Superpowered Mind with Clare Dimond

Think Again by Adam Grant. The Sunday Book 

'Trojan Horse' words of the week

I have a question about conditioning.  If I understand correctly, we are all like robots acting according to whatever programs were learned along the way until we come to learn more about who we really are.   Then gradually (or all at once those lucky ducks!) the navigation system shifts out of this programming and more and more life is lived as LIfe, Love or the space of awareness etc.  My question is that when the conditioning is seen, but doesn't fall away and is not serving the body mind, is it because there's still some belief in it being true, or that it's very persistent and takes time to do so?  Maybe focusing on the conditioning is the wrong direction to look?  I feel like I'm stuck with this robot and this is my life. 

I understand that the concept of good and bad are just that, and the identity is fixed in place, through this process.  

So, if I was in this scenario, and purposely change the words with no reference to "you're good", who is taking control there?

Who makes the change?  Is it is something to do with prior conditioning or does the identity have some ability to affect change?

As you have said before to try and answer our own questions....

So, what came up is - Is it the identity trying not to do something wrong, or to correct itself, which I guess would come from some conditioning? Is the identity and conditioning the same thing, I think maybe? However, I may be seeing conditioning and identity as separate, in a way that "I have conditioning".  I think that change happens from new thinking but can't see it in this situation. I am getting a bit lost there.

One thing remains a bit of a mystery (Well, not just one, but this is flavor of the day!). Why does the identified mind continue to feel the compulsion to pounce on us with anxieties and concerns the moment we open our eyes in the morning? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. I can’t speak for my friend, but for my part I generally surrender to sleep with thoughts of gratitude for the day that I have had the delight of experiencing. Sleep comes easily. I sleep well. Morning arrives without the jarring voice of an alarm. Instead, my thoughts seem to feel compelled to slap me awake. I know it was not always like this. As a child one springs from bed full of joy and eager to greet the day. Since resistance what is is what holds a pattern in place, I guess the better question  is why do I object to being slapped awake by my identity?  I just do.  

My biggest problem right now is that I feel like I'm in a prison that I can't get out of. Things that people take for granted like having a shower have become very difficult for me and whatever I do doesn't seem good enough.

My adult children are suffering because they are trying to help me but are frustrated because I'm not doing anything to help myself eg eat healthy food and exercise.

I seem to have no desire to do anything at all.

I seem to be very lazy and also incompetent and I don't know what to do about it. If I can't start looking after myself I'm afraid of what my future will be. I could very well end up on the streets and so could my children, especially my son. I'm living with my elderly parents in a rented house and I'm not doing a good job of looking after myself and spend most of my time doing nothing except lying on my bed, walking up and down the hallway, eating or watching a couple of quiz shows on TV.

It's a very insecure, confusing and frightening place to be.

My son came back from Europe to try to help me and is so disappointed and frustrated because no matter what he says and how hard he tries to motivate me, he can't see me trying to help myself at all. My daughter had a baby 7 months ago and I haven't been able to be the support she would have liked and I'm not the Nana I think I should be.

I feel very separate, lonely and isolated. 

How can I move forward? 

There are so many reasons why I'm struggling right now but others eg my son just think I'm making excuses for why I'm not doing what I "should" be doing.

I have no desire to do anything, which is a real worry for me.

I'm currently under the mental health act here in NZ and am taking medication for anxiety and depression.

I've done my best to explain what's going on with me but I don't believe you or anyone can fully understand what I'm going through.

I don't know what I want from you or if there's anything you can say or do to help but I'm reaching out anyway.

I wonder if I am a special case, the exception to the rule and maybe there's no hope for me.

As you know I lost my husband at the end of last year. I found you just after that.

In the grief, the pain, the loss, the sadness, the heartache, the fear, the insecurity and situations that I have now to face without my reference point my soul mate I have never before been in the reality of life as I am now.

I have come to understand that I have Spiritually bypassed and denied so much of life. 

The courses and books you write are showing me this. I am feeling and being present like never before.

I also have been pushing away physical symptoms of illness for many years because I have so much conditioned ideas about ‘it’s my thinking, if only I could change my thinking, it’s all my fault if I didn’t think this way, eat this way, was more spiritual I wouldn’t have this illness. I took it so personally and so much shame and blame showed up.

And punishing myself for all that was happening to me, taking it all personally because that’s what some spiritual teaches brought to me. So I spent years trying to fix the broken me with everything I could and then when it didn’t work blame shame game again.

My understanding through you is becoming so much clearer. I have sought medical advice because in the quietness of mind activity that’s what came up and I acted on it.

So in spiritual bypassing damage has been caused to my joints because I ignored the symptoms.

Sorry I have wondered a bit. 

So I was wondering if you could talk a bit more on spiritual bypass.

Sending lots of love your way and so much gratitude to you.

I have  a question about the difference between depression, numbness, and what you sometimes call 'intelligence'.  Life has been hard recently. Sometimes I have felt some relief, when the stories about what 'should' be drop away and there is just the bareness and rawness of what is there. The thing is that I don't know whether this is 'me' seeing through the stories of the self, or just giving up and lapsing into a kind of numbness or spiritual bypassing, since when it happens it feels like a kind of relief, which suggests it may just be another escape? How do you know the difference?

I hope my questions makes some sense. It is hard to articulate.

'A mind at home with itself', by Byron Katie. Sunday book 

Hi Clare,
I am still listening to your daily podcasts. Each time I take a break I am drawn back and catch up. Sometimes the understanding lands and sometimes I just listen.

Going through an interesting period of change this Spring. This quote of yours, taken from a webinar, helped me though the past two years of pandemic uncertainty. Please can you open up about these wonderful words in a May podcast.