Say Goodbye to ‘Dry July’ and Hello to ‘Flawless August’

Phillip J. Watt & Nicole L. Maclean
Waking Times

This article was written just after the ‘Blood Moon’ eclipse began in Australia on July 28, 2018…

For some people it is just an astronomical event when the moon is imprinted with the earth’s shadow from the sun, and for others there is astrological symbolism and energetic meaning to it too.

From the latter point of view, lunar eclipses in general symbolise facing thyself. They reflect ushering out the old and bringing in the new, on both personal and collective levels. This can be a painful process at times, because serious change is usually a challenge for most people. However, this blood moon represents reflection, healing and change, particularly regarding the ageing fracture between the masculine and feminine. This isn’t just on an external level, but also internally too. After all, we all have both energies inside us, which unfortunately most of us haven’t integrated.

Now regardless if you personally believe in the philosophy of ‘as above, so below’, this lunar eclipse was nearly the longest of what is theoretically possible (it went for one hour and forty three minutes of a maximum one hour and forty seven minutes). Therefore, it gave us almost all it could for us to see it (and feel it). In that essence it represents deep reflection, which should encourage us to look deep into our own lives. As noted in this article: “This is a time for us to purge, cleanse, and detoxify.”

And how many of us need to take greater care of ourselves? How many of us need to detoxify our bodies and minds? The answer is essentially all of us. Whether it be physical health, mental health, or even just how we prioritise our time, we all have ways in which we’re not just reaching our ideals now and again, but we’re nowhere near them.

Many people have heard of ‘Dry July’, where we put down the beer and wine for a month to cleanse our bodies of alcohol. Although we probably haven’t done it exactly this way, the basic concept would have been applied in many manners, including implementing various alcohol-free, dieting, detoxification, fitness and fasting rituals for different lengths over our lives.

However, sometimes a grand reboot is required and if we don’t choose to do this consciously our natural growth cycle will always find a way to set us up with the opportunity, sometimes smooth and at others times rough, even if we choose not to capitalise on it.

The Birth of Flawless August

My partner Nicole co-hosts the ‘Mad Magic’ podcast with me, which is available on iTunes and all podcast Apps (see below for an episode on Flawless August). She is just as passionate as me when it comes to continuously growing and changing our lives. We’ve been practicing meditation, self-administered psychotherapy and other growth modalities for many years, but in recent months we’ve felt like a new wave of self-care was incredibly important for us.The other night we were discussing this topic and at one point I made a cheeky remark about ‘Dry July’, finishing it up with a joke about implementing ‘Flawless August’. The idea seemingly sprung from nowhere and at the time we weren’t serious about it, but after sleeping on it we’ve decided to give it a serious crack.However, it’s not just about alcohol. It’s about everything. It’s about what we put into our bodies, what we put into our minds, and how we behave towards ourselves and the world at large.

Therefore it encourages self-reflection, self-actualisation and self-mastery.

I’ve decided to share this with you in case you also have a deep yearning to upgrade your own life. So many of us are too focused on political, geopolitical, environmental, conspiratorial and other external affairs without giving ourselves the respect of taking great care our psychological and spiritual development. Of course it is important to shine light onto the injustices of our world, but it’s equally important to shine light on the injustices that we inflict on ourselves.

After all, if we truly want to bring about a better world for our children, then we need to become that which we desire our world to be.
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To achieve it, we need to ensure we are at least pouring in as much energy internally, as we are externally. The adage ‘love yourself to love others’ has earned notoriety as a cliché, however the insight it offers is still extraordinarily potent: the more we love, respect, honour and care for ourselves, not in vane but authentic ways, the greater capacity we have to share it with our world, including other people and our environment.

So in as much as the last several decades have been extraordinarily powerful in terms of becoming more conscious and sovereign human beings, which has given rise to large waves of activism and change agency, the way we treat ourselves on an individual level is in most cases astoundingly inhumane. There is so much sickness, stress and sadness. Our habits are often self-abusive. Our self-care is replaced by dollars and doctors. We’re collectively screaming for a more just world, but individually we’re often failing to get even close to adequately caring for ourselves.

What is Flawless August?

The concept isn’t to become perfect, because that’s simply impossible in a dynamic system such as the human experience. So it’s not about becoming flawless at all, as growth is a never-ending and outright wonderful process of life. Alternatively, think of it like updating the software on your computer or phone: Flawless August is simply recognising ways we could improve how we treat ourselves – including our human family and natural systems too – and then acting on it.

Or put another way, Flawless August is about striving towards becoming more of not just who we want to be, but more of who we need to be.

In that light, therefore, it’s a month of education. It’s learning ideas and strategies that are of immense benefit to ourselves and others. It’s expanding our consciousness around more authentic and honourable ways to live, and being able to share that humbly with others. It’s also about understanding that we’ll never be perfect, yet if we continuously get into more healthy patterns and behaviours, it is simply a more wise way to exist.

With that said, below is a list of ideas and ideals to guide you. If it speaks to you, share this article and hashtag the fuck out of #FlawlessAugust. If you’re not that interested personally, you can bet there will be many friends and family in your social circle who will be, so give them a head’s up by sharing this through your networks.

You can do whatever you like with it according to your personal circumstances. Not all ‘wants and needs’ will be applicable to every one of us, however based on my many years of providing personal and professional guidance it’s not just intelligent to have a general plan for our future, but it’s also highly effective to actually write down a list of goals which you look at every day to remind and inspire you to take the steps required to achieve them.

Trust me; it works. Writing down our goals and desires is incredibly powerful at helping them to manifest, so if you’re serious about wanting to think, feel and act better, then use this list as a reference for your own future growth and write down your own personal version of it too.
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In any case, I hope that it helps you in some small or even large ways.

And to reiterate, this isn’t about doing everything flawlessly, although you are obviously free to attempt it if you so desire (including having a complete detoxification of your mind and body). But for succinct sakes, Flawless August has two primary purposes:

1. Learn more about what you and the world require; and
2. Do more to actualise it.

If you choose to have a crack at ‘Flawless August’ and would like to participate in a survey regarding your achievements and challenges, please email Phillip and Nicole at madmagic@pushingthetippingpoint.com.

The Four Focuses of Flawless August

1. Be Mindful of the Food We Eat

The food we put into our bodies is extremely important for our short and long term health, as more and more studies show that many physical illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, allergies, arthritis and other common ailments, as well as mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, are linked to poor nutrition, an unhealthy gut and the dangerous chemical additives that are found in processed foods and sprayed on fruits and vegetables.

Of course every person’s circumstances are different and the reasons for mental and physical health problems are typically multilayered, which is why holistic health responses are growing throughout the Western world.

In addition, each individual is biologically unique and has different nutritional needs and reactions to various food groups. Therefore, researching and discovering what best works for our body and mind is our personal responsibility, including consulting a holistic health practitioner when relevant.

Ideas and Ideals:

• Grow your own food and buy from local, organic farmers where possible;
• Food should be as natural as possible, meaning organic, non-GMO and non-sprayed vegetables and fruits;
• Avoid foods that are processed and contain toxins and harmful chemicals;
• Consume food high in nutrition (eat seasonally and direct from the farm where possible);
• Include raw foods at times too;
• Limit or eliminate dairy products, as they can generate significant health issues;
• Limit or eliminate sugar in your diet as it has similar addictive impacts on the brain as heroin and cocaine and has adverse health effects;
• As a general rule, eat more plants and less meat than our usual diet as excessive meat consumption, especially red meat, is linked to cancer and other health issues;
• Limit or eliminate processed meats such as ham and bacon, as they are considered carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation (WHO);
• If we must eat animals, then they should be sourced locally if possible (including personally fishing and/or hunting), not factory farmed, are grass fed (not grain fed), and are treated humanely; and
• As another general rule we should eat less food than we usually do, as overeating is the norm; instead, eat more nutrition-rich foods.

2. Be Mindful of the Liquids We Drink

As with food, the liquids we consume can have a positive or negative impact on our health.
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Ideas and Ideals:

• Drink copious amounts of clean water that has been filtered from toxins such as Fluoride, has a high pH level (alkaline), is mineralised and even hydrogenised if possible (this is difficult for many of us without our own filtration system, so sourcing water from local springs is the next best step);
• Attempt to be alcohol free to give you a break from its heavy impact on your liver, other organs and health in general, especially during the week;
• No soft drink (soda), or sugary drinks at all;
• Freshly squeezed juice with no additives; and
• Limit of one coffee a day to avoid these nine side effects.

3. Be Mindful of Self-Care

Many people just allow the corporatised medicinal system to deal with issues regarding their health, however given the issues of false medical claims, ineffectiveness of many pharmaceutical drugs, high addiction to dangerous prescriptions, corruption and mainstream avoidance of cheap and natural medicines (such as baking soda, as well as Cannabis for the last Century), it is important for each of us to take greater responsibility when responding to our health and medicinal needs.

In addition, a simple diet change to nutrition-rich and toxin-less plant foods is in many cases all a person needs to do to cure their illness. Then of course preventative measures to avoid health problems are a must, as are educational and developmental strategies for our minds.
Plus, we all need some downtime and good times in our lives too.

I have broken self-care into eight sub-categories as it was integral for me when I was getting myself out of the depression I developed in early adulthood, as well as working out the specific ways I needed to evolve. These areas more or less overlap, but it’s a handy way to better understand ourselves, and our needs.

Ideas and Ideals:

• Physical Health
  • More movement, greater fitness, self-massage, full body stretches everyday (along with a pure diet, stretching is a great way to begin to take care of your body if you’re overweight);
  • Healthy food and water as mentioned above, as well as eliminate or limit drugs, including alcohol and pharmaceuticals;
  • If you must smoke, smoke less and switch to organic tobacco;
  • Declutter and deep clean home, car, office etc.; and
  • Use non-toxic beauty and hygiene products.

• Psychological/Emotional Health
  • Meditate for at least 10 minutes every morning and/or evening (here is an article to get you started and here is one describing dozens of scientifically proven health benefits);
  • Healthy food and water as mentioned above;
  • Consume independent, propaganda-free information and decrease social media interaction;
  • Face and aim to overcome your hypocrisies and traumas, arrange your mind coherently through mindfulness and self-administered psychotherapy, clear your emotional and psychological baggage (let shit go), heal hurts, practice forgiveness, expand consciousness in general through learning greater and more powerful truths; and
  • Create and maintain boundaries on friends and family members who treat you poorly or drain you emotionally and energetically.

• Philosophical Health (Philo = love of and Sophia = wisdom)
  • Identify and transform your false beliefs (try to start as fresh as you can to really dig out the lies fictions that we’ve carry since our childhood);
  • Organise your philosophies (which we all have) into a coherent and consistent framework;
  • Develop a grand vision of your existence which will create a stronger force field against life’s challenges and woes;
  • Evolve and embody your cosmology;
  • Invest time in transforming knowledge (information) into wisdom (action and behaviour); and
  • Discover new ideas and concepts and learn new ways to perceive and conceive life.

• Sexual Health
  • Ensure healthier self-pleasure practices, such as masturbating less if you do it too much or do it more if you don’t do it enough;
  • Be more present with your partner when having sex, develop greater sexual communication including with fantasies, explore their body more, try new positions, set up sexual temple including burning candles, create more time and space for each other;
  • Develop tantra techniques and be more present in your body;
  • Ensure your fantasies are healthy; and
  • Equally value giving and receiving, or according to the dynamics of your relationship.

• Creational Health
  • Be more inventive, try out new hobbies, develop new interests, evolve hobby health;
  • Paint, draw, build, cook, grow food and practice any other form of art;
  • Explore more of your local areas; and
  • Practice daily, weekly and monthly rituals.

• Recreational Health
  • Increase time doing healthy leisure activities.

• Social Health
  • Be around your friends and family in healthy and productive settings;
  • Identify the roles and characters that you play that are not really you, so you can be who you need and want to be, instead of who society or your peers expect you to be;
  • Mix with groups that are respectful to others and avoid those which have a herd mentality that inflict verbal, emotional or physical harm onto others;
  • Get involved with local groups that aim to help your community; and
  • Meet new people and explore new ways to socialise.

• Spiritual Health
  • Spirituality can be viewed as simply honouring our intimate interconnection with life, regardless if we perceive it through ecological, quantum physical and/or metaphysical lenses;
  • Respect the sovereignty of your spirit, dance with the mystery of existence, have awe for the many things we are yet to understand, connect with the self and all its’ layers;
  • Investigate true astrology, numerology, sacred geometry;
  • Connect with life in general (plant, animal, cosmic and metaphysical intelligence and essence);
  • Practice enchantment, recognise your spirit quests, get out in nature more, apply reverence to your experience, be more grateful; and
  • Keep a dream journal, meditate, generate out-of-body experiences, alter your states of consciousness through meditation and mindfulness.

4. Be Mindful of World-Care

Most of us want to leave behind a world that is better than when we found it so that our future generations can benefit from that legacy. However, in this day and age the human population is divided more than ever, where fighting each other is more prevalent than collectively focusing on our commonalities, such as the poor design of our social system.

This does more harm than good, especially when the populace is increasingly hateful towards each other.

Whether it’s politics, science, entertainment or even spirituality, the herd mentality has fragmented the masses. As a result, many of the core issues of our current age seldom get attention by a good number of people. In addition, many people only focus on the injustices that are symptomatic to them, instead of also focusing on the root cause.

Therefore, when we become more mindful of our world-care, we must take a grand, objective view of the way our social system is designed so that our associated action can have the greatest effectiveness. Furthermore, given the hatred and abuse online and at partisan political events, we would all benefit by caring for and respecting people more, debating maturely and aiming to find common ground with one another.

Ideas and Ideals:

• Educate ourselves on the fundamental societal issues, as well as the potential solutions [Hint: the 4M’s are a good place to start, which are Management (poor government design and education failings), Media (propaganda issues and controlled outlets), Medicine (toxic drugs and unhealthy food supply) and Money (the supply is non-sovereign and money creation should be exclusive for community banks, not private banks)];
• Have greater focus on the issues with the design of the social system, not just its symptoms;
• Treat others with respect, even those you disagree with (unless they’re causing harm of course);
• Be properly educated if you engage in debates and do so in mature ways;
• Ensure you’re not parroting propaganda and lies;
• Do no harm, unless in self-defence (the golden rule);
• Objectively examine alternative opinions and perspectives to learn more, and then change your beliefs according to new insights into what is the reality of our reality;
• Behave in ways that recognise that we’ll never agree with all the beliefs of other people, but that we do have some common ground too, such as that we all want safety, happiness and wellness for ourselves and our loved ones;
• Behave in ways which encourage unification with your fellow man, not division;
• Get involved with local, national and international initiatives that genuinely aim to help move humanity in more honourable and just directions;
• Buy local where possible, shop in independent stores to avoid the multinational chains, examine the institutions you support with your money to determine if their ethics align with yours, bank with community-owned institutions;
• Smile and engage with people daily, introduce yourself to the people that you deal with on a weekly basis (shop keepers, people that you pass at work/on public transport), join a community group or class, visit and help out at your community garden, volunteer if you have the time, check in on your neighbours (especially the elderly);
• Adjust your footprint on the environment, such as household waste, composting, growing your own food, buying in bulk, reuse before recycle, avoid buying food in plastic, take your own shopping bags, make your own cleaning and beauty products, try not to buy anything new all month and source second hand items and clothing, donate/swap/sell items that you no longer use, be a weirdo and pick up other peoples trash when you are in nature;
• Learn about and practice permaculture, regardless to what degree you can; and
• Be part of the solutions, not the problems.

Final Thoughts

If you read to the end, well done, I appreciate your commitment. I hope you put even more commitment into yourself and your world for not just ‘Flawless August’, but your entire life too.

After all, you deserve it.

A way to get you determined and excited is by looking forward to how good you will be thinking, feeling and behaving after just a week, and then two, especially after consuming quality food, water and information.

To get started, put aside an entire day to get the resources you need for the week, so that you’re prepared. Research new recipes, new honourable news outlets, and new hobbies. And tell your friends and family so they can check in on your progress.

If you’re reading this after August has already begun, try doing it for a week or two anyway. For anyone who tests it out, take note of how easy it is in some ways and challenging in others. I’m sure people in more urbanised environments, for example, will find greater difficulty in sourcing quality food and water, however I’m near certain it’s not impossible.

And please feel free to report your experience to myself and Nicole at madmagic@pushingthetippingpoint.com.

​Thanks for reading and best care on your journey.

http://soundcloud.com/phillip-j-watt/say-goodbye-to-dry-july-and-hello-to-flawless-august

About the Author

Phillip J. Watt is an author and presenter who lives on the Mid North Coast of NSW Australia. His first book, ‘The Simulation‘, is a daring exposé of the human experience in the 21st Century. His written and film work has reached into the millions of people and deals with topics from ideology to society, as well as self-development. Follow him on Facebook, listen to his ‘Redesigning Society’ Podcast on SoundCloud or Itunes, watch his films and video interviews at his YouTube Channel or visit his website Pushing the Tipping Point.