Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

Hi Friends, I’m back here at the helm after some much required and well-deserved time off. I hope you are well.

I’ve been taking the time lately to reach out to wise friends in my network to gather insight on the choices I’m currently facing in my personal and business life. It is truly amazing what happens when you open yourself up to the guidance and mentorship of others whom you admire. It moves energy. It pushes things forward. It brings the madness of your own mind out into the open and refocuses that energy on what’s most important.

It brings clarity.

In essence, this is the precise reason why I’m making changes to Waking Times. I am going to spend my energy in the next stage of my life directly assisting others in navigating these troubling times with courage, strength, power, and clarity.

And while that was always the core mission of Waking Times, I’ve been radically re-thinking how I can participate in this endeavor while also filling my spirit and soul with the magic it deserves, and the way I’ve been operating Waking Times for the last few years has been steadily depleting the magic from my life.

I aim to recapture that magic.

In 2013 I penned an article entitled ‘9 Key Components of the Shift Towards Higher Consciousness.’ At the time it was simply an expression of the experience I had been having in my own life since 2004 when I found myself at the end of my rope. At rock bottom.

During that dark time in life I had to muster the courage and strength to pull myself out of serious depression, anxiety, and addiction, and looking back now, I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for all the riches in the world, because I learned a priceless lesson: I can overcome anything, and adaptation is the key to success and happiness.

 

That article still resonates. Here’s a quote:

8. Letting Go of and Discarding that Which Does Not Serve – In order to move through the process of transformation, it is absolutely necessary to jettison the things, people, relationships, habits, and ideas which no longer serve and support us. Human beings energetically interact with the objects and people in our environment, and eliminating and purging sources of stagnant energy and negativity creates space for new experience and inspiration to enter and flow into life. This is one of the most renewing components in this transformation.

We are creatures of habit, and we tend to hang on to things a lot longer than what is beneficial. Often we find ourselves clutching to old ways of being and doing things long after they’ve grown lifeless. Letting go is a required skill for growth and evolution, but it’s hardly easy.

“Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.” –David Foster Wallace

So true, and I’m certainly guilty of this.

After taking a pause from posting content here at Waking Times, I’m ready to let go of some things in order to create space for new experiences and inspiration to enter and flow into my life, even though I’ve already leveled deep claw marks into this project.

So, I’m making some changes and shifting my focus a bit. No, I’m not going anywhere.

First off, I’m going to focus primarily on writing, rather than on posting content from other sources. I may occasionally share articles from some of the amazing writers and authors who’ve had a home here for many years, but I’m no longer going to attempt to keep up with current events and the latest details on all of the workings of this corrupt and evil system. If that’s what you’re looking for, there’s an abundance of independent journalists and sites doing an honorable job of documenting all of this, and I salute them.

I love writing, although, as a craft it is extraordinarily challenging and one which requires a fantastic amount of focus and mental acuity. I’ve come to recognize that it’s one of the most valuable gifts I have to offer this world, and in order to develop myself into the calibre of writer I wish to be, the craft needs more of my attention and energy. It’s time to move some things out of the way to create space in my head and my heart, and so I’m going to focus on the perspectives and topics which, to me, are most relevant in serving to help people like you navigate the emotional and spiritual stressors of these challenging times, and eject the mind control from your life.

Secondly, I’m moving away from the old model of funding which relied on selling advertising space to companies who don’t deserve our partnership. This model is dead and totally unsustainable for truth tellers and free-thinkers. For years, so many of us have been heavily censored, demonetized and shadow-banned, and it’s a frustrating situation to be in, knowing that the people who want and appreciate your work are unable to access it. Furthermore, to contribute to the bottom line of companies like Google, who play a major part in censorship and manipulation of the public, is out of alignment with the values of conscious and sovereign seekers like us.

To support my work and my life I will be focused on personal self-mastery and self-sabotage coaching, online events, and group retreats. These are things which I’ve come to enjoy more than any other work I’ve ever done, and if you’d like to find out more about that, please subscribe to my personal newsletter here, and visit my coaching website, here.

Next, I’m going to shift the tone of the content I produce. The original ethos of Waking Times was based on the liberating notion that individuals have the capacity to wake up to the truth of their lives and evolve beyond the morass of self-destruction and negativity in our world… and I’ve strayed too far from this.

It’s common for people like us who care deeply about freedom and individuality to concentrate on the darkness in our world… I would know. In doing so we tend to seek out an ever deeper understanding of what lies behind the veil, then develop a steadfast obligation to the hard truth and end up shouldering the weight of the world and carrying the responsibility to change it all.

While certainly admirable, the sense of duty to something so much larger than ourselves and so far outside the sphere of personal control creates an unhealthy imbalance for so many people I speak with and clients I work with. All too often they end up neglecting the raw facts of their own life and using the noble dedication to a better world as an escape from the calamity and dysfunction in their own households. It’s become a form of self-medication to some, an unconscious distraction from facing the real responsibility of becoming their best, and along the way damage relationships and opportunities.

“Beware that when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” –Nietzsche

Finally, I’m going to put more energy into my podcast, Battered Souls. Having deep, real conversations with people who’ve survived the dark night of the soul and transformed themselves to become healers and leaders is something I enjoy most about life. The last episode was with the amazing Ali Zeck, whose story of surviving psychiatric abuse and trauma is incredible. Do check that out.

Final Thoughts

So yeah, I’m going to transform my reality a bit to cultivate more calm creativity and relaxed power in my life so I can better focus on coaching, writing, and podcasting. These are the vocations which bring me the most joy and give me the greatest opportunity to connect with and assist others on their journey of personal transformation, and I look forward to seeing you along the way.

“Living well is the best revenge” ~George Herbert

If you hear me, and if Waking Times has inspired you or means something to you,  and if you appreciate what this site means and the work I’ve done over the last decade, then thank you, sincerely. I’d love to know what you’d like to see me create here as I move forward, and how you are coping with the times we are in. Drop me a line at editor@wakingtimes.com and tell me what inspires you and which topics you think I should cover. Tell me what story you think I should be telling with this powerful and evolving platform.

And please check out the valuable services I offer as a transformational leader and coach, as I would be greatly honored to be part of your journey. If you’d like to schedule a call with me to connect and gain insight on your personal challenges, please do so, here. I’m currently working with people on several continents, so where ever you are, let’s meet here.

Oh, and one more quick thing. The comments section… what a doozie. I’ve always kept a very open and free-speech policy with the comments at Waking Times, but I’m going to be more conscious of the energy I allow into my life. If you’re hanging out there with nothing more to offer than insults, detractions and vulgarity, I may show up and check you on this. There’s plenty of that garbage in the world, and I have no intention of being a dumpster for more of it.

About the Author

Dylan Charles is a self-mastery and self-sabotage coach, the editor of Waking Times, and host of the Battered Souls podcast. His personal journey is deeply inspired by shamanic plant medicines and the arts of Kung Fu, Qi Gong and Yoga. After seven years of living in Costa Rica, he now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he enjoys serving, training, and spending time with family. He has written hundreds of articles, reaching and inspiring millions of people around the world. Follow Dylan on telegram here, and sign up for his weekly newsletter here. On Facebook. 

Dylan is available for interviews and podcasts. Contact him at WakingTimes@gmail.com.

This article (A Shift in Focus and a Change in Energy) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.

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