I’ve been selling my books over the summer on Hove seafront. Last week, I donated the last book of the day to the lifeguard station. There’s a nice view at the end of the video. (Jack is a roofer in London who spends time in his campervan in Hove)
Author Archives: Patrick Souiljaert
Book signing in Worthing Waitrose on 27 May
Many thanks to the people who bought a copy of Stairs For Breakfast yesterday. It was nice meeting you.
Some people who paid by card were charged £18 instead of £15. This was due to a new feature implemented by the card machine supplier that automatically added 20% VAT to the £15 I entered into the machine.
As my books are VAT exempt I will contact the supplier on Tuesday and ask (push) them to refund £3 all of you who have been charged £18. Please email me patrick@stairsforbreakfast.com if you one of these people and I’ll ensure you are reimbursed £3. My apologies for any inconvenience caused.
I would like to thank Karen Cahill at Waitrose for helping me set up the book signing. Much appreciated.
Would you like to experience less stress and more peace and joy every day?
Ultimately stress is caused when we are caught up in our mind and in thoughts.
Here’s a simple and fun game you can play anytime.
The game will help you to watch your thoughts, rather than being caught in them.
You can play this game on your own, with people you live with. Or with friends and family via Zoom or Skype
The game is simply to count the number of thoughts you have in 30 seconds.
- Use your phone to set a 30 second timer.
- Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Now for 30 seconds be very alert and gently and easily count how many thoughts you have.
- If you have the same thought more than once, count it as a separate thought.
Have a at playing the game right now!
How many thoughts did you count? It was easy? Were there many thoughts or just a few? Don’t worry if you don’t find the game easy at first. I didn’t!
By being very alert and counting your thoughts, your focus and awareness is on watching for the next thought to come along. Your awareness isn’t on the contents of each thought.
I recommend playing the game 4 or 5 times until you become at ease with it. All you need to do is close your eyes and count your thoughts.
Laugh and have fun doing so!
Sometimes there are many thoughts, sometimes there are few. It depends on the state of the mind and the body at the time.
By regularly counting thoughts it will help you to become the watcher of your thoughts, rather than getting caught up in them!
It will help you to spend more time living in the present moment, rather than being in the mind.
Here’s a little secret. Thoughts are not real. Have you ever reached out and touched one of your thoughts? Point to where your thoughts are!
Babies live in the present moment. It’s our natural state of living. However from a young age we get conditioned to act and behave in certain ways. Hence we go from living in the present moment to living in the mind.
Practiced every day, counting your thoughts helps you to reconnect to the present moment – thus to experience less stress and more peace and joy.
Feel free to email me and let me know how you’re doing.
From one mountain to another!
It’s been a while since my last blog update. I’ve been away meditating up a Spanish mountain, completing my Ascension Mastery. There’s something special about meditating with 80 to 100 people from around the world. An indescribable energy. An awesome experience (including much fun and laughter). Consequently I have become an Ascension meditation teacher.
I’m delighted to be teaching my first Ascension weekend course with Garuda, one of the most experienced teachers in the UK. We are teaching the course in Shoreham-by-Sea on 22-24 February. It will be an amazing weekend. We are also holding an introductory evening talk about Ascension Meditation on 19 February. To find out more CLICK HERE
Update 26th Feb – It appears the First Sphere course I taught with Garuda at the weekend was an awesome experience for everyone involved. I love my ability to naturally help and inspire people.
About a year ago I was approached by two local businessmen (Rob and Mark), who each year do a challenge to raise money for charity. They asked me if I wanted to walk up Snowdon. Until I started training for it (on Boxing Day) I didn’t know if I could do it.
Needless to say, I can do it and we’re on track for 2020! The Ascent is 7 kilometres and my aim is to walk it in a week. Our target is to raise a good sum of money for charity. The 2 minute video (at the top of this post) includes footage of me training.
We were planning to do the walk up Snowdon in September. However at a meeting last week Rob asked me “What’s more important to you, walking up Snowdon or raising the money for charity?” Hence we’ve now postponed the mountain walk until April 2020 to give us more time to raise the money. Also I need to train and build the strength in my legs!
This Snowdon project has come about so organically with a great team. We are putting together a Just Giving page, which includes the charities I’m supporting.
In Property news…last year I extended the lease of one of my BTL flats. I found it straightforward and fun! This year, I’m looking to extend the lease of my other BTL flat. However the cashflow on the property isn’t so great. Hence the thing to do could be to extend the lease, sell the flat and invest in other property. I need to do some number crunching and speak to some property investors I know.
These are some of the things in store for 2019 🙂
FREE introductory talk on Ascension Meditation
Come and enjoy a relaxing evening and find out about Ascension Meditation.
The Bright Path Ascension Meditation offers a direct experience of inner peace, joy and reduction of stress. Best of all it’s simple, effortless and mechanical. It can be used eyes closed for deep rest and healing, and eyes open for clarity and focus.
By ascending above the chatter and limitations of the mind, Ascension Meditation can release a lifetime habit of self-judgement and negativity.
It also offers:
~ Deeper Sleep
~ Improved Relationships
~ Better Health & Vitality
~ Clarity for Decision Making
~ A Sense of Well being
Imagine a life with less stress, free from limits and worry. Imagine a life of joy and freedom…
Garuda Steve Novak Ishaya and Patrick Samada Souiljaert are pleased to offer this free the introductory talk, on 19th February 19.30-21.30 at 110 Greenacres, Shoreham-by-Sea BN43 5XL
If you would like to learn Ascension Meditation we are teaching a First Sphere weekend course 22-24 February.
The cost for this First Sphere weekend (Friday 7-10pm and Saturday/Sunday 10am-5pm) is £360 for the weekend, which includes a 6 week follow up and lifetime support!
Repetitions of the First Sphere are FREE thereafter anywhere in the world!
For more details or to book a place, please follow the link:
https://
Or contact Samada on samada@thebrightpath.com
Hope to see you there!
Ascension website: www.thebrightpath.com
Action-packed hot news!
It’s been a while since my previous email/blog update.
I’m very proud and delighted to say my new book Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator is now published! The book covers the years 2000 to 2018. You can read extracts from the book here
I’ve uploaded a new short and funny video (just like me!) on the front page of my website.
There’s no doubt that ‘Stairs For Breakfast’ is a great book. However, I prefer Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator because it’s sharper and funnier. I encourage everyone to purchase the new book. Not only because it’s excellent but also because it will help me with my finances!
Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator has already got some 5-star reviews on Amazon, where it is available in Kindle format. if you prefer paperback books, you can buy it directly from me
I am cheaper than Amazon! at http://stairsforbreakfast.com/buy-now
On Saturday I did a book signing at the Holmbush Tesco superstore in Shoreham. It was really good and I’ll be there again this Saturday. Thank you Claire Hobson, Lisa Preston and Deano Pointer from the store for all your support. You are fantastic people. (I’ve always wanted a Saturday job at Tesco!)
On Saturday 18th August, I’m doing a book signing at the Scope shop, Chapel Road, Worthing.
In other news, I’ve extended the lease of (and remortgaged) one of BTL flats. It also involved raising a complaint about my old mortgage company with the Financial Ombudsman Service. Last year I applied to go onto another fixed rate but TMW/Nationwide didn’t process my application. The Ombudsman upheld my complaint and Nationwide have reimbursed the interest I overpaid. I found the lease extension and complaint simple because all it involved was liaising with people. Next year I’ll look at doing something with my other BTL flat.
As you may know, in September, I’m going to Spain to complete my ascension mastery course. I can’t wait! It’s amazing the impact ascension meditation is having. I feel content and relaxed, my walking and talking is easier, and I’m effortlessly helping people.
I know I can do anything (eg motivation speaking, more property, climb a mountain!). I’m happy with where I am at the moment!
I have been approached by Rob Pelling and Mark Newman, two local businessmen who over the last few years have completed various charitable challenges. They asked me if could assist me to walk up Mount Snowdon. I’m up for it! The 7km ascent is planned for September 2019 and is likely to take up to 14 days. Feel free to contact me if you’re interested in being involved with the expedition.
Here’s a press release I’ve recently put together.
Thank you for your support 🙂
Thank you Maitreya (a good source of hilarity)
Here’s another extract from Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator
After meeting him at Guayrapa in 2015 we have stayed in touch via email and Skype.
There are certain people who really understand me and he is one of them. We have a strong bond and are like brothers. He has really helped and advised me over the last two and a half years.
Not only is he a great ascension teacher, I can rely on him if I have a problem and need advice.
When I went to Guayrapa last year Maitreya was there and got me food at mealtimes and did my weekly laundry for me. And he is going to be there to help me when I go back in September.
We like telling people stories about each other and I have a few about Maitreya!
This is an anecdote, from Guayrapa last year, that he likes telling even more than I do!
It wasn’t uncommon for Maitreya to get food for me first and then for him to go and sit at another table (with only room for six people per table). However on the day in question Maitreya sat with me twice.
At lunchtime we sat with four other people, one of whom was ‘Scott from Scotland’ (a golf instructor and one of my roommates). As the conversation was about golf it gave me a cue to tell my golf joke, which got a good laugh.
Then at dinnertime, Maitreya was sitting opposite me and we were at a table with three or four people, who had just arrived at the retreat. We hadn’t met them before and English wasn’t their first language.
After we had introduced ourselves and asked them where they were from, Maitreya (thinking it would make a good icebreaker) quietly said to me “Tell your golf joke, it’s really funny…!”
I thought ‘I’m so bored of it and I’m eating’, so I replied “No, I can’t eat and talk at the same time. You tell it…”
After pausing for a moment, Maitreya turned to the rest of the people on the table and piped out “I’ve got a joke about Patrick……Why does Patrick like playing golf so much?……Because he’s got a good handicap!”
The look on the new people’s faces was one of horror and confusion. They were speechless!
Not knowing what to say or do Maitreya reiterated “…It’s a joke…”. He looked at me as if to say ‘Help me out of this hole I’m in…”
So I put my hands over my eyes and started pretending to sob, saying “How can you make fun of someone who’s disabled?”
Still speechless, the new people looked even more horrified and perplexed. They probably thought ‘Who are these strange people and where have we just landed?”
I’m sure Maitreya just wanted to run away! But he continued trying to recover the situation, scrambling “No, no, it’s okay, he’s joking…”
He then went on and tried explaining what a handicap in golf is (without much luck)!
I was just enjoying the moment.
And that’s how Maitreya got his reputation as someone who makes fun of disabled people!
Come September I’ll have three months of this kind of thing!
I love spending time with my ‘brother’. He’s not all bad. He’s good at selling my books for me. And being an author himself, he has helped me self-publish this one on Create Space.
Maitreya has written two books under the name Oliver Seligman. The Broker Who Broke Free and No Rest for the Wicked.
I’ve read them and they are both GREAT reads. The latter is a laugh-out-loud book.
You can get your copy of Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator HERE & NOW
Thank you Steve Norman from Spandau Ballet
Here’s another extract from Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator
To cut a long story short, Steve tweeted me a few months ago to say how much he enjoyed Stairs For Breakfast and he is full of praise for me. However I think he was disappointed that Spandau Ballet aren’t mentioned in my first book, whilst their ‘arch rivals’ Duran Duran are!
There is no question, Spandau Ballet are one of the biggest pop groups of the 1980s. I was a thirteen- year-old schoolboy when ‘Through The Barricades’ was in the charts. I remember hearing a small cluster of twenty-something-year-old teaching assistants chatting about Spandau Ballet, and which band member they fancied the most. I’m sorry Steve, I don’t recall hearing your name.
Without a doubt ‘True’ is one of the greatest ballads of all-time. When I hear the saxophone in the song, I think of you Steve.
You seem like a great human being with a heart of GOLD. It was fun having lunch with you recently. I like people who I can have a laugh with, and you are one of them!
You can get your copy of Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator HERE & NOW
The time I had to provide a urine sample (I’m not taking the pee!)
Here’s another extract from Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator
In November [2012], Larry drove me to see the consultant at Chichester Hospital. I had to provide a urine sample. On the way there I suggested buying some apple juice to fool the urine tester.
However, when we got to the hospital, I was bursting for a wee and asked the staff for a specimen pot.
Picture the scene:
I was standing at the toilet, with my trousers and boxer shorts around my ankles to avoid the consequences of an overspill. I was using my right hand (and stick) to balance, holding the little pot in my left hand. I didn’t know which to do first. A tiny wee in the pot or my main wee in the toilet. I was concerned that once I got going I wouldn’t be able to stop. For the record, I did the tiny wee first and was in perfect control at all times.
Waiting to see the consultant, I realised that Larry was holding my urine sample. As I didn’t want to hold it, I decided not to raise it. Talk about taking the piss.
The consultant saw me for about half an hour. He asked me a few questions, examined my limbs and ordered some x-rays. He suspected nerve damage in my right arm and referred me to have my nerves tested.
Ten days after this, I received a copy of the letter he sent to Alison, confirming my referral for nerve testing. In his letter, the consultant said, “Patrick’s CP might have gone downhill this late in life.” I was thirty-nine years old!
I think the consultant needs educating. Cerebral Palsy is not a progressive disability and it doesn’t shorten life expectancy. On the contrary, I become better able to do things as time goes on.
You can get your copy of Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator HERE & NOW
When Amanda offered me a piggyback ride
Here’s another extract from Screw It, I’ll Take The Elevator
When I met Amanda for the first time I discovered she was a voluptuous lady and quite a bit taller than me. Physically, I felt like a midget compared to her. However, being of a similar age and intellectual status, we connected straight away.
After our meeting about the work needed on Login Manager, where we spent most of the time laughing and joking, Amanda said the second best thing anyone has ever said to me.
It was a large building and it was quite a long walk to my car and aware that I had my laptop in my rucksack to carry, Amanda asked “Would you like me to give you a piggyback back to your car?”
It made me laugh out loud before saying, “Thank you for offering but I’ll be alright.” In hindsight I wish I had replied “Yes please” to see what she would had done.
We enjoyed a brilliant working relationship over the next two and a half years or so.
