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Episode 16: How Can We Discern Beliefs vs. REALITY?
30 Plays1 year ago
In this episode Jim and Jenn discuss our ideas of what this reality is and how our beliefs help to form it. What is true? How can we discern between truth and false resonance, when we think we are awake but we are really asleep. Disinformation can be difficult to untangle as humans can be so easily manipulated by emotions, as good disinformation is truth mixed with deception.
If you are new here, welcome to the Brave Journey Within with Jim and Jenn! This show is about the spiritual journey and all of the challenges, healing and expansion along the way. Join us as we bravely explore topics of metaphysics, spirituality, healing, mindfulness, and ascension. We will be sharing our experiences and wisdom, as well as diving deeply into various topics so that you can better understand your own journey. Whether you are just starting out or have been on the spiritual path for many years, this show is a space for you to learn, grow, and be inspired.
Discussed in the podcast: Bernhard Guenther: www.veilofreality.com Frederick Dodson: www.realitycreation.org
Also find us on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5uZ610Q...
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To learn more about Jenn:
https://jenn-palmer.com/
Jenn Palmer YouTube:
www.youtube.com/@jennpalmerhealer
To learn more about Jim and Journey Mindfulness: https://journeymindfulness.com/
Journey Mindfulness YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Journey_Mindfulness
All information and guidance given on this channel is meant to help empower you and is not to be considered medical or psychological advice. Please seek medical and psychological support as appropriate for your concerns.
#bravejourneywithin #spiritualgrowth #unconditionallove #spiritualjourney #spiritualdevelopment #ascension #mindfulness #awakening #spiritualawakening #belief #natureofreality
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Transcript
Introduction to Spiritual Journey
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to The Brave Journey Within with Jim and Jen. This show is about the spiritual journey and all of the challenges, healing, wisdom, and consciousness expansion experienced along the way. And here we are. Welcome back to another edition of The Brave Journey Within with Jim and Jen. Hi, Jim. Hey, how's it going? I tell you what, there's a lot going on. Stress doesn't stop ever.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, same here. It's been a busy day. Yeah. Yeah. Kids are on spring break and not feeling well and it's all happening. So much. I know there's a lot going on here. But it's that time of year, you know, it's like, it's a time of year when spring season starts to kick in and then there's sports and school and lots of work stuff. The days are getting longer. So you try to pack more in. Yeah. That time of year, I guess.
00:01:01
Speaker
I hope it is improving.
Discerning Beliefs from Reality
00:01:06
Speaker
Well, that's a great segue into what our topic is today. Do you want to describe what our topic is? So we're going to be talking about beliefs versus reality and everything that goes along with that because that's a
00:01:25
Speaker
tricky topic, it's not easy, right? There's a lot of depth to that. What that means, we cling to our beliefs very strongly sometimes, and our egos have our hooks, and it's not always easy to discern the truth.
00:01:49
Speaker
And I would say a lot of people aren't always looking for the truth, right? You want to be told something is good and we stay in our comfort zone. We don't want to give an opinion that might offend or that we think might offend somebody. So you don't dive into it further.
00:02:12
Speaker
Well, and we also have our confirmation bias, you know, where we feel comfortable with a certain idea about how things work or how things are working in our life. And then if something starts to upset the apple cart, we try to find things that help us feel comfortable again, you know, things that are going to support our original idea, because when we start shifting our paradigm or understanding a different
00:02:38
Speaker
way of seeing things. It can feel unstable.
Nature of Reality and Limiting Beliefs
00:02:43
Speaker
You know, it's, I've been really into this, this audio book I've been listening to lately called parallel universes of self. It's by Frederick Dodson. And wow, I mean, there are so many things I've already heard. I like the way he puts things. And he has some really practical exercises. But it just had me thinking about
00:03:06
Speaker
you know, what really is this reality? We don't even know, you know, most of us were so in the depths of it that it's, this is what's real, but our spiritual self is not necessarily real. It's just a place to escape. But what if it's the opposite? What if this is a matrix or some sort of an illusion and we're just in this weird, dreamy state of being and this is not even reality and we're going through all these things and we're just going to wake up and then it's going to be over.
00:03:35
Speaker
You know, is death really the wake up? I don't know, right? None of us really know, but we take it all so seriously. And to feel safe in this seemingly unsafe space, we develop rules and belief systems to help us cope and to navigate. And a lot of times it creates a lot more problems than it solves. But the hard part is trying to
00:03:59
Speaker
understand where you're not seeing it as openly as you possibly could. So they call that limiting beliefs. What are your limiting beliefs? Where are you limiting yourself, your growth, your potential, your experience? And most of the time, we don't even know. What is true? Right? Yeah. It's funny. We're talking about how busy things are. It's like, well, is it really? I don't know.
00:04:27
Speaker
That's just our experience in the moment. I mean, you can go crazy with this stuff and really trying to figure it out, but then you get really ungrounded. Yeah, you don't want to do that. Well, yeah, the question is, what is true? What is, you know, my belief and is it accurate or, you know, versus reality?
Awakening and Inner Processes
00:04:51
Speaker
You know, when you go through a process of awakening,
00:04:58
Speaker
There's also the trouble that you are not fully awake. So you think you are, but you're really asleep. Yeah, it is a spectrum, isn't it? I don't know that I've met anybody who is fully awake. I think that we all have more work to do for the most part, generally speaking. Maybe there's some people out there. I'm not sure I've not met them. Well,
00:05:31
Speaker
Not everyone wants to, I think. It's really hard work. When I explain meditation to people in some of the processes that I use and work with, they can very quickly intellectualize it and dissect it and break it down.
00:05:55
Speaker
And they're like, Oh, I got this. I'm like, okay, good luck. It's hard work. It's hard work to breathe and meditate and bring awareness to your life. It's not easy. So what is true? I don't know. It's constantly evolving for me. Yeah, me too. Me too. And in deeper and deeper levels, just when I think I've got things, I'm starting to figure it out and I've got that level.
00:06:23
Speaker
a whole new awareness comes where I'm like, Oh, there's more. Okay. I'll get it. You know, but it's, so what, I was actually in meditation about this, trying to understand my own process more deeply. And, um, cause there are things that I do logically get, I very much get it, but there's a deeper aspect of me that sometimes there's fear around or it feels unstable or there's a trauma that hasn't been healed or something.
00:06:52
Speaker
that's preventing me from fully embodying that idea or belief that I'm trying to embody. And, you know, it's just fascinating the layers and the depths that that can entail. And what they were trying to show me is, you know, if to visualize it, I don't even know how I'm going to actually show this to you because I'm still a concept that I'm trying to understand more fully.
00:07:19
Speaker
Let's say this is like the average 3D person, right? You know, we're in this world, we're of this world, we're worried about all the things of this world, right? And we don't give our spirituality too much understanding or even our belief sets or, you know, we just don't even pay attention to it. We just think we're right. And if this is, let's say, an ascended master, somebody who has it pretty much, you know, but it's still unfolding.
00:07:47
Speaker
because they're still here, and they're still trying to figure it out in other ways, in more deeper ways. But let's say this is an ascended master. Very few people have ever gone from here to here in a blink of an eye. It's a process. It's a deeper and deeper evolving. It's a deeper and deeper understanding. And eventually, you get here. And I think part of what keeps us so stuck is so many times we judge each other.
00:08:15
Speaker
especially in religious and spiritual communities, we get judged for when we are not at that ascended master level. And it makes it really hard to then face our egos, because our egos don't want people to judge us. And so I also see that process as an ever unfolding taming of the ego, where you're healing and growing and expanding and understanding yourself more deeply.
Vulnerability, Courage, and Ancestral Influences
00:08:40
Speaker
And then the more
00:08:41
Speaker
vulnerable you get with yourself. Sometimes that means being vulnerable with other people and not everybody is so kind and loving. Your face, right? Well, it's somewhat a product to me today. You know, vulnerability is one of those words that's sort of tossed out there all the time. I don't think people truly understand it. Yeah, there's some depth to being vulnerable.
00:09:12
Speaker
You know, just this show, we've been pretty open and vulnerable about things. There's a risk to that. There's a certain amount of courage. It's another buzzword. And one of the things we'll say is take what resonates and leave the rest.
00:09:36
Speaker
But what resonates is kind of getting into that title, right? What's belief versus reality. Would that want to be true or wishful thinking? And what is the real thing behind it? And it's not easy to discern. And if you do self-work, which is worthwhile, it's also hard.
00:10:02
Speaker
you know, that healthy suffering. And I would say not everyone is willing to do it. It's just too scary. Yeah, I agree. And I think a lot of times it's because we are so afraid of being wrong. You know, if we have a certain set of roles in our framework and the way our paradigm of whatever this experience is,
00:10:31
Speaker
A lot of people like to create rules because rules create boundaries and it helps you form a foundation of some kind. And I've seen people that give up all their rules and then they just kind of lose it. They go to the opposite direction. They're just, they're off in outer space and they have no idea how to survive in this planet. So it goes both ways. And somehow you need to have a foot in both and being able to navigate this reality in a
00:10:58
Speaker
grounded sort of way while also Not necessarily playing by the rules of what we think this reality is about So that we can create that alchemy that we as spiritual seekers are looking for In shifting our experience here and playing in this playground, right?
False Resonance and Healing
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, so I had sent you a video and It was a good one
00:11:27
Speaker
I want to make sure I get this right. I think it's Bernard Gunder. His websites fail over reality and he has a podcast that perhaps we will put in the show. It's called the cosmic matrix.
00:11:44
Speaker
But in discussing what is reality, he talks about false resonance. And that's where we get caught up in our thoughts, our feelings, sensations, beliefs that we cling to. And oftentimes that is wishful thinking about how we want the world to be versus how it is.
00:12:09
Speaker
And also you talk about self-limiting beliefs, but a lot of those are often unconscious. So a lot of our beliefs are shaped by our unconscious projections. You're not even aware, you know, so these things are what we might tune into and think is our true self, really our false self. So it's part of our conditioning, programming and wounding.
00:12:37
Speaker
And I often tell my students and the people that come to me, you know, I definitely have people who just come to me and they just want healing and where they really need to shift some of their beliefs or their mindsets. They need to face their egos a bit. And I also have the opposite where some people are like, it's all about beliefs. And I'm like, yeah, but you can't really shift the belief on a deep level if you've got some trauma or family pattern ancestral thing that might be holding it back. It takes both.
00:13:05
Speaker
to really ascend in that experience that we call life, it's both the consciousness, the mind, and healing of the experience that we've had here. It's a mix. And doing them both together brings the quickest results. Sometimes you need to focus more on one thing or another, but really understand that this is, as my guides like to say,
00:13:33
Speaker
It's almost like it's a game, you know, it's a choose your own adventure game. And at any point in time, you can hit pause and change your your point of view or your pathway and what you're going to do next. And there are levels and you're you're like working on figuring it out. And sometimes there are like Easter eggs where you can get a little something that's hidden. And it's just there are ways you can win without
00:14:01
Speaker
going through all of the motions. So like, you know, when we were talking about this versus this, you know, the average human of Earth and an ascended master, you might not need to go here, then here, then here. You might be able to go from here to here and fast forward and move through some things that other people might not see or be able to take advantage of. And what that is is different with every single experience, but there are ways through things and there are
00:14:30
Speaker
You don't have to suffer for 20 years through something. There are quicker ways through it usually as long as you're healing and working that mind mastery and questioning your egoic beliefs. Well, you have to break awareness and question them.
00:14:50
Speaker
and face fears or face things, challenges, lessons, you know, and not avoid them. It's that avoidance that prolongs the suffering in my opinion. If you decide now that you want to make life better than you can, but you might shed some beliefs that you thought were absolutes
00:15:15
Speaker
and things you promoted and judge people for. Yeah, it's very uncomfortable. Sure, but worthwhile, right? Like no one gets the cheat code. Right. Oh, I just get to like, you know, skip a level. Well, but the thing is, is I think if you can get your ego under control enough, and not that the ego is the enemy, but the ego often does hold us back, right? It's that it's the personality of who we are.
00:15:45
Speaker
But I think it's even deeper than that, as far as what the ego actually is. And when we can allow that to be on the back burner and really just be a truth seeker, wherever that may lead, we end up opening more easily to what is more aligned with truth. And I think truth is evolving. I think where we're at in this experience, we can only understand so much.
00:16:15
Speaker
I think someone who is the ascended master probably has a much deeper and better understanding of how all this works than we could ever possibly have until we get to more of that level of understanding of this experience. Well, to that point though, if you're going to go down the master route, you have to face some things and be open-minded about, you're not caring about what people say is true.
00:16:45
Speaker
you're tuning into that yourself. You're doing some really hard work on your own. Well, I think that's important regardless. You know, I think I think we've been taught or programmed to group think, to have comfort in
00:17:03
Speaker
in groups because then we know we're not alone and we must not be wrong because all these other people think the same thing. So that makes me feel right. But I think the awakening process, one of the first things that really should be approached is letting go of that idea of needing to belong to the group and trusting
00:17:24
Speaker
that even if you have wounding and misconceptions and everything else, just trusting that the truth is gonna come to you if you're just open enough to heal and work through it. Scary.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It is. It is. Healing is uncomfortable.
Self-Deception and Emotional Transformation
00:17:44
Speaker
Even if it's, you know, physical healing is uncomfortable, you know, people go through things all the time when you're really getting to the root of an issue, it gets uncomfortable. You're detoxing and things happen and you get uncomfortable detox symptoms, you know, you're healing a bone, the bone aches, it hurts, it's trying to recover.
00:18:06
Speaker
Because of that, people in group thing or holding on to certain things will often reject truth because it challenges a deeply ingrained belief or there's fear that so you will stay stuck in it. And so then you're also caught in this trap of cognitive dissonance because you're not really seeking truth.
00:18:31
Speaker
you sort of misapplied this concept of what resonates as actual truth. So you kind of get rid of things that you truly might believe otherwise. So it's interesting to work with those things as you go along.
00:18:58
Speaker
So in one way that this guy puts it is, you know, your instrument is not tuned correctly. And when it's not tuned accurately, you can get yourself into some trouble. It takes a lot of courage to face these things, introspectively. It takes a lot of psychological work, psychosocial work to dial things in, to get them right. Otherwise you get caught up in fear and
00:19:29
Speaker
That's really where your doorway is the truth, I think. If there's something that's coming up that scares you, take a look at it. There's something there for you to learn. Otherwise, you're not going to transmute it. Some people might be like, what is transmute?
00:19:56
Speaker
The transmutation of energy is, in a sense, alchemy. You're taking the energy of a negative emotion.
00:20:19
Speaker
say like anger, right? Like I was hurt by somebody. I'm angry about it. I'm carrying all this anger. The anger is probably hurting me more than anyone.
00:20:31
Speaker
Right? Like me being angry with you is not going to hurt you, but it's really going to hurt me. So if I can change that energy into something more constructive, you know, maybe it's like self-love or something else or learning how to forgive myself or forgive other people, then that becomes very powerful. I've now taken that energy.
00:20:53
Speaker
And I could utilize it for my benefit to more constructive means. And that's transportation. And I do want to add, you're the master of your own interviewing. So whatever fear you have.
00:21:12
Speaker
is coming up in you. Go ahead. Well, I know before we started recording, we talked about reality versus beliefs. And I think most people function with the idea that they've created their beliefs because of the reality. And what the spiritual approach does is it helps you understand it's actually the opposite. Reality comes forth based on your beliefs.
00:21:40
Speaker
And I think it's a little bit more than just beliefs. There's wounding and things that help you create those distortions that we have about whatever truth actually is. But generally speaking, if you think life is meant to be really hard, then that's pretty much going to be your experience. And it might have come from your parents and your grandparents. It might be an ancestral thing. There could be an ancestral curse going on in your family so that life is hard, but truly,
00:22:09
Speaker
life doesn't have to be hard. There might be an external reason to a degree, but also you came in as a soul agreeing to correct that ancestral energy or to take it on or to try to clear it in some way. And so we do have agreements like that where we come in and we do these things. So it's not always as simple as what is your belief, but I think it's a big, big part of what the experience is.
00:22:38
Speaker
Bringing awareness to the challenges that you're facing in your life is how you start to work on these things. So where am I being challenged? And how can I find greater flow with that? Typically that means facing it, whatever that is, and not being afraid to face it. You know, knowing that you can, there's a reason, there's a lesson. It's okay. Yes, it's hard. It's difficult.
00:23:05
Speaker
know that, you know? Yeah, yeah. But also, are we making it more difficult than it needs to be? Like, I just keep thinking, you know, there are definitely times in my ego was like, nope, not gonna do it. And if I just would have been able to tame the ego a little bit more, I wonder if I would have had an easier time with things, if it would have gone more smoothly or more quickly.
00:23:33
Speaker
um, for the awarenesses I have developed, you know, but I don't know, maybe not. Maybe sometimes things are just a journey and we just are meant to walk through it. And what might be easy for one person might be meant to be more challenging for another. I do think that there are agreements that we hold with certain things, but at the same time, maybe that's just another belief. I don't know. Well,
00:23:56
Speaker
But part of the work is separating the false beliefs. And some of those would be assumptions, conditioning, expectations, wishful thinking, wounding, traumas, bias, buffers, projections, emotional hooks. Pause there for a reason. Yeah. Ego desires.
00:24:25
Speaker
being discerning of those things and knowing that they exist, not to churn up more fear, but to know that that's part of reality. We are constantly being manipulated and conditioned by forces unseen or manipulated and propagandized to do all kinds of stuff.
00:24:54
Speaker
It's not to scare you, but you should be aware of it. I do credit you for forcing me to work on some interesting things here.
00:25:15
Speaker
One other thing I do want to mention, because this is something that you brought up in Soul Growth one time, that lies to ourself are more harmful and harder to detect. They're way harder than detecting the lies that are on the outside of us, where it's like, oh, yeah, that's total BS. But we lie to ourselves so good. Yeah, we do.
00:25:41
Speaker
And so paying attention to that is very helpful. Where am I telling myself these lies? Just even admitting to yourself that you do that, which is really hard for people. It's like, why would I do that? But that kind of gets to the heart of the matter where
00:25:59
Speaker
One of the, another thing he says is the level of being or soul embodiment determines how much higher knowledge you can access via direct experience that goes way beyond a mental approach of just thinking or intellectually dissecting or processing information. You know, you're not gonna think your way out of all these things, which I think is important for people to know.
00:26:28
Speaker
Yeah. I like this guy. I had never heard of him before, but I like him. Yeah. It resonates very much. Yes. And he even talks about, you know, like channeling and things like that, which that's another whole topic, but I love what he said about that. And he, so he basically says, um, what did he say? There was like false channeling and how did he word it? Did you write that? Yeah.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. No, I made a lot of notes on this. This is like a few minute video. But I do want to point out it's not demonizing the mind or anything like that, right?
Critical Thinking and Spiritual Truths
00:27:07
Speaker
You need to think critically on things. It's not a bad thing. You just can't think your way through everything or rely on that. And I want to add to that too. You know, a lot of people think that their emotions or their feelings are always the answers. And I would say that's actually not true. A lot of times our feelings are just
00:27:27
Speaker
they're a symptom of our beliefs or our mindset. And we think or feel something based on beliefs. And so the deeper you can go into your belief around something or your thoughts behind an emotion, the more you can understand why you're actually having an emotion. And my guides have said, a wounded heart makes for a crappy GPS. And a lot of people follow their heart or they follow their emotions around something. So if someone's making them angry, they feel they are just
00:27:56
Speaker
they're being, you know, whatever, a victim of something that made them angry. And well, maybe that's not even the truth of the matter. And so instead of always trusting your egoic emotions, going deeper into the sense and the wisdom of what's happening. And again, that just like you said, that's not analytical, that's experiential. Yeah. Well, curious your thoughts on this.
00:28:25
Speaker
Well, I should clarify, the mind is important, need critical thinking, but you don't want it to be your master. You want it to be your servant. So it's a tool. Right. Otherwise you get in the troubles with false resonance. So bringing up that term again and curious your thoughts here, many well-meaning people spread disinformation and corrupted pop spiritual new age teachings, which
00:28:57
Speaker
Maybe not for everyone listening. You got to be very careful with what you're consuming. And then it gets into the channel material, which is pretty wildly popular, I think now on YouTube and things like that.
00:29:16
Speaker
podcasting. And so he says, yeah, the charade of channel material many people are resonating with, but often appeals to the wounded ego needing to feel special or wanting to be saved.
00:29:33
Speaker
And so I'm just unpacking that, you know, people get attracted to what makes them feel good. And that can be helpful in some sense, but it'll take you off the path of you need to dive into your feelings and get uncomfortable if you truly want to do some actual work. Yeah. Just listen to somebody tell you something positive. It's
00:30:02
Speaker
not necessarily helpful, or it can be manipulative and keep you stuck. That's true. Yeah, I totally agree with that. And it's funny, I've definitely come across some of that as well, where I will resonate with some of what's being said by a channel and then other things. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. But I think
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'm super curious. And I love channeling. I very much love it. And I get a lot of good information for myself when I channel, especially for myself. But even that it's still coming from another being, they might be wiser and they might have walked in your shoes before and they might be further ahead in that path. But it doesn't mean they know everything. You know, so it's like it's almost like you are
00:30:55
Speaker
connecting with, let's say you're in college and you're talking with a professor who knows a lot more about a subject than you do, but they also have their points of view and their belief system and their own version of what their role is in this experience. And so putting all of our eggs into any particular basket with a channel, I think is probably not necessarily a wise thing to do. If it feels helpful,
00:31:24
Speaker
And it seems like it's helping you understand more about you. I think that's a great thing. Um, but I, but yeah, I would be careful to just blindly believe any channel at 100%. Yeah. But I, but I'm always like, you know, I'm going to do the best I can, but I have my own distortions the way it comes through and then so do our guides and our,
00:31:52
Speaker
our masters that we call in. Well, even working as a channel, right? Like, am I getting the message clearly? Am I interpreting this correctly, you know, or medium or anyone else? That's work, that's practice in making it clear. So there's a lot that goes into that. But one of the things that he said, I do kind of want to get into, and maybe it's his own episode at one point,
00:32:21
Speaker
Well, we talked about the Law of One in an earlier episode and throughout the Law of One, their channel is under attack by a negative entity. And so they're constantly like on guard with that, like how do I protect myself and how do I keep the channel safe and free from interference?
00:32:47
Speaker
But this guy goes on to say, negative entities posing as positive ones are behind most of the popular channel material out there, for they know how easily humans are emotionally manipulated. Yeah. These hyperdimensional shapeshifters target false resonance
00:33:12
Speaker
in the truth seeker or the contactee. So people are contacted for abductions and things like that. And it forms the basics of a cult matrix mind control. So I thought that was pretty wild. I haven't quite heard someone articulate that in that way before.
00:33:34
Speaker
So that was interesting. It made me think, you know, there's some things that I really like that I enjoy from certain channelers, but how much of that is coming through correctly versus not? So it poses an interesting question.
00:33:57
Speaker
I also want to be clear with this because he makes a point of it, but good disinformation is most often lies mixed with truth.
Disinformation and Meditation
00:34:10
Speaker
And you put in enough truth to use it as bait to get the truth seeker to resonate or you hook the ego, right? Like it sounds true, must be true.
00:34:23
Speaker
but there's just enough lies to keep you asleep. So you're not away because you end up swallowing the lies and then you're not awakened even though you might think you are. Yeah. But you know, I think sometimes I think even that is a part of the process in coming into your own power. You know, sometimes I think we need to experience something like that so that we can more deeply learn to trust our own
00:34:53
Speaker
wisdom and understanding in that space of Oneness with the creator as opposed to the egoic space and it's a very different feel when you get information when you're deep in meditation or deeply connected with The all that is what comes through is so different than If you're lightly there or if you're listening to someone channel or whatever, you know, it's just it's just you have to I agree with him You have to experience it. You need to get in there and do it
00:35:24
Speaker
And, you know, everything, according to the law of one, really everything is distortion. You know, until we really come back into oneness with the one true creator, we are operating through distortion. And so, the way my guides talk about it, the more wounded somebody is, or the more, I say,
00:35:48
Speaker
family, ancestry, patterns that you need to clear. The more things like that happen, the more distortion there is and the harder it is to come to truth and to understand or to see truth. So I do think that that is a process. I think what might keep some people from even going down this path is that they are afraid to address that, to see that, to start figuring that out that we really don't understand any of this very well at all.
00:36:18
Speaker
Well, if I could offer some hope and maybe a pathway, you know, meditating opened up my mind to possibilities. There's so many possibilities, right?
00:36:38
Speaker
that you can figure out how to navigate. Like you do have this power within you to discern fact from fiction. So Mark Twain that said that the truth is stranger than fiction. When you're on that path, it's also exciting and you hit certain levels, right?
00:37:06
Speaker
fascinating to learn that there's this whole other world out there or that you have the ability to deal with really hard things in life doesn't have to be a struggle and you don't have to be a victim. You don't have to live your life by what other people think. You can carve your own path and go on your own adventure. Those are all positive things. And then
00:37:35
Speaker
I guess I would say you're kind of where you are supposed to be right now. So don't feel like you're behind the eight ball here. Like wherever you are is totally fine. Just pay attention to it and know that you can start to kind of work on yourself now. And there's no, you don't have to be judgmental or harsh to yourself. Just be kind to yourself along the way.
00:38:03
Speaker
And if you get duped or if I get duped, like, okay, it happened, right? Like probably is going to happen. Sure has happened already. Right. I know. I know. Yes. So it's, it's an, it is an ongoing process. Um, and you know, have fun with it too. Like it's not supposed to be this miserable thing. I totally agree. Um,
00:38:31
Speaker
What else is there? Anything else that we missed? We cling to our ego identity, right? In our worldview? Oh, yes, we do. That's not easy. Yeah. When someone challenges, you know, your beliefs or your dogma or people that you look up to.
00:38:57
Speaker
but it's worthwhile to question things and question the world around you and see where you want to go from there. All right, Jeff. So if someone is trying to awaken or even if they've already started awakening and they're in this process, what are some things that you think people should look at within themselves to question or to help them
00:39:25
Speaker
be even more in alignment with being the truth seeker instead of the bias protector.
00:39:42
Speaker
I mean, one of the exercises that I have people start with is the Wheel of Life, where you look at all these different aspects of your life and you just rate them. You know, what are things going well and where are things needing improvement?
00:40:01
Speaker
It's just a simple self-assessment, but you're starting to bring awareness to things that you may not always bring awareness to. Like what are the quality of my relationships with people, with friends, with work, with my partner, with myself? Yeah. That's probably the most important one. Am I treating myself okay? You know, a lot of times people are treating themselves really harshly.
00:40:28
Speaker
So you start to bring awareness to that. And then whatever becomes a priority, maybe it's finding people who are positive role models in your life. Not everyone has that. Go find community. Find people that are helpful. And then you just start to build on those things. I'm friends with people that have different beliefs than me. It doesn't bother me.
00:40:58
Speaker
If they're good people, well, you know, like that's fantastic. Like they enriched my life and hopefully in some small way I can bridge theirs. But that's kind of where I would start. And then looking inward at what's attuned into your heart, but what does your soul need?
Manifestation and Trauma Distortions
00:41:20
Speaker
You know, what would be nourishing? What gives you joy? Who am I? You know, deep soul questions that you can actually take time in your day to reflect on and ponder and journal. Write it out. I was reading somebody the other day, a guy has a six foot whiteboard and he writes all his ideas on it. Wow.
00:41:47
Speaker
It was like, it's just so liberating. I get the ideas, I write them out, and then it just frees up all this short-term memory, this rant in my brain. But things like that. OK, what is interesting on that board that you might want to try? Give it a shot. See what happens. Who knows? You might find something that ignites passion in your life.
00:42:16
Speaker
So those are a few things, but you have to ask yourself the question. I would say a lot of times where people might come to me is they've been living their life that other people told them to live, whether they know it or not, whether it was like directly said to them, like you have to be a doctor and you didn't want to be a doctor, but that's what was applied.
00:42:44
Speaker
And so you did it and now you're a doctor and you don't like it.
00:42:49
Speaker
So a lot of times people are living the life that someone else wanted them to live. So figuring out what the life you want to live is, what that might look like, and start to, you know, take action with it. The action is probably the hardest part. You can't just think it into existence. You're not going to manifest an idea without taking action. So know that.
00:43:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. And I really think people need to get vulnerable with themselves and just question. You know, a lot of times, you know, we get triggered by things that show up. And instead of living in that trigger and being mad at whatever happened or fearful or whatever it is you're feeling, instead of living in that and expecting the outside world to change things, start looking within about
00:43:45
Speaker
why that trigger might have happened? Why do you feel that way about whatever happened? Could there be a different way to see it? Could it be helping you in some way? What is it about you that you need to know and understand? Because you and I know, but not everyone who's awakening understands that what is showing up in your life is happening because of something within you. So the universe is always reflecting back to us whatever we need to know or understand or heal. And
00:44:15
Speaker
So that's often, I think a really good space for people to be in whenever they get upset to stop and look at it more deeply. Sure. Be non-judgmental with that process. Yeah. So I'll give you an example. If I get triggered, I'm not trying to create a safe space. I don't agree with that. I think that doesn't help you grow.
00:44:45
Speaker
If I get triggered, take a look at it. Be non-judgmental that, okay, what about this triggered me? What emotion is showing? Why am I thinking a certain kind of way? Where's this person coming from? Or why is this idea so appalling to me? And then just sit with it and kind of go through it and see what's it all about.
00:45:13
Speaker
arrive at a conclusion and then you can decide what you want to do then, but don't see it as some like, oh, it doesn't feel good, I want to deal with that. Otherwise, you'll start writing people off and won't have a difference. Yeah, I know, right? No, you just got to figure it out. Well, a good example of that is when we drive in traffic and someone cuts us off or honks at us and it does something that
00:45:39
Speaker
Either we're just like, we get mad. Usually it's we get mad. Like, why do they do that? They just cut me off, right? Well, usually people just leave it at that and they just think that person was a jerk because they just cut you off, right? And what a spiritual person or somebody who's on this path probably would do or hopefully will do is to then question, why did that bother me so much? Instead of flipping them the finger and honking their horn back or whatever it is that the human of us wants to do,
00:46:08
Speaker
You know, why did that bother me so much? Why was I so upset that they just cut me off? I'm fine. I didn't get an accident. Everything's okay. And then, you know, what I have found, at least for me, when I question those things, usually it's,
00:46:23
Speaker
I'm either feeding off of the competitiveness of that other person, and I don't want them to get ahead of me. So that that's like one aspect I've noticed in myself is the competitiveness, the driving, you know, like, you're going to get in front of me, you know, that happens. But then also to the idea that they put you in danger, that it was not safe, that they were more caring about their own needs and not about yours.
00:46:47
Speaker
And so what I do is I just kind of look at that and I'm like, okay, where else in my life am I not feeling safe? Where else in my life do I feel like other people aren't putting me ahead or where do I feel like maybe I'm too caring and I'm too giving and people just take advantage of it and just come right in. You know, so I look at it more in terms of what it's trying to show me about me and I let it go. If they want to go get in an accident, you know, who am I to stop them? You know, and me being mad at them is not going to stop it.
00:47:17
Speaker
You know, it's like you said, you know, they're not going to be affected by my frustration or my irritation that they just cut me off. So that does no good. And it's not really your power. Your power is taking what's showing up and applying it to what's going on within you. And where do you need to grow? Where do you need to heal? Where do you need to understand a wiser point of view? Because like I said, you can't go from normal average human to master
00:47:46
Speaker
overnight there's a process there and the universe is so graceful and its ability to give you those opportunities for that understanding and to get to the next level of it. Just remembering what you said about a broken heart makes for a crappy compass. Crappy GPS, yes.
00:48:10
Speaker
That's how I look at fear. So like two themes that come up for me a lot or more than I would like to maybe admit is fear and doubt. So when they pop up in my awareness, that's a note for me to be like, okay, what do I need to do to face this fear? And maybe it's like, oh, I gotta call that person back and talk about this difficult thing.
00:48:39
Speaker
But if I do it, I won't feel the fear anymore. I've taken care of this thing. It's resolved.
00:48:52
Speaker
And just noticing when those things happen that you can deal with them and resolve them and move on. So try not to feed them. Otherwise you can create a story and all these negative things and maybe shift into a victim mentality pretty quickly. So you want to try to avoid that by not avoiding the problem. You know, it's funny, I've noticed with myself because, you know, I've definitely been in the questioning of
00:49:20
Speaker
my beliefs my reality for a long time and always coming to newer understandings and but there's a deeper part of me um maybe it's more like the subconscious or the inner child or you know but there are things that sometimes come up where whatever that is needs some sort of validation of the experience before it can be healed so
00:49:45
Speaker
There's like this, that's why I'm saying healing is so important, being able to understand what's going on deeply, because as much as I might logically understand something sometimes, I will not be able to really fully integrate it until that thing is dealt with, that it's healed or it's cleared or it's managed or dealt with. Even just sometimes,
00:50:09
Speaker
just acknowledging that a thing happened that made me feel like I was in a victim state, right? So someone's cutting you off and it's like, wow, that really did scare me. Oh, I honor that. I just felt that fear. I honor that. Okay. But now how do I heal that? Why, why is that? Why is that a thing? Why am I experiencing this? Why am I creating this experience? Because we are creating our own experiences, but it's just not always easy to figure out what those, those,
00:50:39
Speaker
things are that are creating more and more distortion. Sometimes it's hard to come to. But I think that creates a lot of frustration in the spiritual experience. And you ask 100 different people what the issue is, you're gonna get 100 different answers. Yeah, which is why I gotta go inward in that sort of direct access, right? Like you're tuning into you and from a very pure,
00:51:08
Speaker
soul awareness, right? Like your true self, that's, it's not going to lie to you if it's tuned in correctly. Yeah, I think that there's a lot of truth with that. But I've also seen some people so I'm just for lack of a better way of putting it just so full of distortion. And I don't mean that disrespectfully, but just energetically, let's say when there's a trauma, it creates
00:51:33
Speaker
Like a weird fractal. I don't know how else to describe it But you know if you have a perfect crystal and you're shining the light through you get perfect beautiful light coming through you get a rainbow, right? But it let's say that that has like an occlusion or it's some sort of a weird Crack or something. Well, everything gets all distorted
00:51:50
Speaker
Right. I see trauma that way as well. And or also when like, if the family line is cursed, a lot of people got cursed many years ago. And it comes down to the family line. It's not, you know, I've met a lot of people who say, well, you can only be cursed if you believe in curses. Well, but unfortunately, it's in the family line. You know, how do you explain that? Well, I don't know. I think these things are very real.
00:52:16
Speaker
And I think that those who come into family lines who have curses are coming in to experience that for some reason, maybe even just to heal it. I'm not sure, but it does happen. And so it's, in trying to understand this whole scheme of things, when you have somebody who's got a lot of distortion in their prism, in their crystal of being, they're not gonna be able to access the wisdom
00:52:46
Speaker
they're gonna be accessing hurt and fear and anger and frustration. They're gonna be accessing a very massive distortion. Does that make sense? But at the same time, the journey is finding their way in and finding their way to heal that. And sometimes other people need to show you that. We can't always see our blind spots.
00:53:11
Speaker
So it creates this weird thing that we need to navigate where we're trying to find help in seeing our blind spots. We're trying to find help in where are those distortions and how do I heal it? But then also trusting yourself enough wherever you're at to be able to take that next step. And is this person going to be the one to help me? Because I can't see, right? That does happen. So I want to make it clear that while the power truly is within, sometimes we have a hard time
00:53:41
Speaker
finding our power and entrusting it because it is so distorted. Well, I think what you're saying is you're not necessarily just going to do this by yourself. Right.
00:53:58
Speaker
So, I mean, any, I don't really talk about ascended masters, but like they have a guru-disciple relationship or you have a teacher, you know, the whole teach, learn concept. So, you know, you go to someone who is a healer and they're going to show you certain things or give you a window into things, but you're seeking that person too,
Healing Personal Issues and Ego Constructs
00:54:22
Speaker
right? Like that's your work.
00:54:24
Speaker
So you're not shying away from the problems. I would say that you're, that's just part of the process. Like I'm going to go see this person and see what I can do to kind of help heal. And so you might receive help, but you're still doing the work. Yeah. And I would say probably the first step of anybody who is just trying to get started. The first step is really committing to yourself to
00:54:51
Speaker
face whatever you need to face, to heal whatever needs to be healed, to become aware of whatever you need to become aware of in an effort to just be in the most truth possible that you can possibly be in wherever you're at and to bring in the most healing and to, in a sense, up level from wherever you are.
00:55:12
Speaker
As soon as you open up to it and you put it out to God universe whatever it is you want to call the all that is As soon as you do that things start opening up and the journey truly begins Right. Well, I absolutely believe that because that's what my experience is but but it doesn't mean it's easy and
00:55:40
Speaker
It just means, okay, now the real purpose has begun. Well, usually you get shipwrecked and then you're like, okay. Yeah, sometimes. But you know, I really think that when stuff like that happens, it's because we need to break down some sort of egoic construct. You know, something that we're doing where we just aren't either letting go of or, you know, maybe it's a marriage or a job or something like that. Sometimes things need to come
00:56:08
Speaker
crashing down around you or what we call the tower moment because otherwise you won't rebuild and you won't build that new platform that you need to work on and work from. You can't keep going in the spiritual growth and development from the same old platform. You have to reconstruct, you have to rebuild. If you're willing to do that, you will be rewarded.
00:56:35
Speaker
You know, the tower moment. That sounds so much nicer than shipwrecked. I think they both sound bad. I don't know. But I mean, you know, again, it depends on your point of view. Some people can really embrace that, especially if they've been through it a few times. They start realizing, oh, OK, I'm just around the corner from what's really coming. All right, let's go. Down she goes. You know, I don't know. I tend to hold on a little bit myself because I don't exactly enjoy
00:57:04
Speaker
that tower crumbling. But I also look forward to what's on the other side. I kind of have a bit of both. Well, yeah, I guess there's something to embracing this suck. Yeah, I know, right? Who really likes that? I don't know. I don't think anybody, maybe David Goggins. I don't know, maybe. One day we will embrace this suck.
00:57:34
Speaker
and fully love it and just be like, yes, this is good. What's next? It is possible to see these things just as challenges, right? Or, okay, this happened. This was very unpleasant. But this is a catalyst for change. Exactly. So let's go.
00:57:56
Speaker
Yeah, and understanding that, you know, knowing it is one thing, but as things start really shifting in your life and it gets a little uncomfortable and you maybe don't feel like you're on solid footing because you're not finished building that other platform yet, sometimes it is disconcerting. And, you know, I think it's okay to feel that way as long as you just keep trusting in that process and trusting in the creator that, you know, they have your back. The universe has your back.
00:58:24
Speaker
Do you know how lobsters grow? Have we talked about that before? No. So, you know, the lobster has the hardshell exoskeleton. It grows, you know, the soft body inside.
00:58:42
Speaker
comes up against the hard shell and it starts to get stressed because it's uncomfortable. And so when it gets to that point, the lobster will go swim under a rock where it's safe enough from predatory fish to somehow emote the shell, the hard shell and get rid of it. And then it'll regrow a hard shell that's bigger that allows for more room to grow.
00:59:12
Speaker
And then it will repeat that process for decades, right? Like lobsters could live a really long time. Like if you've ever seen really old lobsters, huge. So the joke is, is that if lobsters had psychiatrists, they would never grow. Because the stimulus for growth is feeling uncomfortable. So there you go. That's how lobsters grow.
00:59:42
Speaker
Oh, but it does get easier over time. Like after you've been through it a few times, you really do start to feel like, oh, here, here it is. Okay. And it's definitely easier than that first, that first tower moment, that first. You also have confidence once you've been through a few things that they happen. You know, life is filled with things, traumas, tragedies, catastrophes. They're going to have it.
01:00:12
Speaker
How you respond is the whole point. That's true. There you go. Very mindful, Jan.
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:00:18
Speaker
Thank you, Jan. Well, I love this conversation. I'm so glad we did this. Absolutely. Thank you again. And thank you to everyone who's listening. If you want to find out more about events coming up with Nourishing Journey, please check out their website and the services they offer there or Jan services and anything
01:00:41
Speaker
on the horizon, want to share again? Oh, gosh. I don't know. There's always so many things going on. Yeah. We'll probably do an open house soon. Okay. We'll check out their website and upcoming events and until next time. All right. Thanks guys. We are so grateful that you joined us. Check out the description to learn more about us and also for additional resources to help you on your journey.