Maker/Mistaker Podcast with Jeff Finley

In episode 5 of the Maker/Mistaker Podcast, Jeff and George talk about meditation.

Do you meditate? If not, why? Sometimes meditation can be intimidating or confusing. We break it down in hopes we can inspire you to add this amazing habit to your daily routine.

Both of us have been meditating regularly for two years now and we want to share what we have learned. It has been a major component in our paths out of depression and has directly shaped the way we look at life now and in the future.

More and more people are learning about meditation and it's cousin "mindfulness." We cover the basics of what meditation is and isn't as well as how you can do it. We talk about some of the benefits we have experienced and also get into both the practical applications of meditation and the spiritual.

Some of the benefits we have seen after meditating for 2 years include:

Depression is virtually completely gone

Mindfulness lasts well beyond the meditation session

Reduces stress and anxiety

Deeper intuition and ability to sense energies

Increased ability to stay attentive for longer periods of time

Appreciation for solitude and silence

More equipped to overcome addictions and bad habits

Mind-blowing spiritual or mystical experiences

Dramatically increased awareness of mind, body, and spirit

Realization of how thoughts form and manifest in reality

Ability to stay calm and centered during high stress events

We couldn't forget to share what books, podcasts, and apps have helped us out the most. So make sure you listen for that!

Please share with us your thoughts on meditation in the comments below.

Read on for the show notes.

Music for this episode: You Got This by Jeff Finley

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Show Notes

00:00:45 Introductions

00:02:00 Updates from Jeff Finley

00:04:45 What is meditation?

00:07:33 Misconceptions about meditation

00:11:00 How did meditation come into our lives?

00:14:00 Meditation and Yoga

00:18:20 Using the Headspace app

00:21:15 What do people experience when they meditate?

00:25:00 Starting out with meditation and why people avoid meditation

00:30:00 What to do about your thoughts

00:39:15 Your awareness is like a spotlight

00:44:22 What do we do when we meditate?

00:56:00 The benefit of mindfulness

00:58:00 Suffering and judgement, your inner critic

01:03:00 Open Source Yoga (Advanced Yoga Practice)

01:08:00 Mantras and Transcendental Meditation

01:15:40 Getting comfortable sitting for a long time

01:23:05 The benefits of meditation from our experience

01:26:00 Everything can be a meditation

01:30:40 Higher states of consciousness and mystical experiences

01:34:00 How meditation helped with my night terrors and turned them into out of body experiences

01:37:00 Having direct mystical and spiritual experiences yourself

01:39:00 Drugs and psychedelic experiences

01:51:00 How did people do this without apps, books, and Internet?

01:56:25 Our favorite resources for meditation and mindfulness

Links and Resources for Meditation:

Good reading on Raptitude.com

Jeff's new book Wake Up

Jeff was a guest on a podcast speaking about his out of body experiences

Coach.me and Jeff's coaching profile

Headspace app

The Miracle Morning book by Hal Elrod

Journeys out of the Body book by Robert Monroe

The Mindful Way Through Depression book by Mark Williams

Sean Webb's I Am Spirituality podcast

Body, Mind, and Spirit 101 by Sean Webb

How Emotions Work in Humans and Computers book by Sean Webb

The Power of Now book by Eckhart Tolle

Advanced Yoga Practices website

Transcendental Meditation website

Calm.com

Stop Think and Breathe app

Zen Friend app

Mindfulness in Plain English book by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Ram Dass gives LSD to guru with no effect

My Big T.O.E. book by Thomas Campbell

Last week I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Pillowtok podcast by Gossipist discussing out of body experiences and lucid dreaming. It was a lively discussion and we get into whether or not these things are "real" or not and I share some tips on how you can try to have one and find out for yourself.

Listen to the interview here →

You may have read my post about my first out of body experience. Since then I've had over 50 OBEs and lucid dreams. With practice, I was able to learn to have them at will.

Well, almost.

I can't just say the magic words and *poof* I'm out of my body. The technique isn't hard, it just takes focus, intent, and an open mind. Practically speaking, it's a variant of the Wake Back to Bed Method.  I call it my FUCK IT Method. Not kidding.

I would try these techniques and nothing would work. Then I'd say "fuck it" and roll over and go back to sleep. Then somehow, when my body entered the proper state between waking and sleeping (sleep paralysis, vibrational state), my conscious awareness turned back on and as long as I didn't move, I could sink through the bed, float up and out, or roll out. Then I was literally standing next to my body. From there I could leave the bedroom, go outside, or do whatever I wanted.

There is no question what I experienced was real. But what does "real" mean anyway? That's a question that certainly came up for me and later inspired me to explore and research consciousness and the nature of reality.

Conscious Out of Body Exploration

It took me several weeks, lots of research, and quite a few attempts to try to have a conscious out of body experience. But once I did, I felt like I cracked the Da Vinci Code. A whole new world opened up.

Read about one of my craziest out of body experiences here.

I've been able to consistently have these out of body experiences enough where I now have goals or ideas of things to *do* while out of body. Now, whether you believe this is a literal "out of body" experience or "all in your head" experience, it's still an experience. It's a state of reality you can explore and experiment with.

Stuff I've tried in my out of body state:

Walking through wallsFlyingSexMeditationRemote viewingUsing thought to make change thingsLooking in the bathroom mirrorTraveling THROUGH the bathroom mirrorTalking to peopleVisiting my neighborsTrying to experience my spiritual essence

I plan on using out of body experiences to explore my inner self. In my opinion, this is one path to get answers to life's deepest questions by going within. It's not reliant on any religious text, dogma, or protocol. I get to seek my own answers, experiment with my own consciousness and come away with it knowing what works for me and me alone.

Out of body travelers, lucid dreamers, and astral projection practitioners are the modern-day Marco Polos. We are explorers of inner space, much like astronauts and astronomers were explorers of outer space.

And since we are literally fractals of the universe, we can explore the universe by going within. There are infinite possibilities.

But don't just believe me or take my word for it. Try it for yourself. 

If you've ever had flying dreams, dreams where you realize you are dreaming, sleep paralysis, night terrors, or sleepwalking experiences, you are already halfway there. It only takes conscious intent, curiosity, and a desire to learn. You will get there.

Again, here is the interview.

http://gossipistmag.com/out-of-body-experiences-pillowtok-65/

Please share your experiences in the comments!

In episode 4 of the Maker/Mistaker Podcast, Jeff and George get into a great discussion on habits. We cover a lot of the psychology of habits and why we do the things we do. We get into how and why we get into bad habits in the first place and what we can do to break them.

We talked about what you can do to start new, positive habits and build your life around this idea. Becoming a habit-former. Becoming a person who has control over their life and is aware of outside influences.

We talk about being mindful of our triggers and tendencies and how we can identify where we have small little habits or addictions. Some of which are controlling our lives and we don't even know it.

If anyone can find a way to talk for two hours about habits, we did it. And it never gets boring! Read on for the show notes.

Music for this episode: Evil Lives by Jeff Finley

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Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

Look us up in your favorite podcasting app. I like Pocket Casts.

Show Notes

00:00:45 Introductions

00:02:45 Perfectionism, procrastination, holiday breaks

00:03:56 The basics of building habits, triggers, rewards, addictions

00:06:30 What’s more addicting Facebook or smoking?

00:09:15 Emotional triggers for bad habits

00:11:00 Easing anxiety in social situations, avoidance behaviors

00:14:00 Looking at your phone

00:16:00 You don’t actually WANT to do the bad habit

00:17:30 Being present: An altered state of consciousness

00:21:20 Talking to strangers instead of being preoccupied

00:24:30 Dopamine and the reward system in our brain

00:27:00 The manipulation of our reward system

00:28:30 Discipline: What you want now vs what you want most

00:31:00 The future you is a stranger to your present self

00:34:00 Synthetic motivation and our hijacked reward system

00:35:00 Fitting in: Picking up habits of people around us

00:38:10 How to breaking bad habits - change environment

00:42:40 Triggers in your environment, office, etc.

00:44:00 Mental bad habits and limiting beliefs

00:46:06 More psychological habits, approval seeking

00:48:00 Mindfulness of your emotions, triggers, staying alert

00:50:00 Get rid of distractions and hurdles

00:51:30 Making the habit “default” like brushing your teeth

00:52:00 Chaining to other habits, awesome technique

00:54:10 Replacing bad habits with something else

00:55:20 Small habits are the key

00:56:50 Keystone habits, morning routines

00:59:00 Feeling “weird” to not do your new habits

01:00:30 Making your bed, a surprisingly powerful habit

01:03:30 Tiny victories lead to self-esteem boosts

01:05:40 Using novelty to keep the flame lit

01:09:00 Getting past the need to be rewarded

01:10:30 Reducing your addiction to novelty

01:12:00 Taking a break from habits to obtain perspective

01:14:30 Reflecting on your success

01:18:00 Addiction to doing, achieving, and productivity

01:21:20 A longing for a deeper purpose

01:23:00 When playing makes you feel guilty

01:24:30 Pleasing the authority makes me feel productive

01:27:00 Anxiety around not making money with our actions

01:28:20 Addicted to self-improvement and learning

01:31:45 Productive consumption vs productive creation

01:34:00 Porn and exploitation of our primal urges, our lower brain

01:37:00 The Internet never ends, infinite novelty, overload

01:40:20 Unplugging from dopamine intake to reset your brain

01:42:00 Binging on information or inspiration

01:43:00 Addiction to not being addicted

01:44:18 Concrete steps to start building better habits today

01:50:30 Becoming a person who changes and creates their life

01:58:30 Bookend habits - make your bed, do the dishes

Links:

ZenHabits

Power of Habit Book

Lifehacker - Lifestyle Design

Gamifcation by Design

Some people see their future-selves as strangers

Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

Keystone Habits

The War of Art

Lift.do habit-building app

The real reason for the 40-hour workweek

Your Brain on Porn

This is episode 3 of the Maker/Mistaker Podcast and it features a new co-host George Coghill. George is an self-employed artist who has carved his career out of cartooning and illustration over the past decade. But he also blogs about his personal development and self-improvement journey at The Overthinker.

We met up a couple weeks ago to hike in the woods and share stories of overcoming depression and waking up. We talked for hours and hours and I felt like it would be amazing to bring this conversation to the podcast.

I'm also taking a step up in the Podcast and I'm going to do a "season" format. Where we set the intention to record 10 episodes for Season 1 and then stop and decide if we want to continue.

In this podcast we cover what it was like living with depression and how we used our depression to grow into who we are today.

We get into a bunch of topics on everything from meditation, personal development, society, culture, and more. This is a taste of what's to come. Enjoy!

In Episode 2 of the Maker/Mistaker Podcast, I have an eye opening discussion with Charis Melina Brown. I came across her YouTube channel after searching for information on Starseeds.

Who is Charis? She's an example of someone who is living in alignment with her true soul expression. She's vibrant and in love with life. Charis currently lives in Sedona, AZ and has written a few books and teaches classes and workshops from living your purpose to awakening your DNA. She always seems to inspire me and help me realize that my struggles don't have to be such a big deal. Her attitude is always so positive and upbeat.

She calls herself a modern day practitioner of Magic. She's one of the smartest, most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of spirituality, non-physical energies, aliens and ETs, the nature of reality, dreams, etc. Her excitement for these topics is contagious. You can tell she LIVES this stuff.

From her website, her bio reads:

Throughout history, there have been medicine men and medicine women, shaman, priests, and alchemists who have always played a unique part in society. In today's world, if a child feels the call to grow up and become a teacher, a doctor, a chef, or a businessman, there are role models to provide a path towards that goal. But kids who are innate priestesses or wizards have no real adults doing this to observe.

This is what I do.

I am a "magician" living here in the modern world. I am educated with two master's degrees and chose to leave school and write my own books three months shy of graduating with a Ph.D. I make a good living, I drive my car, check my email, make dinner, and I also rock out amazing rituals under the Full Moon, talk to ghosts, aliens, and elemental nature spirits, and remember my past lives.

You can absolutely do all of it and be a perfectly sane, balanced, awesome person who rocks existence on multiple levels.

My job is to show those who want to learn how.

Episode Length: 92 minutes

Recording Date: October 6, 2014

Episode Breakdown:

02:46 -  Background on Charis Melina Brown

04:08 -  Imaginary Friends in Childhood

04:45 -  Spiritual Crisis & Awakening

06:00 -  Clairvoyance or Schizophrenia?

07:40 -  Thirst for Knowledge and the Internet

11:25 -  Discovering Starseeds and Esoteric Stuff

13:00 -  First Contact - Most Intense Moment of Charis' life

23:00 -  Paradigm Shifts, Activations, OBEs, NDEs

25:20 -  Doubters - Have you researched it?

26:30 -  No particular calling is better or "correct"

27:50 -  What's my life purpose? Doubting it.

30:30 -  Life purpose "wobbling" and shifting

33:06 -  Mistaking Procrastination for Needing to Rest

34:20 -  Laziness, Resistance, Procrastination, Rest

35:45 -  Changing things up to stay reinvigorated

37:25 -  You don't have to have ONE purpose forever

38:00 -  Learn to end things gracefully with no sadness

40:02 -  One thing in common is DIY

41:27 -  How to do what you love full time?

44:12 -  Integrating spiritual concepts in "normal" life

46:05 -  Depression - a life that's not lived "in alignment"

47:55 -  Fear, Fear, Fear - Learning the best way to deal with it

49:25 -  Nothing has to be a big deal ever

50:14 -  Leaps of faith are hardly ever needed

52:00 -  Changing small bits instead of massive changes

53:00 -  Do you have to do it the scariest way in order for it to count?

55:10 -  The inside is your compass, but the outside is your weather

55:26 -  These lives, we are just playing dress-up - it's not actually real

57:10 -  How to keep fear from coming back? Just stop caring about the results

58:30 -  Wounds and holes in your energy field attract triggers

1:00:00 -  Relationship conflicts, criticism, etc

1:02:00 -  Psychic vampires, codependency, conditional love

1:03:28 -  Everyone wants to be important, victim/warrior archetype

1:05:33 -  It's not about what happens to you,

This is the very first episode of the Maker/Mistaker Podcast! In this episode I talk with Gigi Young, a psychic intuitive that teaches and mentors others through a spiritual and cosmic perspective.

https://youtu.be/JaxYySdqSvY

I initially found her on YouTube talking about consciousness, spirituality, and extra terrestrials. The way she communicated esoteric ideas resonated nicely with where I'm at in my path and I hired her for an intuitive coaching session a few weeks back. In that session she used her connections to her spirit guides to help me see my life's circumstances and struggles in a new light. She helped me gain clarity on my sense of purpose and provided a welcome perspective that fit with my newly expanded view of reality.

In this inaugural podcast episode, Gigi and I dive deep into mind-blowing and esoteric subject matter. We cover a lot of ground about finding and living your purpose, consciousness, spirituality, metaphysical subjects, starseeds, and ETs.

Episode Length: 92 minutesRecording Date: Aug 29, 2014

Episode Breakdown:

04:18 psychic abilities, stereotypes, skepticism

12:49 from atheist/skeptic to spiritual/occult

15:00 studying metaphysics instead of partying

20:00 finding your innate truth and purpose

24:00 music taste, resonance, and frequency

30:00 finding joy and thriving vs what feels good now

34:00 finding your own voice, taking a media detox

35:00 inspiration and our subconscious, not getting discouraged

38:40 starseeds, cosmic spirituality, oversouls, past lives

47:00 dimensions of consciousness

51:00 lucid dreams, out of body experiences, astral projection

57:00 thoughts, manifestation, imagination, law of attraction

1:04:00 taking responsibility for yourself as a creator

1:07:00 every relationship is a reflection of yourself

1:10:30 astrology, birth charts, starseeds, your true nature

1:16:54 finding your purpose, your authenticity

1:19:00 selflessness vs selfishness, changing the world

1:24:00 advice for creators, Gigi's future plans, living in flow

1:26:30 masculinity, David Deida, the Way of the Superior Man

1:31:00 closing thoughts

Links

Gigi's Website

Gigi's YouTube Channel

References

Miss Cleo

David Deida

Shadow Work

Get your own birth chart

Starseed Hotline

The Secret

What the Bleep do We Know

My post about The Way of the Superior Man

My post about working with Kelly La Sha

My post about my first out of body experience

My post about me possibly being a Starseed

Books

Dreams of Awakening

Secret of the Soul

The Alchemy of Nine Dimensions

The Way of the Superior Man

Liquid Mirror by Kelly La Sha

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