous September. I had been alcohol and THC free since the New Year, having discovered I could out-consume everyone I knew. (Yes, even Simon. You don’t know Simon, but if you did, you’d be rightfully alarmed.) The planet-friendly family yurt camp business I had spent many years building had past its peak. And I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do next.

[IMPORTANT ASIDE: In the depth of my crisis, a friend gave me two important books. They were The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle and Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda. The second one may be a bit out there for you – and it takes a couple of days just to pronounce his name properly – but if you haven’t read the first, get hold of a copy immediately. You, or someone you love, will need it in the months ahead. While you’re at it, pick up Tolle’s A New Earth, too. END OF ASIDE]

[UNEXPECTED SECOND ASIDE: From the first of January 2016, I had started a regular meditation practice, and begun to dabble in yoga. ENDS.]

My old life continued to dissolve. I was given a new client by an old colleague, but the company closed as soon as I finished my first job for them. The country of my birth, which I previously thought was civilised, allegedly voted to leave the European Union. Donald Trump was installed as president of the US, fatally weakening the credibility of the entire English-speaking world. And ecological collapse gathered pace at frightening speed.

I was OK though. I was meditating through it all. I was reading useful books and watching useful videos. I accepted that planet Earth was on course for a titanic disaster and there was little I could do to help. Remembering every disaster needs an orchestra, I put my attention on my other core skill – music – and have been performing through southwest France. Here’s my website to show I take this quite seriously. You may even see me on TV again, in the UK, this spring.

But that’s not important right now.

Right now, the world is entering a stage of chaos that will seem overwhelming. We will see horrors never previously imagined. And playing beautiful songs is not enough. Not when heroes like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Greta Thunberg are showing what an impact one person can make.

So I am coming out of the woods.

I am dedicating my mind, body and spirit to healing our horrifically damaged home.

Yes, I can do little. But the little I can do, I will.

On the other side of this darkness is a brighter, healthier, even more beautiful world.

It exists already and does not require belief. (I’ll try and explain this later.)

It’s up to us, together, to bring it about.

So – let’s get to work.

 

PS You can have a direct impact on the world outside – right now – just by putting your attention on a single breath. More on this tomorrow.

PPS I forgot to explain why, according to yesterday’s post, the three-year gap was amazing. Because on February 5th this year, I started working with a lovely new client. More on them later…