Ali Walker - Get Conscious: How to Stop Overthinking and Come Alive

Copyright 2017 by Ali Walker

Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com

Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk

Published and distributed in South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za

Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast Books: www.raincoast.com

Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

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Edited by Margie Tubbs

Author photo by Oliver McGill

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice nor prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for physical fitness and good health. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

ISBN: 978-1-4019-5073-6

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1st edition, May 2017

dedicated to Al,
the love of my life

Contents

There is a common tale told by people who have walked in the desert.

As they struggle along under the scorching sun, they lift their head and gaze into the distance.

Out of nowhere, a sparkling pool of water suddenly appears.

They blink and refocus.

Its still there: a shimmering oasis.

They rush towards the water, already imagining the cool relief washing over their face and body.

As they approach, the pool vanishes.

They stop and stare, waiting for it to reappear.

They shake their heads in disbelief, wondering how something so real could suddenly be gone.

Its a mirage.

The water is an optical illusion, a trick of the light.

We all chase mirages.

Some seduce us for a lifetime.

Leda was an orphan who lived in Greece two and a half thousand years ago. Every morning she would wake with the sunrise and stare at the horizon, believing it to be the edge of the world.

After two years of watching each sunrise and sunset, Leda decided to travel to the horizon to look over the edge. She set out at dawn one morning and walked for hours.

The horizon never seemed to draw nearer.

At the end of the first day, Leda realised that the journey was going to take longer than she thought, so she stopped to stay overnight at an inn. The next morning, she awoke, ate and began walking again.

Days turned into nights. Weeks passed. The landscape changed, but the horizon never came closer. Leda worked along the way, helping at inns and on farms, paying for her food and board.

One day, after reaching the coastline, Leda decided that the way to the edge of the world must be across the water. She secretly boarded a fishing boat. She was discovered in a matter of hours and was forced to work to remain on board. They sailed for days and came no closer. The fishermen called her crazy. They said she had a death wish to want to go near the edge. Even though the boat travelled far from the coast, the edge of the world kept eluding her.

Still, she did not lose faith. Surely her eyes and the sun could not deceive her? When the boat returned to the dock, she started walking along the coast.

On her way to the horizon she had dangerous encounters with violent men and wild animals and was injured more than once. She met different people and learnt many things on her quest. Yet she never savoured these experiences; her only desire was to find the edge of the world.

There was one particular man that she met on her travels. He was different. He was special. He asked her about her quest and she told him what she had set out to do. He declared that he loved her, and that he would accompany her to the edge of the world. He became her companion. They walked and then sailed together towards the horizon, only stopping to eat, work and sleep. They earned enough money to eventually buy their own boat. Occasionally they found a town that they loved and they considered staying on, but they could never really settle on their way to the edge of the world.

During one of their stays in a coastal Greek town, Leda became pregnant. Even this did not stop their journey. They kept sailing on and on until the childa sonwas born. Then they kept sailing until he could eventually steer the boat alongside them. He was raised on the sea.

Many years later, Leda and her husband became weary. They could no longer continue their quest, and they had not yet met anyone who had actually made it to the edge. They decided to stop with the mystery of the horizon still alive in their hearts.

Their son kept sailing towards the edge, with a family of his own.

One day, the son returned to his mothers side as she lay on her deathbed. Between laboured breaths, she whispered: My son, I have finally reached the edge of the world. Let me tell you the three things I have discovered:

Sometimes what we wholeheartedly believe to be real is an illusion.

We can miss out on our entire lives because we are always searching for something more.

And we pass on our unfinished dreams to the ones we leave behind.

I can finally see. Dont let the illusions and unfinished dreams of my life determine the course of yours.

When my beautiful grandpa was alive, he often told me the story of his friend, the lawyer. This lawyer was very successful. Like many people, he believed that happiness would be the result of hard work and the wealth that came along with it.

He was determined to climb the ladder in his profession. He started as a paralegal, while he was studying law. After graduating, he spent some years as a lawyer. Then he left the firm to become a barrister (an expert litigator). He enjoyed success as a barrister for many years and was eventually appointed as a Queens Counselan elite group of barristers chosen by the government. After several years as a Queens Counsel, he became a judge. He spent over a decade as a judge and over the years became very wealthy.

After he had retired, he was talking one day to my grandpa. He lamented that, despite his hard work and external success, he never felt as if he had made it. He was searching for something in his success, but had never found it. He always thought he would discover happiness in his next achievement or in the next phase of his life.

His final reflection was: You never arrive.

The research tells us that his story is universal: when we look for happiness in the future, in our money, in our stuff, in the chase or in the thrill of the deal, we never arrive. In fact, a study by economists from Princeton University in 2010 showed that, once we earn an average annual income, our happiness does not increase by earning more money. This means that if we are comfortable financially and our needs are met, more money does not increase our life satisfaction. Another famous study in 1978 by Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts reported that, when people experience unexpected luck (like winning the lottery) or unexpected tragedy (like a catastrophic car accident), their level of happiness eventually returns to the same level it was prior to the event.