Post Type ArchivesEpisode

#87 Changing Beliefs

on March 13, 2024 March 13, 2024 38 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#87 Changing Beliefs

00:00 / 1:27:08

Changing Beliefs Using the Self Mastery Course from PathwayToHappiness.com

Changing emotional reactions and narrative stories is most effectively done by dismantling the core beliefs at their root. Identifying and changing those core beliefs requires that you learn some skills. This includes the ability to focus your attention, shift your point of view, stay present with your emotions, and identify false assumptions in your own thinking. The Self Mastery Course from PathwayToHappiness.com guides you through practices to develop those skills and combine them so you can effectively inventory your beliefs and dissolve the energy behind them.

In this episode, I discuss with Daniel Moor the backstory of the creation of the course through the work with my clients and give some examples of how core beliefs are different than the thoughts, emotions, and voices in your head.

Most people fail to change their thoughts, emotional responses, or behaviors at a surface level and that is why they fail. It is by addressing the core beliefs at the source that they can be successful in their personal changes.

You can get the Self Mastery Course by following the link.

#86 Beliefs and Attention

on December 17, 2023 December 17, 2023 86 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#86 Beliefs and Attention

00:00 / 35:07

Do your beliefs control your attention?

Or does your attention control your beliefs?

Most people are in a situation of having their beliefs control their attention. This causes you to have reactions and often follow what the reactive thought process would have you do. This leads to expending a lot of your power, chasing dead ends without getting relief.

This is because the belief at the core of the problem is also generating false solutions. Those solutions might include making others happy, making more money, buying things, trying to be perfect, impressing others, or doing what they believe we “should” be doing.

This leads to feeling exhausted, frustrated, powerless, angry, and depressed.

When you use your attention to control your beliefs, you can identify the assumptions you live by and consciously choose another thought, interpretation, belief, or behavior about what is happening.

There is a lot of great advice about not letting others bother you or “don’t take anything personally.” What needs to happen to follow this advice is that you need control over your attention first.

You can use the practices in the Self Mastery Course to gain the skills over your attention, and gain power over your beliefs. The first four sessions are free to try here.

When you realize this, you should set a goal of gaining control over your attention so that you can control your beliefs. It is the long-term plan that will free you from suffering.

Peace be with you,

Gary van Warmerdam

#85 Beliefs are the Key to Change

on November 30, 2023 November 30, 2023 54 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#85 Beliefs are the Key to Change

00:00 / 1:05:07

Explore the intricacies beliefs in personal development. In this insightful conversation with Daniel Moor we dissect the pivotal role of beliefs in resolving personal suffering and achieving genuine happiness. ??

Gain some keen insights into the transformative power of belief systems and how they mold our decisions and perceptions. Discover whether your beliefs are steering you toward fulfillment or unintentionally contributing to personal struggles. ??

Then, we expand our discussion to cover how beliefs are the foundational code on which we build economic, political, currency, business, and nationalism. In order to truly understand any one of these topics of how the world works you will first have to understand how belief systems work.

Unraveling the web of beliefs that can either propel or hinder personal growth. This episode is your guide to understanding and leveraging beliefs for a more fulfilling life. ??

This episode might just reshape the way you approach your own beliefs, paving the way for a brighter and more purposeful journey. ???

If you want to move beyond gaining knowledge, and move into the realm of personal change, I suggest you practice the two courses mentioned in this podcast.

They are”

Self Mastery Course

Recapitulation

#PersonalDevelopment #Beliefs #HappinessJourney #PodcastInsights

84 Divided Will and Consciousness

on September 20, 2023 November 30, 2023 89 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

84 Divided Will and Consciousness

00:00 / 1:21:38

Our consciousness does not exist as finite and bounded. Consciousness can be spread across an area or occupy different perspectives. We can adjust this with the use of our attention. Our consciousness can also view things in our mind and memory. When you combine these aspects, you realize that our consciousness can be divided into different areas of the mind that all feel like “parts” of us.

The same can happen with our willpower. Our will can be divided into our agreements and beliefs, particularly about the identity that resides in our minds. These beliefs then hold our willpower in unconscious regions and work against our conscious presence.

The journey of self-awareness is to recover these fragmented parts of our will and consciousness and become whole and present. When we do, we live in integrity with ourselves.

The practices in my Self Mastery course and Recapitulation course will guide you through these changes to feeling whole again. www.PathwayToHappiness.com

#83 How To Change a Belief

on August 30, 2023 August 30, 2023 417 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#83 How To Change a Belief

00:00 / 32:52

In this session, I guide Greg, a Self Mastery subscriber, through changing a belief. The narrative of the belief is “I’m not ready.” However, the roots of that narrative story are based in the emotional experiences of a young child who was pushed to do things before he was ready. The belief is actually an energetic memory formed in the mind of a young child, with emotion, perspective, fear, several stories, and a need for protection.

To change this belief, we have to change all these elements of this energetic form.

I won’t go into all the tools and techniques I use in guiding this process of changing a belief with this client, as that is a much more involved explanation. One element that I utilize in this session is reflective listening. You will notice that I repeat what the client says. This is to ensure that I understand what he is saying, help affirm support to the client that they are heard, and for them to hold the imagery more clearly.

If you are interested in changing beliefs, you can employ these steps to change a belief by following the steps in my Self Mastery Course and my book MindWorks.

Not all beliefs change this quickly. Some have much stronger emotions and supporting beliefs that need to be addressed in a process that may take multiple sessions. This process was also sped up because of the client’s previous work on his beliefs, ability to focus his attention, and willingness to connect with the emotions he was feeling while staying present.

#82 Journey of the Soul from Fear to Love

on August 29, 2023 August 29, 2023 81 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#82 Journey of the Soul from Fear to Love

00:00 / 1:29:30

How do we get caught up in an emotionally reactive mind? AND more importantly, how do we let go of those emotions? These are two essential questions we address in this interview.

We knew how to be happy as children. It was natural for us. We learned to be stressed, judgmental, fearful, and in our head disconnected from the world and others through repetition. To break that pattern requires a conscious intent for change.

To move your emotions from a state of fear to love will return your soul to its healthy state. Moving your emotions to love vs. fear requires conscious intent and skillful actions. You can find specific practices for this in Gary’s Self Mastery Course and in his book, MindWorks.

#81 Spiritual Power Journey Teotihuacan Mexico

on August 8, 2023 August 10, 2023 214 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#81 Spiritual Power Journey Teotihuacan Mexico

00:00 / 1:08:02

While in Teotihuacan, Mexico we recorded this episode with my co-teacher Eva Beronius about the Spiritual Power Journey. We can’t call it a retreat because we put in a lot of focused work. Yet, we do get away from the normal “matrix” world and have a lot of fun, laughter, and love. Explaining what happens on a Spiritual Power Journey/Retreat is very difficult because the process is felt energetically, emotionally, consciousness-expanding, perception-changing, and loving.

This Spiritual Power Journey is intently created so that you experience unconditional love and acceptance for yourself. That experience might come to you in a ceremony, a breathwork process, a meditation, a conversation with others, or while laughing and singing together. It might even be happening during the week, and you don’t notice the nature of the emotional space you are in. What you will notice is that by the end of the week, you will feel closer to your HOME in your Self. And you will wonder how you are going to go home and be without all the hugs and support.

Of course, the long-term solution to that is to create your life back home with all the hugs and emotional support that you experience on a Spiritual Power Journey.

If you are interested in finding out more or attending the Spiritual Retreat in Teotihuacan Mexico, go here.

to find out about other events go here.

#80 What Are We? – An Exploration in Self Awareness

on July 28, 2023 July 28, 2023 104 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#80 What Are We? - An Exploration in Self Awareness

00:00 / 1:17:17

A human being is a complex organism that combines, Spiritual, Physical Body, Consciousness, Mind, Gender Energy, Emotions and a Soul. Getting all of those energy aspects working together can be quite a process.

This is made more complex by trying to do it in a world that is beautiful yet frighteningly chaotic, vast, cold, and unknown.

I hope what is shared here helps provide a map or model for some of the aspects to understand, integrate, and make your peace with so you can live your life with more love, gratitude, and happiness.

this is an interview of Gary van Warmerdam by Daniel Moor.

#79 Why you don’t see reality

on June 9, 2023 June 9, 2023 457 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#79 Why you don't see reality

00:00 / 31:22

You don’t see reality. Nor do you even hear noises as they are. Instead, your brain is creating a simulation of sight and sound.

There is all the talk about meta-verse worlds and that this world might be a simulation. I’m talking about something like that, but not like that. This isn’t a “maybe it’s a simulation world”. In this podcast, I explain that you are creating a virtual world in your mind, and your brain tricks you into the illusion that it is outside of you. It’s a bit mind-bending to explain and to understand. I try to break it down into steps I hope you can follow.

Here is a diagram as taken from https://www.metaphysics-for-life.com/mind-over-matter.html

Except that final image you see.. is actually rendered in 3 dimensions and appears as if you are seeing the outside world.

#78 Your Attention is a Force

on January 4, 2023 January 4, 2023 243 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#78 Your Attention is a Force

00:00 / 20:26

Getting control of yourself and your life begins with your attention. Your attention is the steering wheel of your being and your life. Without control of your attention, you don’t control anything. Your ego-mind, emotional reactions, beliefs, and influences of others will determine your thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

The first step is always awareness. Real change begins with the awareness of your attention, what it is, and what you can do with it.

In this excerpt of the first session on Energy Training, I begin guiding you into a deeper awareness of your attention, what to do with attention to maximize change, and what to refrain from doing.

To listen to the whole episode, follow this link to the Self Mastery Community.
It includes a 20 min guided meditation, some more intro material, and Q and A at the end.

The next free open Zoom call for Session #2 of Energy Training is scheduled and you can join live.
The link to join Energy Training #2 is here:

As a bonus the meditation will also direct you towards greater relaxation.

#77 Relationship Connection the Secret Ingredient

on January 6, 2022 January 17, 2022 326 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#77 Relationship Connection the Secret Ingredient

00:00 / 56:59

It’s not enough to say that we have to work at our relationships if they are going to work. We also need to know what to work on, how, and in what way. That “work” or “effort” should also be enjoyable and rewarding or we are going to tire and resent the “work”.

If the “work” is a struggle and doesn’t bring us anything in return we feel like we are banging our head on the wall and not getting anywhere.

I learned in engineering school that Work equals moving a force through a distance. That means if you push and push and push on a wall, but the wall doesn’t move you didn’t do any “work”. You spent a lot of effort, but nothing moved, nothing changed, and therefore no “work” was accomplished.

I’ve had conversations with partners that were like that. I’ve felt the struggle and tension, tried to speak, and listen, and felt like we got nowhere.

Then there are those conversations that really moved the needle into feeling good with each other.

I got listened to and understood in a way that I felt important and valued. What I didn’t know was that this wasn’t an accident. The person listening to me was doing some very conscious and skillful things in their listening to help me have that experience.

We talked about an uncomfortable topic, both got to say what we felt and ask for what we wanted. We both were heard by one another and all that icky uncomfortable emotions disappeared. I felt myself smiling inside and at my partner. It wasn’t just relief to be out of the “stuck” feeling, but a joy about where we were.

What was the difference?

What is the ingredient that we both brought to the conversation that moved us out of being stuck, through those uncomfortable emotions, and into feeling joyful?

Have a listen to the podcast for Eva Beronius and my take on what makes the difference in a healthy connecting conversation.

#76 Relationship Connection is Possible

on December 28, 2021 January 17, 2022 300 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#76 Relationship Connection is Possible

00:00 / 1:14:17

How many people do you connect with?

How many people can you share anything with, including your crazy thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and know you will not be judged or criticized? How many people do you feel truly accept you just the way you are?

I began to wonder this about people. And so, I would ask my clients who else they talked to about personal matters and what they were feeling. The typical answer was “No one.”

Sometimes someone will have one or two people they feel they can really talk with. This might be their mom and a friend. But sometimes, that one person is a therapist.

I understood it. You want to be loved and accepted by your partner. Their love is precious, and to lose it would be painful. So we have these strategies of giving a good impression and hiding the stuff we fear they will judge us for. And so, our relationship is made “comfortable” in that space of keeping up a false impression and hiding our negative feelings and thoughts. However, it’s not comfortable long-term living in these masks and false versions of ourselves.

Yet we aren’t sure it is safe to take the mask off and be more truthfully raw.

How do we navigate these vulnerable moments of connection, so they don’t lead to disconnection?

Eva Beronius and I explore this in our second podcast in the series on Relationship Connection.

#75 Relationship Connection – The Struggle

on December 17, 2021 January 17, 2022 257 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#75 Relationship Connection - The Struggle

00:00 / 59:43

I gathered all sorts of habits and false beliefs in my childhood that later led to disconnection, disappointment, frustration, and heartbreak in a relationship.

One example was from the fairy tales and movies growing up. They painted a picture of “happily ever after” into my brain. Once you meet the right person, it goes seamlessly to “happily” ever after.” But, unfortunately, those stories planted a false paradigm that set me up for disappointment later.

I got into this “inner work” because I was struggling and unhappy in my relationships. I think a lot of people do. Even if their relationships are “good,” they may not feel good in them. Sometimes a “great relationship” brings up our inner fears, insecurities, jealousy, and other sabotaging emotions and behaviors.

When you are balanced on the inside with yourself, and you are balanced externally in emotionally connected and supported relationships, life is so much more enjoyable.

But we don’t show up with that in our life, at least I didn’t. So I had to work for it, both internally and in my external personal relationships. I had to figure out how to be connected with myself and how to connect with others.

This was not intuitively obvious. I didn’t have great relationships modeled for me. I had a good relationship model from my parents, but it was a 1950’s culture and traditional roles. Those didn’t work for me, so I had to work at it a system that did. I also had to “unlearn” the paradigms I had built in my subconscious patterns. What might those be? One was relating to adults as a child, for instance.

In this podcast episode, I join Eva Beronius from the “Uncover You” podcast to talk about the feeling of disconnection and struggles in relationships and map out when and where they happen. We identify how the ego and false beliefs play into those patterns that lead to feeling not seen, not heard, abandoned, alone, disconnected, unwanted, even when you are with someone.

And be sure to catch the next two episodes in this series because we will also discuss how and bring yourself and your relationship into connection and feeling whole.

“Relationships are the last bastion of emotional drama in the Dream of Maya” – one of my teachers, Bernadette Vigil.

If you can figure those out, then you are on your way to a happy life.

I hope you find some valuable nuggets in here.

And, if you do, please write a favorable review, perhaps on iTunes or the other platforms.

Thank you.

From Misery to Happiness

on November 5, 2021 January 17, 2022 276 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

From Misery to Happiness

00:00 / 72 min

Daniel’s journey from misery to happiness took a lot of work. There were many ingredients essential to making his transformation happen and he shares it here in this interview with him.

Daniel struggled with anxiety and depression for many years. His journey began with my books MindWorks, listening to these podcasts, and doing the online Self Mastery Course. More recently he has done personal coaching sessions with me to accelerate the changes. I really admire his consistent effort. There are ups and downs, but the consistent effort has been essential to the transformation of his whole inner world.

There are common obstacles we face when we work to change our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. I always like to get different people’s experiences on how they did it so others can benefit in understanding the obstacles, and what can be done about them. I think you will find Daniel’s insights and experience on his process valuable.

Why am I Unhappy

on August 19, 2021 January 17, 2022 263 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

Why am I Unhappy

00:00 / 22:02

Why am I unhappy, and Why do we suffer? These are two questions that confound people personally, and collectively. We can be accomplished, and comfortable in our life, and yet internally feel dissatisfied, inadequate, shame and fear. We are confused because we look to understand these emotions based on our external circumstances. When you look inward to the narrative stories you are telling yourself in your mind, you will find the primary cause of unhappiness and suffering.

The narrative story in our mind is what produces those negative thoughts, self-judgments, and emotions. It arises from the core beliefs we acquired earlier in life, and that can be re-programmed with awareness.

One specific component of these narrative stories that cause us to be unhappy is the false identity our belief system creates about us. In this excerpt from a group coaching session, I describe the component of the false identity from our belief system.

#72 Conscious Dreaming

on May 3, 2021 January 17, 2022 221 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#72 Conscious Dreaming

00:00 / 1:57:00

The mind is dreaming all the time. It is dreaming when you are awake, and when you are asleep. The consciousness process involves waking up from these dreams that run through your head. Most often they appear as narrative stories. What will change your life is when you take charge of the dreams in your mind during the day instead of allowing them to dream you.

This podcast is a recording of a conversation with Eva Beronius on her Uncover You podcast on the topic of how the mind dreams, and how you can take conscious change what and how your mind dreams.

Eva’s website is selfmasteryandbeyond.com

If you are interested in her Beyond the Mind Meditation training go here

Meditation is one way to train your mind to dream a different dream. So is singing songs of love, or holding grudges. Forgiveness is a dream that breaks you free of other narrative stories that run as recurring dreams. All of these tools or methods for conscious liberation from the suffering of the mind involve using your attention perception and creating different experiences in your inner world. You can re-imagine yourself, or you can keep dreaming the same narrative stories currently running.

It all depends on whether you identify as a creator or “Dreamer” of your own inner world, or whether you live in a narrative story that you are a victim.

Your mind can’t tell the difference between what is reality, and what is a dream, but you as consciousness can.

#71 The Dream of Maya

on March 16, 2021 January 17, 2022 248 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#71 The Dream of Maya

00:00 / 22 min

The Hindu goddess of Illusion doesn’t just reside in India. She resides in our own country, our news cycles, relationships, and in our own minds. She is a metaphor for the drama stories and distractions that devour our attention in unsatisfying ways and leads us into suffering. And if not suffering in a deeply painful way, then distraction from fulfilling our heart, soul, and emotional desires of a happier meaningful life.

I’ve been doing a digital detox. I gave up news for lent. I wanted to pull my attention out of the habitual cycle of opinions, fears, needing to be informed, emotions, and addictive social media scrolls. I wanted to clean up and clear space in my mind. In the process, I had this dream last week. It represents the Dream of Maya, or illusions we live in. It’s the world of stories that play throughout the day and keep us so occupied that we miss so many beautiful things that could be enjoyed, appreciated, and loved in those moments instead.

In this podcast, I share the dream I remembered when I woke up.

#70 Mastering the Mental Game

on February 25, 2021 January 17, 2022 295 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#70 Mastering the Mental Game

00:00 / 55:29

Multiple times Pauline Victoria has done what most people would call impossible. Despite being born without arms or legs, Pauline has learned to swim, gone to college, lived on her own, worked in corporate, drives a car, and took up scuba diving. Pauline said she was able to do these things because of her “mental game”. I got curious and wanted to know what was involved in Pauline’s mastery of the mental game. Could other people do it, and if so how?

In this interview, I dig into to dissect Pauline’s “mental game” to find out what it is made of, how she does it, and what has given her mastery over her mental game. It turns out that mastery over her mental game involved several elements that aren’t just of the mind. They include:

Desire
Attention
Will
Faith
Support
Surender
Presence

You can be plenty smart and “know” a lot, but if you don’t include these elements in your skillset, you aren’t fully developing your mental game. Without these, getting what you want will talk longer, or perhaps, not even happen. Listen as I interview Pauline and break down how Pauline Victoria mastered her mental game to get what she wants no matter what. We both believe everyone has these resources that they can draw upon to change what they are doing and how they do it in their life. If you want your life to be different, then it is worthwhile to pay attention and master these skills for yourself.

You can learn to develop these aspects of your mental game through the Self Mastery Course practices.

You can find out more about Pauline Victoria at

PaulineVictoria.com

OneLegUpProductions.com

#69 Self Awareness – Why do people believe crazy lies, conspiracy theories, and illusions?

on December 8, 2020 January 17, 2022 230 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#69 Self Awareness - Why do people believe crazy lies, conspiracy theories, and illusions?

00:00 / 32:45

The recent election in the US has brought to the mainstage how people can believe in different realities. Which brings me to a more fundamental question how do we discern the truth? Whether it is vote counting, fraud, economic policy, tax policy, climate change, opposing sides are getting more polarized. In the loud, emotional narrative of stories, both inside people’s heads and externally, it is harder to discern the truth.

I’m not taking a side A or B. I’d rather there be a critical thinking process that we can agree on that gives people the awareness and brainpower to discern fact from fiction, truth from illusion, and honesty from lies. In my experience, a necessary resource a person needs is self-awareness.

Figuring out the truth isn’t straightforward. Consider this; the mind is the mechanism that we use to discern the truth. And this is the same mind that generates stories, false narratives, daydreams, and fictional realities in our heads. These two uses of the mind are contradictory. It’s no wonder people are having difficulty seeing the difference between truth and a made-up story.

#68 Voices in your Head

on October 26, 2020 January 17, 2022 276 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#68 Voices in your Head

00:00 / 30 min

Having voices in your head is actually quite normal. The mind can make a conversation, debate, argue, self-judgments, criticisms, or come up with funny dialog all by itself. Many people are identified with the voices of the mind, so don’t notice them as separate. They feel they are the entity doing all the thinking.

With awareness, you realize these narrative thoughts as coming from something separate from your “self.” When thoughts keep you up at night, and you can’t turn them off, you can see them as separate from your control. When you sit down to meditate, you might notice that they don’t do what you ask of them.

We hesitate to acknowledge that the mind generating thoughts on its own is separate from us as consciousness. In doing so, we do ourselves a dis-service of truth. Perhaps we hesitate because there is a stigma associated with having “voices in your head” as meaning crazy or having schizophrenia. This is an incorrect association. Most people of some awareness realize they have continual chatter in their heads that they are not creating. It’s often called the “monkey mind.”

When you move into conscious awareness, you can realize yourself as separate from the monkey mind doing the chatter. From that state of awareness, you can explore the beliefs that drive these thoughts and many of the emotions. Most importantly, by developing skills, you can change the internal narrative of thoughts and their emotions.

For practical exercises to address the unconscious beliefs driving the programmed voices in your head, take the Self Mastery Course.

When you adopt a more truthful understanding of those thoughts’ sources, you can address and change them more effectively. By shifting your sense of identity to consciousness and seeing your mind as separate, you can remove a degree of self-judgment. The thought that”I have some problematic thoughts” changes to, “my mind has some problematic thoughts.” This can give a feeling of relief.