AndrewBrunelle.com

In our daily lives, I feel we have an intrinsic need to be inspired. We should focus on doing what fulfills us to our very core, to the point we no longer care if it makes us money, just that it puts us in a state of joy. I’ve been doing some soul searching lately looking for a solution to an impending problem with my career in the future and now that I got clarity from people around me, asking around and figuring out what it is I really want to do with my life, I get this sort of inspiration, where everything flows effortlessly. Becoming someone who can inspire others to make the same or similar changes in their lives is something I can only hope to accomplish. Being a model for improvement, for “creative self-expression,” as Steve Pavlina says in his latest podcast, which I listened to hours after I had the same realization he did. I somehow feel like reality is telling me what to do with my life, and all I need to do is keep working to align myself with it. I can fight it, or I can embrace it and come into resonance with my true purpose.

The whole catalyst for this new event happened five years ago with my brain tumor experience. It allowed me to see things through a different perspective, a perspective that is full of joy and abundance. It is seeing life with such inherent optimism that you just want to spread it throughout the world. It is living the way we truly were meant to. I’m not sure if this sort of thing makes sense to you, but it certainly makes sense to me. It is the only thing that keeps me going in the morning. It gives me so much strength just to embrace this purpose. And it feels so wonderful.

So, I know how much I enjoy writing and speaking and inspiring others to really see what you can accomplish if you really set your mind to something. I am planning on changing my career to one in communications and no longer wasting my time on the mathematics that are starting to be a royal pain. That part of me is now gone. But a better part has taken its place. I feel that if I can actively pursue this purpose, I can change lives. I can make people live better. I can do things that I never thought were possible. And this is what brings me closer and closer every day. Just thinking about my purpose and what I need to do to align myself fully with this purpose. If I can do this, then I will naturally be able to help others and be who I need to be.

When I get into my writing, and I have complete concentration, unlike I do right now, I feel like the writing is effortless. It just flows so naturally, because I am just being who I truly am. You can’t fake that. You just enjoy it so much, you feel like your heart will burst from the amount of joy that is contained within it. Even though I love to perform stand-up comedy, it is not the best contribution I can make. I can do more. I may keep the comedy on the side as a hobby, but truly helping people wake up and live the life they’ve always wanted is something I feel I can help others do. What I really need to do is keep working towards becoming the person who can do this effectively and consistently. And it will be an enjoyable process because I will enjoy the journey and the destination. That is why I know it will be worth it. It’s not about immediate results. It’s about relishing every experience.

Well, I hope this inspired someone out there in the blogosphere. I do what I can with what I have. I’m working on developing all my skills to communicate this better, and I can see remnants of improvement every day. It’s not about your life circumstances so much, it’s more about choosing to own your feelings and taking that joy into everything you do. You internally create the joy and express it outward into all of the things you do. And it allows for some intense inner peace. It is just very Zen. Just staying in the present flow state is worth its weight in gold. Good luck.

P.S. I guess the big problem I was having was what is called social drag, where people still identify you with the person you used to be. It’s just hard to get out of that, when everyone looks at you as a math person and you have moved so far away from that you never want to see another equation again. I’m a word man now. It certainly makes more sense now than ever before.

As many of you know who read this blog, I choose to live a simple life. This was a choice I made after getting ill with my brain cancer. Part of it was I saw all the trivial items that people buy as the trivial things they were. I even saw life for the trivial event it is. If you really think about it, with all the billions of people on this Earth, why is your life so special? People are born and people die every day. It is a fact of life. You could die today, you could die tomorrow, you could die 50 years from now. So, the question I asked myself was: What do I want to live for? I know I have shortcomings from the brain tumor and I am often unable to do things I once enjoyed, such as play sports and exercise without getting a headache. But I knew I could make some difference, something to put a positive spin on the life we all experience together. I feel that if I can make people feel good about themselves and help them to make the world a better place, I have done my job.

I am still in the process of aligning myself fully to this goal. There are a lot of distractions. But I have tried my best to limit those distractions. The way my mind works (now) is different from the way it used to work. My short-term memory can be shoddy at times and I have trouble concentrating if there is any noise around me. I am limited in many facets, but my ability to contribute is still there, beyond the shell that houses me. It often feels like a spirit is typing through my body, as if I am channeling wisdom from a higher source. And it is the only thing that truly allows me to forget about the limitations I have and move into the present. And that is the only time I truly have power. It is the time when I truly see everything in its true perspective. I don’t worry so much about all the things around me that could cuase stress or worry. I just tap into myself and let my fingers do the typing.

Stripping myself of all excess distractions is a work in process. There is just so much pressure to conform to societal norms. Social conditioning is just so powerful. If everyone around you still follows the script of social conditioning, then you are stuck in what is called social drag. You’ve undergone a radical shift in your thinking, but those around you still associate with the old script and the old you. For example, it is an unwritten rule that when you get out of school, you need to get a job or you are considered some kind of loser or bum. Even if the job leaves you miserable every day and you feel like there is no way out, you still need to slave at this workplace and subordinate to some guy who is just as miserable as you. But it’s not like we have a choice, right? Wrong.

If you can find a way to live comfortably without having to get a job, go for it. Understanding that meeting your needs independent of time is the most valuable commodity you can possibly imagine is the first step. You basically do what you want to do and make a great living anyway. I’ve read many books about people who follow this belief system and they are rich beyond anyone I know and they are completely fulfilled–because they are following their purpose. It is what they feel they must do. And doing it to them does not feel like work, it is an immense joy. It is a mindset rooted in abundance.

But, in order to pursue a dream like this, you need to burn bridges. You need to triage ruthlessly (borrowed from Steve Pavlina). Anything that either does not contribute to your purpose or (even worse) inhibits your purpose gets thrown or given away. You do everything you can to align yourself with the person you want to be. You start acting, looking, and speaking like the person you want to become. You start thinking the thoughts of success and a renowned faith that everything will work out okay. You put complete faith in the universe to bring you what you align yourselt with and then life gets easier. At least the part of your life that has to do with your purpose. I’m not saying doing your taxes will be a joy, but when you are in the flow state, you will just love the fact that you are alive. When you look at what you are accomplishing, you will be amazed. You will feel truly grateful that you are blessed with all these talents. You will become your purpose.

I am just so happy to be able to do this. It is a joy on so many levels. It allows me to express myself in ways I otherwise could not. This is where it all comes out and it feels wonderful. I abandon the trivial and work for principles that are everlasting. I become a man who is focused on service, rather than focused on personal achievement or stroking my ego. I no longer place my self-worth in external events because I have a sense of inner knowing that everything is all right. No matter what happens, my spirit is safe. The most fundamental part of me cannot be harmed, and that is the only part of me that truly matters. And if you haven’t made it here yet, don’t worry. Be patient. If you have the intention to do so, it will come. Things will not always go your way, but that’s okay. You have the power to choose your emotions. You have the power to respond and not react. You have the ability to invoke positive change in the world. And it will fulfill you more than anything you can imagine. Good luck.

I’ve read in multiple places that viewing life as a dream is probably the best way to feel centered in it. It also puts things in their proper perspective. If you think about it, it is not that far off. I’ve had a dream within a dream before and experienced what they call a “false awakening,” where I wake up from the dream within a dream and I’m still dreaming, but now back to the frist level of dreaming. So, to me, it is not that far-fetched that life is nothing but a dream. But if it is a dream, it is one of the most creative and imaginative dreams I have ever seen. It’s hard to really describe the feeling you get from adopting this sort of belief system because you have to try it for yourself. It is like having a lucid dream in real life. I’ve had a few lucid dreams in the past and I think becoming lucid in reality could make life that much easier and joyful to live.

When you dream and become lucid, you do not only identify with your physical body in that dream. You identify with the whole dream. It is something that is happening inside your consciousness. It is all unfolding there and anything is possible. You are open to multiple possibilities because you know it is a dream. Let’s just say, for a second, that you one day decide to view reality as a dream. So, with this belief system, anything becomes possible, with respect to your belief system. You start to identify with all of reality, and not just your physical body, and therefore, you can start influencing the universe to get things in alignment with your purpose. Every thought you have is now an intention to either swing reality in your favor or against it. And no matter where you are now, you get this inner sense of joy that drives you to take joyful actions.

You accept everything as it is and you can now choose if you want to change anything. You start to lose identification with your ego and you now realize that you are everything. I am not talking about the physical body you, but the you above it all, the you that encompasses everything. All your fear disappears and so do most other limiting beliefs, to the degree you can hold this belief system. Whenever I get into really, truly believing this belief system, I feel terrific. It is just an inner sense of knowing that this is the way reality really works. It gives you a sense of unconditional security. You are not so worried about your physical body anymore. Even if it dies, you still have the rest of you. Your body is but a small part of your whole self.

But it brings on a new responsibility. Anything that happens out there is essentially your fault. The good, the bad, the ugly. So, when something terrible happens, like a terrorist attack or a tsunami, you have to take credit for being the cause of it. I just wouldn’t go to the cops and confess just yet. It is a renowned perspective that encompasses all boundaries. You start to realize that the only limitations in the universe are your own mind. So I start to debug my mental software to only include empowering beliefs. It is a process that takes years, maybe even a whole lifetime. But it is something that increases your joy the farther you get down this path. And it is certainly better than holding all these negative beliefs. I am getting better at this every day and there are many times when I surprise myself. Things I did not think were possible are now not only possible, but a common occurrence. Beliefs shape reality. Thoughts create beliefs. Using locial reasoning, it is safe to say that thoughts shape reality. There’s a lesson in deductive reasoning.

Now I need to start monitoring my thoughts on a daily basis. Whenever a limiting thought comes into my head, I replace it with an empowering one. If I am ever thinking, “I can’t do this,” I immediately replace it with, “I can do this and I will.” It is a form of mental conditioning that works to your advantage. You need to start by accepting the truth and then moving on from there. You need to look at the dream you are living in with truthful eyes and then accept what it is you have. Then, if you feel so inclined, you can move to improve different parts of it as you move along this plane of existence. It is, by far, the most empowering way to live I have come across so far, and I encourage you to give it a shot. Good luck.

I’m working four days a week and going to school five days, so I guess some projects are thrown on the back burner for a little while. I’m not enjoying as much quiet reflection time as I am accustomed to, so therefore, my blog entries are becoming fewer and further between. And that is okay. I am fine with it. I still write quite often, but it is more in what I call “journal format.” It is not something I would post online, unless it is in something like LiveJournal. I need to take time to learning Photoreading, a new revolutionary reading system that I haven’t had the time to really look at fully. This will most likely cut down on my study time and reading time to allow more room for other ventures. The only aspect that gets to me is when you read something, it takes a certain amount of time. But you never know how much time the author spent writing it. A book you read in three days could have taken the author three years to write. Reading a book in rapid format, in my opinion, does do the writer some sort of injustice, don’t you think? If you read a book in two hours and the author spent years and years putting it together… I am just ranting right now. It will pass. Everything does.

I am not used to writing with all this structure. Word limits, parameters, college writing is a bit limiting. I hope to change this. I’ve always been different and I wish to show my colleagues how being different and daring to express this abnormality can be a great asset in any field of study. I like to think outside the box. The box is too crowded. Expanding how we do things can revolutionize the world. I do almost everything stream of consciousness now. It is so present moment thinking. It does not matter what each sentence entails, but more the end result of it all. I believe it is an accelerated form of getting in touch with the being inside you for an everlasting effect. It is about getting ideas out and then working on them from there. Nothing has to be perfect the first time. If you spend your whole life organizing and preparing to do something, trying to get it perfect, you’ll be stuck in analysis paralysis for awhile. Why not just get out there and try something? And if it fails, you improve upon it, over and over, until you get it where you need it. Experience is the best teacher here.

You cannot be a failure in the external world. You can only be a failure in your own judgment. What some call a failure, others revere as a success. It is solely a judgment call. Everything just is…whatever you want it to be. Labels are subjective. So why limit yourself by always using them? I remember reading a passage in one of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s books about how when we start using language to describe something, we take away from the fact of its being. Now it is formed into some arbitrary category, like a mountain, rather than the wonder it is, the nameless wonder. It is harder to truly just experience it, now there is some sort of subjective label attached to it. But you don’t have to apply that label. Sure, others may try and force that label upon you, but you do not have to accept it.

We all have contexts anyway where we all encode the same experiences as totally different events. Any experience you have is yours alone. Someone standing right next to you can see things in an entirely different light and it is so enlightening to see this. I love it. And respecting all points of view, no matter how far away from yours they seem, can really show you the range through which people experience supposed objective events. Our set of beliefs really do create our reality. And when you open yourself up to new beliefs, just by considering the possibility that they are true, you will start to experience different things. You must admit you do not know anything for sure and that any point of view could be right. The only thing you know for sure is that you exist. And even that could be called into question. It is the whole concept of letting go of the limiting beliefs you have and adopting ones that will empower you. What would the world be like if we all did this? We all set down our negative beliefs and moved towards a greater good, a good of all of life on Earth. The only limit are our own minds. Join me in this pursuit. The rewards at the end will be abundant.

I could go on writing for hours this way and I truly feel more enlightened when I do this. It is almost like there is this higher being writing through me. There is a way out of suffering. There is a better way of life. Find beauty in everyday things. Start noticing more. Become more present. Know that the present is all you truly have and the only time you can change. You do not change tomorrow, because tomorrow will be today, and today will be the present. When tomorrow rolls around, it will be now, so why not start now? Why put it off until a later “now?” Rise up above the confines of society and start living freer. Free of time, free of everything. Deflate your ego. Identify with everything. Realize everything is made from the same fundamental parts. In a way, we are all one. When you harm another, you really harm yourself. Have compassion. Understand that the suffering of others is really your own suffering. Send out peace and love to all of existence. And be sure to be grateful for the whole experience.

Thank you for reading,

Andrew Brunelle