1 - Introduction - Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness

This is an introduction to the series, Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness with William Cooper, Master of Theology, Licensed Professional Counselor.  In this series we are exploring a distillation of what he has found most helpful on the path of Awakening over the last 50 or so years. William has experienced everything he talks about in these podcasts. Because truth is timeless and universal his direct experience is supported by timeless teachings. Many have found his clear step by step pointers a game changer.

William has been to India 14 times, Bhutan, Brazil Thailand, etc. He spent 4 years and seminary. He is a licensed psychotherapist and blends East and West into what works for many.

The podcasts are pretty short to start so give them a try and a chance.  I can't imagine them not being helpful or supportive in some way....even if you are already experiencing your Self clearly.  Always nice to hear how others explain things. I feel it is supportive and deepening.

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

• 0:01 Awakening Together
• 7:48 Spiritual and Therapeutic Background

Transcript

0:00

Hello, this is William Cooper. Welcome to this series of podcasts called Awakening Together Relaxing Into Happiness. It's called Awakening Together because we're all on the same path and we're all opening up together. What are we opening up to? To experiencing fully who we are, experiencing fully our being. Awakening and relaxing into happiness are really the same thing because what are we awakening to? Our being and the main quality of our being is experienced as rich happiness, explosive bliss. And I don't mean the concept of happiness or a light happiness. It's like an atomic bomb going off, kind of like sticking your finger in a light socket. You feel it, boom. So, this is what we're opening into, extreme happiness. What are other qualities of being? Well, calm and peace, well-being, deep infinite joy. We'll talk more about the qualities of being in another podcast but this is what we're doing. We're relaxing into happiness. Why don't we feel happy all the time if that's the nature of our being? What's the problem? Well, we're blocking ourselves. Basically, inside we have the choice and often it's become an unconscious or a habit of either turning the switch on or off to feeling our happiness. And often we have the switch turned off. Our personality often is actually blocking us from feeling happy. Well, how do we unblock? How do we... I want to feel happy, so how do I do that? How do I feel this explosive bliss and safety and well-being? How do I feel good all the time? It's called causeless happiness. How do I feel that? How do I experience that? That's exactly what this series of podcasts will be exploring, step by step, how to experience happiness all the time. The happiness that you are. I have a friend in India who's a guru and he has millions of followers and what he likes to say is to see is to be free. Let me give you an example. Let's say you're in a guest house in India and it's dark at night. You're in your bedroom and you see in a corner a deadly cobra, the kind that can kill you instantly, so you don't move. You just stay frozen on your bed. You're having perhaps a panic attack inside but you don't dare move. Your mind is racing. Perhaps you're considering the meaning of life and you wish that you knew what the meaning of life was and what you'd have done and what you haven't done in this life. So many different things you experience, not daring to move. But in the morning, the sun comes up. You see in the corner, hey, that never was a cobra. It's a rope. But once you see clearly that it's a rope, lots of problems are solved because you thought the rope was a snake but it's not. Now that you can see clearly that it's not a snake but a rope, your panic attacks and all other issues regarding the snake disappear. You no longer need medication for anxiety. You don't need to go to psychotherapy. You don't need to read a book on philosophy or psychology. Everything is clear and it resolves itself because you can see clearly that it's not a snake and therefore all is well. Additionally, in order to see clearly, you have to see from a clear place. When you see from a clear place, you flow and you're no longer blocking the qualities of your being. So, happiness flows through your life. Well-being flows through your life. Peace and safety flow through your life. To see is to be free. So, we're going to look at things carefully and see clearly. Much of these podcasts will be centered around how to feel better. How does this work? How does that work? And you'll be urged both to listen and then consider for yourself because after all, you are your own guru. Buddha was awakened. Great. That's great for Buddha. But what about me? You know, you have to consider you and what makes sense for you. And if you hear something that makes no sense, disregard it. Then move on. Find your answers. But when we shine the light, at least it gives the opportunity to consider, is this true for me or not? Awareness is curative. So, seeing clearly is very important. There's another thing about awareness. When something that's been blocking you comes into the foreground and you put your awareness on it, it starts to melt it like an ice cube. You don't have to do a whole lot. You just have to be aware of it and it will begin to melt out of your life. But there's a certain way to do that and we're going to explore that in these podcasts. You know, there's lots of questions that will come up and we're going to explore so many different things. What is meditation? There's lots of different kinds of meditation. What's the best meditation? How do I pick one? Hey, I meditate anyway and it's not working. I don't feel peaceful. I don't feel calm. Why not? What are relationships? What is a good relationship with myself? What is love? How do I interact with other people? What is karma? Can somebody take my karma? Do I need a guru? Can a guru take my karma? What is the meaning of life? How do I let go of suffering? Really let it go. I've tried so many things. I've read so many books and I'm still suffering. How? Why? On and on and on. Each one of these podcasts will be relatively short and to the point and it will be on a particular topic. So, probably it's best to start with the first podcast and continue in order because each one builds on the last. However, each podcast will have lots of information in it on that particular topic. So, no harm done if you decide, no, I'd rather listen to this one and that one and then this one and that one. Follow your heart. Do what you feel best to do. Now, shortly, what is my background? I'm a licensed professional counselor. I've been through a four-year academic program in seminary. I was a unity board president. I've worked with thousands of different people in various spiritual groups. I've been meditating for over 40 years. I've been to India 13 times for an three months per time and sat with hundreds, probably, of awakened people so that I could experience the various aspects of awakening. In psychotherapy, I've experienced many western perspectives and so now I blend the two and see what makes sense for me and others. That's what these podcasts are about. That's the thumbnail of my background. Okay, let's keep this relatively short and move on. I look forward to seeing you in the next podcast. Thanks for joining me.