I sat wrestling with the “I” in my mind
The “I” who was not worthy
The “I” who was not capable
The “I” who was not loveable

But if I can witness the “I” in my mind
Then the “I” cannot be me
For if “I” can observe the “I” that “I” am
Than “I” cannot be the observer
And the observed at the same time

I am free

C. David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler

Over twenty-two years I started studying in an effort to build a new career, a new life plan. Up till that point my life was quite empty in many ways, though it appeared I was having the time of my life traveling the globe. What I was doing in essence was running away from myself, but as the saying goes “no matter where I go, there I am”. The very first book I read was “ I am Joes Body” which was a great book where the body was describing itself and all its functions, and it was this first book that started my journey as an explorer and a researcher of everything related to human development.

My fascination grew as I realized that one, I had a unique mind that seemed to hold onto abstract ideas and concepts easily, and secondly, I recognized there was a need to share all the amazing discoveries I had discovered between the pages of all the books I had read. I remember being in a gym training and as I looked around I was aware at how many people were wandering...

Due to the extended amount time I have had alone with my thoughts here in Nicaragua and my ever curious mind, I took to wondering how much of my life actually was traumatic and how much of it was it safe. The reason for the thought process was generated by two things, firstly, I have big goals for next year and I was accepted into a master mind group of 20 individuals who are focused on creating massive impact in the world and for their own businesses. Secondly, I came across a video by Carolyn Myss, who I have been a fan of for a few years, and she punched me in the throat with her wisdom and no bullshit way of getting the point across, we truly need more people like her in the world.
Let’s start with what Carolyn Myss had provided me with, which was basically this, “Liars will never heal”. Okay, if you ever listened to Carolyn Myss you know she is a straight shooter, and her objective is to get us out of rut quickly, and she was talking about the years wasted...

A while ago I was struggling to put together some material for a leadership course I am involved in and I finally found out why. Over the years I have been an avid student of the mind ~ body ~ spirit and the journey has been incredible. What I have learned and been able to share with others has been such a joy, it has become my life’s work. Yet, despite all the knowledge accrued over these past twenty years or so there are still areas that show up where all my knowledge doesn’t help, where everything I have ever learnt seems to simply disappear like mist in the morning sun. I cannot tell you how frustrating that is, to know better but not be able to do better.
For example, I started weight training at the age of 13 but I did not step on a stage to compete until the age of 47, it took 34 years for me to get to a place where I had the courage to step on stage and be judged by others. Was that the piece, the being judge by others, the reason why we don’t do better? Or...

I had the honor to speak to a group of like-minded people last night in Sylvan Lake about the power of self-awareness and this is some of what I shared. In my studies these past 20 years I have discovered a few simple truths as I have come to understand them regarding self awareness. The first truth I have come to understand is that you cannot believe everything you think. The random impulses of ideas, concepts and judgements need to be screened as they enter our minds before we give them credence. Quiet often echoes from the past jump into the forefront of our mind and demand our attention and we are often mislead by their message of lack, fear or shame. The second truth I have come to understand is that there is a universal law that states everything must change, going from being organized and in flow to being pushed into a more chaotic state as a way to force growth to a high level of consciousness. This process happens over and over throughout our lives and is a law, not a...

I haven’t written much in a while, perhaps because I’ve been focused on getting back into reading and doing more Vlog’s than blogs, but that is something I wish to change. When I write, I feel more like a painter, and with a pallet of letters and words I can create far more expressively than the spoken word. I know that people today are so busy now that they won’t read a long article, that the average attention span of most people today prevents them engaging with anything too wordy (is that meaning books as well??) But do I want to encourage more “shallow thinking” or do I wish to encourage deeper introspection? With so much “fast food information” available, I think that many of us are losing the ability to think deeply, have a lateral imagination, and with not exercising the brain, our brain health even suffers.

The reason for digging into heavier topics is the same reason I work out, to challenge the muscles of my body, including...

I have spent some time pondering the differences and similarities of connection verses significance. At first look they seem quite similar, but at their core they are diametrically opposed. Why I leaned into this musing was based on my own journey through life and where my struggles were and then working with others in their pursuit of their significance and connection and a pattern of behavior begin to appear. So what is the difference between connection and significance? Connection I believe has more to do with an investment in another, the development of rapport, the desire to bond with another who shares similar values and philosophy. There is a whole-heartiness’ and vulnerability (thanks to Brene Brown) that allows one to “connect” with another that is unique. I remember in the movie “Avatar” where the lead character was learning how to ride the animals of that particular world as a part of the bonding process he had to “connected” with...

Do you ever have one of those days when a series of unrelated thoughts, or seemingly unrelated, collide in your mind and you find yourself suddenly realizing a new proud truth (well, new to me that is) that draws upon years of reading, musing and life experiences. That was my experience today and I have been harassed by this intuitive nudge for most of the day, and the realization was simply this, life is just a series of questions we continually ask in a variety of ways, as we fervently seek to find meaning in everything we experience or wish to create. What does that look like you may ask? Well, when we get dressed in the morning and look in the mirror we are assessing ourselves to make sure we look presentable so the internal questions would be, “is my hair okay”, we bare our teeth and the question is, “is there any plaque in my teeth”, or we scan our clothing and ask, “does this look okay”? The assessments we make continuously are simply a...

When you want something, it presupposes that you are lacking in some way. It is okay to "want", more of something else, but the issues is with the emotions of "wanting".

We see in our culture there is a great amount of "wanting" in the form of achieving greater wealth, great health and greater status. The problem is in the feelings associated with "wanting". If we achieve what we have been "wanting" we are often dissatisfied because of the familiarity with the feelings of wanting, we set our sights on something else so we can return to the wanting state!!

The trick is to focus on the feelings of "having”, feeling the feelings of what it would be life would be like if we had it already, and once we achieved that end we would be able to take satisfaction of achieving that goal...

C. David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler

Over the years I have read references of how power of a word is, from the bibles caution of an unbridled tongue, to philosophers recognition of the power of the spoken word to literally create our world. But really now, they are just words, aren’t they? There are two points we can look at when it comes to explore this topic, one from the world of quantum physics, secondly from the study of the brain. Physics tells us that there is no true reality, that there only exist “waves of possibilities” and that reality only happens when we focus on a certain point in space, when we “decide” on one course of action or another, thereby eliminating all other possibilities for the one we focused on. The key here is there were other possibilities but we decided to choose “one over the other”, for better or worse. So how do we make these choices? Why do we make the bad ones over the good ones at times? It has been a question I have been asking myself for...