Effortless Evolution Book Main

EFFORTLESS
EVOLUTION
A NEW PARADIGM FOR PERSONAL CHANGE
- Introduction -
“When we experience our own desire for transformation,
we are feeling the universe evolving through us.”
- Barbara Marx Hubbard
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the

results.”
- Winston Churchill
I know what it's like...
You're scanning the cover of the latest personal development, spirituality

or business book as you turn it over in your hands, and you have THE
HOPE. We've all had THE HOPE, and some of us have had it dozens or
even hundreds of times. THE HOPE is a feeling, with a soundtrack that
goes something like this...
“Maybe this is it, the answer, the thing that's really going to work.
Maybe this is the solution I've been looking for all these years, the
big one, the thing that finally going to get me there. Maybe, just
maybe, if I read it all the way through, and do all the exercises, and
somehow find the discipline to follow the plans it gives me - maybe if
I do it right this time, then maybe, just maybe it's going to work...”
And why do we have THE HOPE?
We have it because we're convinced that there's somewhere to get to,

and that “there” is better than “here”. And “there” comes in a variety of
tantalising flavours that look something like this:
© Jamie Smart 2011 2

Effortless Evolution: A New Paradigm for Personal Change www.saladltd.co.uk
I'll be [happy / secure / fulfilled / peaceful / better / successful / ok] when
I ...
• get the money / the car / the yacht / the house - the “there” of
stuff.
• find the right work / hobby / exercise / pastime - the “there” of

doing.
• have the right partner / friends / children – the “there” of people

and relationships.
• write the book / start the business / learn the language - the
“there” of accomplishment.
• can take a year off / travel the world / eat at the best restaurants.
The “there” of lifestyle.
• achieve time-freedom / financial freedom / social freedom – the

“there” of freedom.
• lose the weight / stop smoking / start going to the gym - the
“there” of self-improvement.
• change my thinking / my limiting beliefs / do my affirmations - the

“there” of psychology.
• meditate properly / find the right practice / get enlightened - the

“there” of spirituality.
• accept myself / love myself / just let go – the “there” of surrender.
You may have tried none, some or all of the above. You may have made
big changes and improved your life in a variety of ways. Or maybe not. At
times, you may have felt like you're nearly there, like you're very close,
like the pot of gold's just around the corner. And yet...
No matter how close you get, doesn't it always seems like there's a little
more you need to do? A little further to go? Just a little bit more to fix,
change or heal? Or a LOT more?
I know, because I've done it – everything on this list and more. I got
value from many of my efforts, but sooner or later, after a week or a
month or a year, I'd find myself feeling like I was back where I started,
feeling like there was something missing, something wrong, something I
couldn't quite put my finger on...

As it turns out, the story behind that sense of “something missing”
doesn't just stop you from enjoying your life to the full – it actually stands
in the way of you having the life you really want.
And it's not your fault.
You see, as strange as it may sound, you've fallen into a trap. And it's a
trap that's so subtle, you've probably never even noticed it. Subtle,
powerful and all-pervasive.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
These days, I spend most of the time living “there”, but I didn't get here
in the way you might expect.
In brief: I grew up in an alcoholic household and started drinking heavily

when I was 12 years old. At age 19 I was a scholarship engineering
student and a full-blown alcoholic. The alcohol was like rocket fuel for my
life – I got jobs, was promoted rapidly, and started experiencing many of
the trappings of success: expense accounts, foreign travel, luxurious
surroundings.
But on the inside, I was falling apart.
Then, at the age of 30 I got married. A month later, her bags were
packed so I decided to stop drinking in order to save my marriage.
Oh yeah – I missed one. I'll be happy when I get a cigarette / a drink / a

line of coke – the “there” of addiction.
That was in 1996, and I haven't had a drink since. Today I live a happy,
fulfilling life that's beyond anything I dreamed was possible for me, but
how I got here is a story of struggle, frustration and heartbreak (much of
which I could have avoided if I'd known what you're going to be
discovering in this book).
Just to give you an idea, in the time-period from 1996 to 2008 I...
• Felt like I was a fraud and worried constantly that I'd be “found out”
• Moved to London
• Attended my first personal development training
• Quit my job and became a consultant
• Began a spiritual journey
• Read hundreds of personal development books

• Started a business with a friend
• Was terrified of having to get a job again
• Overcame my fear of public speaking (mainly by doing lots of public
speaking)
• Lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight,
gained weight
• Experienced depression, anxiety and obsession
• Spent countless hours talking to a Freudian psychoanalyst
• Participated in various addiction recovery programmes
• Learned NLP, got certified as an NLP Trainer and started teaching
others
• Had two children (Matilda and Tallulah)
• Went on dozens of personal development courses
• Got dumped by my wife and almost fell apart
• Went on a journey of awakening my masculinity and learning more
about women and relationships
• Struggled with worry, anxiety and suicidal thoughts
• Was paralysed by a combination of fear of failure and fear of
success
• Built a successful training and educational product company (Salad
– www.saladltd.co.uk)
• Tried my hand at stand-up comedy
• Learned Krav Maga, the Israeli martial art
• Built a tribe of tens of thousands of people who follow my work
• Had numerous false horizons, thinking I'd finally “got it”, only to
find myself back where I started
By the end of 2008, I was unhappy, stressed-out and at the end of my

tether. I felt like I'd been giving it everything I had for over a decade, and
while some areas of my life were better than ever, in many ways I felt
like I'd been running on the spot.
It was shit or bust. I was on the verge of giving up.
Then I was introduced to the understanding you're going to be

discovering in this book. It's nearly three years later, and they've been
the best three years of my life. I'm experiencing a sense of peace,
security and aliveness unlike anything I've had before. And as my sense
of wellbeing and clarity has continued to increase, my external
circumstances have been improving too.

The good news is, it can be replicated - the clients I work with are getting
similar results. Here are a few examples...
• Uncover your passions - Two clients (a couple) who recently

relocated to the UK didn't want to fall into the 9 to 5 grind, but
anything else felt unobtainable. Nine months after discovering the
principles you're going to be reading about in this book, living a life
they love has become their day-to-day reality. They've discovered
new passions, and in the next few months they're moving to the
South of France to live their dream of making organic soaps and
skin care products.
• Overcome fears and obstacles - I introduced one of my clients to

these principles over lunch one day. When I checked in with her a
week later, she revealed that a lifelong fear of public speaking had
disappeared, and that she'd given a presentation to her team at
work. The amazing thing is that I didn't even KNOW she had a fear
of public speaking until she told me it had gone. Her fear vanished
once she got an understanding of what you're going to be learning
in this book. (It's been a similar story with clients suffering from a
range of fears, worries and anxieties).
• Beat stress and start living from wisdom - Another client, a

successful businessman, has had the stress of running multiple
businesses replaced with a sense of calm that allows him to make
great decisions and enjoy his life more. For him, the principles
you're going to be discovering have translated into better business
and big increases in revenue, but he says that the changes in his
life are worth far more than money.
• Live a life you love - A young entrepreneur has made his dreams
of passive income and living his purpose a reality – a reality that's
translated into international travel and spending his days doing
what he wants to do at just 27 years of age. The things you're
going to be learning in this book have enabled him to shake off his
limiting beliefs and create a life he loves.
• Make a difference - A coach who wanted to create a successful

business helping others has done just that, attracting numerous
clients within months of learning the principles in this book. A year
later, not only is his coaching business thriving, but his family life is
better than ever, and he has a sense of confidence and self-belief
beyond anything he'd previously experienced.
While the circumstances in these stories are great examples of the power

of what you're going to be learning to make a real difference in people's
lives, there's a deeper story that's both more subtle and more powerful...
This deeper story relates to your EXPERIENCE of life. Again and again, my
clients and the other people I know who are learning these principles are
reporting radical changes in their experience of life...
• Security and wellbeing - You start to feel an increasing sense of

wellbeing, security and peace of mind that comes from within. The
very qualities that people have been trying to get from outside of
them start to show up from the inside!
• Richer relationships - You notice your relationships with family,

friends and loved ones getting deeper and more connected. Even
relationships with clients and colleagues start getting richer and
more enjoyably “real”.
• Innate wisdom - You start to get in touch with your innate

guidance and natural wisdom, leading to better decisions. Your
experience of life starts to take on an “effortless” quality. It's not
that you don't ever work hard at anything, but it's with an
increasing sense of engagement and enjoyment.
• Increasing confidence - You start to notice self-doubt fading

away, to be replaced by a sense of increasing confidence and
willingness to take action. In fact, people often start taking inspired
action on projects they'd been trying in vain to make progress on
for years.
• Sense of purpose - You start to feel a sense of purpose, and really

being part of life. Often there's a sense of gratitude and happiness
that seems to be for no reason at all, other than the enjoyment of
being alive.
• Helping others – You start to notice that you're making a real

difference in the lives of other people, able to help in situations that
used to seem baffling (coaches, therapists and change-workers find
themselves suddenly able to make quantum leaps in the impact
they can have with their clients using the insights you're going to be
getting throughout this book).
These stories are echoed over and over again by my other clients, and by
the other people I know who are working with the principles you're going
to be discovering. The discoveries you're going to be experiencing for
yourself as you read this book have been used to transform people's lives
in incredibly diverse areas:

• Working with gang members in maximum security jail in the USA
(I've sat and talked with convicts who say they've never felt so
happy and peaceful in their lives since learning what you'll be
reading about. In fact, some of them even had their sentences
reduced when the parole board saw how much they'd changed).
• Consulting with large organisations, including Blue-chip

companies, advertising agencies, sales forces and even the US
Army. They've harnessed the power of what you're going to be
learning in this book, and the results they've seen in terms of
employee engagement, results and profitability have confounded
what people thought was possible.
• Helping heal people with serious clinical diagnoses like clinical

depression, paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis. The principles
you're going to be learning have been tried and tested with some of
the most severe of mental problems and “personality disorders”.
• Transforming inner-city housing projects that were labelled as

police “no go” areas, with high levels of truancy, addiction and
abuse. When they saw the same principles you're going to be
pointed towards, the people in those projects grew into a
community with high levels of mental health, and associated
changes in behaviour.
• Healing alcoholism, drug addictions and eating disorders. The

impact of what you're going to be learning about in this book is
profound and lasting for human beings in all walks of life (even
those who have been pronounced “incurable”).
• Working with couples and mediating a wide variety of

relationships (often in seemingly intractable positions). The
principles you're going to be learning have created harmony,
connection and shared perspective where it was thought there was
none.
The amazing thing is that all of the things you've read about above have
been achieved without the things we're usually told we need...
• without the use of techniques, tactics and interventions
• without needing to stress, struggle or strive
• without resorting to regimes, discipline or pressure
• Without having to remember, reframe or manage your thinking

It may sound extreme, but the understanding you're going to be exposed
to has earned the label “Effortless Evolution”. Best of all, the changes that
you can expect from your deepening understanding of the material in this
book share three important qualities:
Your transformations will be NATURAL. The insights and

transformations you're going to experience are a perfect fit for you
and your life. They're going to be a natural expression of who you
are, rather than trying to fit yourself into someone else's model.
Your transformations will be SUSTAINABLE. Because the

transformations take no effort to “implement”, and because they're
such a natural fit for who you are, they're easily sustainable. It's
time to wave goodbye to struggle and backsliding.
Your transformations will be GENERATIVE. This means that the

positive impact of what you'll be learning will show up in many
different aspects of your life, without you having to “make it
happen”.
The reason I'm writing this book is to save you the decade or more of
searching, struggling and unnecessary suffering that I went through.
Because that's the good news – you don't have to go through any of what
I've done. You can cut to the chase, and take a shortcut that gets you to
the same place in a fraction of the time. You don't have to wait. You can
start living the life you desire sooner than you think!
But first, a question:
Q: If you're caught in a trap, what's the one thing you have to do before
you can escape?
A: You have to realise that you've been caught in a trap.
Until you realise you've been caught in a trap, you're very unlikely to get
out of it. But once you know about the trap, and you can see how it
works, then escape is pretty straightforward. Especially if other people
have escaped from the same trap, and can show you how.
So in the first chapter, I'm going to show you the trap, how it works, and
why you've been caught in it until now. But before I do, I need to share
something very important with you – something you may never have
thought about before...

- An Unsuspected Power -
(How to get MAXIMUM value from this book)
“It's a challenge to hear something new in something that sounds

like something you already know.”
- Aaron Turner
“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them

discover it within themselves.”
- Galileo Galilei
“Don't take this the wrong way, but you're not a very good
listener...”
This sentence caught me by surprise. The person who was coaching me

didn't know it, but I was renowned for my listening skills. I had been
trained to notice fine distinctions in voice tone and body language, and
could unpack the deep structures of what a person was saying, moment
to moment. The idea that I wasn't a good listener seemed preposterous
to me. But I was curious, so I asked him what he meant.
The explanation he shared with me has turned out to be one of the most
valuable distinctions I've ever learned, and is of crucial importance if
you want to really get the most from this book.
More importantly, the distinction you'll discover in this pre-chapter is

going to be an essential key for your escape from the “I'll be happy
when...” trap you're going to be uncovering in Chapter One.
My coach explained to me very gently that when I was listening, it

seemed like I had a lot on my mind. I was “doing” listening; it was
something I was working at. He said that listening in this way was OK for
getting an intellectual understanding of something, but it wasn't going to
help me have the realisations and insights that could transform my life.
As I reflected on it, I realised that this is how we've all been taught to
listen. It's how we've been taught to read. It's how we've been “taught”
to learn.
But it used to be different.

You were born a learner and a listener. It's thanks to your natural ability
to listen and learn that you can walk and talk today. You knew how to
listen long before anyone ever “taught” you how to think, before you
knew how to analyse and judge, before you were taught that analysis and
judgement even had any value.
If you're anything like me, you were taught to read, listen and learn for
an intellectual understanding, and that's fine as far as it goes. But if you
want to awaken an unsuspected power to transform your life and the lives
of others, it's time to remember a different way to read, listen and
learn...
Reading for insight...
DISTINCTION: Reading for Agreement VS Reading for Insight

When most people read, they're trying to fit what they're reading into
what they already know, seeing how the new information can fit into
their existing cognitive structure. This is called reading for
agreement. But there's another way of reading. You can read in a way
that creates a space for the innate knowledge that's already there
within your consciousness to emerge more fully into your awareness.
This is called reading for insight.
Reading for Agreement

Most of us have been taught to read for agreement. We think about what
we're reading as we're reading it, and make decisions about...
• Whether or not we agree with it

• Where it fits into our existing cognitive structures
• If it doesn't fit, why not?
• Whether to accept or reject it
• etc
Just check - you may be doing this as you're reading this passage, saying
“That makes sense”, “That's nonsense” or somewhere in between.
That's OK. Reading for agreement is useful for evaluating information,

and making decisions about its validity, but it doesn't create great
conditions for having an insight. A person who's reading for agreement
“has a lot on their mind”, so the mind isn't as free to do what it does best
– generate new thought.

Reading for Insight
Reading for insight is reading with “nothing on your mind”. When you
read for an insight, you put your existing conceptual models to one side
(to whatever extent that's possible) and allow yourself to be touched by
what you're reading.
The Magic Eye
Back in the 1990s, evolving technology led to the creation of “magic

eye” images. At first glance, a magic-eye image looks like a repeating,
two-dimensional pattern, but if you look “through” the image, with a
soft-eyed, relaxed gaze, something amazing happens. A 3-dimensional
figure suddenly leaps into your awareness, a figure that was totally
invisible when you first looked at the image.
People often sat staring at the 2D images, “trying hard” to see the 3D
image hidden within it, but nothing happened until they relaxed and
allowed the image to emerge.
Reading for an insight is the reading equivalent of looking at a magic eye

picture. You don't really need to “think about” what you're reading – you
just need to relax and allow yourself to be impacted by the words.
Another example is poetry. When a person reads good poetry, they're not
trying to decide whether they agree with it or not – they're reading to be
impacted. When you're reading for insight, you “get a feel” for what
you're reading, seeing beyond the written word to what the author's really
trying to convey. You allow the innate knowledge to come from
deep within your consciousness and step more fully into your
awareness.
As you read this book, stay in touch with your feelings. Read when you
feel inspired to read, and pause when you feel like pausing. The value
you'll get from this book won't come from the information on the pages –
the value will come from deep inside you. So make the space for that to
happen. Any understandings you already have will still be there when you
get to the end of the book, so I invite you to put them to one side and
allow yourself to be even more deeply impacted.
The reality is that every person has wisdom. You have everything you
need to transform your life already within you. No matter what's
happened to you, or what you've been through, you can have a beautiful
life. The power to transform your life is going to come from within your
consciousness. As you continue reading this book for an insight, you may
occasionally find yourself feeling particularly calm and peaceful. Those

beautiful feelings can be one of the signs that you're being impacted, so
enjoy them when they come and relax when they don't.
And what's so great about insight?

Insightful understanding doesn't come from the words on the page – it
comes from within you. It often arrives suddenly, but can continue
serving and informing you for years to come. Insightful understanding is a
natural function of the human mind, and has the power to transform your
life. Insight is the “Unsuspected Power” mentioned in the title of this pre-
chapter.
When you listen for agreement, the intellectual understanding you get is
like a written instruction manual. It's good as far as it goes, but it takes
effort to put it into practice. That's why people often say “I understand
that intellectually, but...”
Insightful understanding is more like an iPhone app – once it gets

downloaded, it starts working immediately, because...
Insightful understanding is powered up and ready to go!
• When you have an insight, it comes with its own source of

motivation. You don't need to “get yourself to do it” - You naturally
find your behaviour changing in ways that serve you.
• When you have an insight, it's perfectly tailored to you. You don't
have to figure it out or try and adjust it to your needs – it already
fits perfectly.
• Insightful understanding is context sensitive, and can adjust to your

changing circumstances, even taking account of things you're not
consciously aware of.
• Intellectual understandings can get stale over time, but insightful

understandings stay fresh, and can keep updating your system for
years to come.
When a person says “I understand that intellectually but...” what

they're really saying is “I've received information (from outside myself)
and built intellectual structures relating to this, but I haven't had the
deeper realisations and insights (from inside myself) that I need for it to
make a difference in my life.”
But those situations where you “just know” what to do, and can't explain
why... That's the polar opposite of the “I understand that intellectually,
but...” phenomenon. When someone says “I just know, but I don't
know why” what they're really saying is “I've had some realisations and

insights that are making a difference in my life (from inside myself) but I
haven't yet built intellectual structures relating to it.”
The great news is that insights start making a difference to you whether
they make sense intellectually or not!
A Sudden Insight
In the 1990s I was employed as a project manager. I wanted to leave
my job and become a contractor. My friends told me I could do it
easily, and while I understood that intellectually, I “knew” that I
couldn't do it. Then in 1998 I attended my first NLP training, a 2-day
introductory programme. During the weekend, I had an insight: I
suddenly knew that I could leave my job and become a contractor, with
all the freedom, possibilities and rewards that entailed. I quit my job
two weeks later, started working for myself and created the time and
money to attend lots of NLP training. I can trace the life I have today
back to that one insight, and can still feel the sense of freedom and
possibility it carried with it.
While the example above was massively transformative for me, insightful
understanding is an everyday phenomenon. In fact, as you start to
become more and more aware of it, you'll begin to find yourself relying on
insights and your natural wisdom to guide you on a day-to-day basis.
Everyone's had the experience of making a decision, having it turn out

badly, then saying “I knew I should have done it the other way, but I
didn't listen to myself.” Many people also have examples of “just
knowing” the right thing to do, even though it doesn't seem logical at the
time. The “knowing” they're referring to is an example of insightful
understanding. People have many ways of referring to it:
• The gut feeling that lets you know to take a certain decision.
• The common sense that saves the day in a difficult situation.
• The intuition that leads you to an unexpected success.
• The sudden realisation that makes a big difference in your life.
• The “knowing” that has you ask just the right question.
• The insight that solves a problem that looked like it was impossible.

• The creative leap that takes things in a whole new direction.
• The “moment of clarity” that turns an addict's life around.
• The inspiration that gives you fresh energy and inner motivation.
• The wisdom that guides you in situations where your old maps and
ideas no longer apply.
Everyone has examples of insightful understanding, but most people don't

realise how powerful it is when it comes to transforming your life. And
while this book is full of ideas that you may find interesting and
informative, its real power is in creating a context where the innate
knowledge that's already there within you can emerge more fully into
your awareness and make a real difference in your life.
In fact, the essential difference between this and most other books is in
its ability to act as a catalyst for your own insights to transform your life.
Exercise: Stop for a moment and identify two or three of your own
examples of insights, big or small, that have made (or are making) a
difference in your life.
1. _________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________
If no insights came to mind right away in this exercise, you can relax.
They'll occur to you later when you're not “trying” or thinking about it!
Insightful understanding comes from your innate ability to have fresh new
thinking at any moment. When you stop and think about it, everything a
person perceives as limiting them is a reflection of their intellectual
understanding (what they already know), while the fresh, new
perceptions that can transform your life can only ever emerge from what
you don't yet know, through insightful understanding.
Once again, insightful understanding comes from deep within your

consciousness, and shows up in a way that can transform your life in a
heartbeat. And you put yourself in a great position to have one when

you're reading for insight instead of reading for agreement.
In the introduction, I described the “I'll be happy when...” phenomenon,

and explained that the first thing you have to do before you can escape
from a trap is realise that you've been caught in it.
So I invite you to “read for an insight” as I reveal the trap that's ensnared
millions of people (including yours truly), a trap that I call...

CHAPTER 1
- THE HIDDEN HAMSTER WHEEL -
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely

believe they are free.”
- Goethe
“We don't know who discovered water, but we know it wasn't the fish.”
- Marshall McLuhan
“An addict is someone who's trying to use a VISIBLE solution to

solve an INVISIBLE problem. You got addicted without even
realising it!”
I was no stranger to addiction when I heard this. I started drinking when

I was 12 years old and didn't stop for good until I was 30. In the process
of recovering from alcoholism, I explored a variety of approaches ranging
from the spiritual to the material and all points in between.
I found value in much of what I discovered, and my life improved in ways

that I didn't even imagine were possible. But in the process, I discovered
an even deeper addiction, one that sits at the very heart of modern
culture; an addiction that's so subtle it's almost INVISIBLE; an addictive,
superstitious and life-eroding trap that has hooked countless millions of
people; the trap I call the Hidden Hamster Wheel.
The Hidden Hamster Wheel

The hidden hamster wheel is based in a superstition; a superstition that's
taken to be “obviously true” by most of modern society. It's so subtle and
pervasive that it shows up in everything from children's books to personal
development programmes; from movies to marketing campaigns.
When a person deeply believes in a superstition, the superstition informs

everything they believe, everything they do, and how they do it. When a
society believes in a superstition, it gets reinforced from all sides.

The Power of Superstition
In the 1800s, it was widely accepted that illnesses such as cholera and
the plague were caused by “bad air” (also known as miasmas). At the
time, huge numbers of people were moving to Soho in London, with an
associated increase in sewage. The government of the day decided to
pump the excess waste into the River Thames, unknowingly
contaminating the water supply.
The impact was felt in 1854 when the Broad Street cholera outbreak
claimed the lives of 618 Soho residents in just a few weeks. The
physician John Snow was skeptical of the miasma theory, and managed
to trace the epidemic to a water-pump in Broad Street. His analysis of
the outbreak pattern was compelling enough that the local council
removed the pump handle and the epidemic ended.
The miasma theory was a superstition that was seen as fact. As a

result, the decision to pump sewage into the water supply was taken
from within that superstition. While you and I know it's crazy to let
human waste anywhere near your water supply, that's because we have
a deeper understanding, an understanding that wasn't available to the
people trapped within the miasma superstition.
John Snow, Ignatz Semmelweis and many others had insights that
allowed them to see beyond the superstitions of the time, leading to the
creation of germ theory and modern medicine. As a result, millions of
people are alive today that wouldn't be if we were still living in the
superstitious miasma-theory paradigm.
Belief in a superstition can lead to needless misery, suffering and even

death. But as soon as people get a clearer understanding of the nature of
reality as it already is, there can be a massive and widespread
improvement in quality of life.
A Thought Experiment
Imagine this: it's 1853, you live in Soho, London. It's a crowded city, with
only rudimentary sanitation. The air is full of strong odours, so you're in
the habit of carrying a small bunch of flowers to protect you from illness.
Everyone you know does the same thing, and the posy industry is big
business.
Then one day you meet a professor who's convinced that diseases aren't
caused by bad smells. He tells you that disease is actually transmitted by
tiny invisible creatures, but when you ask for evidence, he explains that
we don't currently have microscopes that can show you the little
creatures (or “germs and bacteria” as he calls them). He tells you

however that he can show you phenomena that can only be explained by
the existence of these invisible creatures.
Would you believe it? Maybe, maybe not. Most people would probably say
“Don't be silly – everybody KNOWS that illness is caused by bad smells.
It's obvious...” My guess is that until I had some compelling evidence to
the contrary, I'd keep buying posies, and so would you.
Here's a quick question...
Q - If you were to be presented with the evidence that one of the most
widely-held beliefs of modern society was in fact a superstition, would you
be able to listen with an open mind?
The fact that you're reading this means that the answer is probably “Yes”,
so here goes...
The life-damaging superstition that I call “The Hidden Hamster Wheel” is

the mistaken idea that our “Core Feelings” of wellbeing, security, peace,
love and joy can be provided by our circumstances, by something
“visible”.
The “I'll be happy when...” trap described in the Introduction is an

example most people can identify with. The core feelings and
circumstances vary, but the basic structure of the superstition is the
same:
I'll be [Core Feeling] when I have [Circumstance]
It's based on an even simpler structure:
[Cirumstance] gives me [Core Feeling]
And like pieces of lego, this simple structure can be used to assemble all
kinds of larger structures:
I couldn't be [Core Feeling] if I lost [Circumstance]
I'm [Core Feeling] because of [Circumstance]
I can't be [Core Feeling] because I don't have [Circumstance]
I was [Core Feeling] until I lost [Circumstance]
I'm convinced that [Core Feeling] comes from [Circumstance]

They can take a variety of shapes, but at heart they're all based on the
idea that our core feelings come from our circumstances, from something
relatively visible.
“But wait!” I hear you say. “I've seen studies that show that feelings of
wellbeing and high self-esteem come from accomplishments, or from
doing vocational work, or from meditating”.
That's all an example of the superstition in action. When I use the word
“circumstance”, I'm using it in the widest possible way, to refer to pretty
much anything you can imagine, including:
• Physical environment (eg. Home, holiday destination, working

environment)
• What a person does (eg. Work, hobbies, exercise)
• Techniques (eg. Meditation, NLP state-change, EFT tapping)
• Stuff [eg. Houses, boats, cars)
• Status [eg. Job title, position, medals)
• Material wealth [eg. Money, shares, income]
• People [eg. Partners, friends, children]
• etc.
The idea that our core feelings are at least to some degree the result of
our circumstances seems so “obvious” to people that calling it into
question can seem ridiculous at first.
And while many people who have explored the domains of “brain-change”
(through NLP, spirituality, personal development, meditation etc) would
say that they “know” that their core feelings don't come from their
circumstances, they often continue to act as though they don't really
know it (“I know that intellectually but...”)

In fact, many people in the world of personal development replace one
set of circumstances with a “higher level” version of the same thing...
• I'll be happy when I change my limiting beliefs.
• I'll feel fulfilled when I know that I'm on-purpose and doing what I
love.
• I'll be peaceful when I learn to meditate properly.
• I'll feel secure when I'm generating passive income.
• I'll feel a sense of freedom when I have the lifestyle I want.
• I'll be OK when I go on the next course / read the book / do the

exercises
• etc.
The circumstances may be different but the superstitious structure is still

in place: [Cirumstance] gives me [Core Feeling].
Once again: We've been conditioned into the superstitious thinking that
our wellbeing comes from outside of us, that there's somewhere to get to,
and that “there” is better than “here”.
“Don't be silly!”, I hear you say. “Everybody knows that circumstances

give us feelings. I'll give you some examples right now!”
• “My sense of security comes from the fact that I've got money in
the bank.”
• “I feel a sense of love and connection because I've found the right
partner.”
• “I feel stressed out because I've got a stressful job.”
• “I feel peaceful when I go for a walk in the park.”
• “I feel relaxed when I go on holiday”
“Are you really trying to tell me that these examples are just a
superstition? That my job doesn't actually stress me out? That my
security doesn't come from money? That I don't feel love because of my
partner? That I don't like going on holiday?”
Yes and no.

Your examples of your experience are real for you. I'm sure you can
identify numerous circumstances where you experience certain feelings.
I'm not saying that you don't enjoy the things you enjoy, or that you
shouldn't want the things that you want.
What I'm saying is that the feelings aren't coming from the circumstances
- they're coming from somewhere else. And as you start to understand
where they're coming from and how the system works, some wonderful
things can start to happen.
Because a superstition is really just a misunderstanding, based on a piece

of flawed logic. And this simple misunderstanding often leads to
unnecessary...
• Stress
• Unhappiness
• Addiction
• Mental illness
• Conflict
• Criminal behaviour
• Violence
• War
• Relationship problems
• Depression
• Neediness
• Struggle
• etc
But the great news is that as an individual starts to see through the
misunderstanding, the superstition starts to fall away, and their quality of
experience starts to get better and better.
And what happens when a society starts to see through the

misunderstanding? I don't know yet, but I'm excited to find out!
So how do you escape from this addictive, life-damaging trap?

How do you start seeing through the misunderstanding, and start
experiencing an enormous increase in your quality of life (even if it's
already great)?
We're going to begin by looking at a phenomenon that's very strange,

entirely counterintuitive and still one of the most SHOCKING things I've
ever encountered...

CHAPTER 2
- THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH -
“The crowning intellectual accomplishment of the brain is the real world.”

- George Miller
“Thought creates the world then says 'I didn't do it'”

- David Bohm
“In a dream your mind continuously creates and perceives a world

simultaneously... So well that you don't feel your brain doing the
creating.”
In the film Inception, the lead character Cobb (played by Leonardo

DiCaprio) speaks these words while drawing a circle made of two arrows.
He's explaining how dreams work, but his explanation isn't just an elegant
description of the nature of dreaming; it also shines a light on the nature
of our perceptions when we are awake. In our waking reality, our
perception is generated in exactly the same way, albeit with a “live data
feed”.
To paraphrase Cobb, “In your waking experience of reality, your mind

continuously creates and perceives a world simultaneously... So well that
you don't feel your brain doing the creating.”
When you stop and deeply consider the implications of this, it can be
shocking. It means that 100% of your experience of the world “outside”
of you is actually taking place inside your neurophysiology (including the
bits that you see “out there”).

Your experience of the world “out there” is being generated from within
you, based to a greater or lesser extent on data received by the senses,
depending on your focus of attention. For example, a person can be
sitting in a business meeting, but have their focus of attention entirely
absorbed by a daydream about a holiday. Whether the data is arriving
from their senses, their memories, or their imagination, the process used
to generate a perceptual experience is the same.
Our experience of reality is, quite literally, created from “the stuff
that dreams are made of”.
Perceptual Adaptation
The psychologist George Stratton performed a series of intriguing

experiments in the 1890s using a pair of “inversion glasses”. These
curious glasses presented the wearer's eyes with an inverted image of
reality – they turned everything upside-down! Stratton himself wore the
glasses for 8 days straight. For the first 4 days, he was presented with
an upside-down world, but when he woke up on the 5th day of wearing
them, something extraordinary had happened; his perception had
corrected itself, and he now perceived the world the right way up.
Another surprise followed when he removed the glasses; he found that

reality now looked upside-down when he wasn't wearing them. It was a
few days before his sight returned to normal. This phenomenon (referred
to as “perceptual adaptation”) highlights the creative role our minds play
in generating our moment-to-moment perception of reality.
Stop for a moment. Have a look around you. Listen to any sounds you're
aware of. Run your fingers over some objects in your environment.

It's seems to us as though we look out at the world “out there” through
our eyes in much the same way as we look through the viewfinder of a
camera, but that's not how it works.
The truth of our perception is entirely different and far, far stranger...
You see, your perception of reality is less like looking out at the world
through the lens of a camera, and more like wearing a pair of virtual
reality goggles.
Have another look around you, and allow yourself to notice one or two
objects in your immediate environment. 100% of your experience of
those objects is being generated from within your neurophysiology. I
know it looks as though the objects are “out there” (and for practical
purposes they are “out there”) but your EXPERIENCE of the objects is
being generated from within your consciousness. Your entire experience
of “out there” is taking place inside of you (including the elements you
experience as outside of you).
The fabric of your perceptual reality is being generated by your

mind.
Reality Check: I'm NOT saying that you create your own reality; I'm
saying that you create your own EXPERIENCE of reality, moment to
moment, from within your consciousness. We live in a material world that
is governed by inviolable laws (e.g. gravity, thermodynamics etc) that are
not materially influenced by your perception. If you're driving down a
road and don't realise that the bridge around the next corner has been
washed away in a flood, you're not going to be able to drive over the non-
existent bridge just because you think it's still there. Gravity doesn't care
what you think!
The neuroanatomist and brain researcher, Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, put it this
way during her TED.com talk:
“Information in the form of energy streams in simultaneously through all

of our sensory systems. And then it explodes into this enormous collage
of what this present moment looks like. What this present moment smells
like and tastes like, what it feels like and what it sounds like.”
The energy flows into our senses as raw data, in much the same way data
flows into a computer through a USB port. The mind then creates a model
of “what must be out there for me to be receiving this data”. This model
is then “represented” to us in consciousness.
Once again: Your perception of reality is less like looking out at the world
through the lens of a camera, and more like wearing a pair of virtual
reality goggles.

We've all had the experience of seeing a friend in the street, waving to
them, then realising it's not actually the person we thought it was. Yet a
moment earlier, we could have sworn is was them. When we first “saw”
them, what we actually saw was a perceptual “guess”. It was only when
we looked more closely that a more accurate perception was created,
based on fresh data.
Our perception is constantly making these sorts of “guesses”, but we

usually only become aware of the guessing process in situations like the
example above, or when we look at an optical illusion.
So how is this relevant?
I'd like to share a metaphor with you...
The “Pixels” of Perception
I'm writing this book using my beloved MacBook Air. As I write, I can see
the words I'm typing appearing on the screen. At any point, I can watch
a YouTube video, flick through my photo library, search for a quote using
Google, post something on facebook or scroll through another document,
but one thing remains constant...
Everything you can see on the screen is created using pixels.
Pixels are the tiny building blocks that are used to create the videos, the
photographs, the letters in the documents, the images on the
webpages... everything! It's ALL pixels.
Similarly, our experience of reality is made of the perceptual equivalent

of pixels; a power that I'm going to refer to as THOUGHT (I'll be referring
to the power of THOUGHT in this typeface to distinguish it from the
common understanding of the word “thought”.)
Exercise:
1) Again, look around you at the environment you're in. As you notice the
different elements in that environment, consider the fact that what you're
seeing is actually a representation being generated by (and within) your
amazing mind. Your experience of everything you can see is made of
THOUGHT, the pixels of perception.
2) Now close your eyes and remember what you could see in your
environment. Your memory of those things is also made of THOUGHT.

3) Imagine an event you're planning to enjoy in the future. This future
memory is made of THOUGHT.
When you're asleep and dreaming, those dreams are made of THOUGHT.
Every experience you have in your entire life is generated using the power
of THOUGHT, the pixels of perception.
Of course, the power of THOUGHT isn't just limited to our visual

experience. While we've used the visual metaphor of pixels for
explanatory purposes, our experiences of sound, smell, taste, and touch
are also constructed from THOUGHT. So are our feelings and emotions.
THOUGHT is the power we human beings have to create a representation

of absolutely anything and experience it as real.
We each live in a psychological reality; our perceptual experience of

reality is 100% mind-made, using the power of THOUGHT.
Reality Check: The scientifically-inclined reader may be saying to

themselves “Hang on a second, our perception isn't made of pixels! It's
made of synapses, neurons and electrical currents!” Brain science is an
incredibly valuable area of research, giving us a view of the “mechanics”
of brain functioning. There's no doubt that there are ways of perceiving
made possible by human brain structures that just aren't available to
creatures who don't have these structures (for example, the fusiform
gyrus, which we use for facial recognition). These brain structures allow
us to use THOUGHT in ways that wouldn't be possible without them, but
our subjective experience is still created by what I'm calling THOUGHT. In
fact, the word THOUGHT itself is just a metaphor for this incredible power
(even my description of it as an incredible power is just a metaphor for
something that is utterly beyond description, for reasons we'll go into
later in the book).
It's relatively well-established that human beings use the same perceptual
apparatus for dreaming and imagining as they do for experiencing their
waking reality. Oft-quoted studies of sportspeople have shown that vividly
imagining a certain throw, manoeuvre or shot can activate the same
muscle groups as actually doing the activity being imagined.
But here's where it starts to get wild...
Human beings are literally able to think ANYTHING and

experience it as real. The power of THOUGHT is so flexible that people
can use it to create ANY perceptual reality:
• Two people watching the same movie can have two completely
different experiences of it, thanks to the power of THOUGHT.

• A person with a phobia can use the power of THOUGHT to create the
experience of an imminent plane crash, a spider bite or a dog
attack.
• A person doing a job can feel inspired and energised, while the
person sitting next to them feels stressed and unhappy doing
exactly the same work. Both of them create their experience using
the power of THOUGHT.
• A person can become convinced that their partner is cheating on

them, regardless of the reality of the situation. They create their
perception using the power of THOUGHT, then experience it as real.
• Someone can have a richly enjoyable experience, anticipating a

holiday that they're planning to go on. The power of THOUGHT is
making that enjoyable experience possible, even if the holiday ends
up getting cancelled!
I'm not saying that they're doing this deliberately or consciously; I'm
merely pointing to the human capability to use the incredible power of
THOUGHT to create any perception of reality, and then experience it as
real.
The reason this is SO relevant when it comes to escaping from the hidden
hamster wheel is this:
100% of our experience of reality is mind-made. If a person THINKS

they need X, Y or Z in order to feel A, B or C, then they will
experience that thought as a reality. That's how powerful THOUGHT is.
Do you remember the structure of the superstition from Chapter 1?
[Circumstance] gives me [Core Feeling]
THOUGHT has the power to bring each of the different permutations of this
superstitious formula to life, and have a person experience it as a reality.
As you start to get a deeper, more insightful understanding of the nature

of THOUGHT, you'll start seeing through the superstitions that have been
keeping the hidden hamster wheel in place until now. But there's
something essential about the incredible power of THOUGHT that you may
not have noticed...
Because a person can think absolutely ANYTHING and experience it as

real, their perception ALWAYS looks like a reality. Their THOUGHT-
generated reality looks as though it's an actual reality.

THOUGHT is like the special-effects department of a movie studio. Its job is
to create a perceptual reality that looks real, regardless of the “facts” of
the situation. But we can all think of times when we “knew” something to
be true, then later discovered it was an illusion, because...
You can't take your THOUGHT-generated reality at face-value. It ALWAYS

looks real. That's its job. The sign of high quality special-effects is that
you can't tell they're special effects; they look like the real thing.
And THOUGHT is the best special-effects department in the world.
As the renowned physicist David Bohm famously said, “Thought creates

the world then says 'I didn't do it'”.
So how do you know when to trust your THOUGHT-generated reality and

when to be suspicious of it? Fortunately, there's a beautiful system we've
each been given for doing exactly that. Please allow me to introduce you
to...
Loving this book so far? Its one thing to read a great book or watch videos and get life
changing information intellectually, its quite another to get that information embodied
within you so you actually benefit from it and experience it in everyday life.
So I'm running a two day workshop where I take everything I've learned and developed
with my work on Effortless Evolution and guide you through the process, so you can
immediately start to see the transformation then and there, towards a healthier,
happier, more energised and ultimately more successful you.
Check it out here:

http://www.saladltd.co.uk/EE/effortless.php
If you have received this book from a friend, you can make sure you don’t miss out on
future releases by entering you details here:
http://www.saladltd.co.uk/info/ES/effortlessevolution.php
Please help me to get my message out there… just visit my new facebook page and like
and share with your friends:
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EFFORTLESS

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the

I know what it's like...

You're scanning the cover of the latest personal development, spirituality

And why do we have THE HOPE?

We have it because we're convinced that there's somewhere to get to,

© Jamie Smart 2011 2

• find the right work / hobby / exercise / pastime - the “there” of

• have the right partner / friends / children – the “there” of people

• achieve time-freedom / financial freedom / social freedom – the

• change my thinking / my limiting beliefs / do my affirmations - the

• meditate properly / find the right practice / get enlightened - the

• accept myself / love myself / just let go – the “there” of surrender.

© Jamie Smart 2011 3

And it's not your fault.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In brief: I grew up in an alcoholic household and started drinking heavily

But on the inside, I was falling apart.

Oh yeah – I missed one. I'll be happy when I get a cigarette / a drink / a

© Jamie Smart 2011 4

By the end of 2008, I was unhappy, stressed-out and at the end of my

It was shit or bust. I was on the verge of giving up.

Then I was introduced to the understanding you're going to be

© Jamie Smart 2011 5

• Uncover your passions - Two clients (a couple) who recently

• Overcome fears and obstacles - I introduced one of my clients to

• Beat stress and start living from wisdom - Another client, a

• Make a difference - A coach who wanted to create a successful

© Jamie Smart 2011 6

• Security and wellbeing - You start to feel an increasing sense of

• Richer relationships - You notice your relationships with family,

• Innate wisdom - You start to get in touch with your innate

• Increasing confidence - You start to notice self-doubt fading

• Sense of purpose - You start to feel a sense of purpose, and really

• Helping others – You start to notice that you're making a real

© Jamie Smart 2011 7

• Consulting with large organisations, including Blue-chip

• Helping heal people with serious clinical diagnoses like clinical

• Transforming inner-city housing projects that were labelled as

• Healing alcoholism, drug addictions and eating disorders. The

• Working with couples and mediating a wide variety of

• without the use of techniques, tactics and interventions

• without needing to stress, struggle or strive

• without resorting to regimes, discipline or pressure

• Without having to remember, reframe or manage your thinking

© Jamie Smart 2011 8

Your transformations will be NATURAL. The insights and

Your transformations will be SUSTAINABLE. Because the

Your transformations will be GENERATIVE. This means that the

But first, a question:

A: You have to realise that you've been caught in a trap.

© Jamie Smart 2011 9

“It's a challenge to hear something new in something that sounds

“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them

This sentence caught me by surprise. The person who was coaching me

More importantly, the distinction you'll discover in this pre-chapter is

My coach explained to me very gently that when I was listening, it

But it used to be different.

© Jamie Smart 2011 10

Reading for insight...