Erez Ascher - Feel. Love. Now...: Creating Stability and Wellness in the Whirlwinds of Change

Copyright 2021 by Erez Ascher. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Author: Erez Ascher

Cover Design & Illustrations: Juraj Sedlk

Body Design: Jennifer Thomas, Beyond Words Editing

ISBN: 978-1-949682-02-1 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-949682-03-8 (eBook)

LCCN: 2021905877

First Edition 2021

Published in the United States of America

Dedicated to the memory of Anne Leslie Hawkins (Lambert)

Contents

Introduction

Ever more rapidly, our world is changing and we are changing with it. Within ourselves, in our relationships, in our communities, and in our societies, we are experiencing different forms of growth. Yet inevitably, our growth comes with growing pains which at times can be quite intense.

The confusion and disorientation of rapid change can feel like being caught in a hurricane. You may feel urges within yourself to hide, to distract yourself, to sleep it off, or to hope that it will just go away. But, life doesnt work that way.

As living beings, we grow even as we deteriorate. We change and our world changes as well. It, too, is alive. It, too, is growing even when it, too, deteriorates. Creating a life of wellness, happiness, and stability in such a rapidly changing world can feel difficult, overwhelming, and even impossible.

The tools and guidelines that worked well in a world that was slow to change are no longer reliable and sometimes even harmful to use. When our old maps of life are no longer accurate, its easy to become lost. And, in a rapidly shifting world, its simply not possible for you to find or create an unchanging map to show you which path is best for you to take. But, you can create a real-time navigation system for your life and Feel. Love. Now was created to show you how to do just that.

What led to it?

It was the summer of 2012 when I discovered that I was lost very lost, in fact. Having a beautiful house, a beautiful wife, a flexible job, and a rather beautiful life were supposed to be resulting in my happiness, I thought. Instead, all I seemed to be feeling was misery. But, how was that even possible?

I had done what I was supposed to do. I had been the good student. I had been the valuable resource. I even had a good credit score. But, none of that mattered to my heart. None of that mattered to my soul. It seemed that being good and valued had nothing to do with my happiness. In fact, I was a wreck, stuck on a sandbank in what were clearly marked as open waters on my map of life.

Thus began my midlife crisis and my spiritual awakening. I let go of my beautiful marriage and my beautiful house, my flexible job and my rather beautiful life. I realized how lost I was. So, I began to explore my surroundings. Surely there must be a path, a path that would lead me somewhere better than where I was. Surely one of those paths would lead me to a place of happiness and fulfillment somewhere and somehow.

For years, I searched for the right path and for years I kept finding paths that led me off in new directions. I was learning, still being the good student. But, this time, I was being a good student of life. I discovered things far beyond what I had previously imagined possible. And, in the process, I discovered that the world was changing more drastically than Id thought possible. It turned out that the paths Id hoped would lead me to happiness and fulfillment were now leading to very different destinations than the ones Id intended!

It no longer made sense for me to look for a well-worn trail to take me to where I wanted to be. What I needed was a guidance system to show me the most useful way to proceed, in order for me to make my own path in each moment guiding me to my chosen destinations.

So, I began to build and to test, adjusting and improving it to make it more accurate over time. For years, I refined my guidance system until, eventually, I was no longer stuck. I was no longer in crisis, even as the world around me seemed to go ever deeper into it. I had found my way in life and know that I will never again be truly lost.

My desire to share this guidance system with you, to help you discover the most helpful direction for you in each moment, is what led me to create Feel. Love. Now .

What is it for?

Feel. Love. Now is meant to offer you a reliable way to create wellness and stability in your life, regardless of which way and how hard the winds of change may blow. But, what does that really mean? What is stability when the entire world is changing so fast? What is wellness when theres so much illness in the world?

In an unstable environment, stability can only be relative. As everything is changing, its no longer sensible to hold onto something and expect it to provide you with a firm foundation. Its as though the land beneath your feet that you used to feel was so safe to build on is now shifting, quaking, sinking, and erupting.

Stability is no longer something for you to seek outside yourself, because your stability is always relative to you and no one else. This means that the stability you desire, to support you in building the life you wish to live, is within you. In an unstable world, stability is your ability to rely on yourself , your ability to support yourself, consistently. This is especially true when everything is changing, including yourself!

And, what about wellness? What does it even mean to be well versus ill?

Wellness is an increased ability to function, while illness is a decreased ability to function. Wellness allows you to do more, more freely, while illness forces you to do less, with more restrictions and limitations. This means that wellness and illness are not specific to people or even to living beings. Wellness and illness are qualities of everything that functions , everything that is able to do something.

What Feel. Love. Now is for is to provide you with a guidance system so that you can rely on yourself while also increasing the ability of every aspect of your life to function. This even includes increasing your emotional wellness so that youre able to live a life of true happiness.

Who is it for?

The guidance system which Feel. Love. Now helps you to create within yourself is something that I initially developed for myself. The understanding that it offers is one that I continue to find exceedingly useful in my life. The daily practices it describes are ones that I still practice. The questions it poses are ones that I continue to ask myself, fine-tuning my sense of direction.

When I first began to formulate the outline for Feel. Love. Now in 2016, I assumed that it would be most helpful to men who were going through their midlife crisis, as I had. Yet, when I mentioned the intention for the book to much younger men, they often expressed a desire to read it. The more widely I spoke about it, the more widely I found people expressing great interest in it. It seemed that nearly everyone who was facing lifes instability, regardless of age, sex, or social status, could see the value of having a reliable guidance system.