
Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness with William Cooper, Master of Theology, Licensed Professional Counselor
Experience Awakening....Relaxing into your Being and, therefore, Happiness. William earned a 4 year on campus Master of Theology from Harding Theological Seminary. He was a Unity board president and, later, a Oneness trainer. In 1994 he went into private practice as a Licensed Psychotherapist. He has been to India 14 times averaging 3 months per visit to explore awakening with gurus and awakened beings. Also Bhutan, Brazil, etc. In this series, William attempts to encapsulate and convey what he feels to be most important in his 50 plus years of direct experience on the path of Awakening. This series explores the hows of awakening and encourages the direct experiencing of the flow of your Being, (love, peace, happiness, fulfillment and joy). A practical blending of East and West. Meditation, yoga and Energy meet psychotherapy and awakened Beings...and beyond All. For more info and writings on the subject, www.williamecooper.wordpress.com
Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness with William Cooper, Master of Theology, Licensed Professional Counselor
53 - How to Experience Trust
To awaken deeply we must open completely. To open completely we must trust completely. In complete Trust is complete opening. In complete opening there is only oneness. How do we start to Trust that deeply? Start by trusting what is. Let's stop and notice our experience now. The direct experience of our thoughts and feelings now. As we trust this simple action do we open some,....into our deepest Being? That's a start.....let's see where it takes us.
These podcasts are here to support your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. I feel they are most powerful when listened to in sequence from podcast one forward because each is built on the last. Though they, also, all stand on their own. If anything does not resonate, please disregard it and follow your heart. All my podcasts and website are free. Enjoy!
Though I am a psychotherapist, and these podcasts are offered to be spiritually helpful, they are not psychotherapy. If psychotherapy is ever needed, please reach out to a psychotherapist.
www.williamecooper.wordpress.com for more support. You may, especially, enjoy the short contemplations and the resource page which gives you some supportive material.
Hello. This is William Cooper. Welcome to awakening together, relaxing into happiness. I trust you're doing well. In our past podcasts, we've talked about so many important things concerning our awakening.
I think the most important thing, perhaps, is trust, is coming to a place of complete trust. Why? Because a place of complete trust is where we can open, we can relax, we can let go of all barriers, all tensions, all troubles in deep relaxation. Anything short of deep relaxation doesn't quite do the trick. It can go a certain distance.
But in the end, if I'm not completely relaxed, I'm thinking, I'm emoting, I'm doing actions to try to make things better because I'm not completely relaxed about the situation. It needs to be improved. So, on some level, there's a tightness. There's a tension. And barriers are formed with tension.
That's what barriers are made of, of course. We'll have a clutching deep inside as we've talked about before, a deep tension, and that deep tension is encoded as an emotion, which is also sort of, oh, let's say a lump of emotions, a lump of energy. And because we try to solve the discomfort of that emotion, we go into our heads, and we start to think. And then we attempt to act to solve the situation and all of that is anything but relaxing. So, the path to who you are is you're already who you are.
There's nothing to do. All that's left is stop doing things, Stop blocking. Stop the tensions. Stop the barriers. Stop the in incessant and distracting thinking.
Now all of those have a place, as we'll talk about perhaps in another podcast and have in the past, but for awakening, they're very distracting and they cut you off from yourself. So, because you're already your radiant self and you're just caked over with tensions and emotions and thoughts, it's time to relax and let those open. And when they open, they release and they melt back into what they're made of, which is radiant consciousness. Picture this. You're completely relaxed, so relaxed that you don't have any barriers, no tensions.
And in that deep relaxation with no barriers or tensions, you are one with all things because not to be 1 would require a barrier or attention or a perspective, which is a barrier, distinctions, which are barriers. When you let all of that go, you're 1. And when you're 1, you are everything. And when you are everything, you can trust because you are everything. Everything that's going on is perfect because you orchestrate it.
Because you are everything. You are the one. You realize that in meditation for instance. That part of you that's aware of your thoughts and your emotions and you're not being distracted by them. You're simply observing them.
After doing this for a period of time, meditating, you start to get familiar with this oneness that's aware of all and you start to melt into it and realize that's you. So in meditation, you start to know yourself and trust that everything is okay. Another way is in deep trust while you're in life, while you're going through your daily activities, when you trust deeply and let go. You melt into oneness as you are going through your day. Trust equals relaxation.
When you are in deep trust, there's no reason to be tense, right? Deep relaxation. So, the world is just as it should be because the oneness is what makes the world. The world flows from oneness. I think it's too much to put in this podcast the obvious question.
Well, if everything is interdependent and everything is just as it should be, why does it look like it's such a mess? Why is my life such a mess? We'll talk about that in another podcast. You're right. There is a distinction between deep oneness where everything is perfect, radiant, blissful, peaceful, and everything that flows from that reflects that.
And there is also creation, which is very can be very discordant, very at odds, troublesome, even within ourselves. So we'll notice within ourselves, even when we're meditating, there's the radiant blissful awareness that's aware of everything that's going on and very quiet and peaceful about it. And also, at the same time our mind is chattering, and our emotions are running and things could be very difficult. So, these two things are going on at the same time. It is true.
And as we continue to sit in the core of our being, our radiant self, that flows down through our mind and our emotions, and our life and it starts to reflect that core Bliss, peace and well-being. But until it does, until we've done this for some time, we're at a we're at a discord, we're like living in 2 worlds at the same time. That's what I used to tell people, when I first had my awakening experience and I was, so deeply in bliss and well-being and at the same time very depressed and anxious and I it was like living in 2 worlds at the same time. It was very confusing. I think we all can identify with that.
But everything is okay and this isn't a mere, philosophy. This is our experience as we stop and are in touch with our deepest self, when we look from our being, from our core, from our oneness, we see everything is perfect. When we looked from our divided self, our personality, everything seems to be like looking through a fractured kaleidoscope or something. It's just all. It's a mess.
It's lights going everywhere, darkness and trouble and clashing because it depends on your vantage point. And as we've talked about in these podcasts so many times before, there are so many levels of reality, all the way from the deep, bright, quiet light of your being, all the way down to the deepest separation, which allows for drama and chaos and, quite a cacophony, quite a choppy existence down there. And when you're coming from a place of deep separation, you have to acknowledge that and work with those issues from that place. Maybe you use medication, maybe you get psychotherapy, maybe you just do basic things like set a goal and get through the day, get a job, things like that, survival. You can't just sort of will power it away.
You have to deal with it. Yet from another perspective, it's all great. And as when you sit in that perspective, when you truly experience that, it flows down and heals the rest of your life from a different angle. We'll talk about these things more. We have in the past, but we'll talk about them more.
For this podcast, I'd like to focus just a few more moments on trust, and then perhaps on other podcasts, we'll explore it more deeply. What I'd like to say is everything is okay. People say, be in the present moment. Well guess what? You're in the present moment.
Where else could you be? You can't be in the present you are in the present moment. So take a moment and relax. There's nothing you've got to do to be in the present moment. See, we're building trust.
We're building trust in what is. And that is the present moment may not feel so graceful to you because you're all clogged up and at odds with yourself, perhaps and distracted and getting lost in your mental stories. But it is the present moment. You're just in the present moment experiencing pain, if that is indeed what you're experiencing. Maybe you're experiencing bliss right now.
That's also the present moment. Well, you know, when you're around Indian saints or I I would imagine when you were around Jesus way back when, those that were, there was a great radiance. And around Indian saints today, a great radiance around some Buddhist saints. Great radiance. So strong you can't believe it because we're not used to it in the west, but very strong.
Not a mental thing. I mean, it's visceral. It's like it takes the wind out of your sails. It's so strong, in a good way. It just knocks the breath out of you because you suddenly realign with yourself, and you the beauty is incredible.
Well, you also have an aura, but it may not feel like that. Why? Because all the energy that's coming through you is perhaps trapped in blockages and hurts and thoughts and stories and it's just all being frittered away, because you're divided into 1,000 different little pieces. But that is an aura. It's just a frozen aura.
Your energy is great. If you happen to feel pain, notice there's a lot of energy to that pain. If you feel anxiety, notice there's a lot, energy in that anxiety. Your energy is there already. Everything is fine.
You're just a captive for the time being of your karma, of your past actions, your things you've done that have created problems or being with other people and in their sphere of influence that causes problems for you. That's also karma. So we've talked about that as well in a prior podcast. Hey, if each of these podcasts do stand independently but if you're new to this, most people say it's very helpful to start on number 1 and move your way forward. Because many of the things I talk about, perhaps you already know and are familiar with, but maybe you're not.
And they might be covered or likely will be covered in a past podcast. And we circle back around in future podcasts too. But the point is, you have an aura, and you are here now. So just trust that. Trust the process.
Year on your process to growth and happiness and well-being. It's just where you are now is what it looks like in your life now. That's what it looks like, but it's perfect. Why do I say that? Because the first step to relaxing, perhaps, is trust.
So could you trust that? That you're in the present moment right now and feel the present moment. Just take a moment and feel it. That's what it feels like to you. Trust that.
Feel your aura. Maybe it feels like pain. Maybe it feels like depression. Maybe it's a mix of all these things. Maybe it also feels like radiance too.
Maybe you feel a little flicker of that around the edges. Nonetheless, feel what it is you feel and trust it. I'm not saying that we're going to capture it and make that your life forever. It's just in this moment, that's what you feel like. What you have created in your life, that's what it feels like.
Right? Why is it important to trust where you are now? Because if you trust where you are now, on some level, even if you're in pain, you can open. There's nothing you have to do. It's all fine.
You trust where you are. You don't have to do anything to make yourself feel like you feel right now. You already feel that way. So, you can just relax and open. That's what trust does.
It's a deep opening. And when you trust the oneness, you trust everything is fine as it is because you're on a path that is perfect for you. So, here's a little exercise I might suggest for the next day or 2 or 3 or 4, however long you'd like to do it. And that is, like one monk said to me once, to do anything is to do too much. Just stop and let things be as they are for the next day.
Of course, if you have to do something to avoid danger or to resolve an issue, do it, of course. But I mean in general, just trust yourself. Trust that you are in the present moment. You don't have to take a seminar to learn how to be in the present moment. You are in the present moment.
You don't have to do a guided meditation to learn to be in the present moment. You are in the present moment. Trust your aura, your radiance is where it is today. And it's it's not that the source of your radiance is stunted if you don't feel exuberant bliss and deep peace. It's just it's just as strong as everybody else is, every Indian saint.
You are just as strong. It's just been relegated to pain and depression or anxiety or whatever you've chosen for your own reasons way back maybe before you can even remember. It made sense at the time, and you did that. You converted some of your energy into some sort of pain or blockages or problems because you love yourself and that made sense at that moment. Perhaps you were 3 years old.
Perhaps you were 2 years old. Perhaps it was a past life and you were about to be eaten by a tiger and that was the best way to go under the circumstances. So we give ourselves a break, right? Just relax. As you relax, you open.
And as you open, you connect to your deeper self more directly. And as you connect to your deeper self more directly, that flows through your system and it begins to heal and reorient all these snarls and troubles that you're now acknowledging are here. Repression is not relaxing, covering it up. Denial, deflection, things like that. Tensions.
Why do we why are we tensed? Because we're trying to cover something up. We're trying to avoid something. So, this is the opposite. Just relax.
Trust. It's all okay. So, the exercise is for the next day or 2 or 3 just trust. And on some level notice how you relax when you just trust it's all okay. And the odd paradox is as you trust, you may notice that you're relaxed but, on another level, because you're not covering it up anymore, you may notice great tension and hurt.
So on the one level, deep relaxation. And on the other level, deep clutching and tension that's now being revealed. But as you let go and trust, you begin to notice that your radiance comes down and begins to open up the tension and the hurt and the emotional blockage that begins to open on some level. But it sure does hurt at first because you're not covering it up anymore. Anyway, trust.
We'll talk more about it in the future, but let's start with that. Trust. Everything is as it should be because that is how it is. Everything is as it is. Right?
Okay. I look forward to talking to you in the future. Take care. Bye.