Introducing Tangerine Sky
HI, I’M JOHN GRANT.
I live in the UK with my faithful Airedale Terrier, Rita.
Ten years or so ago, I had never heard of mindfulness or spirituality. I had no idea that there was a very different and far more pleasant way of experiencing life. I had two daughters, four dogs and a failing marriage.
All I did know was that traditional religions had no attraction for me – appearing to be focussed on power and control rather than how can we treat each other better – and that the world was in a mess with no obvious solutions in sight.
Ten years on and I am still blessed with my two daughters, I have one dog and am happily divorced (with my first teacher we did a lot of work on goal setting and one of my earliest goals was to have a closer more loving relationship with my then wife – now that we are divorced, we have a much closer more loving relationship).
I was introduced to my first teacher through a work colleague and immediately realised this was a path I had to follow. A few days later I attended my first retreat and when I returned home, my children told me I had been “transformed”.
THE EFFECT CERTAINLY WAS DRAMATIC
I had never felt such inner peace or freedom ever before.
That state lasted for some months, but eventually wore off – which in some ways was even more frustrating than life before as I knew it did not have to be like that.
The one thing I did know was that I could not give up – that I had to continue on my path, wherever it led and whatever the consequences. I continued with my first teacher for a number of years and through him, was introduced to a number of other spiritual teachers and teachings. A much deeper appreciation of what was being pointed to gradually took hold.
In 2019 my teacher invited me to attend a course run by the Leela School in Amsterdam led by the spiritual teacher Eli Jaxon-Bear which had a similarly dramatic effect to my first retreat and set me on the path of self-inquiry as a means of discovering the truth of my existence and to a profoundly different and infinitely more fulfilling way of experiencing life.
Outwardly, not much has changed, other than the natural ageing process, but inwardly things are very different. This is not a life lived in some continual bliss state (though such moments are by no means infrequent) – it is a life fully engaged in the human experience. It is a life where sometimes things go “my way” and sometimes they do not. But there is an appreciation of the gift of this human experience which transcends all else.
THERE IS NO LONGER THE QUESTION OF “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?” BUT SIMPLY, “HOW CAN I HELP?” AND SO, THIS IS MY QUESTION TO YOU – HOW CAN I HELP?
I WOULD BE PRIVILEGED IF YOU WOULD ALLOW ME THAT OPPORTUNITY.