There are so many ways to practice The Art of Contemplation. There are probably as many different ways as there are people practicing it!

In the first month of our beautiful DEVOTED container inside Gene Keys Unleashed with Hayley Curtis, we talked a lot about The Art of Contemplation (and I’ve a feeling we’ll continue to talk about it and practice it for the whole year, for our whole lives!).

Do you tend to lean more towards the side of meditation (not trying at all) or concentration (trying too hard) when it comes to sitting with questions about life? What does this look like for you and what is the ripple effect? …. Hayley

I’m definitely on the “trying too hard” side! So much busy bloody chatter in my mind, I have never been able to do that “empty your mind” thing with my meditation. My brain just gets really active and lots of other thoughts, random shit, comes in.

For me, there are a few things I do that help to anchor me in that sweet spot, the midpoint between concentration and meditation.

First and most important is my journaling. On the surface, you’d think this might be leaning to the “concentration” side … engage brain, pick up pen, write. But for me, it is contemplation. Before the Gene keys came into my life and I heard about The Art of Contemplation, I would always describe my daily journaling practice as “my form of meditation”.

Now I find I’ve been contemplating all along!

When I write, yes, my mind is the first part to engage … I will be “concentrating” as I write the question or prompt or quote from Hayley into my journal (I always do this with a different pen). Then I pick up my favourite pen, and I start to write. This is the point that I start to drop into contemplation.

What happens for me, because I’ve been doing this for so long, is that I get my mind out of my own way, I form a connection from heart to hand to page, and I write. I have absolutely no idea what will flow onto the page. Even as I start each sentence, I have no conscious thought of where it will end up.

When I journal, it is The Art of Contemplation in action, for I take the question or prompt, and I allow it to just float down into the void, and I let the words come. My breakthroughs happen; sudden clarity breaks free of the clouds of mental constructs, and BAM! Truth emerges. Clarity emerges. I see the next step on the path.

A dialogue is occurring when I am journaling, but it’s not me talking to my inner self or inner child; it’s that inner self breaking free and wanting to be heard. By me. By others.

And this is where the ripple effect starts. It starts with my inner, intuitive voice forming the words that fall onto the page; and those words change me. They’re not always massive epiphanies that make me cry, “Holy shit!” of course, although those DO happen.

Mostly the shifts are gentle whispers, and I have to hear them over and over before I truly get it.

And then the ripple really begins, as my breakthroughs gently wash out over my life, and over the people in my life.

Those people don’t see massive changes in me, even though these contemplations are creating transformation inside me that feels vast. But they do get washed by the ripples. Even the gentlest stream smooths down stones and rocks in its path … eventually! I must never underestimate the awesome power of my ripples.

Another way that I practice the Art of Contemplation is in the guided visualisations and meditations that Hayley shares, and that Richard shares.

I have the gift of Imagination in my chart and their words quite literally DO take me on a journey. I’m not “empty” on those journeys, as a person in deep meditation is; I’m not concentrating on the words as mental constructs. I am allowing their voices to take me on a very visceral journey, where I can see and feel the light, the colours, the spaciousness they talk of.

Hayley’s Life’s Work Activation meditation within our Devoted group container takes me deep into contemplation. Richard’s Heart of Peace meditation does the same thing.

I’ve been hearing this Gene Keys language for two years now, and my understanding has deepened as I have allowed myself to drop more and more into these spaces of contemplation.

What the Art of Contemplation is revealing to me is that the inner work is not about ERADICATION, it’s about CONNECTION; it’s about awareness. It’s about making enough space inside myself for transformation to be able to come, for newness, for freshness, for creativity to be birthed. There’s no ferocity in this inner work, Richard’s right about that.

The final way I practice The Art of Contemplation is through movement and mantras. Walking or swimming with a mantra playing in the background of my mind, helps me to drop into the contemplative state. The mantra I’m using  these days, as I write this article, is simply my words for 2025 … “Devotion, Patience, Ease and Freedom” … I sing them in my head to the tune and rhythm of a Buddhist chant I learned many years ago … om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung … it works for me!

I am still a novice at The Art of Contemplation, and I will be practicing my whole life; but the one thing I know for sure is that my vast and fertile heart-space is the landscape of that midpoint between concentration and meditation.

If I am able to drop down into it and experience the expanse of my rich and abundant inner garden, then I find that sweet spot.

Then I sigh, my shoulders drop, and I am open to receive my own wisdom (if it wants to come! Sometimes I just get to enjoy the space!).