I’d been wanting to create an episode that I was tentatively calling “They aren’t your thoughts – Revisited”. 

Then, a series of questions along the lines of “How do I stop thinking about this?” started popping up, which led me to write something about that, which led to this episode. 

They aren’t your thoughts. You aren’t thinking them. So, the answer to “How do I stop thinking them” is that you don’t. You can’t. You aren’t thinking them or choosing them or influencing to begin with, so you can’t stop thinking or choosing them now. You have no influence. 

This is freedom. Or a huge step toward it, anyway. 

What’s left when it’s seen that there is absolutely no say in how thought arises? Everything is left. Life, aliveness, the senses. All of this is left. 

Everything but problems and suffering.

***

If: 

• You feel addicted to your phone
• You find yourself wanting background noise because silence is uncomfortable 
• You experience anxiety  or compulsive behaviors such as excessive snacking, picking, drinking, shopping, scrolling
• You rarely feel present. You’re often seeking – looking ahead, dreaming about or waiting for something other than what is, spiritual seeking, planning…

My newest 6-week course, Resting in Restlessness, is perfect for you.

Through a combination of teachings, experiments that we’ll do together and between classes, and group calls, you’ll be supported as you lean into this feeling we call restlessness. 

What if, in exploring the thoughts and sensations that make up restlessness, you find that you can actually rest in these feelings rather than compulsively distract from them? 

I am so excited to support you as we watch our comfort with What Is grow. Go to dramyjohnson.com/restlessness to see the full details. 

The post EP350: How do I stop thinking about this? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

We can all tell our story and it can feel helpful to do so at times. We feel seen and heard, our experience recognized by another person as valid and real-to-us. 

But what seems even more helpful is sharing what’s beneath the story. Going to the simplest, most immediate thing. Something more like how it feels to be us or what’s here right now. 

This week’s episode uses the metaphor of a patient lying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines that start sounding off alarms. The medical team rushes in the room and does what?

Do they go directly to the machines and start pressing buttons, trying to interpret what the alarms mean? Do they discuss those interpretations with each other? 

Or do they go directly to the human in the bed and ask them where it hurts? Do they go to the abstract interpretations or straight to the source? Where do you go? 

***

I’m excited to tell you about a new 6-week course coming in May called Resting in Restlessness: The solution to compulsive scrolling, eating, buying, anxiety, and constant seeking.

In this course, we’ll look at that ill-defined, somewhat subtle experience of agitation that keeps us doing and seeking. 

This feeling of restlessness is behind all compulsive behaviors, anxiety, and ability to simply BE without distraction. We’ll explore what it actually is we’re running from and in moving closer to it, see if we really need to keep running. 

Listen to next week’s episode for more details on this course.

The post EP349: Where does it hurt? Asking the simplest, most direct question appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This week’s episode speaks to a listener’s questions about self-compassion and surrender.

Jay says they have a block to self-compassion. They want to know how one can access this self-love without talking yourself into it. 

There are so many threads in this question that lead to an exploration of feeling, expectations, blocks, what surrender is, the role of thought in all of this, and more. I know you’ll hear a lot in Jay’s excellent questions! 

The post EP348: I can’t surrender or feel self-compassion. Responding to a listener’s questions. appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

There’s a progression that seems to happen.You might say it’s from gross to subtle. 

Where attention shifts from being absorbed in abstractions, thoughts, representations, and relationships…to attention moving to much more subtle energies like sensations, sensory input, and maybe something like intuition or perception.

Identity is viewed in these different ways. From gross thought and beliefs being questioned, to more subtle physical and emotional reactions felt. 

As we sense at this more subtle level, the unraveling process seems to pick up some steam. Identity is seen through rapidly. Thoughts barely arise before they dissolve or fall away. 

Something like this is how the fabric of thought-based reality comes apart in the best possible way. 

The post EP347: Unraveling ego at the feeling level appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This week’s episode is a portion of a Community call with guest speaker Shenan Charania.

This was one of my all-time favorite guest speaker calls and several in our community said the same.

Shenan and I talk about silence, presence, regret, thought, and much more. Shenan shares his past as a gang member and his experiences in “extreme presence”, or what I often talk about as feeling your way through life.

You will feel this conversation as you listen. Enjoy!

The post EP346: Extremely This with Shenan Charania appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In my recent silent retreat we explored the fact that nothing was happening. 

All retreatants had to do was show up when the gong chimed and be quiet. Literally nothing else. Their entire day from 10am to 10pm was scheduled for them. Meals were prepared and served. Life for 6 days was unbelievably simple. 

And so when it didn’t feel simple – and it didn’t, always – we knew there was one thing going on: imagination. The movement of consciousness we call thought, creating realities that weren’t in the room with us. 

All of life is this way. This isn’t only true on silent retreat. All of life is unthinkably simple, yet made dramatic and personal through willfulness and positionality. 

The post EP345: Willfulness and positionality dissolve into silence appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I talk about how I work with common phobias. 

First we look at what you’re really afraid of – It’s what you think (literally), not the thing you think you’re afraid of (flying, spiders, vomit, germs, etc.) 

Then, we look at the feeling aspect of the fear. 

The combination of imagination + feeling is what makes up the automatic fear response. Seeing this experience more clearly is what makes way for it to change. 

***

Would you like to be part of a supportive, loving community of like-minded people exploring the big questions in life?

Would you like a place you can turn for personal support on anything you’re struggling with at any time?

It’s a place to see how the things like anxiety, doubt, habits, insecurities–are actually incredible gifts. They are there to help you wake up. 

To join The Community, please go to https://www.dramyjohnson.com/thecommunity

The post EP344: Phobias – What are you really afraid of? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Following has been an important pointer for me over the years. 

Following, or yielding to what’s already here, looking toward what wants to happen, absorbing, immersing, disintegrating, or melting into what is, being overwhelmed…these all have the flavor of following.

And sometimes there’s a flavor of leading. Not following what the world says in terms of belief systems, identity, positions and stances. To buck that conditioning can feel like being a leader rather than a follower.

But following and leading are really one in the same. We lead by following what is, and perhaps we follow what is as a form of leadership. At some point they completely merge such that leading and following are one single movement.

***

Beginning in March, I’ll be leading a small group mentoring program based around my Change Coach Self-Study course. 

The mentoring group is perfect for people who want some personal guidance and feedback as they learn to support others in this powerful way. You will have the real-time, personal aspects of a live training experience in a time- and cost effective format. 

You can see the full details here: https://dramyjohnson.com/coachmentoring/ 

The post EP343: Following and leading are the same thing appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I address a series of questions sent in by a listener.

Hannah says she has performed horribly in past work environments and that’s not a thought, it’s a reality. Isn’t it that reality that’s causing her depression?

She also gets that the past is over, but it still happened and it was still horrible, right? 

There is much more Hannah can see about these topics, as well as additional questions about how things aren’t personal. We’ll look at these topics in depth in this episode. 

***

Beginning in March, I’ll be leading a small group mentoring program based around my Change Coach Self-Study course. 

The mentoring group is perfect for people who want some personal guidance and feedback as they learn to support others in this powerful way. You will have the real-time, personal aspects of a live training experience in a time- and cost effective format. 

You can see the full details here: https://dramyjohnson.com/coachmentoring/

The post EP342: Being a failure, forgiving yourself, and the reality of the past: Questions from a listener appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Those thoughts that aren’t yours…yes, that’s all of them…you don’t have to pick them up. 

If you don’t want them and you didn’t order them, you don’t have to take delivery of them. 

Let it be this simple. 

The thoughts that want to make it more complicated than this also don’t need to be taken delivery of. 

***

Beginning in March, I’ll be leading a small group mentoring program based around my Change Coach Self-Study course. 

The mentoring group is perfect for people who want some personal guidance and feedback as they learn to support others in this powerful way. You will have the real-time, personal aspects of a live training experience in a time- and cost effective format. 

You can see the full details here: https://dramyjohnson.com/coachmentoring/

The post EP341: Don’t take delivery appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.