A deck of cards. 42 pieces of advice. Six weeks.
Here’s the invitation.
If you’d like to join me in the new year, then I’ll send you this deck of cards in the post. 42 cards with one piece of advice on each. From 10th January, for six weeks, we’ll turn over one card a day. And, each day, we’ll spend time with one piece of advice and see how it feels, explore it and, perhaps, put it into practice. Each day builds on the days before it and, in these little steps - one small piece of advice at a time - a kind of practice of clarity builds.
How do you keep clear? How do you know what to do - at work, at home, in your relationships? When there are so many opportunities to be distracted. Or drawn into drama. The straight-up ludicrous thing about this teaching is that it says: This is how. And the two most wonderful things about the teaching are that when you read it, you think, firstly, “Oh, I know all these things.” and, secondly, “Oh - I can do all of these things.”
So, if we already know how, then why don’t we do them all already? This is the most important thing. Reading, hearing, learning or even remembering something is not enough to change our minds. We actually have to let go of how we do things now and move to a different way of doing things. It took me a long time to realise that this is what meditation is. Not sitting quietly. Not finding a sense of relaxation. But it is the practice of taking something you’ve learned and deliberately committing to it so wholeheartedly that you actually change your mind. You start doing things differently. You follow the advice.
This beautiful teaching. The last teaching by an old Buddhist master - giving his students practical guidance on what they should do when he’s gone. How to get through the days. How to live well. How to navigate. They learned it. They followed it. They taught it to their students - and it carries through the generations all the way here.
For my part, I’m trying to present the advice in a way that makes sense for now. To give it to you in a way that’s easy to engage with. One card a day. And, for each card, a few minutes of audio you can listen to - filling in some detail or giving some encouragement. And - if you wish - a chance to sit down with me once a week and talk through the last seven days.
I’d love you to join. I’d love to share this teaching with you. I’d love to put a deck of cards in the post for you. And - if there’s anything you want to know about it - I’d love to talk to you. To answer questions - or just have a chat and see what shows up.
You can sign up here: https://www.charlesdavies.com/42days
And, if you’d like to talk, mail me: hello@charlesdavies.com.