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| Kindle Editon |
Do you know what it means to be alive?
Do you know what it means to be alive? Have you ever asked yourself if there's more to life than this? But you're busy...You have a career, a family, a social life and all that inner peace stuff looks so time consuming. And surely it means trekking to off-beat locations? Well it doesn't! Inner peace is a lot more simple than you think. In Dance with Life a very modern Mira explores the realm of the heart under the practiced eye of a life-changing teacher. The journey is within, she doesn't even have to leave her front room! Travel with her and you might find that you'll never look at life in quite the same way again.
This is a book that I believe everyone should have because I didn't have it when I needed it. But I'm certainly not into forced selling so please read all the information here and get a sense of the book by reading the extract and the quotes before making your own mind up about whether you want to explore further.
What was the inspiration that led you to write Dance with Life?
I was very young when I started on my own spiritual journey. At that time there were very few books on awakening or on how to understand the process of spiritual exploration. The books that were there were, I felt, very masculine and very centered on the practical 'how to' as it were, of self development but absolutely nothing on the feeling or the emotional experience. My question all the time as I journeyed was 'But how should this feel?'
As I developed on my own journey I realised that the emotional connection, this emphasis on the feeling aspect of the journey, although the same for everyone male and female alike, was a vital element for the female journeyer and had been completely ignored in all the books I came across.
The experience for me was a very feeling one, almost poetic and beyond words at times. As the heart opens and begins to sing its song, the world changes utterly and becomes an interconnected bliss bubble of colour and feeling, rather than a philosophical theory or abstraction. It is that change in perception that I wanted to express in Dance with Life. So as a result it is a poetic and lyrical book and it is written with a very feminine bias. Interestingly though, many man have come back to me and told me that they have really connected with it too which is really lovely to hear.
Why is the book framed as a series of Acts which involve conversations with a Master figure?
Dance with Life is written as a fictionalized story, but is based on real experience and real feeling. From Act I onwards the story is situated in the imagination and heart of the main character, Mira. Her day to day life continues on as normal, but I leave out almost all reference to her daily life and concern myself only with what she is learning, experiencing and feeling as she travels on the road of her own heart. I do this because from my own experience the process of inner learning very often continues in a symbolic and synchronous way, in tandem with the flow of day to day life.
The role of the Master in the book refers not only to my own teacher, but also to the many teachings I came across on my own journey, both from within my own self and from outside sources. I like it if the reader just lets the Master be whoever is important to them. If you're a Christian it can be Christ, if you're a Buddhist it can be Buddha and so on, or if you just like the idea of a higher self then the Master role can be that universal wisdom personifying itself in that persona.
It doesn't matter at all who you decide the Master is to be. It's far more important to understand and feel that there is a kind guiding force in the universe that speaks to us in many ways when we are still and quiet enough to hear. A safe pair of hands in essence, that only has your best interests at heart and has walked the walk before you and can guide you without any egoic desire for influence or power.
Is there anything else you want to add?
Yes this is a gentle but powerful book. It is simple but deep. Each Act can be taken as a lesson and a stage to apply in your own life. I say now to people that it is life changing as in the seven years of its published life to date I have had so many very personal letters and emails from people who tell me that it did change their lives. I have also heard from people who were facing the end of their physical lives and said all they wanted was to read Dance with Life daily. This is deeply moving for me and not something I can take any responsibility for as I have always said this book came not from me but through me. I'm just the messenger and I am learning every day myself, but even I read Dance with Life regularly! It never fails to confront and teach me and I (allegedly!) wrote it...
I'm delighted that it is now on Kindle as this is a book to carry around with you and treat as a treasured friend. You can dip in and out of it as you wish. Even opening a random page often leads you to exactly what you needed to hear.
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| Paperback edition |
Excerpt from Dance with Life
Prologue‘Do you know what it means to be alive?’ he asks.
‘Do you understand that life is only a moment, just one moment after another?
Do you understand that?
There is no going back, no skipping ahead, just the moment called now, just the feeling that you carry within you.
Do you realise how much time is lost by spending all the
yesterdays dreaming of tomorrows?
All the ‘should haves’ and ‘could haves’ are meaningless.
Tragedy is when you realise this too late.
Tragedy is when the first experience and understanding of this reality comes with the last breath.’
She looks at him and sees the universe dance in his eyes. Who is he? She’s not sure, but the clarity in his gaze melts all doubt from her heart. In meeting his gaze she can feel the feeling of which he speaks. It is the most profound. It is a homecoming. She never wants to leave. He looks away and she is cut adrift. He smiles.
‘If you want this feeling,’ he continues, ‘if you want this kind of love, I can help you find it. It is within you. You cannot meet me at the crossroads. You must make a commitment to your own journey. No one else can do this for you. But just take one step towards me and the universe itself will bend to meet you.’
Quotes from Dance with Life
‘This is not a journey with outcomes,’ he said. ‘The journey is the destination. I can accompany you on this journey but it is your journey and I cannot take your steps for you. You need to feel it in your own heart. Face it with clarity and with courage.’
....
‘The inner voice can see in all directions,’ he replied. ‘To know yourself you must get to know your capacity in all directions. Good and bad are not qualities that exist outside. They are inside every human being. To be unaware of this would be to mislead yourself. Take time, let this settle. Look at what is around you; see things for what they are. Sometimes this will involve just seeing something exactly for what it is. Sometimes it will be to look beyond what is apparent. Listen to your gut feeling it is often a very good mouthpiece for the heart.’
....
Light is a real thing. It overpowers darkness on every level. I can’t remove another curtain and let darkness in to engulf the light. I can only create darkness by blocking out the light, but the light is always there, waiting for a chink through which it can pour. Even the smallest spark, the tiniest chink will let the light in. Never forget that. Even when it seems to be the darkest place, never forget that the light is there, waiting for the moment when you allow it to seep in.’
...
‘See this hand,’ he continued, holding one hand up, ‘imagine it’s your physical self with all its hopes and dreams. It has a finite route. It is made of the elements and it will return to the elements. Now see this hand,’ he said, holding the other up, ‘imagine this is the place inside that you have just experienced. This has been, is, and always will be.’ He joined his hands, interweaving the fingers. He smiled. ‘This is life. This is the merger of the finite and the infinite. Through the amazing feeling machine that is your finite self, your infinite nature can play in the symphony of life. With every breath the finite and the infinite meet. Their point of union is contained in that breath. It’s as close as the two realms can ever get to one another. The point of being alive, of understanding the nature of this breath is to feel and to experience this gift of life.’
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The heart feels no chaos. Its drumbeat is simplicity. Its desire is to be in love and to feel no duality. It is the happiness of contentment. Chaos lives in the mind, in the nerves, in the sinews. It feeds on turbulent emotions, on the rapid firing of agitated brain cells; it battles against the simple calm of the soul. The dark night of the soul lives in the mind. Only the mind can create the very traps that lead it to self-destruct.
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Let no room for doubt in your heart. The heart is never off course. Trust in that.’
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Every unconscious moment sets the seeds for a future disaster. There is always choice. You can choose to be swallowed by fear or you can choose to remove yourself from the control of fear. Do you have the ability to make that choice? Yes, because you are choosing to learn now about the process of living consciously.
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‘The world!’ he exclaimed. ‘The world is a very peaceful rock floating in a very calm solar system. I don’t see Earth rushing at Venus or Mars, challenging them to a fight! And it has a very fortunate position, if it was anywhere else, Earth could be constantly bombarded by meteors. Instead it’s lucky to bump into something only every few million years or so. This world, this planet Earth, doesn’t need to seek peace, it already has it. It is people who create the wars, the random acts of violence, the hatred and destruction. And yet inside every human being is the most perfect peace. Every individual heart must seek that peace, must become conscious that everything connects, that taking responsibility for making the world a better place starts first within each person. Unconscious behaviour has a heavy cost.’ ‘The heaviest cost being death,’ she said. ‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘The heaviest cost is in failing to notice life.’
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‘The true miracle of life lies in the breath and in the ability to experience the divine within. There are no other miracles,’ he added, ‘plenty of unusual phenomena maybe, but no other miracles. Too often the unusual takes over and the truly miraculous is forgotten.’
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