Voice Notes to Self

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 14: Become One with the Universe

- Spiritual growth comes from experience, not theorizing or learning philosophies

- You’ll have merged into universal consciousness

     - By letting negative energy pass, you’ll drift above it

     - Like an individual ray becoming one with the light of the sun

- Seeing the world through universal consciousness

     - no longer judge, only respect, honor, cherish, and appreciate

     - You’ll see beauty in everything

     - The world becomes a garden, ea. flower beautiful in its own ways

- Love like a mother: selfless, passionate & forgiving

     - The sun doesn’t shine more on one than another

     - The fruit gives to anyone willing to accept

     - nature gives and gives to anyone willing to receive

- You only punish yourself by turning away from the universe’s beautiful creations

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 13: The Middle Path of Balance

- The middle path

     - balance between opposites

     - Some call it Dao

     - It’s not good for a person to starve, nor is it good for a person to binge.

     - You can’t survive on extremes

- In physics, there’s equal and opposite force

     - When pendulum swings 30 degrees right from center, it swings back 30 degrees left from center

     - Things are most efficient when centered and maintaining equilibrium; use little energy

     - Trying to balance extremes would thus require the equal and opposite energy aka more energy which is inefficient & wasteful

     - Quit smoking must take extreme because pendulum is swung already to outer edge

- Events last just as long as they’re taking place when energy isn’t taken out of extreme.

     - Life will unfold on its own in the balance.

- Finding the balance point

     - Like sailing, there’s a sweet spot with the wind, ropes, sail, water, and all forces in harmony.

     - Balance point is dynamic and constantly changing. You can’t control it and make it fit your mental model; don't expect to remain stagnant

     - Take notice like how a blind person using cane to feel for edges to avoid

     - Examine the extreme to see effects

- How to reach balance?

     - Just let go. Don’t touch it or contribute energy to it. Don’t participate

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 12: Reflect on Death

- Death is the best teacher, embrace it.

     - It puts things in perspective (big picture)

     - Why bother with small grudges?

     - Scarcity makes life precious

     - A dying person would envy your present. Would envy your normalcy

     - Death shows that everything can be changed in an instant. It is a promise that all good or bad will come to an end

- Death can come at any moment. At any moment, what you’re doing right now is how someone died.

     - Live life like every moment is the last b/c it very well could be

     - How are you living right now? Is that how you want to live? What priorities, thoughts, actions would change?

     - There’s no warning for death. You had all that time. Don’t ask for an extension. Why didn’t you use the time you were already given wisely?

- You can’t change life, only how you live your life

- The ultimate gift from life is the growth from experiencing it. Willingness to experience life events is what gives life meaning

     - Don’t be mistaken, doesn’t mean YOLO recklessness. Your desire to get special experiences is just you making up for missing out on life’s regular special moments.

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 11: Don’t Resist

- Resistance creates stress

     - Resistance stops you from noticing this sequence; stops you from living life

- Will power makes the body move, makes things happen. 

     - You have control, the power to affect things

     - yet resistance to reality is resisting things that already took place; can't change those

     - only resists energy from passing through -- simple terms. Hold a grudge

- Will power drains when struggling to resist

     - You waste energy b/c what happened already passed

     - You are only struggling w/yourself

- When you have fear/stress/anxiety over things that haven’t happened yet

     - you’re throwing energy away b/c the chances of happening are slim

     - It uses energy that could be used to deal with current awareness events & affects clarity

- No reason to stress or burn out when you don’t let willpower resist or build up negative energy

- Sometimes these things you resist aren’t even big, just build up big over time bc you didn’t let go soon enough

     - Let it through you, view with objectivity

- Being present makes events clearer to see, less likely to get blocked

- Relax and release

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 10: Unconditional Happiness, No Matter What

- You only have one choice in life: do you want to be happy or not?

- If the answer’s really yes, don’t qualify

     - remain happy no matter what life throws at you

     - There'll be things that threaten your commitment to happiness but endure no matter what

- Think: are you really willing to let such little things break your life vow? Is that really worth closing your heart for?

Fact: you will die

      - so just live a happy life

     -  There’s no reason not to be happy b/c 

     - Things are insignificant in comparison to the broader scope of things

     -  You gain nothing by being bothered

- You win the game of life if you continue being unbothered and happy

- Open your heart no matter what happens

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 9: Breaking Down Your Concept of Self

- Imagine you're locked in concrete house w/ protective shutters in an open field w/ sunshine 

     - House = mental confines

     - walls of psyche = past emotions, experiences, hopes, dreams, memories-- thoughts

- you build controllable fake world inside

     - your mind's walls breaks infinite uncontrollable universe into finite pieces you can wrap your head around

     - The fact that you are president, athlete, etc. is only memory

     - Thoughts are fake; don’t exist anymore

     - more concentration = slower object passes & stops after long enough you cling to on building fixed sense of self

     - time is infinite yet divided it into tomorrow, next week, month, to fit into mental model

     - personalities/persona, values, consistent thoughts, emotions, definitions = secure & predictable behaviors/ world

     - Expectations: try to alter others when they don’t act according to our expected behaviors ingrained by society

- When defensive/rationalize, you defend self concept/walls you built b/c your existence is at stake

     - There is no winning though

     - When foundation is shaken, you patch the cracks in the walls with more thoughts (excuses, reasoning)

     - This model is very fragile and shatters easily by things out of your control

- natural to avoid running into the walls that are the boundary, like a tiger in a cage

     - comfort zone =  walls

     - You’ll know you’ve met them when you feel resistance, discomfort, & insecurity

     - You cling to consistency to build conceptual self

      - Events that happened to the moment happened already. Let them come and go instead of clinging

     - The center you watch disturbances from can’t get disturbed b/c awareness transcends all

     - Only way out of walls is being aware that you’re aware; You do have control

- break mental model/Question self concept: observe when it shakes or collapses

     - Your mind can’t make up reality because it exists outside of you

     - you won’t live stressed out over everything

     - See why you do things by not doing them (b/c you’re comfortable w/ routine, expectations & comfort)

     - When you know why, dig down to next layer & ask why again

     - can’t actually hurt you when on the edge; shows path to freedom

- Be willing to endure pain to push through the wall, go beyond

- commit to go beyond; once & for all to always let go (don't feed it energy); never back to comfort zone

- You’ll be at peace with the expansiveness of the universe because you won’t need to cling to stability

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 8 -- Pay the Price of Pain

- Pain is just a temporary shift in energy

     - Embarrassment, jealousy, anger, hatred, are all just passing feelings

     - It can’t touch you if you don’t touch it

     - you're deep within your consciousness

- When you avoid confronting the pain, you are avoiding things that aren’t actually happening/hurting you

     - What has hurt you has passed already

     - Your mind thinks of the associated event/memory as painful & doesn't want to let it go

- On the other side of pain is freedom.

     - Only when you let it pass can you reach freedom

- That tremendous heat/ burning energy you feel inside you when you feel pain (embarrassment, jealousy, anger, hatred etc.) is just the purification process of the energy

     - Give it room to pass

- Stay open and receptive

     - The worst the world can do to you is hurt you

     - No need to be fearful; you know how to deal with the pain

This is one part in a series of episodes on "The Untethered Soul".

Part 7: Ultimate Freedom (of Your Soul)

- We don’t know we’re suffering b/c we’ve never known what it’s like not to suffer

     - Thinking about self all the time is suffering b/c you’re trying to fix what’s wrong with you

     - You only notice your body when it is not okay

     - When functioning perfectly, you don’t notice

- Non suffering means never needing to think about or devote your life trying to fix what’s wrong w/you

- Your psyche isn’t okay b/c it has to do the impossible task of figuring out how to avoid fear and situations that will trigger your fears

     -  Your mind is therefore untrustworthy and can mislead you

     - E.g. Trying to appease the problem by blaming the external world, finding external things to cover up the root problem/ outer solutions

     - Don’t listen, don’t buy into it

- Stop expecting the mind to fix everything wrong with you

     - You'll only have a never-ending stream of worries & problems

     - Identify root problem & watch the mind think

- Thinking mind stops when you draw away your attention

     - When you let go from the heart 1st, the mind naturally will not follow through