Mindflow Radio #120: Adaptability, what does it take to consciously evolve?

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Welcome to Mindflow Radio.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Mindflow Radio.

SPEAKER_05 0:04

She's Jalen.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

He's Monty.

SPEAKER_05 0:07

So buckle your seatbelts and get ready to take a trip towards reality.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Can you carry my luggage?

SPEAKER_05 0:16

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

No problem. Well, we have made it to June 2026. It's been fascinatingly fast for me. Just so fast, but you know. I guess that's what happens as you get older, everything just speeds up.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

Seems that way. It's interesting. It's like the n natural way of things.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah. I always thought it would go the other way, but I thought I would slow down. Oh. Maybe maybe when I'm 90.

SPEAKER_05 1:02

Yeah, perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, so we were thinking about subjects and themes, and pretty much settled in on adaptability. What is adaptability? I have to say, I think what's so interesting about this is as humans, I think we are the most adaptable species on the planet. For sure. Absolutely. Maybe and cats, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

Yeah, one of one of my old buddies, uh Brian Stoller, used to say that humans are just adapting machines. Yeah. That's what we are. Yeah. You know, we can deal with anything, sort of. Relative, I mean, to a point, but we can live in the north pole, we can live on the the equator. We can live in the poles. Or you know, there are Eskimos.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah, but they're not in the North Pole.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

Right. Well, we can live in like extreme cold and extreme hot. Yeah. I mean, we can't we tend have the tendency to be able to figure things out and to adapt. And to keep today, keep adapting and keep adapting and keep adapting. And it's just so crucial to our overall evolution. Yeah. Yeah. And what what what are the components of adaptability? I think one of the important uh variables and being able to adapt is just having a level of acceptance in our mindset.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:41

You know, because if we if we accept what's in front of us, that gives us clarity and balance from which we can act in in ways of how to adapt.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

But if we don't, if we don't accept what's in front of us, then we're stuck wrestling with what's in front of us.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

Yeah, from from a like a freaked out perspective. Yeah. And then we're less effective because we're scared and we're angry and that fear and anger both have the tendency to give us tunnel vision. So they they limit our scope of perception. Those those emotions, they they disable our minds from seeing all the variables. Yeah. Which is really interesting. You know, it's like, do we want to disable our minds? Um no. Not me, I mean, personally. I mean, I do sometimes. Right. Certainly. We all we all do. We all get scared.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

We all get we all have our triggers. Yeah. I don't think there's anyone without triggers.

SPEAKER_05 3:52

Right. It just depends how much time we spend in Triggerville.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, and how willing we are to accept that we're triggered, accept the situation, uh get the bird's eye view.

SPEAKER_05 4:07

Yeah, right. And if we if we develop the the art of acceptance, then we have the tendency to get less triggered. And we'll we're stronger in our we're more resilient and uh effective.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

And when you're adapting to changes in your environment and culture and resilience is pretty dang important.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

It is, it is. And when I when I think of like lacking, lacking acceptance in my mind, I always see the toddler. You know, just like throwing a fit because they want something.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

I don't accept this, I don't accept this, I don't accept.

SPEAKER_05 4:54

And they just keep throwing a fit, throwing a fit, throwing a fit, and maybe they eventually get the toy or whatever. So in some ways, they're can we're conditioned to not be accepting.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Well, we're very much conditioned to not be accepting. I mean, look at our news.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

Well, yeah, our news tells us to not accept the other people.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, and be freaked out, be angry. Or to accept them on conditions. I I think that's very funny. Just to demonize each other. Right. You know, that's in the guise of inclusivity, there's some demonizing of people who are considered you know, it's just this the it's all this conditioning that's both sides demonize. Right, right, right. Demonize each other. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

Those people, I mean it's very it's really interesting when you when you look at what's happening now in that the the demonization of the other side has gotten to the point, I believe, of kind of what the the way the Nazis would demonize like the Russians, and they would see them as subhumans. You know, and because they're subhumans, you know, we we we can do what we want to them, and it doesn't really matter. Yeah, and it's like a good thing to do, you know, to be violent or whatever. And but I I see that in both sides, it's like this dehumanization of of the opponent, you know, the the red-blue battle. Both sides are demonizing each other, yeah, considering each other like subhumans, and then acting accordingly, which is um can be well obviously leads to to violence and not a whole lot of progress. Yeah, mental wellness issues. Oh, mental wellness issues, you know it. As a therapist, I that's I see it all the time now. Yeah, you know, people struggling, and I mean, and we can get we can get out of that through discernment rather than judgment through but discernment isn't possible if we're freaking out, but because discernment means seeing all the all the variables, all the variables that are seeable, and also seeing the new variables as they present themselves and altering our perception of things as new very variables come in. And so there's there's a fluidity in discernment. There's it's like a scientific um exploration of what's what's happening, and but to be able to actually see the variables, we need to get out, uh we need acceptance because otherwise we don't even see all the variables, and then we have this limited set of variables that we're basing everything on, our thoughts on, our emotions on, and then tunnel vision, yeah, and then we we engage in anger and fear and well, and you know, and let's let's look at anger a little bit. Anger typically anger can um I mean we we say things we don't mean sometimes, we do things we don't really mean, you know. When we get taken over, anger's like a fire in our minds, and that fire can spread to other people. And when we're engaging with that fire, and I'm not saying anger is always bad because I I think it is appropriate occasionally, you know, to like defend yourself or whatever that is, but if we engage in it too much, then that fire is just like burning in our minds and spreading. And a lot of people, there's no doubt that a lot of people ruin their lives through anger and the subsequent thoughts and behaviors that naturally follow that.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah. What comes up for me is the Chinese medicine side of it, and I only know of what I know. I'm not a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. I simply know it through the medical qigong I've been training in for a while now. Future Qigong in Mesta. And the background of that is classical Chinese medicine, which is slightly different than traditional Chinese medicine. And I don't really know all the differences. That to say that anger is mainly uh from the wood element. So if you think about burning, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The wood element uh in in the liver and combining it with excess desire of the heart, which is the fire element. So if the excess desire of I want it to be the way I want it, and then the lack of acceptance, yeah, that actually starts the fire, and then the wood feeds the fire. Right. And then it can get out of control. It becomes like a forest fire, you know, versus um anger, in my opinion, is meant to say, okay, something here is up, and we have that initial anger, and and that can be used to broaden our awareness. It can be used to say, okay, was I just harmed? You know, you know, the observation, the scientific uh way of looking at it can come in so that you can decide what assertive action do I need to take to either get myself safe, uh say what I need to say so that my point and my perspective is understood. How do I do that in a way that the other person can hear? And if you're just yelling and screaming or blaming or shaming, you're we're not gonna get very far because you can't hear me because I'm blaming you for whatever, and and I feel justified. Yeah. Self-righteous anger. I think all anger probably is self-righteous anger. But um that idea of how to rebalance the elements and how to be in acceptance of the situation, notice, okay, this is what's happening. I feel anger rising in me. What are what are the real factors? What is the past traumas that might be present now? What what could be informing my decision making? Right. How can I, you know, and that's that discernment, right? To be able to admit, oh, this reminds me of that one time. And but you know, it's not that one time, right? It's now. We're now, and the fact that I just said this reminds me of that one time should help me remember that I'm bringing my old trauma into this scenario. Right. And so, you know, adapting has to do with being able to see how we ourselves are bringing along our paths with us, and and then how we are, you know, lighting the wood with our I want it this way, and I'm not getting it the way I want it, therefore I'm gonna have a forest fire. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And being able to witness that, being able to say, okay, well, what will help me put these elements back in balance?

SPEAKER_05 13:13

Yeah, right. I mean, one way of looking at it too is like the media is like throwing gasoline on uh on our individual forest fires, right? And spreading it, and so just as far as getting back in balance, maybe being more um you know, going on a media fast. Right now, I'm on a media fast. Today is day three of my media fast, and I'm glad I'm on it. And it's it's been a struggle, of course. You know, it's like I always want to, oh, what about this? What about that? I want to check it, you know. But for me, it's like no social media. I mean I'm completely staying off of YouTube and just everything, all the media, zero. Um, you know. Um, I'm just fasting and seeing how long I can do it for. And ideally, I want to stay with it for two weeks this time. We'll see. And I mean, it's just important to realize when when we talk about this um adaptability and self-righteous anger. And I don't think all anger is self-righteous anger. I think there are moments of anger when I'm gonna defend myself, and that's not self-righteous. I'm not like, I have the right to defend. No, I'm just gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

Self-righteous anger is I have the right to be angry. I want to be, I have to be angry. If I'm not angry, I'm not paying attention. That's all it's like defending the anger is self-righteous anger. So, yeah, it it is. Well, and it's it's just a type of anger. Oh, I feel um dissed, so I'm angry, or I don't I don't know. It's it's more of a it's it's a philosophy. Self-righteous anger is a philosophy that keeps us stuck in anger. Well, if somebody tries to do something to me and I react and then that's it's done. You know, I react out of anger, maybe and effectively like push somebody out of the way because somebody's coming at me or something like that. Okay. Then it's done, and then I can let the anger go. And stuff, self-righteous anger is like clinging to it intellectually.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

And you know, well, how do how can we not cling to anger intellectually? I believe is, you know, well, media fasting is a good idea, but also just engaging with uh ideas of forgiveness. You know, the idea that we're all divine beings having a temporary human experience and we're all messed up. I mean, collectively, we we're all kind of confused, and we all have our issues, and we're just cutting other people's slack. And another aspect of anger too is that if I'm in the habit of being angry at all these other people, all these other guess what? When I make a mistake, that anger turns inward. Because my mind is in the habit of anger and judgment, so I'm gonna be angry and judgmental towards myself, then my self-esteem's gonna get low low, gonna low, lower down, or I'll have lower self-esteem. And when when we start engaging with lower self-esteem, we're just that's disabling as well. We're engaging in a bunch of negative self-talk and so I mean, and just throughout history, throughout history, the masses have been manipulated into being angry at each other while the super uber elites benefit from it. I mean, you you can even let's just rewind into you know, let's let's look at World War I where you know one person, one prince got assassinated, and then countries start taking time, stake start, you know, taking sides, you know, who they back, and then the medias promote this idea of the upcoming war, and like the the masses are basically celebrating the war that's going to be coming, and they're like signing up and happy, and or a lot of the masses because the media's promoting it, and the Uber elites, of course, are running the the media, and then boom, the war explodes, and it's just hell, it's hell on everybody, and it's the fire just is rages, you know, over the over over Europe, millions of people die, you know, and then the war's over, and then the anger just rekindles for World War II. And again, the media plays the role, and the German media is telling people all the Russians are you know, whatever, subhumans, and this group is subhuman, and that group is subhuman, and we need to do and you know, and enough people believed in that, enough people believed in it that it just spread as well, and it's like we need we really do need to evolve past that, and we will evolve past that eventually, and I I hope now's the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

I and this kind of goes back to adaptability and evolution, and the idea that it is a conscious choice, I know is hard for some people to understand or even allow themselves to contemplate. Um, I've been in debates with people who say the only evolution there is is through viruses and bacteria making our cells evolve, and it doesn't actually work until generations have gone by. But I feel that it's fairly evident that a person can evolve, and you see it when um, say somebody is in prison and all of a sudden they decide to look at a Bible, and then voila, they're a new person because they've uh found this connection with this book and this religion, and they have a new way of looking at life. Yeah, they're just a completely new person.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

Yeah, it's like their mindset has completely shifted.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:33

And that that is an evolution.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Right, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. So there's there is a conscious evolution that can happen from one individual. And if you add that by millions, because I really do feel that there are a lot of people that are in this zone of becoming adaptable, looking at their conditioning and saying, What why am why do I even believe this? You know, and and that questioning of belief. I don't know where that lands in the things that we've said, if that's discernment or or what it is, but to to really just question why do I believe this? When did I first believe this? Does this belief still fit me? Have I changed? Has the situation changed? Yeah, you know, it becomes this uh new opportunity to shift into what beliefs do I want?

SPEAKER_05 20:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And are those beliefs attainable? You know, that's where I'm at, where I've been working on healing CPTSD for years. I'd say I'm closer than I've ever been, I'm healthier than I've ever been. And, you know, people who know me have seen me go through this evolution. And ever since I was 17, I said, something's wrong with me. I need to find out what it is, I need to, and I started learning herbs and shamanic practices and yoga. And it just the list goes on and on, yeah, and eventually really landed with this medical qigong. But all of the past is with me, all of the things I've learned. And those uh those different modalities have informed me that I have a choice, even though it was really hard at first to even find where the space of choice is. So there's this evolution that I have experienced and can attest to of being in in a zone that doctors say you can't get out of, and training my way out of that zone.

SPEAKER_05 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Consciously and Purpose.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

The way to go. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

And I'm not all the way there, but I'd say I'm 80% there. Okay. There you go. And I'm healthier than I've ever been in my life. Yeah. And that is a testament to evolution.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Well, to your evolving your mindset.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah. And my body. Well, really. Well, by by evolving my mindset, by evolving how I've trained my body.

SPEAKER_05 22:23

Well, you're training your mind and your body. Right. Right. And you're trying to take care of your body and your mind.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

And you know, that's And it's been really an interesting journey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

Oh, yeah. Well, that's great. Yeah, that's And we all can do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Yeah. The interesting thing is my I had an extreme case.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

And I could have used that as an excuse to not do it, right?

SPEAKER_05 22:49

Oh yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

But because I had such an extreme case, and because of my my personal uh ambition, I decided I am going to do this. I don't care what I've got to do. I don't care how I've got to train myself. I don't care, you know, and so I just became really dedicated to healing. So there's two other ways to look at this. There's there's the way where people say, oh, I'm an extreme case and I can't, no, I'm I'm Fed, just um doctor says it's never gonna go away. And that's that. Yeah, that's that. And then there's people who don't have CPTSD, but they do have trauma, little T trauma, you know, that adds up and has affected the conditioning of their mind. And it's harder to look at because it's less extreme. And so this can be uh more difficult to evolve because it's hard to pinpoint exactly what's going on.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

Right. Well, that's why it's I think it's important to just realize for all of us, all of us to really be able to observe how our minds are functioning. And to, I mean, what one aspect that really holds people back in this world is we overthink. You know, I mean, we all suffer from that to a certain degree, or most of us suffer from that to a certain degree. And what is the overthinking mind? Well, what does that mean? It means our mind is chattering away. Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, you know, all day, chatter, chatter, chatter compuls. Well, Eckhart Halle calls that compulsive, compulsively thinking. And if if we engage in that, we're weakening our minds because our minds are not designed to be computers that just run data.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Yeah, and you know, and even if a computer runs data like that, it needs some fans, it needs cooling.

SPEAKER_05 25:00

Yeah, and we and our minds, what our minds need is stillness, moments of stillness. And if we don't achieve those moments of stillness, our minds are going to be agitated because we're overthinking. And then if we're in an agitated place, we're just much easier to manipulate.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:19

I mean, again, it's that manipulation piece where in some way we've been trained to fight against each other and to fight against ourselves, you know, feel insecure. I need this kind of car, I need to look this way, my I, you know, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we've just been raised to be um not peaceful, yeah. Right? And now we have to adapt back to the adapting. We have to adapt our own minds and find more peace in our minds, that'll give us more clarity. And with that clarity, we're able to s to to just have more resilience and we're able to have more sovereignty. I guess if if my mind is just let's say the media's mantras, if they're just running through my mind, like during most of my waking hours, I don't have sovereignty. Right, I don't have freedom because I'm my mind is just like repeating what what I've seen and heard, and then I I just keep compulsively, obsessively staring at the screens and just taking in that information over and over and over and over. It's like in an intense kind of brainwashing, really. Yeah. That personally I've noticed in in this call. I I first noticed it like in the 90s. I was like, I remember the the realization, oh whoa, we're all brainwashed, you know, walking down the street in Milwaukee, these big buildings. I was like, whoa, everybody's brainwashed. It was really, it was really, you know, a profound kind of realization for me. And it helped me to um want to train to to find more clarity in my mind. And I mean, but back in those days it was just the TV primarily, TV, radio, newspapers, you know, magazines, right? Now it's like a different ball game. It's they've they've kind of ramped in. Constant inundation.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yeah. But I do want to pause here for a song, and um then we're gonna share some skills. And I I feel like the sovereignty piece is is huge as well. Um, but uh in in our limited amount of time, we'll see what we can share with you. And enjoy this song, and we'll be back sharing the tips in a moment.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

You who are the source of all illumination, please illuminate also my heart so that I too can do your work d'images.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

We we have music to jog the mind a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 32:25

Free the mind.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, stun the mind. Whoa, wait, what was that? So I feel that it's pretty important to give some skills to work through the cognitive dissonance that can happen when we begin to realize that we actually can evolve, especially if there's been a deep belief that it's not a conscious choice. And the idea that it is a conscious choice and we can each individually evolve can create a little cognitive dissonance. So I want to address that. Um and the first perspective that comes to mind for me is uh this is from reality transurfing in Vadim Zeeland, and uh is a great modality, a huge book, a huge read if you want to dive into it. And I definitely suggest anyone who wants to evolve themselves, check that book out. And there's a personal mantra in there for anyone who does tend to be angry or wish that things were different than they are, and it's I get to be me, and you get to be you, or they get to be them. So it's this idea that everybody gets to be who they are, and that leads to accepting people. And I I feel like for me, this mantra has helped me a lot to just back up when I start getting annoyed with someone, or I feel uh like my initial fears come up on is this person going to attack me, hurt me? Am I safe because you know of my history? And I have to go, wait, they get to be them. I don't have to stay here. You know, so if somebody I'm feeling very unsafe, but they're not actually doing anything, I'm just feeling unsafe, which probably means my conditioning and my trauma is here now, then maybe I just need to remove myself and let them be them.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

Well, it it that's tricky too. I mean, if somebody if somebody's behavior is really out of control and they're going around hurting people and killing people and this and this, well, sure, but that's like, oh, let them be them. And it's like, no, they they that's well, thank you for pointing that out.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

But this is meant to be for I'm annoyed with that person. Okay, you know, it's not meant to be like accept a mass murderer, yeah. Right. In you know, no, it's meant to be like I'm annoyed with that person, they are tripping all my triggers. Yeah, I they need to change. And so when that thought comes up, they need to change, they need to be different, yeah, than the idea of using this mantra. I get to be me and they get to be them.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Yeah. So yeah, it's not meant to be for we we all have our our sovereignty, you know. I mean, and we're into to like try and take that away from somebody else, unless they're like a danger to, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Right. But what is sovereignty?

SPEAKER_05 36:00

It's it's kind of freedom, it's having the freedom to to think and be who we who we want to be, okay, and think. And it's like it's when we get into that place of no, you can't think that. You can't think that you're just you're we're trying to take their sovereignty away. And from my perspective, it's like, well, we all do ultimately have sovereignty. A lot of us give our sovereignty away by just connecting too much with um the media, I think, primarily, and just staying in that bubble then, and then our interactions revolve around what the media is talking about, you know, and then we're stuck in that bubble. And I I think at that point we're kind of giving our sovereignty away, but we all have um the freedom, I believe, to choose whether we want to keep engaging in this or not. I mean, there there are moments when everybody has has a moment of, hmm, should I like not pay attention to this right now? Or you know, so there we all we all have these moments, and it's our freedom enables us to to either to decide, you know, to give away our sovereignty or to you know develop more sovereignty. And it's like as far as I can see it, I have to accept that people have the choice to be more free or less free, or whatever it is, but and and also realize that we all create our own karma, like the energy I'm putting out into the world gets reflected back at me. I mean, I can just speak for myself here. I'm creating my own. To me, there's this perfection that I notice, you know, and and I I'm it's not like I can fully understand all that, but this is like an intuitive thing. And I do believe that the energy I put out into the world gets reflected back in me, and I do believe that's true for other people as well. So we all have the freedom to decide what kind of energy we're going to be projecting into the world, you know, and that starts in our minds because it I mean, there's the such thing as a collective consciousness and different frequencies that we hook into, which is a whole other subject. Right. But for me, it's like if I can hook into a higher frequency and stay there for a while, then I'm projecting that energy into the collective, and that energy will come back or is coming back to me at the moment. And I mean, we're all flawed beings.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

And we're we're amazing, we're all amazing beings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

I feel like there's this huge paradox that needs to be just embraced of being here on earth. That this earth is the land of paradox, and we need to be able to hold it all. You know, we need to be able to hold that that person is annoying, and they have the freedom to be who they are. Yeah, right. And I am allowing myself to be annoyed, and it's unnecessary because I could be peaceful right now.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

And why is there war, especially when war is supposedly to create peace. And you know, there's just like all this paradox that's always going on, right? And we can get lost in the judgment of that. And yet, yeah, like with the karma piece, there's the paradox of what I'm experiencing right now could be the karma of something else that I chose to do maybe mindlessly, maybe on purpose, and now I'm paying the price for it, yeah, even though they're not tied together and it's not easy to understand. Right. And yet, who am I to judge the ultimate creator energy force that actually creates the karma that I'm gonna experience? Like, how can I judge that?

SPEAKER_05 40:27

Yeah, right. It's just kind of uh and karma too is is not as simple as we try and make it out to be. Uh uh Edgar Casey talks about, you know, there's there's collective karma from different cultures, and we have to all have to deal with that too. And so yeah, right. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on. Yeah, but the most we can do, I believe, is understand that we actually are individually powerful and to hone our minds and hone our behaviour, hone our behaviors, right, and get more in harmony with with the universe.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:10

You know, and just accepting and adapting to what what's in front of us.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:17

What's in front of me right now? Do I accept? Okay, I accept this. Now I'm able to move and groove accordingly.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Right. And I feel a huge part of what you're saying is becoming present. Because if we're not present, then that compulsive thinking begins running the show.

SPEAKER_05 41:37

Oh, it does.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

It drains our energy, it drains our life force, then we're exhausted, then we're pissed because we're exhausted, because we're thinking about that thing too much, yeah, and then we blame it on the thing. Yes. And when you look at nature, does it overthink? Probably not. No. And if we want to get better at managing our energy and having energy at the end of the day, then we have to be present. We have to say, this doesn't matter for me in this moment. You know, trying to figure out the karma of the world or or why did this. I get stuck in this all the time. I'm always trying to find the meaning and purpose of everything. And then I have to just stop and say, okay, I've been searching for the meaning of this for hours, and I need to just stop and be present.

SPEAKER_05 42:42

Yeah, and the presence is the meaning too. That's it's interesting. Yeah, that stillness, that mind state of awareness, that there's meaning in that.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because we are beings of this planet, and pretty much most of the beings on this planet spend most of their time being present, besides humans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:07

You know, especially humans in this culture, it feels like to me. But it's it should be noted. I want to I want to say that I it seems as if this life on this planet as a human, it's kind of like a testing planet. Yeah. It's a test. It's and all of us have challenges, and all of us make mistakes, and all of us struggle. And so just for for us to realize that, it's like, oh, I'm just part of this like giant test in a way. My life is a test.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Right.

SPEAKER_05 43:42

It's like it just is.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Yeah. So don't need to get mad about that. Because I've done that. I've been like, I'm so pissed that I'm a part of this test. Why, how did I even end up in this situation? Did I vote on this? Did I choose this? You know, and then it's Like it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_05 44:01

No, it doesn't. Because it just is let's just accept what it is. Here we are. Now let's make the best of it. Right. Let's evolve now.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:10

And then then we're passing the test.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:13

Oh, I I have more more kindness today than I did 10 years ago or whatever. Oh, I'm it's improving. You know, I'm I'm developing kindness. I'm developing forgiveness. I'm developing understanding, compassion, benevolence. Think of the idea of benevolence for all, what that actually means. You know, oh, I wish all humans to have less suffering. I wish all humans to to make progress. I wish for all humans to make progress. I wish for all humans to evolve. I wish for all humans to identify the divine within themselves and each other. And I mean, that's like a benevolent perspective that it's it's an interesting perspective to just try on.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

Try it on like a hat, see how it feels.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

I feel like it's a uh there's a fine line there because that goes into the excess desire and the fire element again. And if we get really focused on wishing things were how they're not, we can get out of balance and train our innovative.

SPEAKER_05 45:29

That's more just like hoping that people evolve.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

That's the same thing. Wishing and hoping that people evolve can go into an unhealthy zone.

SPEAKER_05 45:41

So there's well, if you're thinking too much, it's always unhealthy, but yeah, I think it's healthier to wish that people evolve rather than wishing harm on people.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

Yeah, totally. Those are the options. If there's a great.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

Or you can be in the middle, you can be just neutral and not care. But yeah, there it's definitely a continuum, you know, where I I I wish death and destruction on all these people, or I I hope they heal, you know. Those are kind of I hope they heal and make better decisions.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Yeah. You know, well, yeah, just leaving it there and making a prayer, sure. But if then you're judging them on how they're not healing yet and they haven't changed yet, and you know, then they'll be discerning though.

SPEAKER_05 46:24

That's not it doesn't have to be judgmental. It's just discerning, it's like, okay, well, they're not ready. This is a test. Yeah. Most likely they'll have another life, and most likely we'll have other lifetimes if if that's how it works, you know. We don't know.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Feels like it that's how it works. But I do want to get to a skill before our time is through, and besides the perspective, which is a skill, but an actual skill that Monty and I have been working on a lot lately, um, that we've actually been working on for at least a decade, but I go in and out of it, and right now I'm in it very deeply. And that is so hum. And so hum means I am that, and it's acknowledging the divine within yourself.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

That connects with the divine within everyone, that connects with the divine in all creation. So so hum is a very potent and ancient mantra. And the simple directions are as you inhale in your mind, you say so, and as you exhale in your mind, you say hum. So it's a very internal practice that nobody has to know you're doing.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Oh, yeah. Top secret.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

Yeah, and it's great. I I do it while I'm driving, I do it uh while I'm resting after I get home from work. I'll I just sit there and do some so hum.

SPEAKER_05 47:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I I do it when I'm walking a lot, just even just walking or you know, down the hallway or whatever. It's breathing in so exhaling hum, you know, postural awareness. You can work that in too. And yeah, it's great because it it is a reminder of who we really are. If you can, you know, just keep it uh it helps keep things into perspective. Once I realize personally, once I realize that I'm just like you know, a spiritual being having a temporary human experience, everything lightens up. It's like, oh, I'm just like a vapor, just here very temporarily. I'll do my best. Yeah. You know, I'm gonna make mistakes, but if I can keep progressing, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

You know.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Yeah. Yeah. And uh it is possible that when you find yourself getting irritated, you sow home.

SPEAKER_05 48:56

Yes. Or just use it before you get irritated. Oh, yeah, right. Preventative medicine is a big deal. We we just don't need to be reactive with our our our mental health. It's like, no, let's just get into that place of peace immediately and just try and hold it as long as possible. And then when we're not there, just come back to it.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

And I like to work with it as I'm falling asleep. Uh I like to uh the other piece of so hum that is true or can be true in the practice is imagining the words wherever you need them. So say your back hurts and it's it's annoying how much it hurts. So you lean back support supported nicely in a recliner and breathe into the pain and bring the soul into the pain and bring the hum. Imagining the hum is releasing the pain like a vapor off your back. And I like to work with that one or uh working with it with any of the energy centers in the body or a place of pain, a place of uh illness.

SPEAKER_05 50:13

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Yeah, and it's really a great way to acknowledge it and also kind of wish it well in a detached way.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

And it really does work too. I've definitely I like I shared before, I'm really into the classical Chinese medicine, and so I coach people to actually bring it into the place of imbalance. So say you're really fearful and you deal with um fearing for your safety a lot, and your kidneys probably hurt, and that's like the middle of the back. And so you bring in so hum to the kidneys, and imagining that the inhale of the so brings space around the kidneys, and the exhale of the hum is letting go of the uh uh holding of the fear. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 51:15

Yeah, another way of of viewing like mantra work, like so home, is that when we're engaging with so home, we're actually uh taking charge of our internal dialogue. Which is you know, so important. Yeah, it is important. Otherwise, it just the old habits just keep running and running and running, rumination. But if we can interrupt that and just get into so home, then we're in charge of our of our mind state, at least for that moment. And what I've noticed so home is being very helpful for me when my mind is too busy and I'm lying in bed at night. And if I, you know, I try and practice during the day, certainly, but at night I've I I want to say, you know, me perhaps, perhaps, hundreds of times I've had, you know, I've when I'm having difficulty falling asleep, or I'll wake up in the middle of the night and my mind will be if I go into so hum, I can just a lot of the time just immediately fall back asleep. It's really interesting because I'll be ruminating or I'll feel the rumination coming on. This is the best time to do it for me, is I feel it coming on, I feel my mind ramping up at 3 a.m. But with all my worries, and I'll just say no, and just go into so hum and I just sink back into sleep. Nice. Other times I just let my mind go for a while, and then I go into so home and then fall back asleep. So it it's it's really been amazing. It's very empowering once you realize that you do have some say over your mind state. And this this is a great practice to simple.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Monty reminded me of it recently about two weeks ago, and uh he s asked if I would be up for the challenge of doing so home as much during the day as possible. So home challenge. Yep. So we're gonna share that with y'all. We're doing a so home challenge, and that is just to simply work with so hum throughout the day as much as you can and really take note. How does it feel? What changes for me? How does it improve my life?

SPEAKER_05 53:32

Yeah, just keep coming back to it. That's the it's easy to forget about, but once you develop it as a habit, then your mind starts feeling agitated. You can just kind of naturally go back to the soul home. But ideally, ideally using it as a preventative as preventative medicine for the mind. Just going into so home throughout the day. Keep coming back, keep coming back, and just yeah, take note how it affects your state of consciousness and your energy and your ability to to function in the world.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Yeah, so that's that's our challenge for you. So if you want to, and we'll touch back on it next month and have a beautiful and blessed June. One of my favorite months of the year. And see how peaceful and present and accepting you can be. Hold your heart. Let your heart know that you are there. You're wiser, stronger, more mature, resilient. Feel your breath. Feel your heart. Breathe deeply. Patting yourself on the back, breathing deeply, feeling the gratitude of being here in this present moment, not in the past. Moving forward on your path. Many blessings.