150 Enjoying Our Infinite Self, Healing Karmic Relationships, Q&A

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

We discuss how to identify your core essence, engage with stillness, and embrace the simplicity of being happy while letting go of life's troubles. 

Enjoying who you truly are involves peeling back layers of distractions to reveal the light within. Discovering the light within that shines like the sun—unclouded and constant. By connecting with the lives of enlightened beings like Ramana Maharshi and Buddha, we unravel the essence of our pure selves through chakras, love, silence, and joy. Explore the art of letting go, freeing ourselves from distractions and troubles that dim our inner radiance, and learn how this practice can transform our life experience.

Inner peace and fulfillment are within reach. With personal stories and insights, we connect with the simplicity of life, much like the serene existence of gentle sheep. Reflect on the trust and peace conveyed in the 23rd Psalm and discover the power of poetry, especially the works of Rumi, as a gateway to tuning into our true nature. Through meditation, we unravel the subtle awareness behind our thoughts, transcending beyond the realm of right and wrong, and understanding our deepest self.

Embrace the journey of personal growth and healing as we explore how releasing repressed emotions can be a painful yet liberating path to joy. Personal anecdotes and cosmic phenomena remind us of the importance of clearing suffering to reveal our true selves. Discover how personal clarity enhances relationships, even the challenging ones, and learn the significance of kindness in transforming perceptions. we discuss how to identify your core essence, engage with stillness, and embrace the simplicity of being happy while letting go of life's troubles. 

• Awakening as an everyday practice of self-discovery 
• The intrinsic connection between happiness and true being 
• Different chakras resonate with various qualities of existence 
• Engaging with nature to shift our perspective 
• Sitting in stillness as a path to inner clarity 
• The impact of inner healing on outer relationships 
• The collective journey toward communal harmony and self-awareness

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.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Path to Awakening and Happiness
• 11:09 Finding Inner Peace and Stillness
• 28:13 Embracing the Journey of Awakening
• 43:26 Healing Troublesome Relationships Through Personal Growth
• 1:01:25 Connecting With Past Memories and Gratitude

Transcript

William: 0:00

Welcome everybody. Welcome to Awakening Together, relaxing into Happiness. I'm William Cooper. I trust you're doing well today and that you've had a good week. This is our chance to talk about anything that you'd like on your awakening path, whatever that path might be. Hi Alice, how are you?

William: 0:29

While you're typing in your questions or thinking about them, let's talk about you. Let's talk about awakening. And who are we? Who are you? What is awakening? Well, awakening is you, without your troubles, just the pure you, your being and being, your being, all of our being is like a white light. Light and depending on which chakra we open up on, perhaps all of our chakras, but often we start with one and then maybe open another ones too. If our heart chakra opens up and it shines through our heart, we experience our being as love. But, depending on our chakra, we will experience that white light as love. Others might experience that same beingness as deep silence or radiant happiness or deep power or deep connection, creation manifestation. Others might experience it as clear seeing or clairvoyance and psychic abilities. It's the same white light coming through us, but it's just being experienced in our nervous system in different ways depending on which chakra our white light or being is shining through, being experienced through.

William: 2:10

In these podcasts, we've talked a lot about how to let go of the things that are blocking us, and we've also talked about how to be in touch or center on who we truly are, but I'd like to talk more about who we truly are. Today, you know who you are because anytime you're going through your day and you feel happiness, that's your true being happiness or joy or love. Sometimes it doesn't feel like who we are because we get distracted away from it, we get lost in a problem or a thought or any other kind of distraction, and those are the things that we let go of. The awakening process is simply love and letting go of everything that troubles you. Stay as love because that's who you are and, as I said before, depending on the chakra you're opening up in, you might experience yourself as love, or it's equally valid to experience yourself as silence or happiness or well-being or joy, expansiveness, all the other things that I mentioned and more. They're all very similar. For instance, if you are resting in true love, there's a deep quiet and satisfaction, a fulfillment within that love. So it includes the silence, it includes the fulfillment, it includes the happiness, it includes the joy and same with all the other chakras that open up. So, to be in touch with yourself, there are many levels, and so therefore, it's sometimes difficult to talk about One of the levels, the main one that we experience ourselves, as is our being in this world, and so we experience ourselves as a created energy, and our awakening is something that exists.

William: 4:28

If it's in this world, it exists, and I know these words can sound very strange, but we also exist on a level that's beyond existence, so I can't even use the word exist. It's beyond silence, it's uncreated, it's where everything comes from, and we only know ourselves that way through our intuition. But we can know ourselves that way. We can know ourselves that way very powerfully as we sit still and our distractions fall away and our intuition becomes more clear. We feel our deepest self, even beyond this creation. But the easier way to feel yourself is to feel yourself in this creation.

William: 5:21

And, as I started to say before, how do you feel in this creation? Well, if you're going through your day and you feel happy, that is a quality of your being, happiness. If you feel quiet, that's a quality of your being. If you feel fulfilled, if you feel peaceful, if you feel gentleness. If you feel anything along these lines, that is the true depth of who you are. How do you know what you're not? Anything that includes tension or trouble is what you're not. That's what we're letting go of.

William: 6:02

So, in awakening, when you feel yourself as happy, the idea is to let everything else go until there's only happy, until there's only love, and it's like a strong, bright, consistent light. What does it look like? Well, if you look at pictures of awakened beings, such as here's a picture of Ramana the main thing I'd like you to notice is not so much which chakra he's opening up through. Ramana was very, very silent, and when you were around him, you felt your deep inner silence. But what I'm wanting you to focus on, rather than that silence, do you see? It's almost like you can see light coming out of him, and it's very consistent. It's not intermittent, it's just constant. That's how you are. It's like the sun shining brightly, with no clouds. Ramana burnt off most all of his clouds. We're like that, except we still have some clouds left.

William: 7:20

So it seems intermittent, and sometimes people say, oh, I felt the sun, that I am my beingness, but then I lost it. No, you don't lose it, you're always the sun. It's just that a cloud drifts in front and it needs to burn off. And we haven't burned it off yet. But when you look at these pictures, you can see Buddha over my shoulder and Bhagavan. They're consistently bright. That's the awakened state. They've just burnt off the clouds.

William: 7:55

I'll give you some other examples. Here's Amaji just a bright light. She's like that all the time. It's not intermittent, like when we go through the day we feel happy, but then a cloud comes up and then we get distracted in a quote unquote problem. And where does the happiness go? Behind the cloud? So we think we're not happy, but we always are. It's just that we have a cloud. Jesus, bright, consistent. Shirdi Sai Baba bright, consistent.

William: 8:38

When you look at any of these pictures, you'll just feel and see an energy that just shines. Yogananda, it's just like a light bulb. It doesn't go off. That's you, that's what I'm saying. That's you. The value of this is great. They're awakened, great. But what about me? Well, I'll tell you about you. Awakened, great, but what about me? Well, I'll tell you about you. They give us inspiration because they're people just like you and they've just let those clouds burn off, and that's what it looks like.

William: 9:18

I bring this up now simply for you to start to tune in to who you are. Wow, I feel myself mostly as happiness. Yes, it goes away. Yes, I have a lot of problems and those distract me and yes, I have a lot of things to let go of. But if I was going to pick one thing, it feels like happiness is what pokes through the clouds the most. Or another person might feel, oh, I don't feel that happiness, I just feel silence, I feel quiet. That is just as powerful a quality of being as the happiness Another person oh, I just feel joy. Or I feel deep love. Many of you will feel more than one of these things, because you have a number of chakras opening, and once you feel yourself in one chakra, other chakras can open too. So it's not like, oh, I only feel happiness.

William: 10:23

But what I'm saying now is, as you tune into your consistent self, forget the clouds, but what's behind those clouds? Tune in to the light that's the brightest, because that's the easiest to find right now. Maybe it's happiness or love or peace or whatever, but tune into that. So that's one way to know who you are. That's who you are in creation, because it's how you're feeling in this world. Another way to know yourself is you've heard the expression? Perhaps is you've heard the expression? Perhaps the mind that creates the problem can't solve the problem.

William: 11:09

Sometimes, when we're really burdened by a lot of troubles and they haven't burned off yet they're in the process, they're winding down, but they're still thick enough that they're being very distracting Sometimes it can be helpful if you tune into or empathize with something that's not you, for instance. I'll give you a little example. Every day I go for a walk and at the end of our street there's all sorts of horses and goats and sheep and I've gotten to know them and I talk to them and they're just beautiful beings and I really never knew sheep that well before. But there's a little flock of about nine sheep, I guess, and they're always very happy and the person who takes care of them does such a good job and they're kept safe and they're always fed and they're clean and they play and they've got green grass. Well, one way to jump out of our mind into a deeper place when we're troubled is to imagine what does it feel like to be somebody else? What does it feel like to be one of those sheep? They're happy, they're content, and when I'm with them I can feel them. With them, I can feel them. And then that brought me to something that I never appreciated as deeply as I do now, and it's the 23rd Psalm. Bear with me and just try this on for size.

William: 12:57

Imagine that you're one of those sheep and you're being kept very safely and you're being cared for, and look at life from the perspective of a cared-for sheep. I'll read the 23rd Psalm from the perspective of one of those sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It feels so good. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul, he guides me in paths of righteousness for his namesake, and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. I'm safe. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

William: 14:49

Can you imagine and feel what it would feel like to be one of those sheep. Try it on for size. When I try it on for size, when I try it on for size, there's just so much trust and fulfillment. Peace, that peace that I feel that you feel. Whatever it is that you feel, that's you. It's a way to jump out of the mind that creates the problem of not being awake, into the mind that can be awake. Once there, you tune in to who you truly are. There's only one person inside of you and that's you. So any peace you feel is you. That's your true being. You tune into your being. Any stillness is you. You tune into your own stillness, your contentment.

William: 16:01

Another way to do it, a related way, is often poetry, because it takes us out of our mind and puts us into our deeper place. And I, like Rumi, I'll read you this one Feel into this. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there when the soul lies down in that grass. The world is too full to talk about Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense. Whatever you're feeling as you listen to, that is you. That's your awakened self. So awakening is tuning into who you are and letting all the rest go, and then you consistently shine as you let all the rest go. You're a consistent bright light, consistently, every second, shining Not because you're trying, it's just because who you are. Consistently every second shining, not because you're trying, it's just because who you are.

William: 17:31

I remember Bhagavan, my guru for nine years, used to say that we're split into a thousand parts. It's like a bright light that's diffracted a thousand different ways into different little thoughts and personalities and problems. They take our attention and that's what we do. As we let them melt away, we let those thousand voices melt away until all that's left is that one bright light you, and you're here right now. That's you. You're always here, so you're good, it's all good.

William: 18:18

Now the third way to know yourself, which is the deepest way and all these are great ways, but the deepest way, in my opinion, is you sit still. That's called meditation, but you sit still and you watch everything that comes up and anything you can see. And anything you can see, anything you can watch, is not you, because it will disappear, it will dispel its energy and melt back into consciousness. Eventually maybe not at once, but eventually you're the one watching, Because when everything else goes, that you're watching, you're still here and so is the awareness. So just process of elimination, simple math. You are awareness.

William: 19:16

Well, what does awareness feel like? I said this is the deepest sense of yourself, the deepest way to know yourself, because it's so quiet, it's so subtle that often we don't even know ourselves on that level. So you have to sit still and you put your attention on that which is watching the stuff come up, that which is watching the problems unwind and dispel and melt out, that which is watching. What does that feel like? At first it feels like nothing, because, in truth, if you follow it backwards and, as I mentioned earlier, you need your intuition to do that as you follow it backwards, it goes out of this existence, it goes back before creation. It doesn't exist. So that's quiet. When you don't exist, that's quiet. That's quiet when you don't exist. That's quiet, but you do exist. It's just.

William: 20:27

We can't use worldly words to describe that, but you can certainly experience it. That's why when people ask or teachers talk about it, they go oh, you can't talk about it, it's beyond words, you can't talk. Well, you can talk about it, but to a point you can, but that's you always. And then, as you come into existence, the first thing you'll notice when you are real quiet is light. You are light, you are light, you are light. That's you. And then that light, as it slows down, turns into the qualities we talked about earlier Happiness, peace, joy, well-being, love as it comes through the various chakras, your chakras, it's all a continuum of you the awake you. You, without a problem. So you can get to know yourself on that very deep quiet level by sitting still and as you sit still, let all the other stuff melt away. Now, this last way that I just told you, sitting still and tuning into who you truly are, the quiet you.

William: 21:58

We're not in our society. We like sugar, we like sugar, we like stuff. So it'd be like telling, asking a kid do you want a Coke or do you want a glass of water? Well, the water's better for you and once you get used to it it's very powerful. You've got to have water to live. But any child's going to take the Coke or most of them will, because it's got sugar and caffeine and it's fun.

William: 22:32

But that's what our personality is like. It's got all sorts of drama in there. It's got fears and anxieties and cliffhangers. It's like a action movie inside of us. Well, that's why we're split into a thousand different parts, because we're diving down all these rabbit holes. So to calm down we have to sit still and quit drinking the Cokes. It's hard to put them down. It's hard to put them down, they're tasty, but the side effect of drinking too many cokes is your you get health problems.

William: 23:11

The side effect of diving into too many inner dramas is you can't experience yourself as true happiness, you can't experience yourself as a radiant, bright light. You can't even know yourself because you're so tied up into the dramas. We know our dramas, the stories, but we don't know who we are, ramana. But what about my relationship, ramana? What should I do about my job? And Ramana said hold on, first, before we figure out about your job or your relationship or your dramas or whatever, let's find out who you are, who are you first. Once you know who you are, that might change your perspective on all the other stuff. So start with the basics who are you? So that's sitting still, that's sitting still, you know.

William: 24:16

Again, it's difficult because would we rather jump into a movie, would you rather watch a movie or a drama, or would you rather just be in the quiet? Would you rather turn on TV or would you rather just sit still in the quiet by yourself? Get to know yourself? Most of us, our society, we've gotten addicted to the action. It's okay, like Jesus said, be in this world, enjoy this world, but don't be stuck to any of it, don't be troubled by it. So, yeah, enjoy everything, but don't exclude knowing ourselves, okay. So what I would suggest is it's vitally important to get to know yourself.

William: 25:10

In these podcasts, we've talked a lot about letting go of who you aren't, your problems, your troubles. How to do that, step by step by step, and the best way to listen to these podcasts or start at podcast one and, step by step, work your way forward. 2345. But you can listen to any of them on their own as well. They all stand on their own, but they're most powerful to do them in order. We also talk about who we are, but I'd really like today to focus, maybe even this week, on which of those levels that I've talked about appeals to you.

William: 25:50

Where can you start? Can you start by just looking at a picture of somebody that is awake and then, tuning into that same thing within you? Put the picture down, because you don't want to be channeling Ramana. He's already awake. We don't need that. We want to channel you. We want to channel you, so you sit still and tune into those same qualities that are within you. Maybe that's the easiest way to do it for you, and these are all equally valid.

William: 26:23

Another way is to just notice during the day oh, I'm happy. What would it feel like if I let everything else go? That's not that, and all there was was happiness. Practice doing that a little bit, more and more and more. Or I feel very quiet and silent. What if I let everything else go? What would that feel like? Or if you have a dog or a cat, what does it feel like to be them when I'm taking such great care of them? What do they feel? Maybe you read a scripture or a poem, or maybe you sit still, or maybe you do all of the above, but I'd like you to really get used to who am I? Who am I? And at the same time, I'll let all the other stuff that is troubling me. Let me continue to let that go. Okay, let's see what some of you have written and we'll go from there.

William: 27:22

Three says can you please comment on what I wrote earlier this week regarding feeling stuck, hoping for a cosmic jolt to get a glimpse of why I'm doing the hard work, etc. Thank you, yes, therese. In my opinion, the only thing that we're doing on Earth, the main things are being ourselves and letting everything else go. That's troubling us, and letting everything else go, that's troubling us. I don't know what other option we have. We can hold on to all that troubles us and drink excessively or take drugs or whatever, but eventually that'll catch up with us too. So I don't know another choice, because it's suffering to just sit still.

William: 28:13

So the reason why I'm doing the hard work is because I don't want to walk around suffering and I want to enjoy who I am. So each little layer that I let go of, I feel a little bit better and better and better, and I'm of the opinion that we take ourselves wherever we end up after this life. So each little bit that I feel better here, I believe that I'll feel much better where I end up going. I really don't want to take a big mess with me. So for me, I like feeling better now, bit by bit by bit, and taking my good feelings with me. But that's coming from my experience.

William: 29:09

The best advice I can give anybody is follow your heart, see what makes sense for you. Sometimes it's good to take a break. Sometimes, maybe, just forget about all this and live your life. There's no hurry. Life is good. It doesn't end. It goes forever. So there is no hurry. I'm often guided because I don't want to feel suffering. But others who aren't feeling suffering, perhaps they're good until they do. I would follow your heart on this.

William: 29:46

But if I do want to let go of suffering the problem is to let go of suffering. I have to feel it because I repress suffering. That's why it's within me. I repressed it because it hurts. So when it releases, it releases what it was repressed with the reason I didn't want to feel in the first place. So I didn't feel it in the first place. I stuck it under and now it's coming out and it hurts.

William: 30:18

Buddha said that's the value of being with other like minded people, being in a sangha, to give yourself encouragement, because this is hard work. The only reason it's hard work is because we're hard work. We've made it hard, we've created the problems. There's nobody to blame but us. If I didn't repress all that hard stuff, it wouldn't be hard, but I did so. The buck stops with me. And now I have a choice Do I want to be happy or do I want, as I said, just go to the bar and drink a lot? Those are stark contrasts, but I don't know.

William: 31:09

Now, as you've listened to my podcast, you've heard that I have gotten cosmic jolts. I've had miracles happen all around me. I've had beings appear to me. I've had all sorts of things, but I wasn't looking for any of them. I really wasn't. When those coffee mugs started blowing up in my hand every time I would touch one, I wasn't looking for that. I was just as surprised as all the other people in the coffee shop. Or when the mala, my beads, melted into dust, I was. I didn't even believe it. I asked friends well now, could that be? Could a bug have gotten it, eaten it or what? I really took me a long time to believe it, but all these things were side effects and all the various things that happened have been side effects. All I was.

William: 32:05

My only goal was to get clear, to let my suffering go and to know who I am. I just couldn't think of a deeper purpose for life. Do you want to be loving? Do you want to be happy? Those are the qualities of our beings, and I know you do. This is rhetorical for everybody because it's such a good question, therese, everybody's asking this, but you also need encouragement because it's hard, hard, hard work, because we're hard, hard, hard work. And one other thing that, therese, you asked and I'm going to read your other question because I think it also applies to all of us and I commented on it the last podcast, but it's important, so I'm going to do it again. And Therese just wrote about. Did I address her question? Yes, thank you.

William: 33:12

The water versus the Coke made sense, therese. Thank you for saying that it is so important, because what happens is that deep silence that Ramana Jesus, everybody sat in and got to know themselves as very deeply. At first that did not feel like anything to them. When you're used to Coke, water doesn't taste like anything or not much. It's not very glamorous, but in terms of beingness, when you sit still, still, at first it doesn't taste like much.

William: 33:55

And there's all this stuff being released because you're sitting still and it's hard to repress old pain and suffering anymore when you sit still, so it releases and we feel it and it's painful. So here we are, sitting still, we don't feel the glory of who we are and it's painful. So here we are sitting, still. We don't feel the glory of who we are because it's water. We don't feel it yet.

William: 34:18

Yet we feel all of the hurt and pain and fear that we've repressed coming out. That's healing us, yes, and our load is getting lighter and we're suffering less and less and less, but not at first. At first we're feeling it more than ever because we are no longer repressing it. So we're kind of in this weird zone where we're feeling worse than ever because everything else is coming out. We're being honest with ourselves and just letting it expose itself, being honest with ourselves and just letting it expose itself. What's been stuck underneath the surface that we haven't wanted to look at. It's coming out. So that feels horrible, and who we are doesn't feel like anything good. It's just water. It doesn't feel as good as all the drama that I'm now releasing.

William: 35:09

So we're kind of're kind of in this difficult spot there at the in the beginning. However, as you sit still long enough that water starts to glow, your being starts to glow. What seemed to be nothing and tasteless starts to radiate because you're getting clearer, it becomes light and it becomes brighter and brighter and it feels peaceful and silence and deep bliss starts to radiate out and joy and happiness and overwhelming love, happiness and overwhelming love. But that takes time, because we're so disconnected from our true self that it just takes time to get clear. And when you read the Tao Te Ching and I know that you have Therese there is a verse in there or maybe two or three that say can you sit still until the mud settles? Can you do it? That's what they're talking about. So this stuff is very practical and it's right where you are and thank you for asking your questions because it's right where everybody is. I hope that makes sense.

William: 36:35

But yes, there's this no man's land in the beginning, because there's the pain coming up and yet you don't feel yourself fully yet. So you don't. It's almost like you don't feel like you're getting a benefit. I don't feel good because I don't feel myself and all I feel is bad. But you don't have a choice, really. And Therese says yes, it was like when I got sober 20 years ago. It was more painful before it got better. Good example, therese, a good example. It's like that, maybe not identical, but very close. Everything is coming up, all hell is breaking loose, it feels terrible and you don't have time yet to feel good, so you're in that kind of no man's land. That's a good example. It's just like that in a different way Same same but different.

William: 37:35

And Therese, you've been really very diligent in reading lots of books. But the reason I think it's in podcast 90, I have all those books listed is because they give you encouragement, coming from different angles, about what really it feels like as you go on your path, because these books are written by people that are further along than when we first start out or even when we've been doing it for years. These people express very clearly what's going on and it can be very inspiring. And Therese, the reason why I've asked you to read all the books, if you can or when you can that I listed is because if you just read one, as good as each and every one of them are, they'll have a certain perspective which will be shaped culturally and by the experience of that writer, and so you get a skewed view of awakening. It's a very good view and it's a very true view, but it's only one little facet of the diamond. When you read all the books, you get a more rounded view and you're more rounded.

William: 38:49

So when I was first starting, I would take what any teacher said so seriously. He said this he said I should feel love, but I feel peace. What am I doing wrong? Well, I didn't know about all the chakras opening and expressing different qualities, of being Sometimes awakened. People don't know that, so I certainly didn't know it. So I was trying hard to suppress the good things that were happening in me so that I could be more like the teacher and kind of fit the mold that they were describing. No, no, no, we don't want to do that. We want to fit your mold. Who are you not? Who are William, or who is Buddha, or who is Jesus, or who is Therese or who is anybody? It's you. So that's why I'm having you read all those books, because it is hard at first and you could use all of the encouragement all of us could that we can get. I started to say that I wanted to continue reading Therese's part of one of her reviews for podcast 138 entitled Flow Versus Tension, comma my experience-Time Releasing Question and Answers.

William: 40:06

It was a live session, just like this, and Therese, after listening to it, wrote just this last week and this is an edited version of your question. William, I appreciated you sharing how the melting of the ice feels for you. I feel it as a tightening in my chest, by my heart and in the top of my back, between my neck and shoulders. It's hard to breathe. Normally, I always appreciate knowing if I'm doing this right. Quote, unquote right, even though I know intellectually that you can't do it wrong. And absolutely true, therese. And it's good to get confirmation. It helps settle your nerves. You are doing it right. And then Therese goes on to say it is helpful for normalizing the experience in general. For me, yes, it is, for all of us.

William: 41:01

The reason I brought this up is because in the past podcast, as most of you who have listened know, we've talked about the stuff coming up melting out of our system, our suffering, the things that are blocking us from ourselves, from ourselves, and these podcasts are very rich on how, what to do to let these things melt. It's not simply don't be attached, how not to be attached, or it's not simply let it go, it's how to let it go. And some of the hows have been when something comes up and I'm saying this for anybody that's just listening in right now welcome, by the way, when something comes up and I'm saying this for anybody that's just listening in right now, welcome, by the way when something comes up, you just let it release its energy. It's like a rubber band that's wound very tight and you just let go of one end and you let it spin. You don't have to do anything. When a problem comes up, you just sit and watch it. You don't get involved in it, because when you get involved in it, you're recreating it, and that's what I want to talk about for a few moments right now. Instead, just let the rubber band spin and all the tension that's within that rubber band releases itself, and then the rubber band is loose, limp and relaxed. And that's just like what happens inside of us loose, limp and relaxed. Once we let everything go, asks for us to receive the goodness that we are To receive it. The parts that are wound tight let them drink in the goodness Because, just like a massage, when you get relaxation and attention, the tension dissolves and it's gone forever. Well, when you have health and beingness coming into problems the problems, like tension and a massage, they loosen, they relax and they dissolve forever. So there's also a soaking up process. So we go through this in the various podcasts, which are all on this platform. Any of you can listen to them. They're all free Podcasts, which are all on this platform. Any of you can listen to them. They're all free.

William: 43:26

Now, having said that, I want to say this about problems as they release at some point they've released their tension. You're soaking up some beingness. You want to stand in your beingness, stand as happiness, stand as peace, stand as well-being, as love. Whatever it is for you that you're feeling, stay there and let your problems unwind, but do it from the perspective of who you are, because problems are created things.

William: 44:03

Who created them? We created them. How do we create them? We take consciousness. We will them into existence, like creating a thought. All there is is consciousness and existence. We use our willpower and we take the only building block, which is consciousness, and we shape it into an object called a thought. We hallucinate a thought. A thought is simply a hallucination, and to discreate a thought, a troubling thought, we let it expend the energy and the attitude that we stuck into consciousness to freeze it into a thought and we let it spend that and dissipate. That's how we just create a thought or an emotion or anything else that we have created.

William: 44:53

So at this point we stand in our being and we see what formerly was a problem. We see it as simply consciousness. Just visualize it as light. If we stand in who we are, we stand as happiness or love or well being and we start to see clearly. My guru always used to say to see is to be free. We see clearly for what it is at its heart, which is pure consciousness. That means we don't get involved in it as a problem.

William: 45:27

Problems are to be solved. There's nothing to solve. It's just consciousness in a lump, in a shape. There's nothing to solve. It will dissipate when we get out of the mind that created it. That's why it's hard to solve a problem using the same mind that created it, because using the mind that created it, we're stuck in the middle of that problem and we treat it like it's a problem, because we have to have a problem to work on in order to solve it.

William: 46:03

We're holding it in the shape of a problem, so it can't let go. It can't let go, so we have to step out and we look at it from where we are and begin to visualize it. For instance, give it a track to run on. Just visualize it as free-flowing consciousness, as light or peace or well-being. So it gives your nervous system a way to process it, because the nervous system has a habit of maintaining what it already has created. That's what it was trained to do. When you go to school and you learn the multiplication tables, you don't forget them the next day. When you learn to spell, you don't forget it the next day. We're trained to hold on to that. So the mind that created it finds it very difficult to let it go. So see it for what it is, and then that will give instructions to the mind to let it go. See it as light, visualize it as peace. Just visualize it as melting back into the infinite, going back into your aura as more energy, as wellness, as well-being. That's how it melts ultimately. Now the other steps.

William: 47:23

I talked about letting it release its energy like a rubber band or soak up the wellness that you are, or all the other things we've talked about. Those are also important. We exist on so many different realities. We start with where we are. The problem comes up. Oh, it hurts. My first step is I don't engage it, I just let it release its energy. That's where I am right. At first it loosens, then it can breathe in wellness and it can begin to relax out, just like attention in a massage. Okay, now it's relaxed out, now there's more room. So another level, another reality in my beingness is opening and I stand in who I am. There's more room to do that and I just see it as light, I just see through it. It doesn't exist and I don't have to hold it as a problem. I hope that makes sense, but that's what you do. That's one way. You may find your own ways, you may find something that works better, but that's what I found works well.

William: 48:35

Three says thank you for taking time to answer my questions and I always appreciate when you share your personal experiences. Absolutely, and thanks, tharis, alice. My question is are there actions we can take with people, especially troublesome family members, to heal or end any karma contracts? To heal or end any karma contracts? Oh, what a good question, alice. I'm going to tell you some things that you probably already know. The first thing when somebody asked Ramana a similar question, he said the best thing he could do was to get clear and then it healed the world around him. So, as I said, to Therese these miracles and cosmic jolts that have happened to me have been a side effect.

William: 49:41

My focus has been for me being clear and I have noticed that, bit by bit, troublesome relationships have gotten better, as I've gotten better. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi used to say when you become awakened, people around you start to heal. So Ramana said that. Bhagavan said that. It makes sense to me, it feels right because that energy goes into the system. However, another part of it is as I heal, I get better, and because I get better, maybe other people aren't as troublesome because I'm not as troubled. There's that side of it too. Maybe they heal, maybe I heal probably some of each. So that's one thing.

William: 50:39

The second is I noticed in myself, when I treat people more nicely, they become nicer, and sometimes it's hard to do when they truly are in the wrong and they are not very nice themselves. At least that might be more my opinion before I heal more, you know, but at least that's what I'm thinking. They're not very nice. Now, later I have to laugh because sometimes, as I've healed, I've realized oops, I think I was the one that wasn't so nice. But nonetheless, as I'm nice to them, I have noticed they become nicer to me and along those lines. I think you know that Hawaiian practice and I don't even think I can pronounce it, what is it? Hanopono or something Philippa says the process of ho'opono is saying I'm sorry, please forgive me, I thank you, I love you. You just say it silently, you put that vibe out and the Buddhists have the loving-kindness meditation. That seems like it's in that direction, the loving-kindness meditation. That seems like it's in that direction.

William: 52:10

In India they told us a story about karma where an ophthalmologist's son was going blind A true story. And this ophthalmologist had made lots of lots and lots of money, millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars. And when he came to Bhagavan to ask for healing, bhagavan said give to those people what you want your son to have. So he paid for everybody in Bangalore. So he paid for everybody in Bangalore which is a big city, for I think it was one month to have eye care Anybody who needed it. I just can't imagine what that cost, and money to him was very dear. This was not an easy thing for him. There's a lot of poverty in India and he made it. And you know like you go through the Depression, you don't want to spend a dime. Well, he didn't either, but his son was so dear to him he did it and his son started healing. So they sent another lady. She had feet problems and they couldn't cure it. So they said buy everybody shoes. So she bought shoes.

William: 53:34

So karma is a weird thing and I don't have a full grip on it. I don't know that anybody does, but does any of that apply? I wonder, alice, could you do something for these people or anybody else in your life? Rip on it. I don't know that anybody does, but does any of that apply? I wonder, alice, could you do something for these people or anybody else in your life? That would be like I'm not saying buy a whole city, I care, but in your way, in your good way, do something, give, give in a way that addresses the problem that you're having, just making up something. If they don't invite you over for dinner, let's say this is just a random made-up thing If they don't invite you over, buy people dinner, that kind of thing. So there's many different approaches. I hope that helps. There's not a magic thing, but maybe, maybe there is.

William: 54:30

Jennifer says when I mentioned ramana, she says she loves ramana. Jennifer and I have gone to ramana's ashram. We, that's where we go a lot, uh, in ind. And this book In Search of a Secret India by Paul Brunton is a great book. It's one of my favorites. It's the closest to going to India that I've ever seen in a book. It matches my experience. So it's in podcast 90, but you could read that one. What else? Let me know, alice, if I need to address that a little bit more.

William: 55:05

Alice says, if I'm understanding you, I can heal my part in any karmic contract through my own behavior of love, kindness, forgiveness, etc. Yes, as you become clearer, as you become deeper in love, love is reflected back to you. As you are in touch with your deeper kindness, kindness is reflected back to you. And forgiveness what really gives it power is when you give physically on top of it, and that's what I was referring to on top of it, and that's what I was referring to Like when Jesus talked. There was a very poor person who just gave what they had, which was just almost nothing, but that's pretty much all they had, and Jesus said that was so powerful because it's what they had. And I don't mean going broke, I don't mean suffering by giving away all that you need so that you're not safe or anything like that, but I mean actually give. When Jennifer and I go to India, we feed holy people. They love it, but you know what it heals us. It heals us.

William: 56:18

I remember one of my earlier trips to Theravanamalai. I was working with a Sufi master very awake master, and people came from far and wide to talk to him, and just a Westerner didn't know what I was doing and I went in and my stomach, I had all this repressed stuff and I asked him. I said take it from me. He said well, how. I said take it from me. He said well how. I said I don't, you're the master, just take it, you can do it. And he just had me sit with him for all day long. And later he asked me, days later I had a motorbike and he said take this food and this person and go to the other side of the Holy Mountain and you're going to feed people.

William: 57:12

Now, being a Westerner, I thought I was being imposed upon. I thought you're taking advantage of me. This is a lot of work. You have to get food, you got to take it over there, you got to feed people. Why are you having me do this I'm not even part of your Sufi organization. That's me. It's the mind that creates the problem could not solve the problem. I got there and I just did it anyway. I said yes because I couldn't say no. Basically, oh, it was so healing, feeding those people. I did something in the world that was healing.

William: 58:00

What I'm saying, alice, what I'm saying to all of us, is it's not just working on ourselves that is maybe the most important but an outer reflection of the inner grace is to do stuff for people, and I know you already do plenty, alice. I'm sure I'm not saying you're not. This is rhetorical to everybody. Do stuff, donate, give Help, not beyond what's comfortable, but kind of find the edge. Yeah, hold doors for people. Don't be afraid to give them a dollar if they need it. Something about money. That really triggers people. It triggers me too. It tells us a lot about ourselves. Okay, I've really enjoyed it. I look forward to talking to you later. Good to see you.

William: 59:01

You all are doing so well and thank you for your courage. Therese says super grateful. This was so helpful and encouraging. Therese, you are working very hard and when you're working hard for your awakening, you're healing the world. For your awakening, you're healing the world, you're contributing to world peace. But that outer work is a sign of an inner grace. Somebody asked a Zen teacher. They said do you have to meditate in order to awaken? He said no. But I don't know anybody that has awakened who hasn't meditated. The awakening is already happening. All the stuff you're doing is just the symptoms of what's already happening on the inside. So keep up the good work and thank you so much.

William: 59:55

Jean asks what if you are helping people but still aren't clear within yourself? You know we encompass so many levels of reality that all the various realities often call for a different way to get clear. And then they all come together for super clarity is what happens. So I'm not saying blindly help people, just knee-jerk help people, but I'm saying do some because that will clear you up on that level and you probably already are, gene. But there's still other things it will lead you to. Because when you give, if you're not feeling happy and good and grateful, you'll bump up against that and then you'll say oh, I can feel how unhappy I feel, because when you're not clear, you are also not happy. You're separated from yourself. So when you sit still, you can release that and that came up because you gave and then you notice how unclear you were. So one thing leads to the other. It's one unit, it's all interconnected. But don't shy away from getting clear on one level, but don't just blindly need your do anything on any level. Follow your heart, take care of yourself, but give to others. I hope that makes sense.

William: 1:01:25

Suzanne says Thank you, william. So glad I was drawn to you today. My father's name was William and he loved the 23rd Psalm and he passed from this world on today's date. Wow, 31 years ago today. That's funny. I don't think I've ever read the 23rd Psalm on a podcast. Gene says thank you so much. It makes a lot of sense. Okay, thanks everybody. Take care. Look forward to talking to you next time. Take care, yes, amazing Bye-bye.