What is Twenty2Beyond and Why is it a Good Decision to Work with Us?

At Twenty2Beyond, we believe in the fundamental importance of being able to determine for ourselves what living a life with value means and then living it. So, our work aims to help you get more control into your life and direct it better, in ways you find meaningful. Before I cover the content of our work (which I will save for my next post), I will outline 5 Early Reasons why my experience, attitude, macro-perspective, professionalism, discernment and design, are very much worth your time, effort, and investment: 

1. The primary driver for my work with you, which gives me the insight, ability, strength and confidence to guide this process, is the fact I have been consciously growing and directing my own life towards this point for 30 years. Arguably, no one, over time, has been more focused and committed to consciously growing their life towards thinking about and doing things they valued as I have. I know first hand the incredible value of this process and its rewards. And I will be bringing this passion to my work with you. Throughout this journey, I have been consistently working towards discovering or creating the thing that I could make a life-long working commitment to. Twenty2Beyond marks the end of that particular journey and the beginning of living out my so-called Ikigai. What Dan Buettner (from his valuable Blue Zones work) translates as ‘a reason for being’ or ‘purpose in action’.

So, I come to my work with you driven by tremendously awakening experiences; by a very deep lying sense of purpose; by empathy, care and support for you; and by a clear awareness of what I am doing. My Ikigai is:

Our work will be marked by my belief in this project and my understanding of the power of the search you are involved in. I like Ram Das’ note in this context: 

It is enough for now to say that here at Twenty2Beyond we will all be in it together, that we are a Community Centre as well as an Education Centre. This is related to a part of our ‘Growing a Life Framework’, which I call our ‘Equality of Process Idea’: that no matter where we are or what our circumstances are, we all have aspects of ourselves to grow and develop. This is for me where the humbling quality of equality lies. We don’t stand above or below anyone, as we all have valuable areas of ourselves that we need to work on, no matter our financial status, enlightened state, or power. I will be bringing this attitude to our work.

2. Second, I have 19 years experience of being an educator and trainer, with the last 8 of those years being as a teacher trainer, which really honed my skills and qualities as an educator. I also have the experience of writing two very well-received Masters’ Theses, as part of my ongoing academic interest and learning. I used both my Masters, and their respective Theses, to evolve my ideas and thinking towards what has become Twenty2Beyond. That research and work only continues now. You can see my Linkedin page here. 

I am excited to apply my 19-years experience of autonomous course creation, 8-years of needs-focused Teacher Training, and my ongoing academic interest and research, to work I really care about. For me, this is a project for the next 25-30 years of my life and I will be learning a lot more as well to help.

Our process will involve taking the expertise of different field leaders (from humanistic psychology to positive psychology, from sports science to philosophy, from spiritualism to pedagogy, and a lot more in-between) and integrating it into a cohesive learning platform of courses and consultancies, based on our Growing a Life Process. The intention is to harness both the magic of the expertise and your specific drives and determinations, to create change and greater valuability. The key has always been, and will continue to be now, about getting to the heart of your needs. Then, helping you see where and how you can grow and develop towards addressing them, while also supporting the idea that this work is continually worth doing, and worth doing in community.

If you want to find a space in your life for well-crafted and reflective learning that will help you take more control over your life and direct it better, over the long-term, in ways you value or find meaningful, then we will have the content, courses, and community for you.

3. The conscious self-work I have done throughout my journey has led me to reach a high degree of self-actualization, the value of which Scott Kaufman (from the Psychology Podcast) talks a lot about in his updating of Abraham Maslow’s work (in his book Transcendence). The characteristics and qualities of which, such as acceptance, truth-seeking, social interest, moral intuition, purpose and creativity, I will be harnessing in our work here with you. I will also be coming to our work with you understanding the value and the vagaries of this self-actualization journey. A journey I truly believe we can all be on with a shift of perspective. I also come with a deep belief in and respect for the value of this journey. 

Starting Twenty2Beyond perversely both compounds this growth, through my Ikigai, but also threatens self-actualizations higher reaches, as I attempt to make a living for my family through my work here. Accepting and celebrating that we are all a work in progress and that we always will be, to some degree, is seemingly half the battle. 

4. Fourth, through my own active awareness (mindful) practice, I have also managed, quite amazingly, to reach what Sam Harris (from Waking Up) refers to as, “The real freedom of emptiness, the real freedom of non-duality, the real freedom of selflessness”. It is certainly a work in progress but even being able to touch this space feels pretty special. I can say from my experience, that these early throws of being able to exist in moment-to-moment awake awareness/ emptiness/ selflessness/ peace (whatever we choose to call it), feels exceptionally balancing and orientating. But this practice or state also has farther reaching consequences, even beyond its valuable esoteric spiritual content. My active awareness practice actually shifted my results in the VIA Classification of Character Strengths Test, in ways that I was consciously being more mindful of. Which was quite something to note: to gain such a measurable state shift, and one I sort, from a practice of essentially letting go and noticing, was something to behold. For me this was 'Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence', which moved from 7th to my No.1 character trait.

At Twenty2Beyond, we identify active awareness and acceptance as central skills upon which value can be built. We see value as a two-step process, of first, finding acceptance (the non-judgemental awareness and acknowledgement of the facts of a thing in time), then, from this steadier, orientating point, to look for value (in the things we think about and do, in our relationships, and in who we are). Active awareness plays heavily into this dynamic process. Active here refers to my commitment to supporting awareness practices outside sitting meditation. As a teacher trainer with an eye for worthwhile and valuable teaching and learning, I recognized a few years ago how necessary it was to practice mindful awareness in our daily lives, where we needed to use it most, and to do it increasingly every day (and all day). We will focus on you practicing mindful awareness within your daily life, where both simple and spiritual insights can be noticed, and greater clarity and peace can be gained. Where the habit of such practice can be built up, with your awareness increasingly clearer and the management (let us say) of your thoughts, and thus your life, much better.

5. Finally, the various emotional pains I have suffered at different junctures during this journey, towards my holy ‘Ikigai’ grail, have guided my understanding and empathy for the ups and downs that exist on this path we are all on. I have had a lot of very good times and met a lot of good people, but I have also suffered a good deal of emotional pain along the way, whether it was from moving around a lot as a kid; my parents divorcing; losing confidence; experiencing extended periods of loneliness; or my marriage dissolving. 

My experiences of pain and suffering have given me a deep awareness of and belief in the incredible value and power of our own continual growth and development out of hardships, to places where we are stronger and more balanced than we could have ever believed possible beforehand. I know how tough life can be but I also know how amazing the feeling is when you work through those tough times to be the person you are on the other side. I also know that we often need a little help along the way. At Twenty2Beyond, we will be here to help in the best ways we can, inside and outside our classes. 

I will be using my collective experience and insight to guide your courses and training here at Twenty2Beyond. Growing a life means to me consciously working on the edges of ourselves and making decisions that allow us to do more things we value doing and to be someone we value being. This is what I have been doing for a long time now. It is a way of living and learning that I believe adds more meaning to the process of life itself and is something which we here at Twenty2Beyond are very much committed to supporting you with.

Take care for now and see you soon. Richard