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.

Peace is not in something else.

It’s not in adding more or changing what’s here.

It’s actually here, in this, now. How can that be when what’s here now is difficult and unwanted? 

I’ll talk about the difference between an abstraction (e.g., I’m going through a divorce, my country is at war, I have cancer) – there’s no peace to be squeezed out of an abstraction…

And noticing the reality in the middle of everything. There is relative peace here, now. We just need to look to reality rather than abstractions. 

***

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 EP340: How do I find peace in reality? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, we explore the desire for more of a specific feeling, particularly joy.

It seems obvious, doesn’t it? Of course you want more joy. Of course more joy is available. Perhaps joy is even our “default state”. We obviously want to experience more of it!

As innocent and obvious as this may seem, perhaps what’s really happening is a subtle denying of what’s here now. It’s a subtle attachment to ‘becoming’, an attachment to an imaginary ideal. 

If you want more joy, what do you not want to feel? Can you feel that? 

Is what is right now really not joy?

***

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 EP339: Is more joy available? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I walk through a practice in unbound consciousness I learned from Angelo Dilullo’s book, Awake: It’s your turn.

This is something I’ve been practicing for a few years, and it’s my primary practice on silent retreat.

This practice allows you to “get underneath” experience – to see from beyond the confines of content and identity. I highly recommend experimenting with this. Even if you don’t go through all of the steps, leaning into any of them is extremely expansive. 

You can see Angelo’s playlist on Unbound Consciousness on his channel, Simply Always Awake.

The post EP338: A practice in unbound consciousness appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In my recent week in silence I saw two things more clearly and simply than I ever had.

One, there is nothing to work out. The movements of life around the deep, still, silence that is always there are just movements. There is nothing in those movements that requires anything.

And two, those movements in consciousness (what we commonly call ‘thought’) are always collecting, integrating, and making nothing into something. 

When we have the opportunity to get beneath this activity and really watch it for what it is without identifying with the content, a feeling of freedom begins to bubble up.

***

Join me for a silent retreat February 23-28 in Gatlinburg. TN.

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. It’s also a very powerful way to watch the self-ing mechanism at play and to deeply see this sense of “me” as a thought that comes and goes.

Space is limited. You can see more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP337: Nothing to work out   appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I give an overview of the way I see and work with anxiety.

I recorded this episode for people who are brand new to this way of viewing anxiety. I have been deeply impacted by this understanding myself and have seen the way it resonates as truth for so many.

At the beginning of the episode I mention a small group coaching opportunity specifically around anxiety. Even if you’re listening to this episode well after January 2025, please complete the short application if this is something you’d be interested in. These groups are something I would be open to running on an ongoing basis throughout the year: https://forms.gle/fdSWcaxq1o64hxh7A

***

I’m leading beginning January 16th called No-Self Realization: A Thorough Search in Direct Experience for the Separate Self.  

This 4-part class will be unlike other classes. We will inquire in direct experience, looking for the sense of I. I’ll lead volunteers through this inquiry while the rest of the class follows along. If you are confused about what “no self” really means, or maybe you know there is no separate I but it still really seems like there is one in experience, this is the perfect class for you. See more at dramyjohnson.com/noself

***

Join me for a silent retreat February 23-28 in Gatlinburg. TN.

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. It’s also a very powerful way to watch the self-ing mechanism at play and to deeply see this sense of “me” as a thought that comes and goes.

Space is limited. You can see more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP336: The Anxiety Episode appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

You know what hurts? Bracing yourself. 

Holding yourself apart from what’s here. Not that you can, but believing you can and tightening and resisting life as if it’s going to slam into you.

Bracing yourself for impact hurts.

You know what doesn’t hurt so much? Being overwhelmed. Letting life overwhelm “you”. Seeing that what is arising is already what you are, no boundaries to mentally create and try to hide behind. 

***

There are two things coming up to tell you about. 

First is a brand new class I’m leading beginning January 16th called No-Self Realization: A Thorough Search in Direct Experience for the Separate Self.  

This 4-part class will be unlike other classes. We will inquire in direct experience, looking for the sense of I. I’ll lead volunteers through this inquiry while the rest of the class follows along. If you are confused about what “no self” really means, or maybe you know there is no separate I but it still really seems like there is one in experience, this is the perfect class for you. See more at dramyjohnson.com/noself

The second thing coming up is the silent retreat in late February in Gatlinburg. TN.

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. It’s also a very powerful way to watch the self-ing mechanism at play and to deeply see this sense of “me” as a thought that comes and goes.

Space is limited on that one and you can see more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP335: Be overwhelmed  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.