Soul Survival Guide

Introduction

This intro won’t take long, but I feel it’s important to get real with our current situation and where we’re at.

Before we do, I want to quickly tell you why I wrote this guide, what it can do for you and why I feel it’s important for you to read and apply.

You see, for as long as I can remember I’ve been exploring a problem.

The problem was me.

I didn’t feel good about myself, I didn’t know why I was here or what I was meant to do, I didn’t trust authority, and I had no faith in the established hierarchy of institutions and the control measures used to enforce their doctrines and beliefs.

If I’m being completely honest, even from a young age I felt humanity had somehow lost its way, and that the answers I was seeking were not to be found in the systems and beliefs of mainstream society.

I was right.

Because at present, there’s something missing isn’t there? You can ‘sense’ it.

It doesn’t make sense that life should be this hard, that you should feel so lost, empty and disconnected.

It doesn’t make sense that so many people should be suffering and just ‘getting by’.

It doesn’t make sense that with all our resources, all of our technology, all of our knowledge and skills and talent, that our planet, as a whole, seems to be going backwards. Across the board. Within the space of a few hundred years.

Costs are spiralling out of control. Access to resources and services is dwindling or open to only the highest bidders. Health — mental, physical and emotional — is crashing.

Things are changing at a rate and scale never seen before, with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

And in the middle of all this…

Is us. You, me, everyone.

If we’re not already at or near breaking point, then we’re a crisis away from being there.

But the problem goes deeper than that.

Awareness and Connection

I spent many, many years working on myself. Got pretty good at it too. Figured out a whole bunch of stuff before realising that maybe this work was what I was here to do -- my ‘calling’.

I still remember the day it hit me. The answer seemed so simple. Too simple. So simple that at first I ignored it, then continued to ignore it — until the day I could no longer ignore it.

The hardest part of a simple idea is getting people to apply it.

We seem to have this tendency to want to complicate things, to think of ourselves as complex.

So I spent almost 15 years building a system around this one simple expression, offering multiple perspectives and applications. That system is Dynamic Self Awareness.

But for the sake of this Soul Survival Guide I’m going to give you the simple version.

Just know that reading it and understanding it and even knowing it is not enough…

It has to be applied.

Anyway, here it is:

All Problems Are One Problem

All Desires Are One Desire

We desire connection — we lack awareness.

But…connection needs awareness and awareness needs connection.

Quite the riddle.

This survival guide is my attempt to turn something simple into something that can be applied.

You will learn to apply self-awareness to every problem.

You will learn to develop connection — to yourself, to others, to the world that’s twisting and turning and spinning around you.

You will learn to ‘Neutralise’ any situation, feeling, thought, action, emotion by

applying dynamic self awareness.

You will learn to feel good no matter what by developing deep, mind-body connections.

But my greatest hope, my deepest wish and my most heartfelt desire is that you will become ‘soul-aware’.

Because that’s the missing link. We’ve forgotten who we are and what we’re capable of and why we’re here, and for too long we’ve allowed others to define reality for us.

The time has come to define reality for ourselves. For yourself.

So as you move forward into the magical world of Dynamic Self Awareness…

Be bold. Be curious. Take an interest. Play.

And trust you know what’s best for you, because if you do trust yourself, and you do start making deep connections, and you do start developing greater states of awareness — I one hundred percent guarantee you won’t be disappointed. And, it will be the most natural thing in the world to do.

This can be read in the traditional way — from start to finish in the order it’s presented.

Or...choose a title that grabs your attention, start there, then jump around intuitively.

Feelings vs Thoughts vs Emotions
Pulse Energy >> Flow Energy >> Field Energy
Body Awareness
Mind Awareness
Energetic Awareness
Energetic Signature
R.A.N — (Receptive / Active / Neutral)
Trauma Energetics
Conceptual Energetics
Energetic Signatures
Connection
Define Your Reality

Thoughts vs Feelings vs Emotions

DSA came about out of necessity — an attempt by me to understand my own personal life, while trying to gain a greater understanding of life as a whole.

One of the biggest breakthroughs I had was looking at thoughts, feelings and emotions from an energetic perspective.

THOUGHTS

The seperate images we collect in our mind, and the name given to those images:

- People

- Places

- Things

- Actions

- Descriptions

From an energetic perspective:
Thoughts are how we identify and name patterns of energy.

FEELINGS

How we interpret the world via our senses (nervous system):

External

— sight, sound, taste, touch, smell

Internal

— balance, body position, self-awareness (conscious perception)

From an energetic perspective:
Feelings are the way we receive energetic information into our body = an ‘inflow’

EMOTIONS

An electrochemical reaction to life based on interpretations (thoughts) of current or remembered events or situations — designed to motivate action and enable momentum.

From an energetic perspective:
Emotions are the medium we use and generate to express ourselves = an ‘outflow'

THE DANCE

We experience life through our senses, receiving energetic (living) information as feelings.

Feelings are our personal connection to reality.

We interpret that connection to reality through the accumulation of thoughts and the connections between those thoughts, based on our experiences.

These thoughts, connections and experiences become our beliefs, and thus, our reality.

We can think of our beliefs as an energetic map, outlining our experiences, connections and interpretations.

When we wish to communicate and interact with life — either to make ourselves known, or, create more connections, or, change reality through work — we first have an idea = inspiration.

The idea (a series of thoughts) generates an electrical stimulation in our brain, which in turn produces a release of chemicals in our body = emotions.

Our emotions generate a medium through which action or communication can occur.

CHALLENGES

Lacking awareness in any of three states above — thoughts, feelings, emotions — can present a number of challenges.

[Please note: The following is a generalised understanding for the purposes of keeping this guide simple and concise. Further exploration — either through your own efforts and application, or by taking advantage of the material offered within DSA — is wholly recommended.]

Assigning ‘False’ Causes

If we can accept that life is energy, and that we are experiencing and interacting with patterns of energy, then it makes sense that certain patterns of energy will be disagreeable to us. But what is it that we are finding disagreeable exactly?

It’s not the experience, situation or event itself causing your emotional reaction/response — otherwise everyone would have the same response/reaction, which they don’t.

The cause of our emotional responses/ reactions are our interpretations of those events, situations or experiences, and these interpretations carry an electrical 'CHARGE'.

Negative Feedback Loops

Emotions are an outflow, designed to enable communication or action.

If an emotional state is triggered, and remains unresolved, we continue to ‘feel’ the emotional pattern, which then triggers the thoughts associated with the emotion, which then triggers the emotion.

[Note: this is due to the interaction between the different types of energy — field energy, flow energy and pulse or particle energy — discussed further here.]

Habits and Pre-Charged States

Habitual thought patterns, obviously, create habitual emotional states.

If we get caught up in these patterns for too long (stuck), eventually they become a filter for all of our experiences. Our emotional state remains constantly ‘pre-charged’, and thus influences all of our interactions, most often without us being aware of it.

Eventually, we become that state = angry, sad, frustrated, hopeless, etc.

Imbalance

Just as we can get caught up in our thoughts, so too can we become slaves to our emotions or overwhelmed by our feelings (too sensitive).

By understanding the true nature and roles of our thoughts, feelings and emotions, we can increase our awareness of any imbalances, and harmonise where necessary.

Trauma

Unresolved trauma can and does have a debilitating effect on a persons ability to function. This often results in dissociation, leading to feelings of detachment between mind and body, and an inability to properly process thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

(PLEASE SEE MORE ON TRAUMA BELOW)

Disconnection — Mind.Body.Soul

Whenever there is a shift in harmony between thoughts, feelings, and emotions — wherever there is a dominance of one over the other — you will get some degree of disconnection.

Finding the balance between mind, body and soul is a dance. A dynamic dance best done in the moment and with full awareness of self and other (people, places, things).

This is the goal of DSA.

Pulse. Flow. Field

Our entire nervous system operates via electrical impulses.

All of our actions start as a pulse. All of our perceptions end as a pulse.

We experience a series of pulses — as well as the continuation of these pulses — as movement or flow.

These pulses and flows have an effect (create a disturbance) on the environment they are a part of — what’s known as a field. Everything has a field.

Without a field, nothing would exist.

Without flows, nothing would change or endure.

Without pulses, nothing would be created.

Any and all problems we face can be traced back to an imbalance in , or misalignment with / between, one or more of these expressions of energy — pulse, flow, field.

How do we know, or how can we know, when these three expressions of energy are balanced and aligned?

We can feel it in our body, and get a 'sense' of it with our mind.

Body Awareness

Everything happens in and through our body.

Everything.

Our body has three main functions:

1. Read: The body collects and interprets information from the environment and internal signals through sensory inputs and perception.

2. Write: The body responds to inputs by generating outputs, such as movements, speech, and other forms of expression, as well as physiological responses like hormones.

3. Process: This function involves analysing, integrating, and making decisions based on the information received. It includes cognitive processing, emotional regulation, and maintaining homeostasis through the autonomic nervous system's balance of bodily functions.

Our level of awareness is directly related to our ability to function optimally. Any decrease in awareness cuts us off from vital information.

What most people don’t realise is just how much information we are missing out on due to lack of body awareness — and the level of finely-tuned detail we have access to when we increase it.

Remember, everything is energy, and everything is a pattern of energy, and the only thing purpose-built to read and decode those patterns of energy is the body.

So how do we tap in to this wealth of information? How can we increase our body awareness and learn to read these patterns of energy to help us solve our problems?

Mind Awareness

One thing I realised early on is, the mind operates from a distinct set of principles, wholly different than our brain-based survival instincts and pre-determined habitual reactions.

These principles are known as ‘energetics’, which in the scientific community is the study of energy flows and transformations of energy within systems.

In DSA we use energetics to explore the energetic nature of reality using what I call -- 'The Language of the Mind'.

Understanding this 'language' requires a shift in perspective, developing what I call 'Conceptual Thinking' (see more below) -- that is, looking at the whole picture.

DOES IT MAKE SENSE...

This question, above all else, should guide one’s exploration of awareness.

And how do we make sense of something? What is the basis of finding meaning in our lives?

Connection.

We link one thing with another, one thing to the next, until we have a system of patterns that works for us. A balance of logic/reason and feeling right.

A dynamic approach.

Unfortunately, most of our modern systems, our ways and modes of thinking and being, are linear, separated, disconnected.

Things no longer feel right, and they most definitely don’t make sense anymore.

So how do we tie all this together?

Energetic Awareness

Energetic awareness is the great enabler.

It enables us to communicate, describe, act and respond in a fluid, dynamic way.

It is the common thread amongst all things.

It connects and enlightens.

Energetics awareness — and the language used to describe it — fits perfectly with mind and body awareness, bringing alignment of meaning, sense and purpose to all things.

When we apply energetic awareness to our problems, solutions become obvious.

With energetic awareness, we quickly realise our body’s are perfectly designed to assist us in reading, writing, evaluating and synthesising energetic patterns.

And…

Our mind is given the freedom to operate the way it was intended to — energetically, dynamically — rather than be tied to man-made rules and forms of control.

Energetic awareness is the key to blending and aligning the source of our existence with the purpose and meaning of life as a whole.

Receptive. Active. Neutral

The beauty of DSA is you’re never bound to one way of doing things. In fact, when truly living dynamically, you are not bound to anything at all.

Yes, in the study and exploration of life and livingness we do break things down into parts, but only ever to become aware of the importance of living ‘wholistically’ -- and, to figure out how to get there.

The goal is always:

How do we apply this information + how do we apply this understanding + how do we live it.

So we can take the study of energetics — the flows and transformations of energy — and look for ways to apply it using dynamic self awareness.

One such application is the three states of being — receptive, active, neutral. (We can only ever be in one of these three states unless unconscious, semi-conscious or super-conscious.)

Problems occur when:

We become stuck in one or the other of these states

We fail to stay in a prescribed state until the completion of an energetic process

We fail to inhabit the correct state based on current circumstance

Lack of focus, motivation, purpose…

Too much stress, anxiety, depression…

Over-reacting, under-reacting…

All of these things can be attributed to either:

Not inhabiting the necessary state of being for the current situation

Not understanding the energetics of one or more states of being

Not being aware these states of being even exist

Of these three states of being — active, receptive, neutral — it is the ‘neutral state’ that is probably the least understood and most under-utilised.

If you only focus on one aspect of DSA to begin with, let it be the neutral state.

Trauma Energetics

I’m about to make a series of three very bold statements:

1. All of life’s problems, challenges, conflicts and disputes are the result of trauma-induced actions and reactions

2. Humanity’s inability to reach agreement and consensus — and thus peace — is the direct result of traumatic states and conditions being continuously triggered

3. Every human being on earth holds trauma in their system to one degree or another

The reason trauma is such a problem, and the reason trauma is so difficult to get rid of, is one and the same thing:

The pattern of energy (trauma) was introduced externally, by force, and happened below our awareness.

Because the pattern was introduced below our awareness -- meaning we didn’t ‘see’ the pattern, nor did we ‘see’ how it was introduced — when it’s triggered, our system doesn’t know where it came from, how to integrate it, or how to release it.

The ONLY way to fully release trauma, and the energetic charge associated with it, is to bring the pattern to full awareness so our ‘system’ can see it, discharge it’s held energy, dis-integrate the old pattern and reintegrate our known reality. (Also known as ‘Redefining Reality’.)

Simply activating the pattern, even discharging some of its energy, is not enough. (Which is why most therapies remain ineffectual long-term and why certain therapies don’t work at all.)

But in order to work at an energetic level — of vital importance if you’re to fully remove trauma from your system — we need a way to access it, and we need a way to communicate at that level.

Conceptual Energetics

Think of conceptual energetics as a system. A way to understand and interact with life 'dynamically'.

To conceive means: ‘to take fully into the mind’.

A concept is more than just an idea. A concept is like a wholistic system that holds the sum total of all energies related to that concept:

- Form

- Function

- Description

- Look and feel

- Connections

- Source and Cause

- Integrations

Unfortunately, yet again, our diminished capacity as energetic beings has resulted in a very static, linear way of understanding reality, with the predominant mode being to name it and apply pre-conceived rules to its behaviour, usage and outcomes.

In DSA, a conceptual understanding is explored as a sense of play.

There are no pre-conceived ideas around outcomes, or rules of usage and behaviour.

Energy does not need to be controlled unless deemed necessary by an individual, or if applied to group dynamics, by agreement.

There are other ways to experience, guide and express energy. (Explored deeply within DSA.)

Conceptual energetics allows for a balanced perspective, fully integrating things like logic and reason with intuition and wisdom, body awareness (feeling) with mind awareness (thinking), multiple modes of learning and responding rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

It is, in essence, a ‘whole-system’ approach to navigating life, solving problems and finding meaning and purpose.

But what, if anything, is guiding us in this whole-system, dynamically aware approach to life?

An Energetic Signature

It is not too far-fetched to imagine a guiding principle in our life.

We know by our interaction with others, even though we are essentially all the same, that each one of us has their own unique ‘vibe’, flavour or way of being.

We all have access to the same energies, but each of us tends to use and respond to those energies in very different ways.

In fact, I’m going to make another bold statement and put it to you that you have one task in life:

"TAKE THE ENERGIES YOU WERE BORN AND RAISED WITH -- DEFINE THEM, HEAL THEM, EXPRESS THEM AND EVOLVE THEM."

Your ‘energetic signature’ — the sum total of all energies that make you who you are, minus any traumatic patterns — is easily accessed and identified when using dynamic self awareness.

Again, I’ve found that our modes of perception — body, mind and energetic awareness — is perfectly designed to help us connect with, heal, define, integrate and evolve our energetic signature, our ‘soul-self’, and that engaging with this process is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

I will even go so far as to say that if you just focus on this and nothing more, everything else will fall into it’s right place, for the right reasons, at the right time.

Connection

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating:

ALL PROBLEMS ARE ONE PROBLEM = A LACK OF AWARENESS

ALL DESIRES ARE ONE DESIRE = THE NEED FOR CONNECTION

We can get a sense of the truth behind these statements by first looking at the root meaning of the following two words:

CONNECTION

‘to unite, tie together, bind '

SOLVE

‘to loosen, unbind or release ’

Put simply, a problem is a set of energies (or patterns of energy) that don’t fit, either with our energetic signature or our momentary intended purpose.

There is a need to release these energies, to unbind ourselves from them, to solve the problem and reconnect with an energetic reality more aligned with our ‘soul-self’ (energetic signature).

To ‘solve’ the problem, we need to know:

1. What the energies represent — their ‘value’

2. Why they don’t fit — ‘evaluation’

3. What the value of the pattern is and how to transform it

The key ingredient, and only real option if we hope to solve the problem, transform the energies, and realign with our desired reality, is awareness.

Deep, dynamic self awareness .

So what does the ‘key of awareness’ unlock?

Connection.

Unity — to ‘be as one’.

Connection to our friends and family…

Connection to our work and sense of purpose…

Connection to our environment and the planet we live on…

Connection to humanity and the shared experience we all have of being alive…

Connection to our selves and the eternal search for meaning, happiness, and our own personal ‘reason why’.

Now it’s time to bring it all together.

Define Your Own Reality

There have always been people in positions of power and authority whom thought they knew what was best for others, and who thought it their duty and/or privilege to define reality for the rest of us.

What should be done and who should do it. When and where things should be done. How and why these things should be done and the penalties for not doing so.

Those people are wrong.

The root meaning of education means ‘to draw out’.

We can take from this that everything we need — including a sense of right and wrong — is already within us and needs only the right conditions and guidance to come forth. No need for force, or counterforce, or excessive control and authority.

But this isn’t the case is it. Just about every aspect of our lives, and life in general, is controlled, calculated, dictated, and enforced by others — most often without our consent.

It’s not really anyone’s fault.

As we’ve discussed our entire civilisation is stuck in traumatic energy patterns, and these energy patterns have been with us for millennia, creating false beliefs and even more trauma.

Because here’s the thing:

REALITY AS WE KNOW IT IS BASED ON BELIEFS. ALL OF IT.

It is our experiences of reality, and the interpretation of those experiences, that form the basis of those beliefs.

And all of this is based on an interaction with energetic reality — something we have not even come close to fully comprehending.

Like I’ve said, there’s really no one to blame — although that’s exactly what we’re trying to do through our political and media institutions — but until we employ an energetic approach to life, including the systems and processes we put in place to enable it, we’re going to be stuck in traumatic responses and the highly charged reactions that come from them.

[Note: I go into trauma energetics in greater detail within DSA, but one thing to know is that traumatic energy patterns will continue to present until they are resolved. We can see this in every aspect of society, almost as if it’s being drawn out by design?]

So What Can We Do?

How do we go about understanding the energetic nature of reality, and from there, defining our own reality?

What are the benefits in doing so?

And, how do we access the inspiration and motivation to both start and succeed?

The thing is, we already have everything we need to define, redefine and create our own reality:

We have a Body.

We have a Mind.

We have a Soul (our ‘Source’).

As I see it, we need but three things to bring it all together:

1. Awareness — of mind, body and soul (energy)

2. Curiosity — the only way to get the right answer is to ask the right question

3. Perspective — the simple act of looking at something or someone differently allows new patterns to emerge

Add to that a sense of play and a mindset of shared discovery, and we have all the elements we need to transform our lives, shape our futures, and yes, define our own reality.