There is a saying that you have probably heard before and, if you haven't, then it's a new experience for you! (Which is a good thing). The saying goes "The world is your oyster" and never a truer word has been spoken. Unlike real oysters, where only some have pearls within them, every single life on this planet has a pearl within it somewhere. It's up to each one of us to discover what that is. But then, that's part of the fun isn't it? Exploring and experiencing. And, when you do find it, all the things you can do with your pearl. 

Now the best place to find your pearl is within your heart. You will never find it externally. In the same way that you never see a pearl attached to the outside of an oyster. The pearl is formed inside the shell. Just as our "shell", if you will, is the exterior we show to others.

There is an excitement by divers searching for real pearls as to which oysters will have them. As life goes on, and the diver becomes more experienced, it becomes easier to spot the oysters most likely to have them. Life is very much like that all the world over - if we allow it to be. So let me ask you, are you excited each morning as you wake up about what the day will bring? Or are you disheartened, worried, and distressed? It's all about choice - but you know that already as I've mentioned it so often in my musings.

Let's take this back a step. The purpose of the Universe (the All That Is) is to create, expand, and experience - lovingly, abundantly, and joyfully. We are all a part of the All That Is whether we know it (or like it) that's just the way it is. It pervades everything. That is why there is drive, no matter how depressed or down you get, to experience new things. Admittedly that drive might be on a low ebb, but it's still there - as is the Want to create something different. It is through contrast that we are able to create something better for ourselves.

We opted to have this human experience because we Knew, we absolutely KNEW, that it would bring fantastic opportunities to learn, grow, develop, and experience wonderful new things. We've all been given this opportunity to experience SO much. It's a bit like being taken to an amusement park for the first time - so many different rides to experience. So many different foods to try. So much fun to have. Even the rides that you try but don't find as fun. They're all learning experiences and opportunities to have fun. Life is like that. You've been given a brilliant chance to experience so much and, even better, YOU get to choose what you experience. Do you get that? YOU and only you get to choose what you want to experience and you do this by consciously making that decision, moment-to-moment. Whatever you are experiencing is in direct relation to where you've put your creative focus. 

Let's go back to this amusement park. You've found a ride that looks like it could be good and you try it out. You find that, actually, it's not very good at all. It makes you feel all dizzy, scared, and sick. So do you learn from that, or do you get on again in the hope that it might change? Imagine doing that again and again and realising, after each ride, that the ride and your reaction to it is not going to change. You still don't like it! Question: why not try a different ride?! You don't have to just experience that one. If you don't like rollercoasters, go try the merry-go-round or maybe the log flume, or the pirate ship etc. You have a choice. 

I really want today to get across how exciting life really is and I hope that you can feel the energy of that through my words. Really tap into it. I'll say it again "Life is a wonderful and fantastic opportunity for you to experience so much". You chose to come here. 

So if you don't like the current ride, go find another one! It really is as simple as that. If you tell yourself it's not, then all you're doing is getting back on the same rollercoaster that makes you feel bad. And that's OK. When you get bored of doing it, the other rides will all still be there. But why waste time moaning about what is, and go get excited about what the next thing might be! Then go create it! Enjoy!

What do you think of your body? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you think it’s OK? Do you love it? Take a few minutes just to think about your body. Are there bits that you like and bits that you don’t? What would you change if you could? And if you could change it, why would you want to change it? For yourself or to please others?

Excuse my Socratic questioning to start this week’s musing as there aren’t really any right or wrong answer to those questions. However there are helpful and unhelpful answers in terms of how you think and treat yourself.

In life, people tend to think about and treat us in a similar way to how we think about and treat ourselves. So if you don’t like the way you look then people around you will respond to that. I think many of us have days where we look in the mirror and think “do you know, I’m not half bad” and we go out feeling good. The response we get from others is typically the same I find. They smile and are much more complimentary about me. Now I’m not saying we should all go out looking for compliments – after all, at the end of the day what other people think about us and whether they think we’re “attractive” or not really doesn’t matter. 

The thing to remember is this, The All That Is (of which you are most definitely a part) created the body in which your Soul currently resides. Everything that the All That Is creates is perfect and beautiful. Therefore, you must be perfect and beautiful too. Think about it this way. You have the perfect body for what you need to achieve and learn in this physical experience you’re having right now. Another body would most certainly now allow you to learn what you need to learn as effectively.

Now here’s another take on it. Masuru Emoto, is a man who did lots of experiments upon water crystals and the effect that emotions, actions and feelings had upon them. He found that when you focused angry and negative thoughts at water, the crystals within it became malformed and unpleasant to look at. Whereas when positive, happy, and joyful thoughts were focused the crystals became even more beautiful and wonderfully formed. 

Why am I telling you about this obscure Japanese Scientist? Well… think about your body again for a moment. It is made up of around 70% water. So…. If we take the principle that your thoughts and emotions affect water crystals in a glass of water, they will also affect the water within your own body. Ergo, the better you think about yourself the more healthy you can become. This relates too to how you think about other people. Your thoughts and feelings will have an effect upon those around you in the same way.

Now if you’ve spent most of your life telling yourself negative things about how you look “I’m fat”, “I’m ugly” “I’m not attractive” telling yourself the opposite can be quite challenging and end up being completely counter-productive. So why not try “Today I’m going to like myself more for who I am” or something one those lines. Or “just for today I’m going to love myself for me” or “I accept all of myself, deeply and completely”. Not only will this have a positive effect upon your physical body, it will also help to reprogram your subconscious mind. 

Remember, energy follows thought – this has been demonstrated both by Mr Emoto, and other quantum physicists around the world. You literally “are what you think”. Final reminder – you are a beautiful being and everything about you is perfect right now. I’ll say it again – you have the perfect body right now to teach you everything you need for this physical experience. Love it and appreciate it for giving you the opportunity to have this physical experience.

If I were to ask you the question: "Who are you?" how would you respond? How many labels or descriptors would you need to describe who you are? 1? 2? 10? 100? For example a man might answer that as "I am Joe Bloggs, Doctor, father, husband, worker, happy person, etc". A more unhappy person might answer "I am no one". A more spiritual person may answer "I am God". Now who is right? Any of them? All of them? None of them?

There are elements of all those answers given that we may use to describe who we are, but the last two answers are the most accurate I feel. Let me explain why I think that the "I am no one" answer is quite accurate. In ourselves we have a Soul and an Ego. As Eckhart Tolle describes in his brilliant book "A New Earth" (well worth a read if you haven't already) whenever we talk about "I am…. Whatever" we are actually identifying with the Ego, not with the Soul. We build up our personas in order to interact in this 3rd dimension world in which we live. But, in essence, we are not the person we are creating. We are the Soul behind it. And that Soul is God. God is everything, and everything is God. And so, in and of ourselves, we are not "Alun Jones" or "Joe Bloggs" or whatever our name happens to be this time around. We are Source Energy/God/Allah/Father-Mother God/Divine Spirit or whatever other word you choose to use. Everything else around us is an illusion and many have become so identified with their Ego Self that they cannot see this. I say this not in judgment, just in observation.

Many years ago I used to play an online role-playing game which was set in a fantasy world. You start that game with a character that you create, and you decide how you're going to play this character: what job he/she will do, what the character will wear, male or female, what race etc etc. You then used to interact with other people and do various things to earn experience points and "go up a level" and so become able to do more difficult things and do other things more quickly and easily. For example I had an empath (healer) and the more experience he became the more serious wounds he could help people with. I decided how he would interact with other people and whether he'd be a nice person (as I saw it) or not and so on. Hundreds of people used to play this game all across the world - all doing a similar thing - creating a character and role playing it out. Some people took it incredibly seriously both in terms of the game itself and taking it into the real world. There were whole conventions for this game where people would go dressed as their character really acting out the roles.

OK - if you're not bored and I haven't lost you yet that's good! Another way of looking at the world in which we live is to liken it to the fantasy world I've just described above. We each choose what character we will play, what we will do, how we will behave and interact with others, and we gain experience through such interactions. Again, it's a bit like the film The Matrix with all the people thinking that what they were living was real. Unlike the computer game and the film, however, we cannot switch off this computer game or take a green or red pill. However, we can decide to wake up and understand that the person we think we are is just a role that we have decided to play. Only WE can decide what we think, and feel, and what to do. Even if someone held a gun to our head and told us to go to work we could still choose not to.

There is an awareness within each of us that is waiting patiently for us to acknowledge that it is there. Waiting for us to understand that we are not the characters we play in the world. We are One Soul that is having multiple experiences in order to expand and grow the whole of Consciousness. We are not the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker - even though one of those may be the role we wish to play right now. We are so much more than that. The Ego Self will try to force us to limit ourselves to the characters we have chosen to play up until now. The Ego Self in some people reading this will think it's a load of nonsense - and that's OK too.

Regardless of whether you can relate to anything in this week's musings, do have a think about your life and the role/character you are playing. Whether or not you believe you are more than that character, at least consider your role and the choices you are making about who you are. Only you can decide to change it if you are unhappy with it. But you also have the power to change whom you are portraying to the world - all it takes is intention, action, and a bit of tenacity.