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Love the aha “I am not inherently bad.” The Christian concept of original sin is so ingrained and releasing that concept is so liberating. I find myself falling back into the trap too often.
Wow... you are right, Nikki. Thank you for saying this, I didn't think of it in terms of combating certain challenging conditioning patterns like that... I am going to reflect on this more... ❤
@@GaleRuppel Original sin... This is so, so interesting... So, original sin suggests that we are inherently bad just for existing, for being alive, right? If I'm off a little, how would you word that differently?
Yes!! Exactly, thank you for bringing up original sin. @GaleRuppel I also had a strong religious upbringing that unfortunately planted the seed that I was bad, and there's nothing I can do about it but try to be perfect. Those messages internalized as a child...
Thank you for this exercise / meditation, Brian. My guess is that I was not fully presenced during the meditation based on my experience while watching this video. It was obvious to me that "nothing could be other than it is" AND my mind was still judging how things are in my current reality as unwanted, undesirable, and unfair. I can seem to accept my reactions and forgive my past and current selves due to seeing how past conditioning and traumas have affected me, but I still just DON'T LIKE IT. It is all "ok" in my mind (meaning "of course I am the way I am!!") and yet I hate how things are now, which is exactly how I felt when thinking of the time period that the way I am now started to form (which was in young childhood). When doing step #3, I felt that if things were the opposite back then, that I would now be able to fully express myself easily and clearly to others, that I would be accepted and understood by them, and therefore I would be loved and acknowledged, and belong to a group of people who deeply appreciated me and my input. Contemplating how my life would be different now if things had been the opposite back then just made me feel even more angry, irritated, frustrated, annoyed, disgusted, and disappointed, which was the feeling/thinking state from my answer to step #1. At the end of this exercise, I was basically in a feeling / thinking state of the original wound from the past: "I hate my life. Nobody loves me. This sucks. I want to die." Like I said, I don't think I was fully sourcing Presence through the exercise otherwise I probably would have deeply sank into a sense of forgiveness for all that was/is/will be and the sense of freedom that comes with that. The most helpful thing for me to know was: "You are loved no matter what". That's a hard one to swallow still, even after having experienced states of unconditional love and spiritual bliss many times in the past along my journey. 🙏🏼 Rebecca B.
I too also felt a lot of anger and disgust when he first said that. I kept thinking. I made this mess. I am to blame for the choices I made. If I had been more encouraged growing up, I'm sure I wouldn't be so timid and done things I really wanted to do.
Wow. Thank you for sharing your heart, Rebecca. So, you can see "nothing could be other than it is" AND your mind was still judging how things are in your current reality as unwanted, undesirable, and unfair. Let's talk about that. It's okay to have both of those perspectives at different times. But you won't want to mix them if you can help it. That's why, at first, we take deliberate time to see how "Nothing could be other than it is," when we prioritize this one perspective we go deeper with it. But that part of you is right, it is ALSO important to know what you want to be different. And when it's time to prioritize that perspective, go as deep as possible with it, too. The point being, that when we don't FULLY prioritize one of these perspectives at a time, and hold it for a long as possible, then we might not discover what we truly need to discover. Allow yourself to go to places in your mind that you have never gone before... ...allow yourself to see your Innocence [said with a booming voice]. Likely, you will know you are successful in this endeavor when you cry. ❤
My takeaway... First of all, the understanding or perhaps the awareness of the WHY nothing could be other than it is or in this instance why I could not be other than I am in the present moment was very comforting. The one word that came to mind after doing step #3 , changing the conditions and reversing things was freedom. Freedom I suppose is a lot like peaceful. My focus on the meditation was perfectionism and how it influences my decision making and so many times gets in my way. What do I most need to know? I most need to know that there is no such thing as perfect but if there were... I am already that.
awwwwww.... that is so precious. "There is no such thing as perfect but if there were... I am already that." Hey, here is a fun philosophical question that probably has no right or wrong answer, but I am just interested to hear how you, or others, would answer it. You say "There is no such thing as perfect," well, from this perspective, is there such a thing as imperfect??
@@DiscoveringtheSoulgood one.. I know another soul who can throw a little tweak into the mix and make me ponder. 😅 I suppose if there is not a perfect then there also is not an imperfect...which alters everything. Perhaps I would say that there is no perfect or imperfect...there just "is". Reminds me of "I am".
I've wrestled with this one for a long time. Who is the one who gets to define what perfect or imperfect is? What are the metrics? Who's metrics are you measuring yourself by? What if those metrics were your own desire for where you'd like to end up and then what after that, and after that and when would you ever arrive? I've even thought of the idea of "unfinished" instead, but then are we ever? What if like the universe, we are always expanding, growing, evolving and it doesn't even matter. It only matters in the sense of not fitting into and be accepted by someone else's metrics.
@@cosmicbirth9453you bring up a lot of good points. I think we are like the Universe, continually evolving. I don't think there is a finish line. In the reference to this meditation I am not sure who's meter of perfection I was using. Most likely as a child it was my mother's definition of perfection and as I aged I established my own definition.
I spent a lot of time making decisions and acting based on my core values. And I also think another bucket is programs or myths that society has created like gender and achievement and what is “good or bad “this caused me to think that my programs are so much moredefault to me than my values and I really want to change that. I spend a lot of time thinking about my core values and trying to make decisions around those so why is it so easy to just go back to the program? Just pondering that question is such a great exercise
Totally. It seems, perhaps, that some limits are, dare I say... foundational??? haha Just thinking outside of the box. Why else would we go back to the program, even after so much self-reflection? Maybe in some ways, the good and the bad are both part of the same one process. Just some interesting thoughts to think about. 🙏
I went through this process twice bringing me even more awareness. There are these brief windows in time, where I can see and feel a song singing through my heart of who I am and what is mine to be doing as if I can almost grasp the echoes of songbirds through a gentle breeze then slips away. It’s as though the song has always existed only showing itself as different reflections of light at different times. Then I look at the contract to sign for a room rental agreement for a developmental trauma support circle for the umpteenth time. I’m asking myself why this time will be any different than all the other similar failed attempts. What if no one comes and I have to pay for the rent myself? My passion is strong but my vital energy is low. Who am I anyway? “Nothing could be other than it is” - ya sure - right! Acceptance - ha! Half my life is behind me and this is not where I wanted to be. I should’ve done a whole lot better, knew better. I don’t want to just be a victim of my conditioning. I want to be the creator of my reality and control how things turn out. I beat myself up, if only…. I hadn’t…. I can see given past experiences why I would be hesitating moving forward. My life got turned totally upside down and I feel completely beaten down. It makes total sense but hearing those words offers me no relief - after all - I allowed this mess to happen. I trusted someone who let me down, I ignored the signs, I rationalized, I was attached to the fantasy but I thought I could somehow be the exception. I would prove to be the greatest healer ever, rewrite all my child failings (as if they were really mine) and I would blossom into the most radiant glorious expression of myself riding on the back of a unicorn, wind blowing in my hair into the sunset. (How grandiose of me) I would turn my property into the most beautiful sanctuary for others to come find peace. Ugh, why can't I get there already? I would prove myself to be able to handle the very worst and rise triumphant to receive my shinning gold star and live happily ever after in endless adoration. I would be the exception, yet I saw myself as extremely flawed. My mind landed back to the first grade when I was put in special ed. Why was I put in special ed? I wasn’t having difficulty in school and besides that’s for retarded kids. Am I retarded? My mom started giving me extra school work to do when I got home from school. It was horribly grueling. My parents had no interest in the things I wanted to do. My dad got upset with my apparent intellectual inaptitude. Maybe there really was something wrong with me. Shut up - go away - stop daydreaming - I’m right, you’re wrong - get to work - it’s you’re fault - didn’t they teach you this in school? There were rules, I obeyed the rules, thinking that one day, only if….. Of course nothing can be other than it is. Look at the rules, I followed. What if things had been different? What if I was encouraged and supported to discover my own talents and pursue my own interests? I probably would have had a very different path. I might have explored the performing arts, sang, danced, painted and possibly even been on stage. (Gasp…no... me? Be seen?) and I probably wound’t have quite the zeal for the healing arts that I have today. And forget about engineering physics, oh my goodness, what was I even thinking? I asked again what is it I need to hear? “I am not God.” Yep, it’s true, I’m not God. I am not that exceptional (to be God) and yet I am exceptional. That is a sense of relief, what a burden.
Wonderful insights. I don’t want to be a victims of programming either. And there are so many programs! Every time I think I am freeing up I see where I am bound. The journey!
Wow. Thank you for sharing all of this. You are a good writer, I really felt like I was on the journey with you. 🙏 You may already know this, but just a couple small points of clarity, "it couldn't be other than it is" is step one. It's SO important not to confuse step one with step two. The purpose of step one ("it couldn't be other than it is") is to dissolve the critical, overthinking part of ourselves. When this critical, overthinking part of ourselves is gone then we can move into step two, which is clearly see the actions we can take to move forward in the productive ways we desire. If we mix step one with step two, this process will not have the full impact that it can have on our lives. We have to first, fully discover how "it couldn't be other than it is" from am empowering perspective. It we see the words "it couldn't be other than it is" as disempowering at all, then we haven't allowed step one to fully do its magic. Its' helpful to start seeing our lives, or past as factual or unchangeable, we can tbegi to make a change in it TODAY. “The acceptance of ourselves as we are gives us the freedom to change.” I would love to talk more about this in person. Please come to our next You Are That Which You Seek Meditation Group. It's free to all and you can ask questions about this there if you feel clarity as needed. Or, I would be happy to share a phone call with you anytime. 🙏
In doing this meditation I found it really hard to do step #3. Changing the conditions to the opposite of what I remember them to be. Once I plowed through an imediate feeling of freedom persued. I felt as if the shackles I had placed upon myself were ripped away. My "conditioning" began in early childhood and I found it interesting how ingrained those feelings of being not good enough still linger in the now.
So cool! Thank you for sharing. And then, sometimes, I wonder... perhaps it is very purposeful to have limitations, any limitations that may be lingering after we have been on the healing journey for a while. Sometimes, I wonder... if any seeming remaining limitations and the freedom from them are actually two sides to the same one process. How could we move forward if there is nothing to push against? What would be there if there was no seeming limits? Would we have any sense of moving forward? Would we have a backbone at all? Are seeming limits needed for anything to happen in our lives? I don't know, but I think, perhaps, there is an inseparable relationship between these two sides... Perhaps, feeling not good enough has its advantages? Interesting stuff to contemplate. I love talking about these things with you, Gale! ❤
@@cosmicbirth9453I did a year of IFS (Internal Family Systems) thearapy which is comparable to this meditation. The end result of each session left me with the feeling of weight/burdens lifted... or shackles ripped away...and it is definitely my favorite part too. Feels like space has been cleared inside to let the light and more good things in.❤
@@GaleRuppel I was taught parts therapy at hypnotherapy school long before I knew about IFS but I always do the rewrite part. Wow, a whole year of IFS must of cleared a ton of crap out.
Thank you for this meditation. I did it yesterday with a friend. It is always interesting to learn more about myself and how I came to be ...no way other than how I am.
@@DiscoveringtheSoul, you know my friend 😉. We had an interesting after conversation regarding our experience. We compared how we each reacted differently to a similar childhood influence .
Kind of like I talked about above about the dogs and how some would go into fight mode as a default and I go into freeze mode and others might run. Different people responding to the same thing in different ways.
Trying to understand your step #4. If “each way” is referring to step #2 AND step #3, I am struggling with how step #3 “keeps you from being any other way in the present”.
Great question! Maybe this step is unneeded for some people. But the purpose of steps 3 and 4, which is the reversal of step 2, is only to see our past as unchangeable. When we reverse the experiences we had as a child, for instance, then it allows us to see that the conditions of our lives are what create the decisions we make and actions we take in the present. Rather than believing we, as a 100% autonomous human, are what is making the decisions. When we believe we, as a 100% autonomous human, are making the decisions, it's easy to condemn ourselves for decisions. We would only condemn ourselves if we didn't take into account the conditioning that made us that way. Truly, we are not as autonomous as we think we are, and there is SO much freedom from self-judgment when we realize this. "The acceptance of ourselves as we are gives us the freedom to change." Step 3 just helps us to see how connected our decision-making in the present is to our past experiences. Step 4 is just highlighting the same thing, but using the word WEIGHT to emphasize your decision-making as being highly influanced, rather then 100% autonomous.
This part about not being as autonomous as we think, is super heavy. That means I can just blame my conditioning and its not my fault. Two years ago, I was attacked by dogs, one week after the Amazon driver delivering to my neighborhood was killed by dogs. I was bit many many times on my legs and arm by two dogs. I froze, I screamed for help. I thought I might die. One bore deeply into my arm. I couldn't feel my hand and I was really scared I'd never be able to feel it again. It took me a minute or two to talk my body into moving and opening the gate to get out. For several weeks after that, the scenario played in my mind over and over and over again. I had been to this house so many times and hadn't seen dogs but they had a sign up. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER. I beat myself up and tried to reimagine myself having made a different choice, imagining that I had kicked those dogs instead. The scene was like an endless loop in my brain haunting me. All the times I've frozen in my life and couldn't move. I felt so ashamed and powerless. I heard so many talk about how they go into anger mode. Why couldn't I go into anger mode and fight my way out like other people? One day my therapist said to me in a most compassionate voice - "We don't get to choose our survival response when we are little". That's what I learned when I was little and it could be no other way than what it was. I don't think until then I was able to let go of the self blame I had towards myself for all the times, I just froze. If I could have responded differently, I would have but my body was hijacked and I was not totally autonomous to choose differently.
@@cosmicbirth9453 "If I could have responded differently, I would have but my body was hijacked and I was not totally autonomous to choose differently." - yes, exactly!
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Like the new format! Excited to try esp since I can’t usually make the live!
@@nikkimonnig5150 Totally! It's so lovely to have people to share the journey with. 🙏 ❤
Love the aha “I am not inherently bad.” The Christian concept of original sin is so ingrained and releasing that concept is so liberating. I find myself falling back into the trap too often.
I agree.The inherently bad feeling was present for me in my younger years due to my religious upbringing and the concept of original sin.
Wow... you are right, Nikki. Thank you for saying this, I didn't think of it in terms of combating certain challenging conditioning patterns like that... I am going to reflect on this more... ❤
@@GaleRuppel Original sin... This is so, so interesting... So, original sin suggests that we are inherently bad just for existing, for being alive, right? If I'm off a little, how would you word that differently?
Yes!! Exactly, thank you for bringing up original sin. @GaleRuppel I also had a strong religious upbringing that unfortunately planted the seed that I was bad, and there's nothing I can do about it but try to be perfect. Those messages internalized as a child...
@@DiscoveringtheSoulyes you have it correct.
Thank you for this exercise / meditation, Brian.
My guess is that I was not fully presenced during the meditation based on my experience while watching this video. It was obvious to me that "nothing could be other than it is" AND my mind was still judging how things are in my current reality as unwanted, undesirable, and unfair.
I can seem to accept my reactions and forgive my past and current selves due to seeing how past conditioning and traumas have affected me, but I still just DON'T LIKE IT. It is all "ok" in my mind (meaning "of course I am the way I am!!") and yet I hate how things are now, which is exactly how I felt when thinking of the time period that the way I am now started to form (which was in young childhood).
When doing step #3, I felt that if things were the opposite back then, that I would now be able to fully express myself easily and clearly to others, that I would be accepted and understood by them, and therefore I would be loved and acknowledged, and belong to a group of people who deeply appreciated me and my input.
Contemplating how my life would be different now if things had been the opposite back then just made me feel even more angry, irritated, frustrated, annoyed, disgusted, and disappointed, which was the feeling/thinking state from my answer to step #1.
At the end of this exercise, I was basically in a feeling / thinking state of the original wound from the past: "I hate my life. Nobody loves me. This sucks. I want to die."
Like I said, I don't think I was fully sourcing Presence through the exercise otherwise I probably would have deeply sank into a sense of forgiveness for all that was/is/will be and the sense of freedom that comes with that.
The most helpful thing for me to know was: "You are loved no matter what". That's a hard one to swallow still, even after having experienced states of unconditional love and spiritual bliss many times in the past along my journey.
🙏🏼
Rebecca B.
I too also felt a lot of anger and disgust when he first said that. I kept thinking. I made this mess. I am to blame for the choices I made. If I had been more encouraged growing up, I'm sure I wouldn't be so timid and done things I really wanted to do.
Wow. Thank you for sharing your heart, Rebecca.
So, you can see "nothing could be other than it is" AND your mind was still judging how things are in your current reality as unwanted, undesirable, and unfair. Let's talk about that.
It's okay to have both of those perspectives at different times. But you won't want to mix them if you can help it.
That's why, at first, we take deliberate time to see how "Nothing could be other than it is," when we prioritize this one perspective we go deeper with it.
But that part of you is right, it is ALSO important to know what you want to be different. And when it's time to prioritize that perspective, go as deep as possible with it, too.
The point being, that when we don't FULLY prioritize one of these perspectives at a time, and hold it for a long as possible, then we might not discover what we truly need to discover.
Allow yourself to go to places in your mind that you have never gone before...
...allow yourself to see your Innocence [said with a booming voice].
Likely, you will know you are successful in this endeavor when you cry.
❤
I feel complete peace ❤
Perfect! 🙏 ❤️ 🙏
I feel the same - everything is as it should be right in this moment.
Funny I just commented above perfect peace. Then I read your comment!
This made me feel so awakened into myself 💙.
This is such a beautiful way to describe it!
I know... there is some spiritual magic that can happen.
Totally! 🫶
I keep asking myself if I am not my thoughts or feelings what am I?? That is awakened into self! Perfect peace!
@@nikkimonnig5150 Oh wow, that's a good way to practice the feeling of being "awakened into myself!"
My takeaway...
First of all, the understanding or perhaps the awareness of the WHY nothing could be other than it is or in this instance why I could not be other than I am in the present moment was very comforting.
The one word that came to mind after doing step #3 , changing the conditions and reversing things was freedom.
Freedom I suppose is a lot like peaceful.
My focus on the meditation was perfectionism and how it influences my decision making and so many times gets in my way.
What do I most need to know? I most need to know that there is no such thing as perfect but if there were... I am already that.
awwwwww.... that is so precious. "There is no such thing as perfect but if there were... I am already that."
Hey, here is a fun philosophical question that probably has no right or wrong answer, but I am just interested to hear how you, or others, would answer it. You say "There is no such thing as perfect," well, from this perspective, is there such a thing as imperfect??
@@DiscoveringtheSoulgood one..
I know another soul who can throw a little tweak into the mix and make me ponder. 😅
I suppose if there is not a perfect then there also is not an imperfect...which alters everything. Perhaps I would say that there is no perfect or imperfect...there just "is".
Reminds me of "I am".
@@GaleRuppel Beautiful. Well said. :) 100% 🙏
I've wrestled with this one for a long time. Who is the one who gets to define what perfect or imperfect is? What are the metrics? Who's metrics are you measuring yourself by? What if those metrics were your own desire for where you'd like to end up and then what after that, and after that and when would you ever arrive? I've even thought of the idea of "unfinished" instead, but then are we ever? What if like the universe, we are always expanding, growing, evolving and it doesn't even matter. It only matters in the sense of not fitting into and be accepted by someone else's metrics.
@@cosmicbirth9453you bring up a lot of good points. I think we are like the Universe, continually evolving. I don't think there is a finish line.
In the reference to this meditation I am not sure who's meter of perfection I was using. Most likely as a child it was my mother's definition of perfection and as I aged I established my own definition.
I spent a lot of time making decisions and acting based on my core values. And I also think another bucket is programs or myths that society has created like gender and achievement and what is “good or bad “this caused me to think that my programs are so much moredefault to me than my values and I really want to change that. I spend a lot of time thinking about my core values and trying to make decisions around those so why is it so easy to just go back to the program? Just pondering that question is such a great exercise
It most certainly is. 😊
Totally. It seems, perhaps, that some limits are, dare I say... foundational??? haha Just thinking outside of the box. Why else would we go back to the program, even after so much self-reflection? Maybe in some ways, the good and the bad are both part of the same one process.
Just some interesting thoughts to think about. 🙏
I went through this process twice bringing me even more awareness.
There are these brief windows in time, where I can see and feel a song singing through my heart of who I am and what is mine to be doing as if I can almost grasp the echoes of songbirds through a gentle breeze then slips away. It’s as though the song has always existed only showing itself as different reflections of light at different times. Then I look at the contract to sign for a room rental agreement for a developmental trauma support circle for the umpteenth time. I’m asking myself why this time will be any different than all the other similar failed attempts. What if no one comes and I have to pay for the rent myself? My passion is strong but my vital energy is low. Who am I anyway? “Nothing could be other than it is” - ya sure - right! Acceptance - ha! Half my life is behind me and this is not where I wanted to be. I should’ve done a whole lot better, knew better. I don’t want to just be a victim of my conditioning. I want to be the creator of my reality and control how things turn out. I beat myself up, if only…. I hadn’t…. I can see given past experiences why I would be hesitating moving forward. My life got turned totally upside down and I feel completely beaten down. It makes total sense but hearing those words offers me no relief - after all - I allowed this mess to happen. I trusted someone who let me down, I ignored the signs, I rationalized, I was attached to the fantasy but I thought I could somehow be the exception. I would prove to be the greatest healer ever, rewrite all my child failings (as if they were really mine) and I would blossom into the most radiant glorious expression of myself riding on the back of a unicorn, wind blowing in my hair into the sunset. (How grandiose of me) I would turn my property into the most beautiful sanctuary for others to come find peace. Ugh, why can't I get there already? I would prove myself to be able to handle the very worst and rise triumphant to receive my shinning gold star and live happily ever after in endless adoration. I would be the exception, yet I saw myself as extremely flawed. My mind landed back to the first grade when I was put in special ed. Why was I put in special ed? I wasn’t having difficulty in school and besides that’s for retarded kids. Am I retarded? My mom started giving me extra school work to do when I got home from school. It was horribly grueling. My parents had no interest in the things I wanted to do. My dad got upset with my apparent intellectual inaptitude. Maybe there really was something wrong with me. Shut up - go away - stop daydreaming - I’m right, you’re wrong - get to work - it’s you’re fault - didn’t they teach you this in school? There were rules, I obeyed the rules, thinking that one day, only if….. Of course nothing can be other than it is. Look at the rules, I followed. What if things had been different? What if I was encouraged and supported to discover my own talents and pursue my own interests? I probably would have had a very different path. I might have explored the performing arts, sang, danced, painted and possibly even been on stage. (Gasp…no... me? Be seen?) and I probably wound’t have quite the zeal for the healing arts that I have today. And forget about engineering physics, oh my goodness, what was I even thinking? I asked again what is it I need to hear? “I am not God.” Yep, it’s true, I’m not God. I am not that exceptional (to be God) and yet I am exceptional. That is a sense of relief, what a burden.
Wonderful insights. I don’t want to be a victims of programming either. And there are so many programs! Every time I think I am freeing up I see where I am bound. The journey!
Wow. Thank you for sharing all of this. You are a good writer, I really felt like I was on the journey with you. 🙏 You may already know this, but just a couple small points of clarity, "it couldn't be other than it is" is step one. It's SO important not to confuse step one with step two. The purpose of step one ("it couldn't be other than it is") is to dissolve the critical, overthinking part of ourselves. When this critical, overthinking part of ourselves is gone then we can move into step two, which is clearly see the actions we can take to move forward in the productive ways we desire.
If we mix step one with step two, this process will not have the full impact that it can have on our lives. We have to first, fully discover how "it couldn't be other than it is" from am empowering perspective. It we see the words "it couldn't be other than it is" as disempowering at all, then we haven't allowed step one to fully do its magic. Its' helpful to start seeing our lives, or past as factual or unchangeable, we can tbegi to make a change in it TODAY.
“The acceptance of ourselves as we are gives us the freedom to change.”
I would love to talk more about this in person. Please come to our next You Are That Which You Seek Meditation Group. It's free to all and you can ask questions about this there if you feel clarity as needed. Or, I would be happy to share a phone call with you anytime. 🙏
I see a lot of depth to your awareness - the many layers of the onion. ❤
FREE weekly meditation/discussion group:
discoveringthesoul.com/you-are-that-meditation
@@nikkimonnig5150 Well said! 🫶
In doing this meditation I found it really hard to do step #3. Changing the conditions to the opposite of what I remember them to be.
Once I plowed through an imediate feeling of freedom persued. I felt as if the shackles I had placed upon myself were ripped away.
My "conditioning" began in early childhood and I found it interesting how ingrained those feelings of being not good enough still linger in the now.
So cool! Thank you for sharing. And then, sometimes, I wonder... perhaps it is very purposeful to have limitations, any limitations that may be lingering after we have been on the healing journey for a while. Sometimes, I wonder... if any seeming remaining limitations and the freedom from them are actually two sides to the same one process.
How could we move forward if there is nothing to push against? What would be there if there was no seeming limits? Would we have any sense of moving forward? Would we have a backbone at all? Are seeming limits needed for anything to happen in our lives? I don't know, but I think, perhaps, there is an inseparable relationship between these two sides...
Perhaps, feeling not good enough has its advantages?
Interesting stuff to contemplate. I love talking about these things with you, Gale! ❤
What a cool experience to feel shackles ripped away and set free as you saw the opposite condition. This is one of the favorite parts I like to do.
@@cosmicbirth9453I did a year of IFS (Internal Family Systems) thearapy which is comparable to this meditation. The end result of each session left me with the feeling of weight/burdens lifted... or shackles ripped away...and it is definitely my favorite part too. Feels like space has been cleared inside to let the light and more good things in.❤
@@DiscoveringtheSoulthanks for that insight. I hadn't thought about limitations as being a "good" thing.
@@GaleRuppel I was taught parts therapy at hypnotherapy school long before I knew about IFS but I always do the rewrite part. Wow, a whole year of IFS must of cleared a ton of crap out.
What is your experience or takeaway from this concept or meditation?! We would LOVE to hear! ❤ ❤ ❤
Thank you for this meditation. I did it yesterday with a friend. It is always interesting to learn more about myself and how I came to be ...no way other than how I am.
@@GaleRuppel I know... that IS always so interesting to see. I love it, too. It is very comforting and EMPOWERING. 🫶
@@GaleRuppel Also, that's so cool you watched it with a friend! 🙏 Did they have a similar experience?
@@DiscoveringtheSoul, you know my friend 😉.
We had an interesting after conversation regarding our experience.
We compared how we each reacted differently to a similar childhood influence .
Kind of like I talked about above about the dogs and how some would go into fight mode as a default and I go into freeze mode and others might run. Different people responding to the same thing in different ways.
Trying to understand your step #4.
If “each way” is referring to step #2 AND step #3, I am struggling with how step #3 “keeps you from being any other way in the present”.
I too am confused as to how the reversal of #2 could keep me from being any other way in the present.
Great question! Maybe this step is unneeded for some people. But the purpose of steps 3 and 4, which is the reversal of step 2, is only to see our past as unchangeable. When we reverse the experiences we had as a child, for instance, then it allows us to see that the conditions of our lives are what create the decisions we make and actions we take in the present. Rather than believing we, as a 100% autonomous human, are what is making the decisions. When we believe we, as a 100% autonomous human, are making the decisions, it's easy to condemn ourselves for decisions. We would only condemn ourselves if we didn't take into account the conditioning that made us that way. Truly, we are not as autonomous as we think we are, and there is SO much freedom from self-judgment when we realize this.
"The acceptance of ourselves as we
are gives us the freedom to change."
Step 3 just helps us to see how connected our decision-making in the present is to our past experiences.
Step 4 is just highlighting the same thing, but using the word WEIGHT to emphasize your decision-making as being highly influanced, rather then 100% autonomous.
@@GaleRuppel See my answer to Paul. I hope that helps. Let me know what you think! 🫶
This part about not being as autonomous as we think, is super heavy. That means I can just blame my conditioning and its not my fault. Two years ago, I was attacked by dogs, one week after the Amazon driver delivering to my neighborhood was killed by dogs. I was bit many many times on my legs and arm by two dogs. I froze, I screamed for help. I thought I might die. One bore deeply into my arm. I couldn't feel my hand and I was really scared I'd never be able to feel it again. It took me a minute or two to talk my body into moving and opening the gate to get out. For several weeks after that, the scenario played in my mind over and over and over again. I had been to this house so many times and hadn't seen dogs but they had a sign up. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER. I beat myself up and tried to reimagine myself having made a different choice, imagining that I had kicked those dogs instead. The scene was like an endless loop in my brain haunting me. All the times I've frozen in my life and couldn't move. I felt so ashamed and powerless. I heard so many talk about how they go into anger mode. Why couldn't I go into anger mode and fight my way out like other people? One day my therapist said to me in a most compassionate voice - "We don't get to choose our survival response when we are little". That's what I learned when I was little and it could be no other way than what it was. I don't think until then I was able to let go of the self blame I had towards myself for all the times, I just froze. If I could have responded differently, I would have but my body was hijacked and I was not totally autonomous to choose differently.
@@cosmicbirth9453 "If I could have responded differently, I would have but my body was hijacked and I was not totally autonomous to choose differently." - yes, exactly!