Weight: 83.2kgs
Body Fat: 27.7%
BMI: 26.6
BP: 141/83 @56bpm
RHR: 60bpm (Resting Heart Rate)
(I’ll be taking these readings at the same time each day, to reduce variables)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I start. And from these figures above, none too soon. I’m heavier than I should be, I’m carrying more fat than I should, and my BMI is above what it should be. It should be below 25. My blood pressure is highish, but I have a genetic pre-disposition to hypertension.

I got a call from my doctor last night. He gave me the results of a blood test I had done late last week. All good. Cholesterol good. Blood sugar good. No nasties. Phew. I put this down to 1) cutting dairy out of my diet altogether. I’ve not eaten dairy now for about the past 12 months, 2) reducing red meat to about 2-3 servings a month, and 3) exercising regularly. I do 40 mins on my bike 5 days a week at moderate to high intensity. On Sundays I do 60mins.

I’ve stopped walking for a while because my knee’s buggered.
Again.

10am – and I’ve just had 2xdouble espressos.
Yes, 2.
No milk, no sugar, of course.
Just pure caffeine.
That’s what I need to start writing.
That might change as the fast progresses.

1pm – I’m hungry. I want lunch.

2pm – Jennifer comes in and asks me if I want an orange juice. No, I say. Do you want some orange juice in a glass of water? No, I say. (my stomach rumbles.) What do you want then, she asks. A cup of Darjeerling tea, thanks. She comes back later with a Yeti flask of Darjeeling tea.

5pm – exercise on my stationary bike. 40mins/17.9kms/631cals.

7pm – dinner / black tea.

So, I want to introduce you to a good book on fasting. It’s written by Dr Jason Fung. He’s a specialist in kidney disease, and regarded as a world expert on fasting. He’s Canadian based, but worked a lot at the Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. HIs book is called, simply: The Complete Guide to Fasting – Heal your body through Intermittent, Alternate Day and Extended Fasting.

Here’s the Amazon link – The Complete Guide to Fasting Here’s an extract: (and I’ll be posting regular extracts as my fast progresses…)

Starving and fasting should never be confused with each other, and the terms should never be used interchangeably. Fasting and starving live on opposite sides of the world. It is the difference between recreational running and running because a lion is chasing you. Starvation is forced upon you by outside forces. Fasting, on the other hand, may be done for any period of time, from a few hours to months on end. You may begin a fast at any time of your choosing, and you may end a fast at will, too. You can start or stop a fast for any reason, or for no reason at all.

Fasting has no standard duration—since it is merely the absence of eating, anytime that you are not eating, you are technically fasting. For example, you may fast between dinner and breakfast the next day, a period of twelve hours or so. In that sense, fasting should be considered a part of everyday life. Consider the term breakfast. The word refers to the meal that “breaks your fast”—which is done daily. The word itself implicitly acknowledges that fasting, far from being some sort of cruel and unusual punishment, is performed daily, even if only for a short duration. It is not something strange but a part of everyday life.

I’ve sometimes called fasting the “ancient secret” of weight loss. Why? It is certainly an ancient technique, dating thousands of years, as we’ll discuss in Chapter 2. Fasting is as old as humankind, far older than any other dietary technique. But how is fasting a “secret”? Although fasting has been practiced for millennia, it has been largely forgotten as a dietary therapy. There are virtually no books about it. There are few websites dedicated to fasting. There is almost no mention of it in newspapers or magazines. Even its very mention draws stares of incredulity. It is a secret hiding in plain sight.

How did this happen? Through the power of advertising, big food companies have slowly changed how we think of fasting. Instead of being a purifying, healthful tradition, it’s now seen as something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Fasting was extremely bad for business, after all—selling food is difficult if people won’t eat. Slowly but inevitably, fasting has become forbidden. 

Nutritional authorities now allege that even skipping one single meal will have dire health consequences. You must always eat breakfast. You must snack constantly, all day long. You should eat a bedtime snack. You must never, ever miss a meal. These messages are everywhere—on television, in the newspaper, in books. Hearing them over and over again creates the illusion that they are absolutely true and scientifically proven beyond a doubt. The truth is exactly the opposite. There is no correlation whatsoever between constant eating and good health.

If you want to learn more about Dr Fung’s approach to diet and fasting, watch these videos on his website: https://www.dietdoctor.com/authors/dr-jason-fung-m-d

We’re all unique.

Each and every one of us.

We each have unique skills, aptitudes, likes and dislikes. We each see the world through different eyes.

Yes, we might be tribal about certain stuff – we might find ourselves in accord with others on various issues, or share similar behavioural traits, but none off us is the same.

We’re all unique.

If ever you find yourself confused as to your purpose in life – what path to follow – determine what it is that makes you unique, then follow that path.

We each have something unique to contribute to the world – to humanity. What you contribute will be unique to you.

Revel in your uniqueness.

It’s what makes you you!

As followers of this blog know, at this time each year I do an audit of what I achieved this past year, pegged against what I said I wanted to achieve – and I set out what I hope to achieve the coming year.

Well, 2020 has been a helluva year.
Talk about a disrupter!

Just think, this time last year the words COVID-19, and Coronavirus and Pfizer weren’t even in our vocabulary – and PPE and self-isolate and N95 and social-distancing were all foreign terms to us.

I’m thankful and grateful that Jennifer and I, and our families, have come through this year safely and without illness. We’ve been fortunate to live in a country that has handled the pandemic in a way that’s been the envy of most other countries – and the stats attest to that – but that’s not to say there hasn’t been a lot of trauma for some along the way.

Personally, for Jennifer and myself, it’s been a year that’s forced us to stop and take stock of our lives – to reflect on what’s important and what’s not, to see things with greater clarity, to get rid of unnecessary “noise,” and to be grateful for what we have and empathetic to those that are suffering, in whatever way.

For us, it’s been a year of softening.
And coming together.
Strangely, in a year that’s required separation, stronger bonds and connections have formed.

So in the light of what’s happened this year, it’s now interesting to look back on what I hoped to achieve, and what I did achieve. The number one inhibitor to this year’s workload was that I wasn’t able to travel – but that turned out to be incredibly cathartic.

Liberating.

So, here we go… the audit of what I set out to achieve, and what I actually achieved:

Complete the manuscript of Again, I Die.
Check. I did this. The ms came in at 102K words.

Get Again, I Die published.
Nope. Hasn’t happened as yet. The publishing industry has contracted this year, and a ms that mixes genres (thriller with New Age) has been difficult to place. But it’s a terrific story and well written (ahem, he says humbly), and it will find a home.

Complete production of Fear – the Movie.
Nope, this didn’t happen either. My inability to travel put the stoppers on production. But sometime in March I woke up with a message from my dream state telling me that during this dreadful time of rampant fear I had to be in service, and so I set about creating Facing Fear – The Interviews, a website resource using cutdowns of the interviews I’d gathered for the film.

Over the next several months I worked with my editor, Rishi Shukla, and my web developer Natacha to create the website, which consists of some 27 interviewees from around the world – experts in fear management – with video content all up of nearly 24hrs. Here’s a link should you wish to check it out – Facing Fear – The Interviews

Commence development of a TV series based on my feature film KISS OR KILL.
Done. I’ve written the pilot episode, and detailed treatments for the further 7x58mins episodes.

Commence production of DEFIANT, the feature film based on the true story of a double honour killing in India.
Nope. Not possible to set up a film in India during the time of the Coronavirus.

Get THE WAY, MY WAY cast and financed.
Nope. This is the feature film project based on the adaptation of my bestselling memoir, The Way, My Way – my account of walking the Camino de Santiago. I have Australian theatrical distribution in place, and a US financier and sales agent and Spanish co-producers, but independent feature film production this year has pretty much gone belly-up, because of lack of exhibition – cinemas. So I have shifted my focus to TV, and am currently writing a limited TV series based on the book. The book by the way now has more than 300 five-star reviews on Amazon. Here’s a link if you want to check it out – The Way, My Way.

Write the manuscript for a new book on intuition.
Nup. Didn’t happen. Figured there were enough good books on the subject.

Produce a Masterclass based around the book.
Nup. Didn’t happen because the book didn’t happen.

Get PGS out wider into culture.
Yep, it’s happening. In negotiation with a major US distributor for English speaking territories.

Spend more time meditating.
Kinda. But not enough. I use an app called Insight Timer, that Dr Dean Radin put me onto. And its binaural beats meditation sessions are great.

So – that’s the audit of what I set out to do this year, versus what I actually did do. Overall I spent the year writing, which in the end is what I really love to do.

So, what’s in store for 2021?
Here’s what I hope to achieve:

• Complete Facing Fear – The Movie.(This will depend on Covid related restrictions, and I don’t know if it will be possible.)
• Set up KISS OR KILL as a limited TV series.
• Set up The Way, My Way as a limited TV series.
• Write the screenplay for an alien-based comedy.
• Write another novel. (I have several ideas fermenting)

This year has brought about some fundamental changes for me. For starters, I have discovered that I don’t need to travel as much as I used to. Jennifer and I really do enjoy staying at home. My idea of a great day now is to write in the morning, read in the afternoon, and watch some amazing television in the evening. Oh yes, and there’s exercise and meditation and family and cricket and footy – my youngest son has got me following Liverpool, so that fills in the gaps left vacant when the Swannies aren’t playing.

As horrendous as this year has been, for me it’s been a year of realignment and recalibration. As I said in PGS the Movie, to be able to hear your inner voice, your inner wisdom, first you have to stop – and this year has forced me to stop.

I firmly believe that this pandemic is an incredibly powerful agent of change – and that out of the trauma and demolition that is COVID-19, universal consciousness will rise and lead us towards a better way of living on this beautiful planet.

While I was making my film on intuition, PGS – Intuition is your Personal Guidance System, (https://www.pgsthemovie.com), I discovered that perhaps the greatest barrier to tapping into your intuition was fear.

And as I thought more about fear, it occurred to me that so many of my decisions were driven by fear. Big decisions and small everyday decisions. And I began to wonder: what would it be like to live free of fear?

How would that feel?

What could I achieve, if I wasn’t tethered by fear?

Then I started to realise that I didn’t really know what fear was. If I wanted to rid myself of fear, first I had to know what fear was and how it worked. That’s when I began to think about making a film on fear – but anchoring it to a personal perspective, like I’d done with PGS.

I decided to call it Facing Fear.

I started out with the objective of finding out:

* What is fear?
* How does it work?
* How can I use it to make my life better?

I set off around the world about eighteen months ago. I filmed numerous interviews, some with leading experts on fear – doctors, psychologists, counsellors, therapists. But I was also interested in the esoteric aspects of fear, so I interviewed some of the world’s leading spiritualists and mystics. I also included interviews with those that had personally experienced real fear, and come out the other side much wiser. A combat veteran turned mercenary was one such interviewee.

Fascinating stuff.

I’d almost completed the interview phase of production when the coronavirus hit – and that put a halt to filming. I returned to Australia, and as the pandemic took hold globally, and in my home country, I realised there was a lot of fear out there. A hell of a lot of fear.

I woke up one morning with a strong intuitive message that I had to be in service. I realised that I’d amassed this fantastic storehouse of interview material on fear – and even though I couldn’t complete the film, there was a real need for the information and advice I’d gathered.

So I decided to create an online resource which I would call Facing Fear – The Interviews. What I would do is cut down the interviews and put them up raw on a website, and augment each interview with an up-to-date Zoom interview discussing fear during the current crisis.

Each interview would run between 45mins to an hour in duration, allowing for a detailed examination of fear – and providing practical advice on how to deal with it, and how to turn it to your advantage.

What I’ve ended up with is 27 interviews with some real heavyweights, but also some folks you’ve never heard of who have faced real fear and have wonderful advice on how they managed.

All up the website contains nearly 24hrs of interview content. There’s some real gems of wisdom and advice in amongst it all.

I would have liked to offer it for free but it’s been quite a costly exercise so far and I have an obligation to the investors who are involved. The Interviews is a precursor to the film, which will be completed once the coronavirus restrictions have lifted.

Here is the link: https://facingfearinterviews.com

Please check it out. If you are facing fear at the moment for whatever reason, I’m sure you’ll find something in the interviews that will help you.

I was on a panel the other day – a Shift Network event talking about Media in a Changing World – and of course I know nothing about media, and even less about the changes that are happening in this world we inhabit at this point in time.

But I found myself talking about the divisions that are separating us at this moment, and how the media seems to be echoing those divisions.

We seek out the media that supports and reinforces our world view.

Now, is that smart?
No, but it feels good, right?

My side is right and the other side are a bunch of morons and they’re not only wrong, they’re criminally insane and they’re screwing up the world.

See what I mean? How can we ever evolve towards a higher state of consciousness if we come from that position?

I aspire to neutrality.
I really do.

If I ever achieve a neutral point of view I will regard that akin to enlightenment.

Neutrality doesn’t mean you don’t care.
It doesn’t mean you don’t have a point of view.
What it means is that you can see things from various perspectives.
It means you’ve stepped outside your particular “echo chamber.”
It means that you have come to a point of existential realisation that none of it, in the end, really matters.

As Jackson Browne said:
Nothing survives, but the way we live our lives.

If you can be neutral it means you don’t get caught up in all the unnecessary carry-on that so often dictates so much of our lives. (Underline the word: unnecessary.)

I’ve learned over the years I won’t change someone else’s strongly held beliefs by espousing my strongly held beliefs. It’s never happened. All it’s done is create acrimony, disharmony, immeasurable discord and caused me to unfriend them on Facebook.

I aspire to be neutral.
I really do.

I aspire to being able to sit at a dinner part table and listen to conversations that at other times in my life would have driven me to stab someone in the eye with an oyster fork.

I aspire to watching a political debate and not, at some point, standing up and shouting “IDIOT!”

I aspire to a time when, while driving and I see a car in front with a bumper sticker for a particular politician that I believe should stand trial for Crimes Against Humanity, I no longer feel an uncontrollable urge to plant my foot on the accelerator and rear-end them into a cement roadside barrier.

I aspire to be neutral.
I really do.

For the past eighteen months, I’ve been working on a film about fear.

It’s called Facing Fear. 

I’ve travelled to various countries around the world interviewing scientists, physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, spiritualists and psychics, combat veterans and victims of violence and abuse, and others who had faced real fear, and survived.

I interviewed some prominent names including Dr Joe Dispenza, Dr Bruce Lipton, Foster Gamble, James Van Praagh, Paul Selig, and many more. Some of the most powerful interviews though were with people you’ve never heard of. 

All up I amassed 30 interviews and some 50hrs of footage. And I hadn’t finished. But then the coronavirus came along and it stopped me from doing any more interviews, and it put a pause on my completing the film.

About three weeks ago, when the coronavirus crisis really began to hit worldwide, I woke up from a deep sleep with a message: I have to be in service.

I thought about that and wondered what I could do to be in service. And then I thought about all these amazing interviews I’d done on fear that I had stored on hard drives. And how fear was running rampant throughout the world. And how the world needed a resource to help understand fear, and how to deal with it.

So what I decided to do was this: I’d create a website that contained most of these interviews – I’d cut each one down to about 20-25 minutes in duration – but I’d augment them where possible with a 25 minute Zoom interview with each of the interviewees discussing fear in the time of COVID-19. All up the website would contain nearly 20hrs of interviews on fear- with about half of it discussing how to handle fear right now.

I’ll have to monetise it – because the whole endeavour is costing me a fair bit to produce – but I’ll keep the price low to make it accessible.

So that’s what I’m doing. It’ll be called Facing Fear – The Interviews. It should be ready mid to late May. It will only be available for a short time, because the movie will follow later. 

I’ve learned so much about fear during the making of this film.
Now is the time to get it out there…

It’s very tempting at the moment to be judgemental.

To be judgemental against China.
To be judgemental against laggard politicians.
To be judgemental against hoarders,
or cruise ships,
or landlords,
or those millennials who aren’t taking the current crisis seriously.

I’m sure you have your own personal list.

We’re currently in survival mode. And when we’re in survival mode we lash out at those we believe are threatening us, threatening those we love, threatening our way of life.

We lash out at those that seek to undermine our sense of certitude.
We have shifted into a time of uncertainty.

Everything we took for granted as being certain is now no longer certain. It used to be certain that you could go to the supermarket and buy toilet paper. It used to be certain that you could hold a BBQ in your backyard and invite your friends over. It used to be certain you could hop on a plane and fly wherever you wished to go. It used to be certain that you’d have a job, or have enough money to pay next week’s rent, or have enough food to feed your family.

Nothing is certain anymore.
And we’re going through a range of emotions as a result.

Some of us have gone to denial.
Some have gone to anger.
Some have gone to depression.
Some have gone to blame.
And many of us have gone to judgement.

But what is judgement?

At the heart of judgement is the notion that you are in some way superior to the person or the concept or the institution that you’re judging. That you have superior knowledge, or greater insight or wisdom, or you have some kind of elevated status that gives you the authority to be judgemental.

Implicit in judgement is a lack of humility.
Implicit in judgement is an ego dominated outlook.

When I catch myself being judgemental I try to stand back and ask myself – 
What authority gives me the right to say/think this?
Is this my ego speaking?
Does saying/thinking this lift or lower my vibrations?
Does this come from love or fear?

Now’s not the time to be judgemental. There will never be a time to be judgemental. I am not better or superior to you so I don’t have the authority to judge you.

I am a spark of Spirit, as are you, as is everyone, as is everything.
Within that spark judgement does not exist.