ArchivesAwareness and Consciousness Podcast

#57: Critical voice in your head

on November 6, 2018 January 17, 2022 285 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#57: Critical voice in your head

00:00 / 25:59

The critical voice in your head telling you whether you are succeeding or failing at things is actually pretty stupid. It sounds smart, acts confident, and pretends to be an expert. However, it hasn’t actually done any of the things it is criticizing you about. It has no expertise in learning the skill, or in coaching and guiding you to learning a skill. Sometimes it is just a fraud and you are better off not listening to it.

It behaves as a biased scorekeeper, always marking you down. It doesn’t apply how we really learn a skill, which is through a lot of trial and error repetition. It somehow expects perfection on the first try, even though that is not in reality how we get better. When you become aware of it’s impact you discover that it isn’t actually making you better. The result is that it acts more as a saboteur to demotivate you to continue learning and practicing. Your counter move to it’s antics is awareness and that will allow you to not believe what it says.

#56: Social anxiety from unconscious beliefs

on August 23, 2018 January 17, 2022 281 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#56: Social anxiety from unconscious beliefs

00:00 / 35:50

Most of your emotions arise from unconscious beliefs. In this podcast I describe a process to dig into the layers of your unconscious beliefs, and release the emotional beliefs trapped there. A man shares what he discovers as the source of his social anxiety that began when he was in 3rd grade. You can use this method to discover and change the source of negative thoughts, anxiety, and other emotional reactions.

Sometimes the cause of the negative chatter in your head is from repressed memories and emotions that generate internal thoughts long after the event happened. These memories form a kind of belief. You may not remember the event, but it can still cause you to have negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors years later.

Helpful methods to find and change these beliefs can be found in the Self Mastery Course, the Releasing Emotions Exercise, and the Recapitulation Series – see all online trainings here.

#55: Origin of ego and false beliefs of identity

on November 12, 2016 January 17, 2022 398 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#55: Origin of ego and false beliefs of identity

00:00 / 24:38

What are the false beliefs that form our Ego?

Where do our false beliefs come from? When did we begin to get these false beliefs of our identity and lose touch with our authentic self? What is our identity when we shed our mind’s version of who we are?

A critical step to getting back to an authentic self is that we have to dissolve the labels and stories (thoughts) that fill our minds with descriptions of ourselves. This version from the mind will always be a false version.

First, we need to get in touch with our authentic emotions.

To do this, we need to quiet our minds and dismantle the chatter. To do this, we have to release the beliefs that are causing chatter and inner dialogue. Once the waters are calm, the emotions become pleasant.

As we get deeper and deeper into those parts of our identity that we are most attached to, we can get stuck or find ourselves “trapped”. This can become a never-ending cycle.

For practical steps on how to rid the mind of the chatter of thoughts, beliefs, and emotional reactions check out the Four Free Sessions of my Self Mastery course. Or my book MindWorks.

#54: How do you recognize the truth?

on November 7, 2016 January 17, 2022 452 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#54: How do you recognize the truth?

00:00 / 14:22

How can you tell if something is truthful or if it is a lie? From a consciousness perspective, even statements that are factual are still not the Truth. Words are what we use to describe a thing, or facts. But words are not the thing itself. The words used to describe a chair are not the chair itself. The best words can do is to give you a factual description of the something that is true. But believing in the words, is not the same is believing in something that is true.

As Alan Watts describes, “The menu is not the meal”. Don’t confuse a good description, or even facts with being the truth. A description of what “Love” is, is not the same as love. A description of what “Beauty” is, is not the same as Beauty.

#53: Why lie to your self?

on October 30, 2016 January 17, 2022 202 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#53: Why lie to your self?

00:00 / 32:21

Lying to your self can cause a response in the reasoning part of your brain that makes you feel good. Sometimes people confuse this good feeling with being right, or feeling that they have just agreed with an explanation that is truthful. Sometimes people are relieved from their “need to know” or a feeling of uncomfortable confusion by believing something that isn’t true. Often times our analytical mind, or what I call the reasoning part of the mind doesn’t care if an answer or explanation is true, it only wants to be satisfied with having an explanation.

For some reference reading you might pick up Noble Prize winner for Economics Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow.

#52: Self loathing

on August 3, 2016 January 17, 2022 1,118 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#52: Self loathing

00:00 / 44:33

Self-loathing is a strong hatred towards oneself. You will also find with it a lot of internal thoughts of criticism and self judgment. Underneath that there will be a layer of beliefs relating to worthlessness. This layer of beliefs about being bad, unworthy, or inferior somehow justifies the emotional punishment of hate and anger one pours on themselves. What makes this cycle perpetual is that the beliefs involved in the unworthiness and emotional punishment cycles don’t have enough awareness to look around and see if there are other options. There is a kind of certainty that this is the best course of action and that the hate and anger are deserved.

I this podcast we explore the unconscious beliefs that can be behind self-loathing and self-hatred. I also explore why getting rid of these habits can be accompanied with resistance, fears, and objections from our own mind. You can learn how to do this process through my Self Mastery Course or through my book MindWorks: A practical guide to changing thoughts, beliefs, and emotional reactions.

#51: Unconscious beliefs

on July 20, 2016 January 17, 2022 452 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#51: Unconscious beliefs

00:00 / 24:35

Unconscious beliefs are agreements we have in our mind that we have no awareness we are holding. In spite of not having any intellectual knowledge of our own beliefs, they can still cause us to have emotional reactions and sabotaging behaviors. Often these beliefs are formed early in our life, either through a strong emotional event, or through subtle repetition. In this audio I discuss a woman’s fear of flying that formed when she was 5 years old.

She avoided the issue for years, mostly by not flying or through taking medications. When we took an inventory of the belief and when it was formed she discovered that her fear had nothing to do with flying. Beliefs in a powerless identity, feeling helpless, the world not being safe, and the fear of death, were all fused together when she was on her way to her grandmothers funeral. These unconscious beliefs can mask themselves for years or decades behind a smart intellect that makes excuses, a denial system that distracts and deflects the issue, or white knuckled under repressed emotions. The way to change the emotional reactions and sabotaging behaviors that these unconscious beliefs may be causing is through an honest inventory of beliefs and behaviors. You can learn how to do this process through my Self Mastery Course or through my book MindWorks: A practical guide to changing thoughts, beliefs, and emotional reactions.

#50: Personal power and responsibility

on June 12, 2016 January 17, 2022 252 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#50: Personal power and responsibility

00:00 / 19:36

When you take responsibility for your life, you also accept a power over it. Taking responsibility for the good stuff is easy, it is the not so good stuff that feels uncomfortable. But this is what you want the power to change. When you are in the expression of blame, you personify a victim attitude that is powerless. When you accept some responsibility for your half, and this does not mean blame your self, you begin to change your story.

#49: Anxiety – understanding it differently

on February 23, 2016 January 17, 2022 213 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#49: Anxiety - understanding it differently

00:00 / 34:46

Attempts to overcoming or at least reduce anxiety tend to fail. Perhaps our efforts fail because we are applying the wrong understanding, and therefore the wrong model for changing it. Anxiety isn’t the kind of thing that responds to our intellect. That is why very intelligent and highly educated individuals often are susceptible to issues of anxiety, anxiety attacks, and panic attacks. Their efforts to change are often intellectual or through a system of knowledge that they are familiar with. There may be a different way to understand anxiety that can help.

#48: Becoming the observer – mindfulness practice

on January 7, 2016 January 17, 2022 1,384 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#48: Becoming the observer - mindfulness practice

00:00 / 25:01

Becoming the observer requires that we do it in a neutral witness manner. It is not enough to just think about our self, any egotistical person can do that. If this were the case, the narcissist would be very self-aware when this is actually furthest from the truth. When the ego part of the mind thinks about our self it often does it with a sense of comparison. That part of the mind will compare us to someone else, or an idealized version we hold in our belief system. It is evaluating how well or how poorly we did something. It might even judge us for not being very spiritually aware. It is an egotistical thought that says we are not meditating enough or not doing enough mindfulness practices. While these may seem like observations, they are not. They are criticisms with an agenda. The result of which is that we feel worse.

When we act in the way of a neutral observer we notice different things. We notice when those thoughts are arising from parts of our ego and the emotions they produce. We can also notice the idealized version in the background of our mind being used as comparison. We might notice the idea that we could sit down and spend some time in quiet meditation, and then notice how our emotions, thoughts, and body reacts to that idea. As an observer we might notice negative thoughts rebut why it is not a good time, we are busy, or that we will be better served by exercising today. The Observer state of mind doesn’t see any of these rebuttals as a problem as that would have an agenda. It just notices these rebuttals as if it were a car driving by with an interesting paint job. If it were to think anything about them it would say, “I notice a rebuttal coming from other parts of my mind… interesting.”

Read this article for more on being the neutral witness observer

In the online training in the Self Mastery Course I guide you how to move into the observer state, step by step.

#47: Reality, projections and illusions

on December 10, 2015 January 17, 2022 339 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#47: Reality, projections and illusions

00:00 / 32:18

How much does our mind project into what we see and distort our perception of things? Is it possible to know the truth about things? What is reality? What is illusion? All these questions first require that we understand perception. When we begin to understand how we perceive the world, or our self, we become immediately aware that the mind has the capacity to distort and project on to what we see in ways that are difficult to spot.

Once you realize that the mind that is distorting things is at the beginning of our perception and interpretation of events, you become aware that perceiving reality is much more difficult. The mind affects and changes what we see before we get a chance to be consciously aware. Not only are the images we see with our brain processed by turning them upside down, but two 2D images are converted to one 3D image without us noticing. Who knows what else it might be adding or changing.

You can help your self untangle the stories of drama in your mind by applying the Self Mastery sessions. You can begin with the first four exercises as a free trial.

#46: Affirmations can backfire

on November 16, 2015 January 17, 2022 567 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#46: Affirmations can backfire

00:00 / 19:26

Sometimes people get poor results with affirmations. When they say positive things about themselves the dialogue of thoughts in their head pushes back with harsh negative comments. Those harsh criticisms cause them to feel more negative emotions than were produced with the positive affirmations. The overall result of the affirmation process is to end up feeling worse than before one started. This is what I call pushback from our ego’s belief system. This is also known as the “Backfire Effect”. The net effect of this affirmations attempt is that our self-image and self-esteem is pushed down instead of up.

The same kind of backfire effect, or pushback, happens when other people give us compliments. Often the automated response from our ego’s belief system is to dismiss or contradict the compliment. Our mind effectively minimizes or dismisses their kind uplifting words and expressions people give us about our self. In this unconscious manner of speaking, our ego does not allow to fully receive positive thoughts of our self that would improve our self-image and self-esteem. The first step to solving and changing this dynamic is to be aware and mindful. Before we can change this pattern of dismissing and countering positive thoughts and expressions we must first be aware of what we are doing. Once you are aware, you can then begin to intercede with a more positive response in that moment. Without that awareness you won’t notice the critical moment to change your response.

For more insights you can read my book MindWorks.

#45: The Hero’s journey

on April 26, 2013 January 17, 2022 384 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#45: The Hero's journey

00:00 / 1:10:39

The Hero’s Journey was outlined to me through the works of Joseph Campbell years ago. It is the classic tale often told through movies and stories going back to The Odyssey by Homer and many modern versions including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Matrix. It’s appeal is that it represents our journey to create peace and happiness within our self and our own mind. The “Dark Forces” that we are challenged by our our inner demons of false beliefs, false self images, unpleasant emotions, fears and those loud voices in our head that spew negative thoughts.

The challenge is to make a commitment to claim the kingdom of your mind and put order to all the contradicting voices and create peace and harmony in your mind, and in your heart. Until you do that, you will not find peace within.

#44: Persistence and resistance

on May 21, 2012 January 17, 2022 240 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#44: Persistence and resistance

00:00 / 1:09:51

Jamie is one of the most persistent people at doing personal change work that I know. She also resists change, happiness and unconditional love more than just about anyone I know. What does resistance look like and how do you navigate around it to make changes in your self? In this interview you have an opportunity to get a good look at it. There are also some clues on how to be aware of resistance so you can move through those fears and limiting beliefs faster.

Jamie’s approach to dealing with her resistance to unconditional love and being happy was and unrelenting and persistent drive for the Truth. In the process Jamie is completely re-writing the story of her life. It’s an inspiring story of change, and one that she is not finished telling yet.

It will be interesting to see where it goes.

#43: Overcoming insecurity and develop confidence

on April 19, 2012 January 17, 2022 217 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#43: Overcoming insecurity and develop confidence

00:00 / 30:28

Attempts to develop confidence often fail because they revolve around projecting a positive self image or achieving success. Unfortunately these two things don’t eliminate other beliefs causing feelings of insecurity. To overcome the feeling of insecurity effectively it is necessary to identify and eliminate the beliefs that generate feelings of unworthiness, fear, and anxiety. It is not enough to just cover them up with positive self images. That won’t achieve a solid feeling of confidence as long as the beliefs connected to insecurity are still intact in our mind.

More on this topic on my article about Overcoming insecurity

For practical steps to identify and change the core beliefs causing insecurity, use the exercises in my Self Mastery Course.

#42: Stop beating your self up

on February 19, 2012 January 17, 2022 260 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#42: Stop beating your self up

00:00 / 29:25

Due to an internal dialog of negative thoughts you can really beat your self up. If the self berating thoughts are strong enough it can induce feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, and even depression. People often try to remedy this by willing their negative thoughts to stop. I’ve never seen this work, and with very good reason. To effectively change the thoughts and beliefs we beat our self up with it is important to look at the problem differently. That’s what I do in this free audio on what specifically happens when you are “beating yourself up”.

This audio helps clarify what is going on in your mind when you do this. Once you understand this situation better, you will see why trying to will it to stop is a set up for failure. You will also have other practical solutions available to you in the Self M astery Course.

The reason you can’t stop the “beating your self up” with shear will power is that those negative thoughts aren’t being directed by you. They are being driven by a part of the mind that has taken on a life of it’s own and is not under your control. But you can get it under your control.

#41: Meditation for beginners

on January 9, 2012 January 17, 2022 191 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#41: Meditation for beginners

00:00 / 38:03

This simple meditation lets anyone begin to enter into a state of mindfulness using a very common sense practical approach. What our mind construes as a deeply mystical thing like meditation doesn’t have to be so esoteric.

This free audio explains a simple way to begin using meditation for relaxation and stress reduction. It also covers what to expect when you begin to meditate so that you can avoid being surprised and become disappointed or frustrated. This will help you continue with your practice and become more successful and mindful in the process. It also explains suggested guidelines and what they are for so you don’t become distracted by what rules to follow or not follow.

#40: Self awareness and mindfulness

on December 12, 2011 January 17, 2022 237 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#40: Self awareness and mindfulness

00:00 / 33:10

Understanding how your mind creates emotional reactions is key to making personal change. This understanding of the mind is done through mindfulness, also know as self awareness. In a basic level of awareness you might notice how someone’s mood changes. A deeper level of awareness allows you notice your own mood, and how it affects your behavior and interactions. A deeper level of awareness will allow you to perceive the factors affecting your mood and change them.

Self awareness, also called mindfulness, is an important step to permanently changing your negative thoughts, emotional reactions, and self destructive behaviors.

#39: What is a belief?

on November 14, 2011 January 17, 2022 279 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#39: What is a belief?

00:00 / 36:30

A belief begins as a conceptual idea in our mind. Then our imagination turns it into something like a dream, or virtual reality. A belief, particularly a false belief, has the capacity to create an illusion in our imagination that seems like reality. We then react to that illusion emotionally as if it were real. The emotions we feel as such as fear, anger, jealousy or insecurity are real, but the illusion we are reacting to in our mind is not real.

Beliefs not only alter how we see the world, but also how we see our selves. Within a belief we can create a false identity of who we are; an ego identity. We then falsely believe that this character of our imagination is us. This is how we end up believing and feeling that we are not good enough, broken, unlovable, or that there is something wrong with us. In reality there is nothing wrong with us. At the central core of it all you are fine. However you may not feel fine because you are having emotional reactions to all the negative thoughts in your head and false beliefs.

The Self Mastery program provides you a process to identify and change your false and fear based beliefs. The first few sessions are free for you to sample.

#38: Self Mastery Course results interview

on May 17, 2011 January 17, 2022 215 Views

Awareness and Consciousness Podcast

#38: Self Mastery Course results interview

00:00 / 41:53

David served in the Army and National Guard. After responding to the World Trade Center and Afghanistan he came home and discovered that his emotional reactions were out of control and inappropriate. In this interview, he shares how the Self Mastery course has helped him.

David first signed up for the free sessions in July and purchased the Basic Self Mastery series two months later in September. When we did this interview in March he had only received the last of the Basic Series sessions about 2 months prior. That’s not a lot of time to put all the tools and techniques together. However, he was making a personal change in his emotional reactions and was feeling much better about being in the world as he learns to become more efficient with the tools he is learning.

David shared with me that when he came back from Afghanistan he didn’t feel like himself. His emotional reactions weren’t appropriate. The “thing” that gets turned on in your mind in a war zone that helps you to survive doesn’t just turn off when you get home. His emotional and physiological systems were still operating in that heightened state for survival even when he was walking into the grocery store, the gas station, or going to the gym. He realized that he needed to make some changes and found that the Self Mastery Course Exercises have helped.