I+E=K

In December I had an article published in a major US magazine - The Secrets of the Bible supplement to US News. And since then, my profile having been raised somewhat, my in-box and mail box have been regaled with articles and newsletters from some amazing people. Some I have discarded because I didn't like the feel of them; others I have read with interest. But what interested me most was that they all wanted me to hear their voice - and validate it for them.

There's nothing wrong with that - after all I am writing this so that you can hear my voice. Most of these people were casting their bread upon the waters and writing to a total stranger. Nothing wrong with that either. But in addition to the emails and newsletters that I'm sent because I'm a subscriber to certain sites, I've been truly overwhelmed by information.

It made me take a whole week out to catch up on my reading. That's a challenge to do even if you do work for yourself. And it's taught me a lot - but not actually through anything that I read in that week...

I sat and read a 50-page document on how we should believe in God in the modern day; I absorbed countless well (and not-so-well) phrased arguments for this or that aspect of spirituality/Jesus/Judaism/Buddha.

I've had at least three people sending me the Our Father (Lord's Prayer) in Aramaic as if I'd never seen it before. And one amazing man sent his complete re-translation from Hebrew of the first five chapters of the Book of Genesis. In addition, I even read two whole books that were sent.

It was all very interesting - but was all theory. It's what Kabbalists would call 'Hod.' And when I say that it's 'taught me a lot' I actually mean that it's taught me how much time we spend (perhaps even waste) on information.

Hod is the Sephira of information; the gathering and spreading of the spoken and written word. At its best it is informative and interesting and at its worse it's recycling harmful gossip. It sits on the passive side of the Tree of Life because all this information may be very interesting but the big question is: What are you going to do with it?

And it seemed that the vast majority (though not all) of the writers were passing their information on to me rather than doing anything with it in their own lives.

There's an equation that my husband, Lion, came up with: Information+Experience=Knowledge. I+E=K.

Without experience, information is not real. This is why nowadays I include creative action and visualisation in all my workshops where before I was happy just to talk and answer questions. And without wishing to blow my own trumpet (much) I truly never pass anything on to you before I have tried and tested it for myself.

By acting on information we make it real; by just reaching for yet another book or article or DVD because we think learning just one more thing will bring us closer to enlightenment, we are deluding ourselves and running away from the value of experience.

So I sat down and assessed exactly how much I'd learnt in this whole week of reading. In more than 500 pieces of paper/online articles and the two books only two paragraphs struck gold within me. And guesswhat? They were instructions on how to do a certain meditation that I had already got written down in my Discovery Journal (which is a book I keep to make a record of everything that I find transformative). I did the meditation and it was wonderful. In fact I'm doing it every day until I know I've done it enough.

Don't get me wrong; I value the time and effort all these people took with their research and their wish to make me happier and wiser with their information. But it's not the information that makes me happier or wiser, it's what I choose to do with it.

The nub of it is this. You already have all the information that you need to transform your life into a happy and prosperous one. But have you done anything about it? Have you applied I+E=K and lifted your vibration through the joy of direct experience?

If not, please do. Because that's what works. And that's this month's prosperity suggestion. Find something you've already been taught and do it. If you're stuck for an idea go back through some of these articles. And let me know how you get on.