What if the last obstacle to discovering true freedom and fulfillment is just a thought? Often hiding in plain sight, our common doubts— “I am stuck,” “I am separate,” “I can’t help it”—are how we create our reality and suffer unnecessarily. In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji offers a radical invitation and demonstrates how being aware of what we are actually thinking can open the door to freedom. We all have the capacity to see through our doubting thoughts into the vast simplicity of who I am—freedom itself.

One of the ways we commonly define ourselves is by our “problems.” In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji powerfully challenges the assumptions we have about our problems and what it means if we can or cannot find the respective solutions. If we can’t solve our day-to-day problems, does that exclude us from living a free and authentic life? What really is the last obstacle that keeps one from discovering natural fulfillment?

“If you have nothing, you only have yourself. When you truly only have yourself, you are awake.”

Chasing success and avoiding failure are natural aspects of our human drive to survive. On the spiritual path, however, ending our struggle with avoiding failure offers a profound realization. This illuminating dialogue between Gangaji and a retreat participant gives us a fresh look at failure, perhaps one you have never considered. Gangaji challenges all of our assumptions and leads us to the recognition of what is deeper than either success or failure ... and is always here.

“Enlightenment at the core is heart opening, and heart opening reveals wisdom. And wisdom is mercy. It’s impossible to be merciful to anyone else if your heart is closed to yourself.”

We continue the investigation into self-hatred with this episode of Being Yourself. Gangaji speaks to the necessity of “kissing the toad” if you truly want to be free of patterns of self-hatred and live a life rooted in self-love.

This month, Gangaji begins an exploration into the many facets of self-hatred. Our first installment in a series begins with the egoic cycle of inflation and deflation. How do we get off this wheel of suffering? We are all familiar with feeling great and feeling horrible, but what does that have to do with who we are? This powerful monologue helps us see how the egoic structure works, and that is possible to stop perpetuating patterns of avoidance and patterns of grasping.

We have looked at how we project onto the so-called “other” and the unnecessary suffering that projection generates. This month, we look at how we relate to ourselves as an object in our own minds, overlooking our true face. Objectification also leads to unhappiness and suffering. In this episode, Gangaji offers the possibility to completely simplify our narratives saying, “The ultimate universal remedy to suffering is I AM.”

Projection is an aspect of our human minds that allows us to survive and to function, but projection can also lead us to suffer unnecessarily in all kinds of relationships and within our our minds. In the extreme, when we project fear and hatred onto the so-called "other", tragically it can manifest into horrendous violence. So what can we do as individuals? In this episode, Gangaji addresses how  we end the trance of projection and recognize what is here, now.  

In this podcast, we take a look what drives our desire for purpose and consider, what is our deepest purpose. In two powerful exchanges, Gangaji addresses how the deep fear of being nobody, and the search to be a somebody, becomes its own burden.