Today’s news that Allen Carr, whose books have helped people all over the world to quit smoking, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, got me thinking.

There’s an irony here to match the death of Arthur Lydiard, who is supposed to have invented jogging, and ended having a fatal heart attack whilst out on a jog.

Add to that a lesser-known visionary Paul Benson, who started the brilliant health product company – Resonance in Totnes – who died unexpectedly from cancer earlier this year and you’re left with a rational riddle.

The rational mind says it doesn’t add up. Why bother to be healthy?

The hedolist knows that life always has the last word and interestingly, whatever you think about you get. Paul Benson himself told me that he rejected ‘prevention’ because it always kept fear of disease - and therefore disease - in the mind.

He invented ‘healthing’ instead. And yes, he still died, but I suspect he had a ball on his way to meeting the grim reaper.  He probably supplied the grim reaper with anti-ageing supplements, before completing the final paperwork.

So, do it all: jog, smoke and max your health too. It’s not contradictory when you really feel the hot breath of death on your neck and still have a light in your eyes and lead in your pencil. If you love it; do it…

Carpe diem momentum!

And check out this hedolist’s view on daeth: http://www.felixdennis.com/frontpage.php?varid=25# click on: “On News of a Friend’s Sudden Death”

Resonance can be contacted on 0800 038 0303 tell them I sent you.

A few months ago my marriage broke down (again) and I moved out of the family home. With newfound freedom and more time on my hands, I put myself about, made some new friends and explored a few new experiences and possibilities.

The concept of cosmic ordering came up in conversations and at around the same time I came across a great new film – ‘The Secret’ and finally saw ‘What the bleep do we know?’ – both of which revealed and promote the fact that we create our realities and that we are ‘at cause’ in our lives.

These weren’t new ideas to me, but it was certainly inspiring and refreshing to see the concepts re-packaged and presented so well. They arrived on time for me in my new circumstances.

In the weeks that have followed, the cosmic ordering concept just hasn’t gone away and I’m surrounded by people actively trying to change their realities, lead more fulfilling lives and bring about positive change in this way – there’s no escape!

Only a couple of weeks ago, I heard ‘the worlds’ most trusted astrologer’ Jonathan Cainer talking to BBC Radio 2’s Johnnie Walker about his new book called ‘Cosmic Ordering (how to make your dreams come true)’.

And just today saw TV personality Noel Edmonds, on UK Channel 4’s Richard and Judy show, talking about his new book on cosmic ordering and how he claims the success of his recent smash hit TV show (Deal or no deal) is all down to a cosmic order he placed when down on his luck a while ago.

There really is no escape from this ‘new worldwide phenomenon’, but I feel there is something more to be said about it – especially the stuff that everyone’s thinking, but not daring to ask (presumably in case it screws up their chances of successful cosmic ordering).

I’m asking the question:

What can you try when you think you’ve tried everything to get what you want and nothing seems to work - even cosmic ordering?

And I’m offering a few answers too…

Let’s get one thing straight - cosmic ordering is nothing new. As long as there have been humans, there’s been cosmic ordering.

Here are few names and aliases that you might recognize that are really the same thing:

· Prayer
· Creative visualisation
· Positive thinking
· Wishful thinking
· Worry
· Desire
· Thinking

All human thought revolves around personal issues and longings.

If you want to arrive somewhere on time, that’s a cosmic order.

If you want to get really, really rich that’s also a cosmic order.

If you don’t want to get sick, that’s a cosmic order.

If you want someone else to get sick or have bad luck, that too is a cosmic order.

Cosmic ordering is as old as the hills. Probably older.

But why did I say cosmic ordering doesn’t work?

Well, you know from your own experience it sometimes doesn’t work, because what you hope for doesn’t always happen.

The success of cosmic ordering books therefore lies in the suggestion that if you do it right, you’ll get exactly what you want – and who wouldn’t buy a book that seemed to carry a guarantee like that?

The truth is however, that cosmic ordering works when it works and there’s a lot more to it than a formula (as your own experience again tells you).

You know that most of the time it doesn’t work – especially when you raise the stakes and ask for loads of money, more sex and fewer worries.

The intelligent question therefore must be what is happening when I put in a cosmic order (i.e. think, worry, pray or hope for something) and it comes good.

Here are my ten reasons why cosmic ordering works when it does (and therefore doesn’t work when it doesn’t)

1. Detachment / attachment
Have you noticed that the more attached you are to an outcome the less likely it is to go your way. And even if it does, you’ve killed all the enjoyment of your desire with tension and stress? Ask and then go lightly!

2. Action / inertia
If you want something you have to go get it – even a glass of water requires you to get off your butt, grab a glass and turn on the tap. Most people do less than that it takes to quench their thirst in the pursuit of their so-called ‘deepest desires’. Get off your ass and go for it

3. Means / end
People who get what they want tend not to get caught up in the detail. They focus on the long-term goal not the maens to the end. If you focus on your destination, you can always change your route if things get tricky.

4. Right people / wrong people
Get good support; don’t cast your pearls before swine. Really good friends empower you in your dreams – they don’t have a hidden agenda to keep you where you are to suit their own inadequacies. Don’t be afraid to ‘lose’ people and withhold information from family members who are unsupportive.

5. You are serious / you really aren’t that bothered
Weak wishes don’t bear fruit. And it’s OK not to be ambitious. Be clear that any desire is really your own and that you re not wasting time with other people’s imposed ideas of success; create and manifest your own heart-felt dreams; they stand the best chance of genuine success.

6. Worthy / unworthy
It’s easier to realise a cosmic order you feel worthy of. A 5% pay rise, for example, can be a cinch compared to a lottery win that you feel you don’t deserve. Goals that are ‘unselfish’ or that are ‘for the greater good’ can be easier to achieve because you can blame others for your success.

7. Good soil / bad soil
Good soils create the best plants, so make sure your circumstances and environment support your aims. Untidiness, inefficiency and unhelpful people will block your flow to freedom. Organise yourself and simplify your surroundings

8. Create space / get lost in the rush
Perhaps the most useful insight is to understand that everybody’s combined cosmic orders or thought energies create a massive soup of collected intentions that makeup this crazy world of ours. Create space in which your dreams can grow away from the bad vibes and conflicting thoughts of others.

9. A game / a matter of life and death
Cosmic ordering and getting your heat’s desire is a game to play at not a matter of life or death. If it’s a game you can enjoy it. You might win; you might not. If you take it too seriously, rapid ageing, ill health and premature death are your likely results. Is it really worth taking so seriously?

10. It’s not what you want; it’s where you’re at
See that ‘where you are at’ is more important than want you want. If you can get the conditions (and your conditioning) right, your desires are more likely to manifest – free from the negative influences of your self and others with negative energies or intentions.

Here’s hoping (or ‘cosmic ordering’) that – armed with these insights – you’ll have better ‘luck’ in the future…

Footnote:

Everyday I meet people who have unfulfilled dreams and “quiet lives of desperation”, not because they don’t know what they want, but because they have something, some things or even many things in the way of receiving their cosmic orders.

It’s not wrong to not get what you want - it’s just a plain fact that you didn’t get what you wanted, which leads us on to the real secret…

What you - and everyone - really wants is a basic happiness, freedom, peace and ease in this crazy world.

Your best bet is to learn how to be happy now - regardless of ‘what might be’ or what cosmic orders you’ve got lined up.

All that you truly require is available to you right now if only you knew how to access it. It’s yours regardless of anyone else’s negative agenda or conflicting cosmic order.

It’s the moment that matters – wouldn’t it be a shame to be run over by a bus because you got distracted thinking about your next cosmic order?

Be grateful (not about specifics, although counting your blessings may help to get you in the habit) and learn how to be at peace, and in awe, in the moment. That’s God’s gift which needs no ordering – it’s yours; for free, forever.

Take the test…

1. You take a pro-active interest in your health

2. You describe yourself more as spiritual than religious

3. You are not ashamed to have self-help books in your library

4. You have a sense that there is more to life than the physical and material

5. Karma - the idea that ‘what-goes-round-comes-round’ - figures in your life

6. You feel that things are sometimes ‘meant to be’ or that life is a learning experience

7. Positivity and optimism are important factors in the way you live

8. You endeavour to avoid pharmaceutical drugs, processed food and environmental toxins as much as possible

9. You are drawn to yoga, tai chi and meditation as well as holistic therapies

10. Inner peace, stillness and time for reflection are important to you (even if you don’t always find them!)

11. You do what you can to avoid negativity, violence and aggressive behaviour

12. You do your best to be green, but don’t guilt-trip about it

13. Nature, beauty and sacred places attract you – you are sensitive to ‘good vibes’.

14. Though important, you feel there is more to life than money, work and possessions

15. You don’t feel uncomfortable with words like ‘energy’, ‘healing’ and ‘love’

16. Open-mindedness and tolerance are important to you

17. You sense that politicians, big corporations and organised religion are very out of touch with real life

18. You enjoy a sunset as much as a pint of beer or glass of wine (but prefer to do both together whenever possible!)

19. You eat well, but you also eat what’s available without stressing your digestive system with guilt

20. Ideally your work and social life blur into each other – you love what you do and the money follows

Your score

0-5
Maybe you should lighten up a bit. Life is short remember (although you might be the sort of person who reminds us it’s the longest thing we ever do

6-10
We suspect you are a closet hedolist. Come on, come out! The sort of person who could be heard saying: “some of my best friends are hedolists”.

11-15
Pretty good. Won’t be long until you’ll be saying: “so what if I’m a hedolist? It’s just the way the divine intelligence made me.”

16-20
Impressive! You’ve probably been a hedolist since birth. Just chillin as a little baby, found school a very silly experience and let’s not even talk about
9-5. Keep up the good work friend; you are modelling a way of life that will one day be normal. We love you, you trail-blazing, life-loving, earth-worshipping, good living, crazy fool x

Go well…

1. Hedolism is escapism.

Nonsense!
Think about it: how can enjoying the gift of life and the pleasures of living be escapism? In fact, if you are not facing up to the delightful task of enjoying life to the fullest, isn’t it you that’s escaping?

2. Hedolism is wrong, because ’struggle enobles the soul’

Dear oh dear. Please know that there’s a difference between struggle and challenge. Challenge is inevitable – part of life’s rich character-building tapestry. Struggle is what humans bring to the party, with their poor grasp of what life is really about.

Challenge comes as standard; struggle is optional.

3. Hedolists are self-centred and selfish

Bill Shakespeare does this one best:

“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
- Hamlet, Act I, Scene iii

4. It’ll never last

No, the way we live now won’t last. Hedolism is about balance, love and consciousness - the values we need, to not only survive the rational prison camp in which we are all starving to death, but also to realise a greater vision for this beautiful planet.
It’ll never last indeed!

5. ‘If we enjoyed ourselves all the time, life would be very boring’

Jeez, wouldn’t you people, who say that kinda stuff, at least give it a try?

If that’s boredom, I say: “bring it on…”

The Hedolist bigs up therapists who are raising the bar for outstanding performance in holistic therapy…

Today’s spa star is Jason Bradford, a former baker turned massage therapist with reassuringly big and warm hands. Those years of kneading and shaping dough were not wasted.

This guy deserves a gong for a thoroughly relaxing and very unusual workout that I received recently - sat in a chair. Not a special chair, mind you, Jason is a ‘para-masseur’, able to drop in with the least amount of fuss, working with the conditions he finds.

For me, there was half an hour to spare, so he grabbed the nearest chair, sat me down and went to work.

I expected to be eased and relaxed in this guy’s capable hands, because on an earlier occasion, just a little way into inspecting his diploma certificates, I lost the will to live and asked him to get on with it - such is Jason’s copious technical depth.

In practice, the man matched the quantity of his on-paper credentials with a quality most practitioners would die for.

Without wanting to sound like a Motown songwriter, I have to say ‘warm and tender’ is the phrase that comes to mind, but the biggest and surprise was to come.

This delightfully relaxing session, I soon realised, was entirely pressure-based and devoid of the stroking, kneading and sweeping moves that I automatically expect when receiving massage – couch or chair-based.

Now I know pressure sounds, well, unrelaxing and vaguely medicinal, but try Jason’s beautifully timed, leisurely and systematic ‘hold and release’ method on all of your main muscle groups and the result is under-the radar bliss.

‘Pass the drool-tray’, some five minutes into his routine, was my last recognisable thought, as this master of his art went about his business.

Surprising (in a very positive way), time and cost effective, and seriously calm-inducing, Jason Bradford’s chair routine is one to try before you die. He’s got a gift and a passion for bodywork that you can feel through his fingertips; let them find their way to you soon.

You can book him for this, and a range of other massage-based approaches to relaxation and pain-relief on: 07909 960 884

If you want The Hedolist to review your therapy style (excellence, uniqueness and delight ONLY please), email: spastar@hedolistic.com

There was a time when alternative, holistic and complementary therapies caused a raised eyebrow or two. But now, after a few years of suspicion and derision, things have moved on to near complete acceptance.

These days, you can get a massage on the high street and if you need something a little more interesting like homeopathy, osteopathy or acupuncture, a natural health centre is never far away.

Apart from the obvious flare-up every now and then, like that boring old media enquiry from lazy journalists - “Do therapies really work?” - things have become quite mundane. The promised new age of life-changing, planet-healing therapies has been sanitised and sucked into the mainstream market along with every other new idea that threatens to change the world.

So where do we go from here?

I do have an answer, but before I share it, let’s look at the background…

One of complementary therapy’s dead-end seeds of its own destruction (or at least stagnation) is the useless pursuit of trying to compete with medicine. It’s a battle that can’t be won and, in my view, is best avoided.

Medicine’s territory is founded on scientific rationalism and a pre-occupation with symptoms not causes. The holistic mindset has a greater philosophical, ‘quantum’ depth, often a spiritual dimension and at best deals with causal factors in health – so no contest; stop fighting.

Another more superficial, yet deeply significant trap is presentation. My view is that therapies are basically terrifying for most people, practiced as they are behind closed doors, under the control of a complete stranger for around thirty quid an hour. It’s not an appealing proposition is it?

Add to that the often lofty, arrogant or plain weird personalities of some practitioners who have blazed a trail with some of the strangest sounding treatments known to man, and you have a significant accessibility challenge for ‘regular’ people.

Given these two handicaps, what can therapists do to reclaim their crowns as heralds of a new era of wellbeing, rude health and expanded consciousness?

I’ve got a plan. It’s called ‘hedolism’.

Turning it’s back on conflict with medics and embracing form as much as function, hedolism is where a hedonistic approach to life meets a holistic understanding of wellbeing - head-on. Mark my words, in complementary therapy circles, it will be the new ‘rock and roll’ and it won’t be taking any prisoners!

The hedolistic lifestyle is hedonistic without the excess and holistic without the sandals. I apologise to any committed sandal-wearers, but trust their inclusion here illustrates a point.

The hedolists simply want to look great, feel great and be great. They want to squeeze every ounce of juice out of life and still give something back in the process. Holistic health, personal growth and environmental, ethical living are integral themes in their agenda and many of them ARE therapists. Why do you think so many people train in therapies and never really get a business off the ground?

Deep in their subconscious minds, they knew they were training to be the foot soldiers of the hedolistic age – armed with a new outlook on life and not afraid to use it.

It’s time to come to the fore you therapists and raise your banners (and your glasses) to hedolism.

Face it: normal life is dull.

If there is a God, do you really think he or she meant us to struggle away working from the cradle towards a 40-year plan of wage-slavery and mortgage payments just to cut a bit of slack at 60 - when we can take it easy and really focus on doing the things we love?

No. We don’t think the creative intelligence behind this existence meant that for us either. But that’s because we are hedolists.

Not hedonists; not just holists. Hedolists are into the hedonistic pleasure principle (big time), but with an added holistic consciousness that means we care about ourselves, other the people and the planet we were born on.

Hedonistic and holistic lifestyles are well-known paths. The latter a little more recent perhaps, but both have stagnated in the face of modern mediocrity. For most people life is a struggle. Most have given up on deep hedonistic fulfilment as they cope with the daily grind and as for holistic living, forget it. We’re too busy making ends meet.

But hold on a minute. The shackles of a j-o-b (just over broke) and the cycle of consumerism and debt are contracts most enter into voluntarily, because that’s what you do.

Same with schooling, health, marriage, politics and religion; all these institutions are voluntary. And despite their increasingly lifeless and meaningless hold over our lives, they too are not compulsory. No one made you do it; it’s just what happens. You conform, subscribe and then trudge that weary path of all those who’ve gone before you.

When are you going to wake up?

If you did, you wouldn’t be alone. Unruly schoolchildren, bingeing weekend boozers, those seeking the excitement of extra-marital affairs and anyone looking for alternatives to toxic, ‘slash and burn’ modern medicine are there with you.

All are looking for freedom from the tedium and utter ignorance of modern existence – albeit in often very clumsy and potentially dangerous way.

Which brings me back to hedolism.

Yes. Normal life is not working. Life is meant to be enjoyed (non-stop) and there is a new consciousness dawning that makes sense of all our stress, depression, anxiety and disease. In your heart, as you watched those around you struggle and suffer, you always knew there was more to life, and there is.

Hedonistic with respect; holistic with a sense of humour – a new way of life and a new understanding of your self is emerging. Hedolism awaits you.

One fairly ordinary day (having less of those thankfully), Andy Metcalfe, founder of Holistic Local, said to me over our Skype hotline: “Trouble is, we don’t have a word or phrase to describe our movement. Millions of people are spiritual but not religious, environmentally aware but not eco-warriors and interested in wellbeing without being complete health-freaks.”

“Despite sharing values of peace, compassion, love and goodwill, they are a silent, but hugely powerful majority, who are changing the world, but don’t even have a name,” he added.

“You’re absolutely right,” I said.

I’m a veteran of the positive living scene and Holistic Local’s UK ‘Ambassador’ and I agree that although united in attitudes and connected by shared values, it’s surprising that these people, people like us, don’t have a name or collective noun.

It was an astounding observation. There were hippies in the sixties and seventies and new-agers in the eighties and nineties. Yet, in the holistic ‘noughties’, this emerging group - interested in wellbeing, personal growth, spirituality and the environment - are lacking an identity.

To be fair, sociologists and trend-spotters have tried. The ‘cultural creatives’, ‘perennials’, ‘metro-spirituals’ and even ‘loli-boomers’ (tee-hee) were some of their offerings. But no big surprise as to lack of interest and take-up with these somewhat impact-less monickers.

In my view, this is nothing less than the most exciting and dynamic group of people ever to emerge. This is not a trend or fashion, this is nothing less than a crossroads in human history and these folks - us folks - are the foot soldiers of a new era in human consciousness. The survival of mankind depends on their sensitivities in these turbulent times. They are the modern ‘missing link’.

Then it hit us….

“Our people want to feel good, look good and be good. It’s all about spiritual fulfilment, respecting our bodies and responsible, ethical living,” observed Andy. “It’s about the pleasure of hedonism and the awareness of the holistic mindset. We are all hedolists!”

Given what we feel about each other (no, not me and Andy. I’m talking about us hedolists now) and the planet; given what we know about the reality of life beyond religion, politics and so-called education, it’s not the meek who will inherit the earth. It’ll be the hedolists – no longer misfits, but the modern missing links to a new, new age.

That made me grin.

They are here and they are here to stay.

Welcome to the new “new age”. Forget the new age; it was a false start.

There’s a new “new age” and it’s called hedolism.

Combining the pleasure-centred drive of hedonism and the spiritual awareness of holism, hedolism brings natural living, environmental awareness and personal growth together into a new holy trinity of positive living.

The institutions of health, education, religion and government are floundering. The silent majority of peace-loving and easy-going earth-dwellers are ready to inherit the earth.

A simpler, less mad life is all they ask for. With enough for all and a taste for all things good, they are here to live life to the full. Being here, now, sending a message to the universe that life is good knowing that all our problems can be solved with love, openness and greater consciousness.

Sensing the need to feel great, look great and be great, we are reaching hedolistic critical mass…

Join us!