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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full transcript, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Hi everyone, it’s Brian Marc Zimberg, author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of Access Points, The Modern Life Meditation Plan.
In today's episode of Awake Life I want to talk to you about something that you probably have come across in your spiritual journey or, if you're on a self-help journey and that is this notion, this practice, this idea of gratitude. Odds are, on your journey you've learned about gratitude, that it's good to be grateful, that you can maybe have a gratitude journal, we talked about back in the 80s it was a big deal. We know to be grateful brings joy, brings connection, brings some kind of healing even. So, we've learned these things. But, what I’d like to ask you right now is to kind of just drop all your ideas of gratitude and everything you've learned in the past about that. What I mean by that is, just listen with fresh new ears so that - my goal for this video for you is for you to be able to grasp, utilizing gratitude in a deeper and more profound way that can really create a lasting transformation in your life.
Everything we do here on Awake Life is to really wipe away the dust, the misconceptions, the myths that keep us from experiencing directly our infinite divine nature, that which is already whole and complete. To point you in the direction of recognizing that meditation and the infinite peace of who you are, what I like to say lately the nectar of your own Divine Self, Oneself is available right here and right now.
And as I talk about in Access Points, as we learn to shift our attention out of our mind and let our attention rest in being itself we recognize that, just like in the center of the hurricane, in the center of the storm there's complete stillness, that the truth of who we are, our True-OneSelf is already still whole and complete and actually the ground that holds everything. Gratitude is a doorway right directly to the connection of your own Divine Self.
I want to take a look at gratitude on multiple levels today. First of all, we need to kind of have a conversation about the ego. We don't need to go into an entire ego conversation and explain what the ego is right now, we do that in some other videos and that could take a little while.
Let's just talk about the ego being the mental mind structure, I like to call it in Access Points, the survival animal that keeps your attention stuck in your mind and it's constantly on the look for survival. It's protecting you, of course, it's protecting your physical body and it also protects your identity of being someone and something separate. It's maintaining its identity in your mind but I'd love for us to take a look at and to understand is that the ego is constantly in fear and operating from a place of lack, it's constantly in need. We talked about that one of the main patterns that keeps us stuck in our mind is that the mind is constantly, either creating a problem or solving a problem. The ego is creating a problem every moment or solving a problem every moment. The ego is constantly judging the moment, finding and looking for imperfection. Again, it's looking for imperfection in problems because it needs to protect itself so it's already assuming that something's going to be wrong, it's constantly in neurosis. In that neurosis the ego is in a lack mentality. The ego is in need, it needs something to be different, it needs something to be better, it needs to make sure it is okay and in that lack mentality we have fear, we have unworthiness, deep shame because there's a sense of lack, there's a deep sense of lack that is running the operation.
Gratitude is like magic in this notion because gratitude, in the moment you're grateful, in the moment you're grateful there is no need, there is no lack, there is actually complete contentment. To have no need means that for that moment you are free, you’re abundant, you’re whole, there's no problem, there's no issue. Gratitude is such a key tool to utilize on our journey in our daily life, to open the doorway to our True-OneSelf, to experience the inner peace of meditation that is available right here and right now. One of the most beautiful things about being grateful, it stimulates this place of no need, therefore it also stimulates you being in the moment because for a moment in gratitude you’re present, you’re here, you're full and we all know that being present brings us closer and closer to the infinite. When we're present there's a timelessness that exists and that timelessness has a vibrancy to it. It allows you being more alive, more appreciative, more grateful so to live in gratitude is to actually live in peace. Imagine if you were able to train yourself to become more grateful, not just more grateful about some things but to actually become grateful all the time. It's a beautiful thing to become more grateful all the time. You start to come to a centered space and yourself as abundant, not lacking.
Let's take a look at gratitude on a couple stages, on a couple levels and then we'll bring it in someplace where you can really start to have gratitude so often, that'll become a regular thing for you. You can implement this starting immediately in your life and I can promise transformation for you, if you really hone in on this.
First off, I want you to take a moment and just be grateful for somebody in your life. There's scientific studies now that say that listen, writing down something that you're grateful for about somebody works. In fact, the studies show that the more specific you can be the better the effects it will have on creating more joy, more fulfillment and as I'm saying more openness, more beauty in your life. Take a moment right now and think about somebody that you care about. Great, and just, if you want to, if you're someplace and you're not driving a car you can close your eyes for a minute if you’d like to, you don't need to and just for a moment tell yourself in your own head, I am grateful for, say the person's name so, for me I'll be grateful for my wife right now. I am grateful for Barbara and just notice when you say that to yourself what it stimulates in you. You might be saying, well you chose somebody you're not congruent with or you're angry with, that's okay. Let's get more specific. I am grateful for Barbara's smile. I am grateful for the way Barbara enjoys my hug so now you. You are grateful for somebody, you say it to yourself, I am grateful for – great. I am grateful for something specific about that person, go ahead and say that to yourself now. Great. Notice, when you were grateful in that moment, was there a problem but it's stimulating you. Say it to yourself again, I am grateful, something specific about them, say it to yourself again and right away check, any problems, any issues in that moment? Infinite reality that is right now already is okay, already is perfect, already is whole and complete and the utmost truth of who you are you’re awaken, conscious self is already whole and complete. Gratitude is a doorway to the infinite.
That is something you most likely have done before, written in a gratitude journal, taking a moment to be grateful for someone. We have Thanksgiving in America, we teach our children, we were taught as children to say thank you and to be grateful but it's lip service in some ways until we really can connect to gratitude. How often do we take that in deeper, really deeper, a deep gratitude where we're not so distracted by all our thoughts and everything we think we got to achieve in our life and everything we got to take care of and we actually just take a moment, it could be 20 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute for gratitude. I want you to really start finding and inquiring into gratitude in your life and the experience of gratitude in your life, we're going to blow up gratitude so clean and big it's going to become a real doorway to happiness and a real doorway to freedom for you.
Okay, we've looked at level one of gratitude, how we can be grateful for somebody. You can also be grateful for a circumstance in your life, like grateful for your home, grateful for your business and again you've probably done this kind of gratitude before. I want to take it closer to you. One step closer to you is, I want to take a look at being grateful for breathing. Now, when you're grateful for breathing, since breathing is happening all the time there's a possibility to start being grateful all the time. Let's take a look at this together for a moment. Have you ever had to do anything to breathe? Of course not, right, breathing happens on its own, breathing is constantly happening and that which holds everything together, the universe, the cells in your body communicating with each other, your own breath happening. On this journey you may have learn about breath techniques and how we can rewire our nervous system with breath, you've maybe done yoga and you've done breathing and there's a certain kind of breath there that helps center us. Breathing is obviously crucial, it brings oxygen to our brain and to our body, we cannot be alive without breathing so breathing happens on its own, it is divine gift – breath. Ah, can't hurt you right. Go ahead for a moment with me, take a breath.
Now, I want to ask you to be grateful for breathing. Take a breath. Take a second breath, take three and say to yourself I am grateful for breathing. I am grateful for breathing. Focus your attention on your breath. You can do it the way I like to do it, notice that nostrils and the air as it passes inward and outward or out of your lips as it passes inward and outward and just say to yourself as you're breathing, I am grateful for my breath. What is your experience, when you just say I am grateful, I am grateful already there's that openness and there's that movement towards no need, freedom from the ego, open spaciousness and beauty is available. I am grateful for breathing, such an intimate thing, so close to us, our breath, it’s right here, always available, always given to us from the moment we were born to the moment we die. Breath is just given to us. Isn't that something to be so grateful for. I want you to really get this. You can cultivate being so grateful for the fact that you breathe. We're so concerned with what's going to happen in some future, in some other time, with what we have and don't have, with what we need to get and this idea of reality based on just bills that need to get paid, things that need to get done, those things all will get taken care of, one way or another, good or bad, circumstances of good and bad will come and go in your life and breath will happen straight through without issue or problem. God forbid if there's problem, then that's a whole other issue but breath will continue to happen on and on. Let's cultivate true deep profound gratitude for our breath. So simple but such a key and a doorway to your profound happiness. Tomorrow, set an alarm clock on your phone, it's with you all the time anyhow and just remind yourself three times tomorrow to be grateful that you're breathing and check, are you breathing. It takes – what does it take to see if you're breathing? Do you have to think about it? Do you have to think about if you're breathing or you can just shift your tension, it's an instant thing to notice that you're breathing, it's right here with you always given to you, it's always here so cultivate gratitude for breathing, that you breathe. Excellent.
Okay, so we can be grateful for a person in our life, we can be grateful for a circumstance or a place or a thing, sure. Now, bringing it closer we can be grateful for breath which is given to us, the same thing that holds everything together in the world, that it has everything being perfectly okay as it is right now, it allows us to breathe. Something so pure and beautiful when we just could take a moment just to drop everything, drop the future and drop the fear, drop concern, drop the mind. In Access Points I really implore you and show you how to stop believing your mind. When we stop believing our mind we connect to our True-OneSelf and the background the infinity of who we really are comes to the front and gratitude is a doorway to having an awake life, living awake life. It's beautiful, you're beautiful.
The next stage of gratitude, I want for you to be grateful for being alive and we're going to get that even closer, when we're going to be grateful that we are, grateful that we exist. That is the way in which we're going to be grateful for being alive. We start that with the breath and now we can even come closer, closer than your breath. What is closer than your breath? There's an exercise I do with people and you may have seen before so let's do that for a moment. Let's focus on our breath, inner nostrils, out of our mouth. Move your attention and feel coming in your nostrils, out of your mouth and then, as you're focusing on your breath, continue to do that and I ask you the question what is closer than your breath, what is right before the breath, even closer than your breath? When you do that and you just notice for a moment there's a spaciousness, there's beingness. We don't have to try to be present, who we are is present, we're here now.
In Access Points, one of the fifth access points is called simply being and I teach people how to sit for one minute, two minutes, five minutes and eventually they can sit for 10, 15, 30, an hour or 2 hours in the simplicity of being, simply being. In fact, if we learn to move our attention out of our mind, how to be a density of thoughts and we can rest in simply being an appreciating being, absorbing in just what we are. I'd like to call it just the simple sense that you are. If we start cultivating and inquiring into what is this simple sense that we are, just that you are here, that you’re here now, that you be, that you are being, that you are, just that you are. Think of a moment earlier today, maybe driving a car or going someplace, doing something, picture yourself there for a moment, be there for a moment. You can be thinking about what you're thinking about, heading where you're going, listening to a radio, in a conversation but you were there. You may not experience presence or whatever you think that is but you were there, just like right now as you're listening to this or watching this you are here, you're here. The sense that you are isn't necessarily a physical sensation, it's not an emotion or a feeling, those can be associated with it but you are – you are being. There's no separation in being. The floor is being, it is. Look around where you are at anything is it as it is, it is, everything is just being, the space is being and in that there's no separation in being, everything is connected in isness, in being.
We want to become grateful for being, we want to cultivate gratitude that we are, gratitude that we exist. If you're someone who has depression and sadness, that all happens in the past and the future. So your argument of sadness or anger, or that you don't really appreciate and like yourself, even if it feels phony at first, that's okay because that's a mental argument and I'm having you say I'm thankful in my mind. But eventually, you won't even need to say, I am grateful for being, you'll just notice that you are and seep like water into sand, seep more and more into beingness, presence that you are. It's sweet, it's full, free of all problems, no need, no lack. What would it be like if you could simply be grateful right now that you are so I'm asking you right now, we’ll say it in our minds first, say, I am and I'll say I am grateful that I am, I am grateful that I am here. I am grateful that I am. I am grateful that I am here. Receive that for a moment. You're always here. If you can learn and cultivate being grateful for being here, that gratitude again has no need, there's no need in gratitude. The ego can't be in control when you're grateful that you are and now, just like breathing, take a look – what do you have to do to be? Someone will say to me, well, I have to eat in order to be, no, you have to eat in order to stay alive but when you're born, when you're doing anything you're doing, when you're exercising, when you're reading a book, when you're going to work, when you're with a loved one you are, you are, you be already. You don't have to do anything to be, just like you don't have to do anything to breathe, it's happening right now, that you are, that you be is a gift that was given to you that is always present and if we explored even deeper, it has no beginning and no end, it's timeless. It's the timeless nature of your True-OneSelf, being right here. I am grateful that I am being. So beautiful, try it on. Again, set an alarm clock.
Tomorrow, start with the breathing and then the next day set an alarm clock for three times just that you remind yourself to say to yourself I am grateful that I am but don't just say it, take a moment and just notice are you, are you here. Don't try to make yourself be present and feel some feeling and feel connected. I'm not asking you to do that, don't try to get anywhere or do anything. You've done enough of that, you practiced enough things, you've worked hard enough to be here, you're already here, right? Be here now, you're already here. Receive that you are, it's like receiving your own self, receiving being, take it so close to breath and then we take it close to and even closer, just that you are, cultivating gratitude that you are, being thankful that you are, it can change everything, it can shift anything.
Let me know how it feels to take a moment to be grateful. Let me know how it goes for you the next few days and even if you did some of the exercises right here as we worked together today, if you need access to me, you can leave a comment below, jump on Facebook, on Instagram you can hit email and it'll email myself and my team. I am here in service and here to support you and I'm going to reach out to you in every way possible that I can to help you learn that meditation is here now, that you already are whole, that you are always being and that there's multiple doorways, portals to access, infinity of your own heart, one heart, one true self, oneself. Until next time, here's to living in Awake Life from your True-OneSelf and into the greatest expression of you.
Hey everyone, its Brian Marc. Did you like that episode? If you did, you can do three things right now to continue your journey. First, you can subscribe right here to my channel which I hope you will so I can keep sending you videos on a weekly basis to help transform your life. Second, you can go to my website BrianMarc.com and sign up for my newsletter so that I can send you free offers, free products, free programs, updates on my events, podcasts and basically everything that we don't do on my channel here. You can find the link to BrianMarc.com in the description below. Third, if you want to go deeper on living inner peace and freedom then register to attend my latest seminar for free by clicking on the link right here. I look forward to seeing you on the next video. Be sure to hit subscribe for weekly videos and click on the button to register for the free seminar now. Here's to living Awake Life from your True-OneSelf and into the greatest expression of you.
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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full transcript, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Hi, welcome everyone. It's Brian Marc Zimberg, number one best-selling author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of “Access Points - The Modern-Life Meditation Plan”. In today's video, I want to take a look at a spiritual concept that is often misunderstood and gets in our way to our real personal transformation and spiritual evolution and that's this idea of our Higher Self. So often our Higher Self is what people think of is something that's our better self, our soul self and the issue with that is I really think it's time for us to reframe that and take a look at what is our True-OneSelf. In this video I want you to have a palpable shift in this understanding.
Often our misconceptions and our ideas of our Higher Self get in the way of our own growth. So, the idea your Higher Self is this separation right away, you see, it's this idea of higher and lower. Right? There's this Higher Self that is the better you and there's this Lower Self which is the not good you, or that more human you, and there's the Higher Self which is the so you. So, what that does right away is it says that there's this better you over here and lesser you over here. This idea of higher and lower automatically has this existing and focused our intention stuck in this world of separation.
Now, if you listen to some of my other stuff you know that when we are in our mind we're automatically in separation. When we're existing in separation, we are in the fear of survival. When we're separate, we are something that can be destroyed. So existing in separation with this idea of Higher Self is already putting ourselves into an identified fearful representation of who we are as supposed to being in alignment with our True-OneSelf.
Now, what is our True One-self? Our True-OneSelf is that which is already whole. That which is One with everything. You've had that experience out in nature. Remember a moment in nature, we looked out at some beautiful Vista, some an inspiring scene, some beautiful sunset or sunrise. For me, it’s coming around that PCH highway and you see this awe. You know, just these moments we have and in that moment you're one with everything. You're there. You're not there. Everything's okay. Everything's whole. That moment of Oneness is here right now. It's actually here in every moment. And the only reason we think that nature can only be experienced out in nature is because we identify that experience as something outside of ourselves. Or, if we're on a spiritual journey maybe you have epiphanies or realizations and in those moments you have glimpses into that Oneness and that experience. The truth is that moment is here right now. So we need to learn how can we align ourselves with our True-OneSelf, that which is already whole.
The truth is you are already One. You are already whole. You're already connected with everything in this moment. And there's only our tension stuck in our minds, in our individual perspective, in the world of separation, that keeps us in a struggle. That keeps us suffering. That doesn't allow us to be at peace. When we align with our True-OneSelf we start to have clarity. And that clarity, the choices that we make in life, every little moment we're making these choices, and when they're made in alignment with Oneness…Right? Oneness first. God first. Oneness first. Our attention is with Oneness first, not in the world of separation, but in the beautiful endless soul that you are, that is one now. When our attention is there, our choices and our alignment rise from there. And in that, we start to live life in a fluid flow, or incongruent with what is already whole and at peace.
When we're in this idea of Higher Self, we have this judgment mind, you see. Again, Higher Self is based on this idea better. So, my Higher Self is more godlike, my Higher-self really takes on the role of our self-conscious which is like our parent voice and the teacher's voice and what those society and world has told you is right and wrong. So now you're existing in this voice which has an endless way of beating the heck out of you. Right?
There's a voice inside of you that knows how to get you and put you down. And tell you what you're doing is wrong. And tell you what you should be doing is better. And that voice is endlessly on top of You. It's intelligent for you to assume that this voice that can beat you up will never go away. And what I'm saying to you is - when we tie into this idea of Higher Self, although it can be a good idea for kind of walking on the line of looking how we are doing in life, we're constantly judging ourselves. And when we live in the world of judgment, we're beating ourselves up.
So what happens when we free ourselves to live in the world of acceptance and awareness? Instead of being in the judgment and the critiquing mind, which is often what our Higher Self is, we shift to a perspective of Oneness. And from that Oneness, we shift to just simple sense of Awareness. An Awareness that is acceptance, is that which already is whole and accepts everything as it is now. That's the great allowing of life. That's a great opening and the Openness opens your heart to the moment. Instead of you trying to be good and live in the moment - you allow, you let go. And you end up living open to the moment, receiving the moment. And there's space then for good to come and bad to come arising and falling in your True-OneSelf.
So, how do we connect to our True-OneSelf? Well, one of the greatest questions we begin to ask ourselves is “Who am I?”. You see, it's a question that we can always ask and never really get an answer to if we don't land on a thought or a concept.
See, who you are, you are not your thoughts. You're not your body. You're not your emotions. You're not your feelings. Take that in for a moment. If it comes and it goes, thoughts come and go, then it's not really the core you, it's not your True-OneSelf. Your True-OneSelf is always present. It doesn't come and go. It includes that which comes and goes, but it's always here and present. Therefore, it's always reliable.
So I want to leave you in this video with that which is completely reliable and trustworthy. If at your core you find yourself to already be whole, then you're already there. You're already whole and complete. You're already fulfilled. You see, it's the simplicity and the beauty of simply being and allowing.
From the space, we flower into a greater transformation of consciousness. You're not your thoughts. You're not your body. You're not your feelings. Those are part of you, but they come and go. And the truth of who you are – you are CoreSelf.
When we exist in the space of allowing, we come from our Core True-OneSelf. That was just, IS the baseline, the absolute and is already whole. We don't come from this idea of better any longer, or more, or right and wrong.
The minute we step out of the whole world of separation…You see, I often teach it. Meditation, which is really enlightenment, is really our attention stuck in our mind. Right? Which creates separation, which equals suffering. So the moment you're willing to allow your thoughts to come and go - you're willing to allow your emotions to come and go, you're willing to recognize that your body is temporary in its way it is and even how it looks throughout your life. And you recognize this space that holds everything, then you recognize your True-OneSelf is always here. Your True-OneSelf is always present. Oneness is already here and whole. Instead of trying to be better and judge ourselves for the Higher Self and LowerSelf and being caught in the world of judgment, we start to exist in simply allowing and awareness. So I want to share with you two ways to start focusing on how you can kind of just enter that space that you're already in. See that's the joke. You can't really enter the space that you're already in because you're already there and what we'll be doing throughout the show is looking all the ways in which keep pretending that we're not our True-OneSelf.
So, for now, I want to talk about the witness. The witness is this perspective that is seeing you. Let's say there's a camera over there and it's watching us, okay? You're watching me right now and you can notice this third perspective that's watching you watching me. You get that? Pretend like there's a camera videoing you watching me right now. You're listening to this or you're in your car. Pretend there's a camera as you're driving that car or doing whatever you're doing and that camera is shooting you from over there. Right? So, it's an angle over here. So that witness perspective, I want you for a moment to move your attention to that witness perspective. It seemed difficult and all that, but I promise you it's not, you just go ahead. So for a moment just notice this perspective that's easy from here. It's crazy, but you'll notice it takes nothing for you to notice this perspective. Why? Because that's what is the perspective of Awareness itself. And who you are at your core is Awareness.
Notice this witness that just sees what is, without a problem, without judgment, just sees what is always present, always here. Throughout the day start to just notice that perspective. It's like stepping out of your mind and all this chaos and all the noise, for a moment just noticing this. Without changing anything or without getting rid of anything, just noticing this perspective.So by noticing this witness perspective we just start noticing Awareness itself. An Awareness has no separation. Awareness is your True-OneSelf. See this is the beauty - simply Being.
Another way to recognize our OneSelf in any moment is that you just notice “I am”. Believe, I talked about this in one of our earlier videos, but today three times notice the witness and also today three times just notice that You Are. The simple sense that you are. Thoughts come and go, so not labels about “I am”, not feelings about how you're feeling. That's okay, I don't care how you’re feeling. Of course, I care how you're feeling, I want you to feel great, but you know what?
Sometimes we feel good, sometimes we feel bad, sometimes we feel healthy, sometimes we feel sick. I want you to know peace at the core, your True-OneSelf. Regardless of what is rising and falling, regardless of circumstances, regardless of emotion or thoughts. You'll notice that who you are is already free, that you're already whole. You're already beautiful, my friends. You are already at peace and we can't get to peace. This idea that we have to get somewhere, to do something, to be something, to finally be at happiness and peace is a lie.
So today just notice “Am I?”. Just notice that You Are three times. Excellent. “I Am”. In that, you'll start to feel the energy in the beauty of just being. And then that you'll notice that right now you're already One with whole. So let's drop for a little while, you know? Just give up on this idea and the concept of your Higher Self for a little while. You may have read some great books about it, it may have served you to some degree, but here I'm saying – “Hey, drop this notion for a little bit, it kind of exists a lot in this idea of higher and lower in separation and try on just recognizing the simple sense that You Are. Recognize this witness perspective and know that your True-OneSelf is that which is already whole and one with everything, it is who you really are in your core. Who am I? I Am. Notice –“I Am”.
It's been great, I'm here to serve you. If you have any questions and anything to do with spirituality, awakening, meditation, please leave some comments below, we'll be getting back to you. Pleasure always to serve you.
Until next time here's to living an awake life from your True-Oneself and into The Greatest Expression of You!
[Music]
Hey everyone, it’s Brian Marc. Did you like that episode? If you did, you can do three things right now to continue your journey.
First, you can subscribe right here to my channel, which I hope you will, so I can keep sending you videos on a weekly basis to help transform your life.
Second, you can go to my website BrianMarc.com and sign up for my newsletter, so that I can send you free offers, free products, free programs, updates on my events, podcasts and basically everything that we don't do on my channel. Here you can find the link to BrianMarc.com in the description below.
Third, if you want to go deeper on living inner peace and freedom, then register to attend my latest seminar for free by clicking on the link right here.
I look forward to seeing you in the next video. Be sure to hit subscribe for weekly videos and click on the button to register for the free seminar. Now, here's to living awake life from your True-OneSelf and into The Greatest Expression of You!
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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full transcript, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Welcome everyone. It’s Brian Marc Zimberg, number one best-selling author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of Access Points - The Modern-Life Meditation Plan”. Welcome to episode one of “Awake Life”. In today's video, we're going to take a look at the Big “E” word in spirituality, and that's “Enlightenment”. What is it really? Why are you interested in enlightenment? In fact, why is it important for you to be interested, if you're not interested in enlightenment. Odds are, if you're watching this video right now, you're already on a self-help journey of wanting to be better and improve yourself. And then you’ve probably gotten to a point where that was exhausting, and you're on the spiritual journey, where you want more peace and more happiness in your life.
So this show is called Awake Life and we're going to explore what is it to “awaken”, and what is it to live an “awake life”. So many of you probably have already gotten to the point, or maybe you're at the point right now, where “you think you’ve had enough of this life, then hang on, (singing) because everybody hurts” - excuse my bad voice - but you know that's the truth of it, you know? Life can be a grind, life can be a struggle, and odds are to get to the place of awakening, spiritual awakening, or interest in enlightenment, you first usually come to a place where you're ready to just give up.
You know, Buddha said “life is suffering” because basically, all our desires lead to a temporary fulfillment. So let's look at the context of your modern day life, because I'm really interested in the practical understanding of what is in enlightenment in a modern context? You see we live in a modern world, I mean, if you are desiring enlightenment because you want to run off and be a guru, and live off, and be a monk in a mountain somewhere? Because you can do that, right? But no. Odds are you have a life, you have a family, you're in the context of this world.
So Buddha said that desire leads us to things that are “temporary fulfillment”. So if we look at that in the context of our modern life, we achieve things. We’re told our whole life we can go get something and achieve it. So we learn how to be achievers, and when we achieve something, how does it feel? Think of something you've achieved in your life. It's temporary. We have a temporary moment of achievement and it feels good, and we can be excited, exhilarated, and other people around us can be excited for us, but it slowly fades away. Right? The fulfillment, that happiness, fades away. When you have a relationship and you get “love love love love love” and all the sudden you're whole, and you’re complete by another, it tends to… fade away.
We can learn the skill of relation and sustaining this love, but understand that everything you grasp in the outer world... fades away. That happiness doesn't last. You buy a nice car that you want so bad and it makes you feel great in the beginning, right? It’s like when you buy a cellphone, you take care of it good, and it becomes, whatever it gets chipped and it’s like OK… who cares? Because it gives us this temporary fulfillment, and we realize that that gives us temporary happiness. And at some point, that material, you know, illusion, becomes not enough. And we get to this point where we have this disillusionment, right? We either start feeling frustrated, or we realize there's something more to life. We feel this sense of pain, or meaninglessness, or what the hell is the point of all this already? And a warning along the journey, you should know, if you're in that space right now, is that there's this existential funk that can happen there. You know this, what's the point? And it's, I feel like giving up. I want to quit.
And when it goes even deeper, that's really where depression and even suicide can ensue. Where it literally seems pointless and meaningless. And I’m sure many people out there have felt this way, kind of like… I give up. What's the point? Or, am I screwing up my children? Or, I can't hold it all together. I'm sick of the holding it all together. Let's be honest with each other here. It's exhausting. Life can be exhausting trying to keep it up, and keep it together, based on what you've been told it's supposed to be about. (sigh) When you realize that - it's key. It's a key disillusionment, and if you've already been on the journey and you’ve realized this… “Amen”! If not, it's coming for you. That's why you're here. There's no mistaking in our meeting right now.
So first off, it is not pointless and meaningless, it's actually full of a point. The point is that emptiness is not meaningless, but is actually fullness. It’s fulfillment, and when we discover enlightenment truly, we discover true fulfillment. We discover fullness. Endlessness. We discover emptiness that is vast, infinite. That, you are one with that which is whole. You are already, complete, now.
So you know, along the road, we kind of have this dawning of “this isn't enough.” There has to be another way. There has to be something more. I want to know the truth”, right? I want to know what's real. I want to stop lying to myself. I want stop living “out of program”. I want to stop being “stuck in my mind”, and I want to live from reality. I want to live from truth. And we dawn on the idea of spiritual enlightenment. Spiritual awakening.
You know first, before we can really talk about what enlightenment really is, we need to take a look at what enlightenment is not, OK? There's a lot of misconceptions, and myths, and misbeliefs, and understanding about this, and it keeps us kinda on the spiritual journey, on a hamster trail, trying to get to a destination. Often people think of enlightenment as this final permanent state, right? “When I reach enlightenment, I'm going to have, I’m going to be blissed out. I'm only going to have have positive emotions. I'm only going to feel blissed all the time. It makes me grin, you know? That’s enlightenment.” Or maybe enlightenment is that you can turn to a light body and disappear. Now I'm not saying that that can't happen, but the truth in the matter is enlightenment isn't those things. You still will be a human being. You're still, emotions will still come and go, you know? Some of the greatest sages still died of cancer, right? Osho had back pain. Paramahansa Yogananda did preserve his body and had a glowing light, but he was a yogi. So is the goal of enlightenment for us each to be a yogi? You see, there is development of our consciousness, and maybe we can be moving towards a light body, but let's get real for a moment. What is spiritual awakening? It is waking up… to reality.
So let's take a look for a moment at when you have a nightmare, or you have a dream, alright? You probably can remember a time where there was someone trying to kill you in a dream. Somebody was chasing you. You were scared. Can you remember that time? Think of a bad dream you had, and then you woke up. You're like, “Oh, it was just a dream”. Now go back in the context of that dream. In the dream it was real. Right? You didn't know you were dreaming. Like, if a lion is chasing you and wants to kill you, salivating, running after you in your dream… you're going to feel fear. You're going to be running. You're going to be sweating. You're going to be... scared, right? You're going to be… suffering. But when you come out of the dream, you wake up.
So it's very possible, my friends, for you to start to recognize that these atoms and molecules, that your photons are seeing me and seeing this world, that you're buying into the thoughts in your head, and you're calling that “reality”. It's creating your suffering. It's creating the struggle of your life. It's time to wake up. It's time to wake up and realize it's just a dream. [Sighs] Yes, it IS real in the context of creation, in the physical manifestation of infinity. And you, as an individual, have the divine birthright to awaken to the truth of who you are. To awaken. I mean, imagine the glory of the opportunity, through all this evolution. What is it? Billions of years going by, coming to this individuation and form. Your D.N.A., possible to turn back on its own awareness, and awaken to its truth. For life, for G-d, to awaken in the creation… at itself.
You know that's the difference, of what we call, in the Hindus, Leela and Maya. Maya, the illusion of life, right? We're caught in our minds. We’re caught as an individual. We’re separate, therefore, we can be destroyed, and life as a survival. We’re a survival animal. We're stuck in that process.
When we awaken, when we step out of the dream, right? When the lion isn't real, and the fear is false evidence appearing real. But not because it's a good teaching. Not because it’s a good idea, but because we really have a shift. This shift is crucial, because when you’ve awakened, which if you already had an essential experience, you’ve already awakened… then something… without a question… without a doubt, you know that you’re freedom itself. That who you are, is love itself.
In the moment of spiritual awakening, if you've been there already, you know, call it an essential experience. If you had that moment, for me, it happened profoundly and deeply in Joshua Tree Desert in 1996. At the end of a mushroom journey, on the come down. I felt, like, a light hit my chest. It was beyond just that… It was clear to me that everything was One. That I was whole. That I was it. That I am it. That G-d is it. That everything is One. Everything is perfect.
In this essential experience, we break through the veil of illusion. We see the wizard on the other side, and we get the cosmic joke. Right? We really even have the cosmic laugh. Right? Have you been there? Where you (laughs) Have you been there? Where you have that cosmic laugh where it’s just like, “Oh my gosh, I've been caught up in believing I’m me, and then this, and all these trips…” and you just see crystal clear, the beauty of infinity. That you are it. See my dear friends, enlightenment looks like you right now. Enlightenment sounds like me right now. This is it. Exactly how it is.
You probably maybe heard this story were they asked, I think Lao Tzu, “What did you do after you were enlightened?” And he said he “had some tea.” (laughs) He had some tea. Why? Well it’s the same as “before enlightenment chop wood, after enlightenment chop wood.” See the essential realization is that it is endless, infinite, and it is now. And It’s not held. It's not held in any time or space. It’s not held in any concept or idea. There is no you. There is no nothing. It’s endless, endless, endless. And it's joy. And it's freedom. And that's you, right now. Enlightenment, looks like you, now. All the good parts of you. All the bad parts you. Enlightenment looks like you.
So if you had that moment of realization, that spiritual awakening, we could say, then what happens along the spiritual journey is this chasing of the state of enlightenment, right? This finished place, where you're just going to be enlightened all the time. Now there is a shift, and that shift begins with that essential experience, where we are more identified with awareness itself, right? Like the background becomes a front, and the front becomes the background. Your story, your individual story, your centered Me, becomes the background, and the background becomes the front.
(sigh) That is a shift that is profound. We could call that enlightenment, where you're more identified with the truth of who you are, infinity, than you are with this individual mind. And in that, there is just love. You see, in this, I just want to tell you, “I love you”. Why? Because there is truly no other. There truly is no other. That absolute reality you have probably already realized. And if you're a person out there, who’s like, “Wow. I'm just beginner. I haven't realized that…” In a moment in nature, remember a time where you saw some awe inspiring vista. You looked out at some beautiful sunset, or some sunrise. You’re just (sigh). You're “awe” struck. Right? In that moment, there's no you, almost. Everything's connected. You're there, but you're not there. You're whole. You're complete. There’s a moment of peace that we've all had out in nature. We have that moment in orgasm too. So you've had this moment. It may not, you may not define it as a spiritual awakening because you didn't have this clarity of like “Wow! I’ve just been chasing my tail. I get the cosmic joke, and I see infinity, and I’m it!”
But it will come for you, that's coming next if you're on this journey and you're here listening to this video right now. So how do we really experience that shift, and allow this enlightenment, this awakening, to fall deeper and deeper? There is an end to being asleep, but there is no end to waking up. We let go. Greater than ever before. Not in the concept that we think letting go is. Take our hands off the steering wheel. We surrender to this discomfort of this unknown, and we drop. We fall. There's no end to infinity meaning infinity. If you already recognize that that Oneness is truth, absolute baseline, then it's time to start noticing that you're trying to get back to an experience that happened in the past. See now, this is really crucial. These experiences we've had in the past, they’re not it. You see, in an enlightening experience, we have sensation. We have feeling. We have bliss, right? So we have experience. We have sensory. We have emotions. We have thought maybe even, but all that comes and goes. It is all pointing to the stillness, the infinity, which is beyond concept. Beyond thought. Beyond experience. Beyond emotion. Beyond sensation. It was all there to point you to that. And then all that fades away. And we get back on the journey, and we're trying to get back to this feeling and this experience.
You know, there was a student of mine years ago, his name was Bill. He suffered from depression for years. He was on a spiritual quest for thirty years. Depression. He had been a Vietnam vet. He was in halfway houses, post-traumatic stress, a lot of different issues that plagued him, and he was a devoted spiritual seeker. He tried mystery schools. And different teachers that had rules and structure and hard core stuff, but his greatest experience, before meeting me, came from this “out of body experience” that he had. You see, he said, in it he felt so “free”. He was no longer his body. The “crap” of life was like… gone! Like, he didn’t have to concern himself with the struggle and the suffering of life anymore. He could just be free, and at peace. And his whole journey from there on out was to “get that back.” Right? So we get on the spiritual journey, we attain these realizations and these epiphanies, and so we start to collect them, like they are achievements. It is time for you to give up your spiritual treasures.
For those of you on the spiritual journey, it's time for you to stop, and give up. It sounds crazy, but like when I said to Bill, “give up” this feeling that you want to get back to. “Give up” this experience. “Give up” this experience that you think you had in some past. It doesn't serve you right now. We need to get and understand that your past experiences are not it. Enlightenment is right now, as it is. And, in fact, when you realize that infinity, right now, by not following the thought out of your head, right now, and you stop believing your thoughts for a moment, then infinity, enlightenment, is right here. And it doesn't know a past experience ,or remember what it's supposed to be trying to get to. It's clean, it's fresh, and it's new. Stop trying to get there, and you already know so much. You've got to give up knowing, you know? When you don't know, you know… when you know, you don't know.
It's time to give up your attainments. Time to give up your knowing. Your philosophical understandings. When your intellectual identification with your mind is just clouded by a bunch of past experiences and understandings, that even your own realization in your own enlightenment is in the way of your own true-heartedness, then it’s time to stop. I'm inviting you to “call off the search.” You know, the great line by Papaji, that many of us might know. See, to really hear this right now, in this video, in this moment, you can have a deeper awakening that you've ever had in your life. You can actually have a shift deeper than you've ever known.
So the way to really start “living” an awake life, and deepening in your own awakening, is to finally “give up the search”. (sigh) Start inquiring into who you are, and why you are here, right now. Right here. Be willing, for a moment, to just stop. To call off the search. Call off the search for happiness. Let it go. Be willing not to follow the next thought out of your head. Give up the hope of enlightenment. Give up the avoidance of what you feel is uncomfortable. For a moment, just stop for a moment. what is here? Forget everything that can be forgotten. What is here now? Excellent.
So, explore that. Right? Explore being-ness. So, if you're someone who's deep on the journey, it's time for you to let go of all your experiences. All your knowledge. All your understandings. And recognize, moment-to-moment, that every time you're in your thoughts, every time you're in your individual perspective that knows these things, that had these experiences, that thinks it should be more enlightened and more experienced somewhere else, in that moment, you're in your thoughts again. You're in separation again. To have a true transcendence, moment-to-moment, of individual thought, of separate self, is when we align ourselves with Oneself. Right here, right now. And in that, there’s a fluidity. A moment-to-moment opening. Vulnerability. A willingness to welcome whatever arises and falls. I invite you to that right now. Please. For all of us and for you.
And for those of you who are maybe thinking you're a beginner, or you're just starting out of this journey, or, you know, you're somewhere in between. I want you to notice with me right now, that you “are”. Just say, “I am”. That you “are”. That you are is this IS-ness, you see? You “are”. And, you know, they say “fake it until you make it”? Well, “everything” in the real self-realization in the realization of infinity, Oneness… “Everything” is connected, and Everything is One. In a lot of my teachings, I call it “Your True-OneSelf”. OneSelf. That's you. So fake it till you make it? Hey, how about right now, look down the floor where you’re at. Is it being? Is it? It is. Wherever you are, look up at the sky or the ceiling. Is it? It is. Your mind can say it's a color. Your mind can have definitions and labels about things, but it “is”.
Start noticing that “everything is”. Start noticing that “you are”. There is no other. Everything is OneSelf meeting OneSelf. When you can take on that perspective, even if you haven't had the shift of living in that perspective, when you can choose, when you're caught in struggle, when you're caught in feeling bad and you're trying to get rid of a bad emotion, you can just accept that everything is “yourself meeting itself”. It's OneSelf.
You’ll have a different opening to life, noticing that “is”, that you “are”, that being “is”… everywhere. Everything is just “being”. And any moment you can shift to that perspective and an openness. A beauty of life. You know in that essential experience, we have this total sense of perfection. This total sense that everything is perfect. That everything is OK. The stream is leading you where it is, and your lifeform, your journey, is all accumulated to this moment right now. You're hearing me right now in this moment, and this invitation to allow yourself to finally be. To explore being. If you think you know this already, I dare you to drop that idea that you know it, and explore your “being” deeper.
So, thank you for joining here. You know we're going to jump in here really start ripping this apart, you know? Really looking at “what is awakening” and “what is it to live an awake life?” Looking at different aspects of this “spiritual journey”. The truth is, it is all spiritual. You know, right? It’s not “I’m a human being having a spiritual experience, but I’m a spirit having a human experience?” It is all spiritual, my friends. And when we start living in the mystical context, and the beauty of perfection that is actually who and what we are, then there's a shift in life right here and now. Nothing has to change. All emotions are welcome. Good and bad can happen in life. The story can play out, but you could know that you already are whole. It’s your divine birthright to understand the perfection and beauty of life, moment-to-moment. Even when there's horror. Even when there's pain. I love you. I send you all the love. I send you all the blessings. So, until next time, here's to living an awake life, from your True-OneSelf, and into the greatest expression of you.
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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full transcript, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Hi! I am Brian Marc Zimberg, author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan, where we show you how to shift your attention out of your mind, and connect to the most profound inner peace of meditation, and from there awakening even deeper into your True-OneSelf,Living a life of greater joy, happiness and true self expression where you become a contribution into the world. So, welcome!
I always say I’m so glad for you to be here, because the truth is I’m here for the same reason that you are here. In today’s episode, I wanna take a look at something, a problem, that we all have to deal with and that’s...problems. Let’s take a look at problems together. What would it be for you to finally be free of all problems? Now, I’m not talking ridiculous here and I’m not saying that all problems will magically disappear. What I’m saying is, it’s possible for you to be free of problems.
Now, in Access Points, we take a look at the operating system of the mind. We take a look at the mind like it’s a computer on your head, and we say one of the main functions of this operating system is to create a problem and to solve a problem. In fact, what I’m saying to you is, your mind is always doing one or the other. It’s always creating a problem or solving a problem. So, no matter how big or how small the problem is in your life, your mind will either be fixated on creating one or solving one, and then creating another one, all to maintain its identity of being somebody and something separate. We also talk about in Access Points that your identity, your attention’s stuck in your mind, being identified with your thoughts, your body, and your mind is what creates all suffering in life. Now, the truth of the matter is, when it comes to problems, we spend so much time worrying and fearful about the problem itself. We are stuck in a problem. We have an issue going on in our lives. Right? Perhaps we don’t have money to pay our bills, or we are having issues with our loved ones, a partner, or our children are having issues at school, or I’m having a problem with my job. All different things that we can relate to. Problems, big ones, small ones, come up all the time. We have massive world problems that deep within us that we’d all like to deal with. You know sometimes somebody will say to you, ‘’You think you have problems? Watch this video on this poor person who lost their leg and they learn to walk’’. You know, we are blown away by that, and maybe for a moment, we reconnect to how grateful and lucky we are, but it doesn't really change anything because we’re in our heads, we’re the centerpiece of our movie, and our problems are real to us.
The truth of the matter is, when you take a look at a problem, a problem is either going to be solved eventually or it’s gonna be a non-problem. It’s gonna dissipate and go away and all the worrying, all the stress and chasing around and trying to figure out things and fixing, all the stress and anxiety in the background of our minds about a problem ends up being a non issue. We spend so much time in the drama of our problem; we have a problem, what we gonna do about our problem, discussing with other people, stress, emotion, fear, worry, anxiety, because our circumstances, we are choosing to relate to them as a problem. All this drama at the end, if the problem just goes away, we just wasted a lot of time, energy, emotion and stress on something that wasn’t even real because it went away. Or even eventually if we accept the fact that a solution will show itself, good or bad. If you are getting evicted from your home, it sucks! You can do everything you need to do, but eventually when the eviction is happening and at that moment you are being evicted and then what comes next will come next. No matter what, what will comes next, will come next. So, really what it comes down to, is our relationship to the circumstances. Our thoughts, our emotions, the people in it and what they are saying, what’s happening. These are all circumstances of our lives and it’s our reaction to these circumstances that creates our suffering and our struggle.
When we’re believing in our thoughts and a separate individual to be who we are, and that we have to get somewhere or do something, defend and survive, that’s the root of all suffering. When you add to that the mind is creating a problem and trying to solve it, it’s holding us in the identity of our mind whether this problem/solution scenario. Our relationship to our circumstances is only based on that problem/solution. So we are stuck in this minimal perspective paradigm problem/solution. What I’m I gonna do about this problem? I need to find a solution. So you choose your relationship to circumstance. When we’re reacting to the circumstances, to other people, to what’s happening, to our thoughts and emotions in life, and we are just a reactive animal, not choice being happening from you making a conscious, true, clear choice but instead our past and our programming, our thoughts, our emotions all creating a reaction within us. So, we are reacting to our circumstances in the paradigm of problem/solution and we are struggling. We’re suffering. So, would it be nice, ahhhh!! to finally be free of being stuck in problems and solutions? So, how do we do it? Let’s take a look!
So, first of all, your true nature, your True-OneSelf is timeless. That, which is one with everything. Oneness, the meditative moment, truth, awakening. When you connect your True-OneSelf, the beauty of divine perfection is available. Openness, availability, clarity, always at peace. From that space, you are timeless, and in timelessness there is no problem because the problem obviously only exists in time. Right? So, from your True-OneSelf, we have a timeless experience, a space of no problem being whatsoever. Quantum physics says, you know, I’m paraphrasing basically but, reality does not exist if you are not looking at it. If there is not an observer of reality then the floor down below that you are looking at right now wouldn’t even be there. Right? The observer affects the reality. That being said, think about that, with your attention focussing on your problem, you are actually substantiating the reality of your problem. Right? We are making our problem even more by making our attention in our mind, which is always creating a problem and solving it, reacting to the circumstances of our lives, and all of this is substantiating the problem to be a reality. You can see where we get pretty stuck. So, let’s unstick! Let’s get unstuck! Let’s find a way that you can actually shift your attention out of your mind, connect to this True-OneSelf, this peace, this timelessness that is free of problem, and find a new way and a new relationship to problems in your life. Now, again, I wanna be clear, I’m not saying that you won’t have any problems or life doesn’t have problems. I’m saying that it is our relationship to this circumstances of our lives that will determine our experience of our lives. That when we are stuck in a problem/solution mentality and relating only as a separate individual not only we suffering or struggling, but life is full of anxiety and problems. To be free of that, we are going to learn how to come out of our mind and move to the timelessness.
There is a great quote by Albert Einstein which goes along the lines of ‘’A problem cannot be solved from the level of consciousness in which it was created.’’ So, if a problem cannot be solved from the level of consciousness in which it was created, we need to shift to a different level of consciousness. We need to move to a different perspective to relate to this from a whole different way. Have you ever played the game by the name Boggle? Boggle? If you don’t know what it is there is a bunch of little cubes with different letters on it. You put them in a square thingy, shake it up and all the little cube letters fall down, then you lift it up in your little timer and you find words inside of it and someone is looking from this side, I’m looking from that side. And what’s amazing you play this game and you get these words and then you are stuck! You can’t see anymore words. But if you all of a sudden pretend to take on the perspective from this side, where the other person is playing, a bunch of new words start to open up to you. Same thing, right? Einstein’s saying we need to find a new level of consciousness in order to deal with the problem because it cannot be solved from the same level of consciousness it was created at..
Now, what is the greatest perspective you could shift to? The greatest perspective to shift to would be one consciousness. The level of your True-OneSelf, that when you are one with everything, the timelessness, the space of no problem. When we shift to that, we are free of all problem. That’s the greatest shift we can take. How we do that is, in Access Points we teach you how to “access”. We teach these one to three minute meditations that shift your attention out of your mind and give you that hit of meditation and in that moment you gain connection to clarity, to oneness and to peace. It’s like you are taking a retreat from all the thoughts, the anxiety and the battle with the problem. Looking for solution, all that anxiety. You just step out of there for a moment, you release from it, you let it go for a moment and in that moment, you connect to who you really are. Your True-OneSelf. Your True-OneSelf has no problem. The thought idea of what your body mind is saying is a problem in your life.You know what I’m saying, it’s like the sun has no problem with your problems. Your True-OneSelf has no problem with your story and the problems in it. When we step back to our True-OneSelf we are free of problems. Totally free of our problems. The more we are able to shift our attention out of our mind and experience the meditative peace that is available on this moment the more we can come into life with the that freshness and that clarity. So when we come back in the life in a way, you can say come back in a life, we are already in life but when we have this, our thoughts and mind are going, we can remember and shift to our True-OneSelf and from there we can recognize the movement of problem/solution, reactivity and circumstances. We can go, Hold on a minute, I choose to not buy into all these, I choose to shift out of my mind. Don’t believe your mind. We teach, for a moment, don’t believe your mind and then you have a real choice and how you choose to relate to your circumstances.
I can tell you if you take anything from this video forgetting the idea of problem, how you choose to relate to your circumstances. CHOOSE being the keyword here. You see, you have a choice on how you relate to your circumstances. And so often with the thoughts bombarding you and the emotions going and people going and circumstances going and life going and we think we are just caught up into it and reacting into it because we believe we are ME and we have to DO life. Well, now we are learning how to reverse that here. Right? We learn to live an awake life from our True-OneSelf and we shift our True-OneSelf to where there is no time, there is no problem, we now step into the movement in our life, the dance of our lives and we have a new choice with these circumstances knowing that this problem will have a solution at some point or dissipate. We don’t have to buy into all of it hook, line and sinker, be so in it and so caught in it and just like bueeeeeeghhhh! We come back, we shift and we revitalize ourselves and great clarity comes to us and we have a choice on how we relate to our circumstances. We choose to go ‘’Oh My God!’’ or to go “oh, that’s a reaction”. I mean take a breath and let’s see what comes next. We shift to a different level of consciousness in order to deal with this problem. And instead of trying to force a solution, clarity arises, spaciousness arises when we shift to our True-OneSelf.
So, you will see some links below where we give some free trainings on different Access Points. So you could implement them when you see yourself caught in this problem/solution paradigm. When you see yourself suffering with this problem/solution paradigm. When you see yourself caught up and your circumstances and your reactivity to others and your thoughts and your emotions and the issues of your life, you learn to finally shift out of your mind, gain a sense of total clarity. Connect to your True-OneSelf which is vibrant, whole and at peace with yourself. Imagine the clarity that comes with that. You know they always say, you will try to think of something you can’t remember, can’t remember and you are trying harder and the worse it gets! But if you heard they say like, Let go of it! Forget about it! And then usually, pops right back up!
Most problems have a solution already attached to them, it’s just the nature of duality. Most problems will be solved or not solved like we talked about it, but they solve themselves in their own right. In other words, our engagement doesn’t have to be so fixated and the clarity of all that will come from the shift. The shift out of our minds, the shift to the meditative moment that is now. So, you can utilize an Access Point at this moment. You can go take a walk, take a breath, you can sit and meditate or you can put on some headphones. But if you don’t have time for all that, in Access Points we show you in one to three minutes how to shift your attention out of your mind. You can do a Yoga pose, you can learn a mindfulness techniques. Whatever it is, it’s time for you to start recognizing that you are not your thoughts, you are not your emotions and you are not a circumstance of your life! You are your True-Oneself and the more more you learn to shift your attention out of your mind to that, the more you are able and available for a space of love and clarity to come into your life. Life does not have to be a struggle, problems don’t have to dominate you. You can come to them in a fresh new way.
Again I’m going to say this, because the mind wants to say this to you and it will say to you later, “I have problems”. I’m not saying that life doesn’t have ups and downs. It will be very intelligent for you to assume that since life has had ups and downs, no matter how awake you become, life will probably still have ups and downs. Right? There are in the circumstances of our lives, and the circumstances in our world, huge enormous problems. Clarity has to be the best way for all of us to deal with all of life’s problems. Not from an anxious, scared and fearful ego mind mechanism. Come back to the wholeness of your own heart and any moment you will start finding a fluidity in life that allows problems and solutions to rise and fall but the center, the core of who you are, you will recognize is always ever present and here. Always available. That which holds you in total love, in total embrace, it sees you as perfect, without problem.
So, just to review. Number 1, if you take this alone, it will be worthwhile. For you, for me and for of us. To tell you the truth, The mind is always creating a problem or solving a problem. Always! Major operating system, function of the feature of the computer on your mind, create problem, must create problem, must solve problem. Creating a problem, solving a problem….Creating a problem, solving a problem. Take a look at that alone, make a little note, write that down, take a look for the next two days, have said this in a different video in another episode, but for two days, just watch if it’s true. Is my mind always creating a problem? Always solving a problem? And you will find to your astonishment probably because you didn't have the perspective to realize that this is going on. That holy smoking blabberer, it is always creating a problem and solving a problem. Just in the noticing that the problem/solution is always happening in the program of our mind, we start to become aware of it and as we become aware of it, we actually stop engaging so deeply in it. We start observing it from a witness perspective. From the meditative perspective and we don’t grip in so tightly. Our fixation loosens and we find more peace.
In general, we want to notice that a problem/solution is going on. In dealing with the problem: A) We have to identify that the there is a problem going on. Now, what I mean by that is that if you are just caught up in a problem and there is anxiety and there is fear and there is worry and you are telling people about it and you are in your drama, yet you don’t take a moment to go, “Hold on a minute, there is this problem paradigm thing going on here”, right? I got to catch myself for a moment and go….. I’m really in all this drama, I’m really in all this solution problem paradigm, I’m reacting…..hold on…. There is a problem going on. We take a look at that first. Two) we recognize that we have a choice in our relationship to the circumstances of our lives. Now, you could choose to say…”well, I have a problem and that’s an opportunity”. Like you could reframe it in a positive light, but what we are showing you here to do is to actually shift. Using the Einstein quote as kind of like a nudge here, to look from a different level of consciousness at our problem. To shift to the highest level of consciousness which is your True-OneSelf. When we learn to shift out of our mind we connect to our True-OneSelf and from that space, we are aware of the timeless self that we are. That has no problems, that is open, vast and clear. And from that, we move into our lives with a greater clarity and fluidity and a choice of how we treat our circumstances. We choose to remain in the equanimity of our truth, our center, our peace. We are actually are more centered in life then. We are balanced in life. We are not thrown by other people, by circumstances, by thoughts, by problems.
So, go out. Let all problems HOCUS POCUS...be gone! . Listen, what I want for you really is to have a new relationship to everything in your life. To really be centered and grounded in your True-OneSelf. It is possible for you to shift out of your mind and to more more be able to live an awake life. So, until next time, here is to living an awake life from your True-OneSelf and into the greatest expression of you.
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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full transcript, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Hi! I am Brian Marc Zimberg, author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan, where we show you how to shift your attention out of your mind, connecting to the most profound inner peace of meditation, thus realizing your True- OneSelf, and then living a life of greater joy, happiness and true self expression where we all become contributions to the world.
In today's video, I want to talk about self love.
You've heard the concept of self love. You know, basically the more that we learn to accept ourselves and love ourselves and have appreciation for ourselves, all things can stem from there. We've heard of the idea that we can't really love someone else until you love yourself. And I'm sure you've had some realizations in the things you've read or done. You've had some epiphanies, you've opened some doorways into accepting and embracing and loving yourself. And that may have lasted for awhile, and for often for many people, it fades away. And when it fades away, we're back in our mind and the battle and the struggle of life with unworthiness, fear, anger, a deep self-loathing and hatred that happens for some people even.
So, let's finally take a look at what self love really is. There's so many misunderstandings and misconceptions about self love. What self love really is, is learning to embrace and accept every single aspect of you. When we learn to embrace and accept all aspects of ourselves, we receive love innately. You see, so often self love is you trying to love yourself. The separate mind concept recipe loving yourself. You have to try to love yourself.
Now, if you have a child, you don't try to love your child. You have an innate love for your child, right? You can't help it. When you see a beautiful sunset and you're blown away by it, you don't try to love that sunset. You have an innate love for that sunset. True self love is having an innate love for yourself. And when you learn to open and embrace all aspects of yourself, then there's a flowering of innate self love that just overflows within you. You don't have to attempt to try to love yourself. So, instead of you trying to love a part of yourself, from within you is a full opening, acceptance and embrace of love. You get the difference? There is an innate love emanating from you for yourself that has compassion, that has acceptance, that has love. And when we allow true self love, we connect to the Divine within ourselves.
When you connect to the Divine within yourself, in that space, you start to really come to the core of self love, this deep appreciation and compassion that allows you to move into any aspect of yourself without getting lost in the judgemental mind that beats ourselves up, that creates a separate. You see, real suffering is when we are identified with our mind. When our attention is stuck in our mind in the beliefs, in the comments, and making too much meaning out of the emotions that we have. It is in those moments that we find that we have to try to love ourselves, that we are in the suffering, struggle and battle of life. Therefore, we have to apply a way to love ourselves. Because "Oh my God, I am being so hard on myself. I need to learn to love myself." And what we are really doing is we're not having a space of total love and acceptance. When we have a space of total love and acceptance of who we are, we can have a natural fluidity of allowing certain things to rise and fall, see good and bad fall, and rise and fall. Comments and ideas about ourselves can rise and fall. Sadness, anger can rise and fall. Judgement can rise and fall when we have space for it. If we don't have space for it, we are battling against it.
The truth is that all suffering and struggle in life comes from us being identified with our mind. When we are in our thoughts, when we are identified with our mind, we believe ourselves to be separate. When we are fully in the belief of our own separation, we are in survival. And in that survival, we have to protect ourselves. And that's where the struggle and suffering in life comes, by being identified with our minds. You see, in the identification with the mind, everything is created separately. There is duality. There is good, bad. Right, wrong. And as we grow up in the development of who we believe ourselves to be, we decide that I have to be the good. Right? "Be a good boy or you won't get your dessert. Be a good girl or you won't get the new doll." We're shown our entire lives that we have to reach for societal concepts and ideas of what good is, and bad is no good. We don't want the bad. Be happy. Stop crying.
So, in our mind, there is only duality of separation. The good and the bad. What happens is we habitually are reaching only for what we think to be the good part of ourselves. And we're pushing away everything that we don't like about ourselves or that we have been told is the bad part of ourselves. So what happens is we are torn, you see? We think in this ideal image of ourselves, we would only have all the good parts of ourselves. Like one day, you're going to be a saint. Who knows about that, you know? But we're working to only the good part of ourselves. And in that, we do two things the bad part of ourselves. We deny it. So, we pretend it's not there. We repress it or we indulge it.
You know, a friend of mine was telling me he was so good. He was into drinking, he was using it to repress and hide from things. And he was going to a therapist. But the therapist couldn't even help him because he was lying to the therapist about how he was really feeling and what he was doing. See, when we build upon these lies to ourselves, we fester. We fester in an inauthenticity with ourselves. And really, there's nothing worse than that. We don't like this battle within ourselves. But we also don't like to feel unworthy. We don't like self-hatred. So we rather pretend it doesn't exist. When we pretend it doesn't exist, we are living that lie. We are building that lie. We are building that inauthenticity.
What we want to be is authentic with ourselves. You see, when we embrace the good and the bad and we bring it into wholeness. Like the Yin and Yang. Like the Tao. When we embrace all aspects of ourselves, when we accept them without repression, without indulging. What's indulging anger look like? Roar, roar, roar, roar! (laughs) Right? We get angry, we indulge it, we go with it. Sadness, repressed. "I'm fine, I'm fine," when deep down, we're feeling like, you know, but we pretend that it's not real. Or sadness indulged, depression. " I’m the worst me in the world, there's no worse than me. What's wrong with my life? What's wrong with me? I'm so bad. I'm no good. I don't deserve to live." You know, all that comes from, the indulging of the feeling of sadness. And it comes because we don't want sadness. We only want happiness. Sadness is bad. It's a real immature way of dealing and looking at our emotions. Who we all are is the full, the full spectrum of all our emotions, all our feelings, all our thoughts. And when we're going to learn allow all of those here and exercise we're going to do later, you're going to learn to look at all the good and all the bad of yourself and finally get present to them. When we get present to all aspects of ourselves, we find that all of these things we are avoiding, they have a gift to offer us. Sadness, anger, fear, unworthiness. Each one in its seed is actually a doorway to greater joy and happiness. Believe it. It's the truth and I'm going to show it to you.
See, the mind has ideas and who you are and who you should be based on all those things we talked about, based on all that conditioning. So, what the mind is kind of trying to do is constantly maintain this identification of being a separate person. And it's doing it by helping you push away the bad and get the good. Divide, divide and divide. It's the endless battle of the mind. What we need to understand is that this duality battle of the mind will never stop. So, we need to become aware of it and be able to take one step back and away from it.
The problem is as we push away the bad, we are disowning half of ourselves. How can we have the full embrace of self love if we're disowning half of ourselves? So, first off, it's not your fault. This is an operating system and a program of the egoic survival animal. Dividing and pushing away and separating the good and the bad. The great divide of the mind. So, now it's time to reclaim all of who you are. When we learn to embrace and accept every aspect of who we are, like I said, that is what self love is really is.
When we are whole, we are integral. We are full, we are integrated. From there, we are in alignment . We are in alignment with our heart. We are in alignment with our True-OneSelf. We are in alignment with the Divine. From there, there is a fluidity in the flow of Divine through ourselves and really into the great expression of who we are into the world. When we are disowning half of ourselves, only reaching for what we think is the better part of ourselves and denying the other part of ourselves, there is no wholeness there. We are putting ourselves in a half. We are blocking the integral. We are blocking ourselves from being holistic and whole. What we all want is to experience that wholeness.
The reason we have an innate nature within ourselves to become dawned upon, we want that connection to the Divine. Because we want to know what that wholeness is now. We want to experience what it is to be connected and feel full. The full embrace of love.
How can we finally let everything that we are be here so we can embrace and accept it and feel the innate self love that you desire? That you deserve? That connection that can be moment-to-moment without the blockage of dividing yourself. It's time to bring all pieces back together.
So, let's take a look at the Yin Yang as an example. Okay, the nice Yin Yang of the Tao, of the wholeness, of all reality, of all life. In the Yin Yang, you have one side dark, one side light. One side dark, and in that dark side, you have a dot of light. Contained within the dark is still a part of the other side. Contained within the light is still a part of the other side. Complete in a whole balance. Neither side can ever really overtake the other side because there's always, no matter which way the dark moves, it has within it, contained within each other, the other aspect of each other. So, it can constantly balance itself out.
So, soon we are going to do an exercise that's going to get us down to looking at every single part of ourselves that we don't like. Just like in the totality, the acceptance of the Tao is that wholeness. Imagine for you, the embrace of every aspect of yourself, being the embrace of that wholeness. It's full. And that's actually what true fulfillment is. True fulfillment is the embrace of the totality of every aspect of yourself. No longer buying into the program of the mind which is chasing what we think of is good. In this idea of this image of what we've been told and the pushing away of the bad. When there is finally an ability to sit and have tea with deep unworthiness. To just be here with it and to not indulge it. To not repress it, to not push it away, to not hold on to it, to not overindulge it, then we find real freedom. Real self love.
Now, in a way what I'm asking you to do here is counter intuitive. It's counter intuitive because we don't look to walk into the darkness. We think we want to find the light. But let me share something with you. The more you go into the shadows, the blind spots, the spot you can't see in the mirror, you can't take the turn to the next lane of your life if you're going to smash somebody right there, you're going to smack into something. You need to see in order to make the right proper movement. So, the proper fluidity to your own wholeness would be to not have any more blind spot. So, we want to expose the truth at the deepest level. So, the animal is always running away from facing unworthiness, from facing fear, from facing anger. The truth is these, as we share in access points and in “meeting the voids”, the doorway to happiness, these are the three doorways to happiness. The seed root of all your emotions, all your "negative emotions", fear, unworthiness and anger. And when we learn to get present to emotions, we go so deep within them, we become one with them. They have a gift to offer us. They show us the doorway to our own true self, our own fulfillment, happiness greater than ever before.
So, what we want to do is really look at every aspect of ourselves and learn to be present with it, accept it without making/believing the mind and getting into a negative bombardment of beating ourselves up. Or without indulging it outward into anger or to into the story of sadness or to repressing it and pushing it away and pretending that it's not there creating that angst and that lie and inauthenticity. We want to get present to each emotion, accept each emotion. And instead of being with what is because when we are with what is at the deepest levels of being with the peace of the Tao, Is-ness, being-ness. But “it is what it is” has become a kind of a way blowing things off. And really, it's just another way of repressing things, pushing things away. And its root, there's tolerance. Now, tolerance means that you're not being with what is. You're frustrated by what is. Tolerance has violence to it. It is a frustration to it. You're tolerating somebody. You're tolerating something an aspect of yourself. That's not what we're looking for. We're not looking to tolerate an aspect of ourselves. We're looking for full compassion and embrace and acceptance of all parts of ourselves. We tell the truth of everything that we are, the wholeness of what we are.
Alright, so, what I want you to do...if you're driving a car, you can just think a couple of things for now and come back and really do this exercise. If there's some place that you can grab a pen and paper, go ahead and give yourself a second to do that... So, on a piece of paper, I want you to write down all the different negative aspects of yourself. All the things you don't like about yourself. All of things you think other people don't like about yourself. Write all those down in one side. On the other side, write about the good things about yourself. All the things you like about yourself, even all the things that other people like about yourself. After you've done that, you're going to write down the emotions. Clarify what these emotions are associated with the things you don't like about yourself.
"I like the way that I smile at people." You read that part "I like the way that I smile at people," and you admit that part, how does that make you feel? "Ah, it makes me feel pretty happy actually." You write down happy. Go over each part, okay? And start with the positive, make it a little more okay for you now.
But now, we are going to turn, we are going to face the shadow, the blind side, okay? We're going to get into some deeper work here. Now, certain emotions when you are with them, you're going to feel and start to see the body want to have discomfort and push them away or call them back. So, I invite you to take a look at the link below or I'll pop it on the screen here but we have a program called "Meeting the Voids" and to really be free from emotions that are running you on a deep seeded level. I sit down and I talk you into the core of unworthiness, into the core of anger, into the core of fear and we get to see how the different levels in the way it's running us. But the main thing in the willingness to welcome everything is, is to finally allow ourselves to be with an emotion and start noticing the patterns of the mind saying, pushing it away, "No, I'm okay. That's not true. That's not real." Or, "I don’t like that. I'm scared. I'm so sad in indulging it." We want to start seeing these patterns and then learn to just be with it. Okay?
So, step 1 is going to be admitting that it exists. Step 2 is going to be give it space and embrace. It sounds crazy, but you're going to learn to have space and then embrace with love, sadness, anger, frustration, fear. You're going to find a seed of each one of them that they have something to offer you. So, on this negative side of the list. “Negative.” You're going to write down all the things you don't like about yourself. All the things you don't like about yourself, write them down.
Now, you can even write down the things that people, things you think people don't like about you. We do the same thing in the other side. Each one of those, we're going to write down the emotion, okay? "I don't like that I'm not taller." Read that, how does that make me feel I'm not taller? "I feel less than... I feel not good enough." Right, isn't that what the core about is? Just write down the emotion, okay? And each one of them, now that we have admitted it, it's going to be amazing if you just write it down. Everything that even though your mind will have an argument, "Well, that's not true about me. I don't feel that way about myself." But if there's anytime you felt that way about yourself, or if deep down maybe you do, or others might, write it down.
So, what's going to happen is, if you are okay admitting all of these things as a possibility of being a part of you and all these things possibly part of you, guess what? There's nowhere to run. There's nothing to hide from anymore. It's all part of you at some point, in some time. You don't have to block anything off. You don't have to repress. You’re going to get filled with such energy and joy and each seed of emotion is going to bring you a present and a gift and it's a doorway coming closer to the truth of your one self. Total self love.
So, step 1 is admitting it all. So, you've done that part. You've written it down, you've admitted. This could take some time for you to sit down and do it yourself. Do it a little bit each day and you're going to find a whole shift going on for you. You're going to find a renewal of what it is to be you and to be okay. Fully embracing and accepting yourself.
So, give an example for the second part, you're going to give it space and embrace. So, we isolate one little section that you write about yourself. "I don't like that I talk too much. I don't like the way my voice sounds." The emotion of the word of that is a feeling of shame of not being good enough. So, now that I'm going to admit it, I'm going to give space to just this feeling of not being good enough. And we're going to start to notice that if I’m with it, it doesn't feel so comfortable and I kind of want to NOT be with that, but giving it space means I'm not going to push it away or indulge it. I'm just going to let it be here finally. Finally, I'm going to have tea with it and be here with this.
So if there's discomfort, I'm going to let discomfort be here and rise and fall. My mind is starting to say that's not true, that's not good. Or my mind is starting to say that I really am unworthy of this, that's the truth of who I am. I'm not so bad, I'm just going to let that story come and go like traffic. Like a radio in the background. And now, we're going to embrace. We’re actually going to offer the same love you would offer to a child. You're going to offer that love to that emotion within you.
So, by being with the emotion, we're not running from it, we're not run by it any longer. So, what we want to do with each one of these emotions... I'm going to read something I've written and something along the lines of what you can say to each aspect of yourselves. You really want to say this in some way that feels comfortable to you, to each aspect of yourselves. You want to start living and breathing this with each part of yourself. When you go through this list, a few each day, you're going to find (sigh) the gifts that are going to come from this, the energy that's going to be released, the vibrancy in the way of being in life. I'm excited for you.
So, really what we want to do, is to learn just “be” with these aspects. Give them space and embrace and offer it that love. What's really great is I've written something that we can say to each aspect to ourselves. And we'll put that below. You can read it to each part of yourself and help create this release. It doesn't have to be word for word. It's the sentiment of what's being said here which is the energy and the flow of what you want to start offering to every aspect of yourself. So you say to each part of yourself (we're talking about shame here) so, say we're being with shame. You say, "I embrace this part of me. I no longer push this aspect of me away. You too are accepted here like a lost child. I offer you love and I allow you to be here. I will not allow my thoughts or my feelings about you to run me. I accept you here as part of the whole of who I am. I release my battle with you and offer the embrace of love to you."
You just rewind that part and play it back or write it down for yourself. We have it below. Remember the mind is always labelling, dissecting, separating, to be separate. This means you need to survive and you can be destroyed. Recognize the oneness of who you really are. What meditation really is, shifting out of our minds to that oneness. So for self love here, we are leaving the battle of I like myself, I don't like myself, you're good, you're not good. We're letting that conversation continue like two bulls, hitting horns and an ocean washing it away. And instead, we're letting self love emanate. Emanate. Like innate self love that we have for a flower, sunset or a child. We're going to let it flow from us. We do this by allowing all aspects, all aspects of ourselves. We no longer are pushing away, repressing or indulging. We no longer are going to be blinded by living only half of who we are. We're going to accept the Yin and Yang, the whole of who we are. And you're going to find a movement and fluidity to life. Because no concept, no label, no idea of good or bad, is who you are. Who you are is the limitless nature of Divine love.
Until next time. Here's to living an awake life from your True-OneSelf, and into the greatest expression of you.
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Visit www.BrianMarc.com/blog for full summaries, videos and quotes related to this episode.
Hi! My name is Brian Marc Zimberg, and I’m author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan where we show you how to shift your attention out of the mind, connecting to the most profound peace of meditation. And in that, awakening deeper into your True-OneSelf, from there living a life of greater joy, happiness, and true self-expression. Even more so, being a contribution as that in the world.
In today's video, we're going to take a look at what the root cause of suffering is. What's the root cause of all the struggle in your life? I mean, wouldn't it be great to finally be free of all the worry, fear, doubt, shame? Wouldn't it be great to finally be free of suffering and struggling for life?
So, what we want to take a look at is what is the core, you know. So many times, you've probably done things to try to get over suffering and stop struggling in life. So, if we go to the root of it, we should be able to free you. Free yourself in a new way. And that's really what I, what I want for you. What you want for yourself. And I am here for that for you.
So, the root cause of suffering, if we take a look, is identification with our mind equals separation. You see the minute we believe our mind, we believe ourselves to be a separate entity. And when we're coming from our mind as a separate entity, that separation equals suffering. Why? Well, let's take a look at this. Right?
When we're a separate individual, we need to do what? What is the main program of a separate individual? It’s to survive. To survive, it has to protect itself to make sure it's safe, to make sure it's okay. The number one program is always to protect itself to make sure that everything it does is okay. That it’s always safe. It's always on alert. It's always on a lookout for danger. So it makes sense that fear would run this survival animal, in Access Points, I like to call it the operating system. It’s like the operating system of the mind. Picture it like, you know, like a little Apple computer we put on your mind, and this operating system has some main functionalities. And its first primary objective is protect the body. And as we know in many spiritual circles though, the body-mind, the ego is what it's called. Right? This ego believes itself to be separate. It's self-serving and a lot of circles they think you want to get rid of it. We'll have that conversation another time, but it's not worth trying to get rid of your own mind. Because the only thing it wants to get rid of the mind is actually the mind.
So the root cause of all suffering is separation, is the belief that you are separate. When you are separate, you can be destroyed. And fear is a necessity. If we didn't have fear...imagine that you are in the ocean, there's a shark that starts eating you. You know when you're having your little spiritual..."We are all one. I'm one with everything. Oh hi, Mr. Shark." As he is eating your leg. "Oh you're eating my thigh. Hi, Mr. Shark." Right? The shark eats you alive. But everything is good and happy. There is no fear. So it's not about getting rid of fear. It's not that fear is wrong. It's a function of this operating system. But when we believe our emotions and our thoughts to be reality, to be true, to be who we are, that we believe ourselves to be a separate concept, a separate thing that stands alone. And the truth is, you know, right? We're all one. You see that thought in itself, although it's nice, isn't going to do it for you.
What I want for this show, for you, always is for you to look at deeper: What is the truth of who you are at the deepest level, what we call your True-Oneself. That's who you really are. When you dawn on that, when you awaken to that, when your intention shifts out of the trance of your mind and to that oneness.
It just never ends. The beauty of who you really are is revealed. A full embrace and acceptance comes alive inside of you. A self-love starts to emanate more from yourself. This doesn't mean you become a saint or a perfect person. It means the burden of suffering of life is lifted. You are emancipated from mental slavery. Bob Marley said this so often in his song as he sang it...what was he referring to? "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, and none but yourself can free your mind." What self is he saying can free your mind? Well, what I'm saying is that is your True-Oneself, and hopefully for many of you who are listening right now, you’ve already touched that. You felt it. You've experienced that which is your True-Oneself.
A moment of nature and a spiritual realization, in a book you read, an epiphany, in the birth of a child and the gaze of a loved one, in an awe inspiring sight. You felt the connectivity of love, of oneness, of something so much greater and bigger than “Me”. Me, me, me. So, the root of suffering is protecting Me. So, we all can comprehend and get that the body wants to be protected. The ego structure, the survival animal, the reptilian mind is programmed to protect itself. So, the number one thing the survival animal, the operating system, is to protect its physical body. But one of the biggest things, and this is really crucial, that to get this could change everything for you really if you take it in deeply. If you've already dawned on this and realized this, then let’s take it even further and deeper.
And that is the ego mind is just as much as trying to protect its body and physical safety to not be destroyed. It's also trying to protect its identity with the mind and being somebody and someone. A somebody and someone special. Different. Unique. And that's true in the DNA of who you are. So, I'm not putting down your uniqueness. I’m Talking about the structure of the functionality of the ego mind that wants to survive. It wants to protects its separate identity. It wants to protect that it's somebody. It can be an inflated somebody, I'm the best somebody. I'm such a good somebody. Or the deflated somebody. I'm the worst somebody. I'm the saddest, most depressed person in the world. As long as it substantiates that it is an individual, that it's separate. You see, that's the whole crux of the suffering. Kind of why Buddha said life is suffering because the crux of this thing is that the ego structure trying to survive is also trying to make sure that it's not going to have its identity be destroyed that it's truly somebody and it has to substantiate itself in its survival and prove that it's somebody. In maintaining itself as a separate individual, it also maintains suffering because if you are a separate individual, then you can be destroyed. So, the question we really want to ask ourselves is: do you just want to just survive, or do you want to thrive? To survive equals the fear and the worry and the doubt and anxiety of protecting itself. And to thrive means to live from your True-Oneself. That which is one with everything. That has the overflowing of love and peace and centered. Always here, always full. Fulfilled.
So, if we want to thrive and live from there, we have to see how do we stay stuck in our minds which keeps us separate. You see, what it comes down to, you'll hear me often say that what meditation really is shifting your attention out of your mind. And the moment we learn to shift our attention off of our mind to awareness itself, we discover the truth of infinite peace. We discover the core of who were are. From there, we can thrive. So if it's stuck in our mind, our attention, how does the mind keep us stuck as a separate self? How can we finally be free of that? And therefore, be free of suffering.
So what if you don't believe in the construct and the concept of who you are? The story of me. The story of you. Since you were born and we were told we have a name. And then we believe that name and the program begins. Right? Your parents tell you, what life is about what life would look like, who you should be, what you may be, what's right, what's wrong, what's good and what's bad. What are you going to be when you grow up? We go to school and we learn about winning and losing. Really getting it right and really getting it wrong.
And also, there's something to maybe be ashamed of or something we have to prove. And even more a layer, it gets put it on top of us. And religion, society tells us how things should look and what is good and what is right, what is wrong or how am I supposed to be who I am. Our concepts and ideas that build this idea of me. And then you know, you may rebel against all of that. "Forget all that. I believe this and I think this." But think about how many times in your life have you for sure believe something when you're younger, and then some years later, you totally disagree with what you believed then. So funny thing is that even if we rebel against it, we're actually substantiating it. What are we really saying? We're saying that, "This is me and I disagree." Everything is built in the ego structure to substantiate “Me” as the separate individual. And the hope for mankind, let alone for your own peace and your own self love to evolve, to awaken, is to transcend “Me”. Not by getting rid of the mind, but by starting to recognize the main patterns of the mind that keep your attention stuck in the mind. That keep you separate therefore in struggle and in suffering. So one of the key takeaways really here is to notice that the root of suffering is to start noticing, to start noticing how much the mind is trying to create that it's somebody, that it's something. And the more we starting seeing the parading of the mind like that, the more we start to kind of pull out of the mind. The more we become aware of that pattern, the more we become awareness itself. We start awakening.
The mind is trying so hard to maintain that it is real, because when we look in deeper, when we investigate deeply in, we find the non-existence of ourself. And this doesn’t have to be so esoteric. Let's just look at the idea of like "This table that i'm looking at here." Something you're looking at in front of you. We know that deeper in, if we go closer, there is bunch of atoms bouncing around. We know if we go in deeper, there is basically waves and particles. And there's actually more nothing there than there's a table there. But yet a table is here. So too as we have this kind of agreement that this is here, this table is here, we have an agreement that you're here. You have an agreement that you're here. And you will keep buying into that agreement. And that is what some people call the trance. The matrix idea. But yet, the table is here and it's not here. So too are you. But to be free of the mind means you move into a dance and this beautiful momentary period of your life. It is going to have a beginning. And it's going to have an ending.
And when we move closer to that awareness, we find that we are one with everything. And it's not because you believe it. It's not because you've experienced it before. And it's not because you've read it in some book or because I'm saying it. What I want for you more than anything is for you know without a doubt. So, that in any moment, fear could can arise, worry can arise but your ability to shift to your True-Oneself and experience that core of peace can be available to you right now in this moment.
So let's take a look at one of the main features of this operating system that keeps us identified with our mind. See, the survival mode, the mind in order to protect itself always is labeling things. It always has a label, a compartment, a dissection. It’s constantly labelling things, separating them, compartmentalizing them and putting them where they belong. All, mostly based on our past experiences which are usually imprinted by more negative things than positive things. And in all to protect ourselves and equate what's going on here. For example, they say “smell the roses”. But the truth in the matter is when you go smell a rose, what's really happening? Your mind remembers past flowers. If there's a rose back there it remembers that rose. And it already knows what it's going to look like. It already tells your mind what's going to feel like. And when you're going in for the smell, it's already telling you it's going to smell like a rose. Perhaps in the instant of the smell, there's a moment of (breathe deeply) experience. But beyond that, there's just the past telling you what this is. It’s already separating you even from the direct experience of the moment. When the mind is dissecting, when it's ripping things apart, labeling things...it's like whipping a knife around. It's constantly separating, it's actually kind of violent.
See the thing is, we're always filtering life through our thoughts and through our emotions. And that's equating the labeling of what reality in life is about. We’ve all had that experience when we look out of the beautiful sunset. The moment you look at the beautiful sunset, it's like awe inspiring, and we're connected and it's gorgeous. And we're just experiencing this beautiful vista. And then our mind says “it's beautiful”. And that thought, though there's nothing wrong with that thought and it is beautiful, it already takes us one step out of the experience of that awe inspiring moment. That moment where we infinitely connected. Endlessly at peace with everything. The mind says it's beautiful and we step away. And what the mind is constantly doing in its labeling and dissecting of things is constantly bringing us one step away from the real moments. This present moment that is now, we never get to experience this reality. Because we're always in our heads one step away from it. Either going into the future, into the past. But ultimately identified with the separate self, and that's the entire strategy of the ego is to protect that somebody.
So what we have to recognize that the mind is trying to get rid of thoughts. Often on this journey and meditation or awakening and in just the daily life of chatter, we want a quieter mind. And here we are looking to shift out of our mind, disengage from the thoughts. So, it's really important that we notice the constant labelling that's going on. We notice the labelling, the dissecting, compartmentalizing. We start noticing that it’s happening, not that it’s right or wrong because it’s happening. That’s just a function of the operating system, the survival animal. The more we see that happening, the more we're aware of it, the more we recognize that that's not who I am. So, Lao Tzu, when he wanted to die, the great Tao patriarch, the writer of Tao Tae Ching, he wanted to go off and die in peace. But the King of the land said, "No, you can't go. Because you have to give us this wisdom that you realized. We have to know what it is that you know." So he was forced to actually sit down to write the Tao Tae Ching. So in the first line of the Tao Tae Ching, he says something of the sorts of that "When I am going to use words to describe the nature of things, (nature of things being the reality of life, this oneness we are talking about) I am going to use words to describe the reality of life. And since words are part of nature, and I am going to use words to describe nature, and since words are part of nature, basically what I am about to say ‘isn't it’?" So he denounces the entire Tao in the first line. Because it's words he is using to describe that which can't be described. In the same way, your mind is always trying to capture and figure out and tell you what it knows, and what it is and substantiate itself as a separate entity. Which again, we said, equals your suffering. So what we want to start doing is taking a look at these concepts. Want to notice that it labels, want to notice that you're believing concepts about yourself. And you’ve got to get this because this is the craziest thing of all this journey you've been on...it’s that your mind will never get this. It's another insidious pattern of this operating system is “always trying to get it”. Right? The carrot. Dog chasing its tail. We share these ideas, but if we break it down, that's all this is. You see? The mind can never get the infinite. Because how can a finite grab the infinite? The truth is, you are already infinite and who you are embraces all things. Allows the planets to be in the sky, the sun arise everyday, your breath at this moment, now happening.
You'll never get this, but by noticing awareness, by noticing these patterns, we’ll step out of our own suffering. And we can have the shift. The shift is palpable, and is here for you deeper and deeper right now. So Awake Life, in this show, we are here to really take a look at, not what just what it is to come out of the trance of being a separate individual in the world of suffering, but what is it to evolve in our oneness to align ourselves with the greatest expression and talents of who we are as a surrendered self, as our True-Oneself, into the world. And then what is it to not only realize and have this realization? But what is it to live as a human being in this world, “awake”? So all you need to really do is simply start noticing. Your mind is labelling, your mind dissecting. It's trying to figure it out. The more you notice those things, the more you are going to pull away from it.
So, I want to do a little exercise with you. Because what it comes down to is we want to start noticing that we are always being. That all the concepts, all the labels, all the ideas of who you are, man, woman, mother, lover, all the ideas, what's right and wrong, good, bad, all the concepts, that aren't going to be “it”. They will not describe the nature of things. All these concepts aren't you. That who you really are is free of thought. Before the thought, you are. Right now, always, you are. You are beyond any concept. You are beyond all limitation. You are limitless. Only concepts are all limited. It can never describe the entire Tao because it is already limited. You are the Tao. You are the wholeness of everything. When you recognize that, you shift. See, you are not limited to a part that cannot describe the whole. You are not limited to a concept. You are way more than a concept. You're not your thoughts. You're not your feelings. You're not your body. They are here, they are you, and you are way more. You are that what is one with everything. And all we really need to notice is the simple sense that we are. We let our attention move out of the mind to the simple sense that we are. In Access Points have created these ways of shifting. And the more we begin to notice the patterns that keep us addicted to our mind, the more we can notice that the center is right here, right now.
So, I'll do an exercise with you. A simple exercise. I’d like you to just take a breath into your nose. (Inhales) Out of your mouth (exhales). Always good to let a good sigh out. So, I just want you to pay attention, really pay attention. Listen, you've already done many breathing exercises out there. I want to make a point with this, the experiential point. So play along, okay?
Breathe in through your nose and I want you to feel it, you know. The breath coming in to your nostrils. You feel it at the tip of your nostrils. Just pay attention as it hits your nostrils. And then breathe out. Feel as it's coming out of your nostrils. In through your nose. Out through your nose. (Inhales deeply, exhales deeply.) In, feeling it. (Inhales deeply) And then out. (Exhales deeply). And then now, pay attention, closely to your breath this time. (Inhales deeply, exhales deeply.) Breathing again, paying attention closely to your breath this time. (Inhales deeply, exhales deeply). Now what's before your breath? See now, we are going to do this again. When I say what's before your breath, it doesn't need a mental answer. Just focus on your breath, and then inhale your breath, when I say what's before your breath, just look right before, look what is before the breath. So, ready?
(Inhales deeply). Focusing your breath in, focusing your breath out. (Exhales deeply). Again, focusing your breath in, attention in your breath out. Now look, what is before your breath? See, for a moment there, you'll notice that you just are. That there's being. That there's nothing really in there. There's this spaciousness. My friend the other day, as I was doing this with him then he said, "Me, I mean my inside.” But he didn’t mean ‘inside his body’. He just meant that this inside that doesn't have an end or beginning. This “inside” that is him. Who you are is being. You see, let's take breath further. Have you ever had to do anything to breathe? Breathing is happening. You've never had to do a thing to BE either. The simple sense that you are, that's you. The simple sense that you are is unchanging. The simple sense you are is free really of labels and is free of suffering right now.
So, I have another exercise for you to do. You can do it today, tomorrow, when you're going to take a walk, just go take a walk. It could be a 2 minute walk to do this exercise. When you go take a walk, I want you to, you know, your mind might be wherever. It might be what you just did at work, what you're going to do later on. But then I want you to bring your mind to looking down to grass and see the blades of grass. And if your mind isn't right away already labelling them as it looks short, it's too long, it's green. Start helping your mind in labelling it. Look at the grass and just start labelling it. Start labelling what you're seeing. The sidewalk. That sidewalk, it's gray, okay? And then play along, right? Let your mind label. It doesn't take much to get it going because it does it anyway. Kind of start dissecting and analyzing what you are seeing. You see what I'm saying? And then do that, whatever you're seeing, and come along to a tree. And I want you to look at that tree. Just notice what your mind has to say about it. It's brown. It has green leaves. It has red leaves. It's a young tree. It's an old tree. Whatever your mind has to say about it. I want you to just stare at the tree for a moment and just notice what your mind has to say about it. And then notice, just like that breathing exercise we just did, that are you here. Are you, do you have to do anything in that moment to breathe when you're looking at the tree? Do you have to do anything in that moment to be? Now your mind will have labels about yourself and conversation about yourself. But about that tree, as it is labelling it, do all the labels about that tree stop it from being a tree? (Laughs) Of course not, right? You got to go out and do this though. All the labels about the tree doesn't stop from being a tree. And as your mind is labelling the tree, does it stop you from being? Start noticing more and more of the labelling and dissecting of the mind. What you're going to find is that freedom from all suffering is in not believing your thoughts any longer. Coming out of your thoughts is the path. And we do that by noticing these patterns, by recognizing that we are, by moving our attention to what is “now”. To being with what we are. Stop, smile, breathe, be.
The key here is don't believe in your mind. You're moving into the way of no longer believing your mind and its comments, and you and your circumstances and your relationship to this moment being based on the reality of concepts and words. Lao Tzu didn't think it was good enough to describe the entire Tao. Surely no concept or idea about yourself or inner words about yourself or concepts of anything else are good enough to describe you.
Suffering can end for you. Struggle of life can end for you. When you don't buy into it. When you don't hook into it. When you don't hook into the conversation in general. When you don't hook into the labelling. When you don't hook into the trying to solve a problem and get a solution. When we shift our attention and notice what is already being, we're free from suffering. We're free from believing we are separate. The truth is you're not separate. (Sigh deeply.)
The truth is you're not separate. You are that which is already whole. You are that which is complete. Infinite. Now. And you don’t have to do a thing to be that. You are that.
So go out there and start noticing the labelling, the dissecting and how your mind is doing all of this. It's really going to be helpful, I can promise you, just to notice that it's going on. You just start more and more pulling out of it. Instead of pulling out of reality, you're pulling out of your mind. Start stepping more into the moment, into reality. That will happen naturally as you start to begin this process of noticing this major pattern of trying to be somebody and something, the conversations about you and who you are, what you are, you in relation to the world, your relationship to circumstances and the dissecting and labelling. Notice that and check out that exercise I offered to you. And I think you're going to find a treasure in that, and come back closer and closer home to your True-OneSelf. Deeper. Awakening to who you really are. As we awaken to who we are, we join others who are dawning on the truth. And as we come together as a world of awakening, this movement of awakening, we become the people that are the leaders, that are the people on the edge of life that are willing to be the greatest contribution of who you are and your greatest talents, offer them into the world from your True-Oneself.
So until next time, here's to living an awake life, from your True-Oneself, and into the greatest expression of you.
