Fundamental Shift Podcast

What are anchors? The dictionary defines an anchor as something that is the source of security or stability. I’m discussing using things that occur in the world as reminders to bring your attention back to the moment, or back to awareness.

Examples of anchors are things like:
Going through doorways.
When we walk somewhere.
When we listen to people.

Why use anchors? It is a way to bring stillness into the everyday experience. Many people learn to meditate on a seat, but have difficulty bringing that peace into the world they live in. Using anchors is the beginning of that practice.

Stillness is available anytime. Use anchors to learn that truth.

We don’t want to avoid things through meditation. The act of dropping thought is used to learn about thinking, and to show that thinking isn’t all there is. It is not used to abandon thought entirely. Krishnamurti’s book “Think On These Things” was mentioned to point that out. It was also mentioned that Krishnamurti often suggests “looking at things deeply” which implies using thought.

To sum up, it is okay to think when you are aware you are thinking. Thinking is a tool, and we need to learn to use it as such.

Referenced: Krishnamurti

How can we “achieve” when stillness seems to oppose goals, the future, etc.?

Mentioned that many people were interested in this talk. That seems to be because we are much more interested in how the achieve things, rather than being interested in stillness. However, that misses the point. We need to learn stillness first.

Three things this talk tries to accomplish: Show that there can be stillness in motion. Discuss the seeming paradox of stillness vs. accomplishment. And I’m hoping to point out that bringing stillness to actions we perform allows for the best performance possible, in all things.

Beginning to define awareness, mindfulness and disconnected states of being. The desire to become aware is really the first fundamental shift (there may be more shifts later, but this is the first profound one). So what is awareness? How do we use mindfulness within awareness? And what is disconnect? 

Who do we really want to be? Would we rather free our minds and grow, learn, and express? Or do we want to let our minds run on and on endlessly?

First step of dealing with a busy mind is to become aware that it is occurring to you.

Next step is to bring your attention back to your breath.

A discussion that begins to talk about ways and times to bring presence into the world. If you practice meditation, these methods will be a good extension of that practice. If you don’t meditate, this will be a good introduction to what meditation is and can be used for.

Mentioned Thich Nat Han and his discussion of doing the dishes mindfully rather than with a busy mind. Also discussed eating mindfully.

Gave a brief introduction and instructions on how to do walking meditation.

Lastly, mentioned that if we don’t learn how to be contented where we are, we will never learn to be contented at all.

Referenced: Thich Nhat Hanh

A discussion about duality, morality, and the motion of pleasure and pain.

Story of farmer and his horses shows the relativistic qualities of good and bad.

Judgment is the common theme underneath the motion of time and the attributes of good and bad.

Exercise of pinching your arm can be used to learn to sit in discomfort without judgment.

Duality is born from the self’s original feeling of separation. Me-not me, up-down, in-out, good-bad are all born from that.

Our problems dissolve when we bring our attention and presence to them.

All problems are based in this one fact: We have become dissatisfied with our situation.

Once we are dissatisfied, we have two choices: 1) Try to bend the world to our will, or 2) surrender and accept the situation – bring presence to the situation.

Surrender is the same as bringing your attention back to the breath. It is very powerful, not weak.

Every time you are aware that you have a problem, bring your attention back to your breath.

How to meditate: Bring your attention back to your breath. Repeat as necessary.

Discussed exercise from Eckhart Tolle to show the energy/aliveness underneath experience. Showed that energy as the oneness of being.

Mentioned that five minutes of meditation a day is all we need to get started down a very important road of growth.

Our mind is capable of opening our focus to many things at the same time.

Discussed real life applications for meditation and presence. Use it to work with anger, sadness, physical pain, etc.

Mentioned Pema Chodron’s quote about the fact that if we knew where our pain came from, we would meditate like our hair was on fire.

Referenced: Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron

Discussion on inner becoming, judgment, time and self. Mentioned J. Krishnamurti and Eckhart Tolle.

Talked about the illusion of being only in time and discussed that pure experience is escaping time. Judgment is the birth of self and time. We are not only separate, in judge-less experience we fall into oneness.

Referenced: Krishnamurti, Eckhardt Tolle