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Welcome to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host, Todd Perelmuter our world is a projection of our collective consciousness. The more peace we bring into our lives, the more peace we bring into this world. So let the transformation begin.

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Hello, and welcome to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host, Todd Perelmuter. And today, the question is, why do I feel disconnected from everything. And the reason for this feeling that many people experience

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is because although we are always seeing something, we're always listening. If a plate of dishes falls behind you, it will startle you, and you'll turn around. Even though you weren't listening for that, you weren't anticipating it. And this is because we are always receiving sensory input into our brain, we are constantly feeling a billion sensations through our nerve endings, ready to tell us if something's too hot or too cold, we are always seeing some kind of light or color input through our eyes. 

And we're always hearing all of these sounds even when we are not aware of them. And that is really where the disconnection takes place. It's the lack of awareness. It's because we fixate on very specific, very narrow points of focus. Most often these focal points that we fixate on our thoughts and stories in our own mind, that carry us away from the present moment. 

And we go on this mental and emotional journey where the outside world disappears. And even if something is happening right in front of us, someone can be talking right to us. And we will not notice what is happening around us. And this mental chatter is something that most of us live with, probably about 99% of our lives. And only when something truly remarkable happens, do we break that thought cycle and become actually aware of what is going on around us? 

We may see a beautiful sunset. And for a brief moment, we are just mesmerized and in a trance, which is to say our normal state of being when we are fully present it is this healing sense of awe and wonder, because we become one with the universe around us. As we take in through our sites and our other senses, whatever is happening, which is always coming in, which is always merging with us, which is always a sharing of photons, a sharing of sound vibrations. 

But we are too often distracted by our thoughts to notice them. It's easier when we are with other people to notice this shifting of our awareness from someone else and the words they're saying to the thoughts in our head. When we are really actively listening, when we are just hanging on every word, hearing every sound in the space between the sounds and taking in visually, the person and their visual cues. A real merging takes place where a part of them comes into you, and they have a space within that allows them to be. 

This is to say not when we are thinking of how we'll respond or thinking of how their position on a certain topic lines up with our position, we are not critically examining every word they say, We are not constantly reaffirming our own egoic position. And by ego I mean that thinking mind that all the thoughts come from in our mind are this egoic entity, which believes that it is a separate self, and tries to convince us that it is who we are, that it is unique, and that it is separate from the surrounding environment. 

And that it needs to constantly acquire more resources in order to survive. And it needs to defend against any and all threats, whether real or imagined. And it's easy to see why we have this ego, this thinking mind. It is a incredible survival mechanism for finding food and shelter and safety and avoiding and preventing danger. 

The problem, however, is when these egos go into overdrive and start running unconsciously. And when there is no danger when it becomes hyper vigilant in a constant, subtle state of stress, and is always paranoid or anticipating danger. Because we have experienced some kind of trauma in our history, or because we watch too much news. And it is impacted us on a subconscious level. There's very many reasons that these egos in our brain

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can run amok and become active 24/7. And it typically stems from not totally feeling safe and secure. Some of these reasons can just be the media in general, which needs drama, needs action, excitement and thrill and that adrenaline pumping, hold your breath.

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drama that is much more entertaining than a show where everything is just fine. And everything's just good all the time, and nothing ever happens. So this conditions, that egoic mind to always be anticipating some kind of danger. These days, we're constantly listening to podcasts and to song lyrics or hip hop or audiobooks. And while this content can be very beneficial, we're essentially letting someone else's ego temporarily be the ego within ourselves. 

And it just keeps perpetuating that constant voice in our head because as we constantly hear words, as we constantly read and take in a steady stream of dialogue, we are getting further and further away from the mind. Understanding being comfortable with and even being capable of rest and if the ego cannot rest If we cannot become one with the universe around us, our senses are extensions of our sense of being. And so we can look at stars, billions of light years away. 

And they can literally, by shooting off photons, in every direction, which then reach our eyeball, and become processed by our brain to interpret that data. We are literally merging with that star. And our consciousness with our senses, is a blending of our surroundings and us. And this is where that oneness and connection comes from. being fully present, and recognizing that we are simultaneously witnessing and projecting the universe, all at once we see the universe around us.

 And then our brains, process that information and project it on to our conscious awareness to consciousness itself, the that which witnesses and everything we see and experience, we see an experience within the mind alone, photons become filtered into images, sound frequency and vibrations become translated into all the noises, we perceive. Places of high energy can become translated into heat and warmth.

 And low energy, places with little particle movement are interpreted by our bodies as cold. And so when we are perceiving through this usual state of consciousness and we are constantly strengthening our ego, by avoiding the present moment, and by going on these stories within our mind, we are simply believing a story about reality instead of experiencing reality. 

Everything we experience gets filtered through this ego. And so instead of really appreciating a tree, we collapse a magnificent, beautiful form of life into a four letter word, tree. And this is where the disconnect really takes place and takes hold. Language was an incredibly powerful tool for communication. But we have mistaken language for reality. And language is only ever going to be a signpost, a pointer towards reality. 

No moment can ever adequately be described through language. It can only be experienced. And when we are constantly thinking, we are constantly disconnecting ourselves from reality and the truth and we are limiting our wisdom and understanding when we feel most disconnected is typically when we are most attached to the story in our head about stories of loneliness and isolation, stories of discontent and injustice and unfairness and we completely turn our attention inward and the outside world disappears. 

Often this even happens to people who are very successful, very loving families. And they simply have this ego that has gone to the extreme end of identifying with the story that nothing is going good, nothing is good enough. And that everything is out to get this person. We all know people who are very loved and have no reason to really be unhappy, and yet they retreat to their bedroom. 

Or they at least retreat within themselves. And they are the ones cutting off themselves from the universe, not intentionally, not by choice, but because they have strengthened their ego over time, constantly habituating that incessant thinking, to the point where overly analytical overthinking has become their standard mode of operation. And all of us to some extent, are living like this. And we can all be sent down that thinking spiral, where we feel like our emotions, our thoughts, and our general feeling, are out of our control. 

And determined by the whims of others, or wherever our own mind may lead us to. But no matter what happens, the present moment is always here for us. And it is a vehicle out of that thinking, spiral and into a place of peace, presence and oneness. And in order to feel that oneness, to feel that connection, we just have to do three things. And the first is to create space in our lives. And this will create space, in our mind. And all this looks like is spending a little bit of time, every day, throughout the day, as much as possible. Where we just observe what is happening around us. We keep the phone down,

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the screens off. And we take a moment, and we can feel our body because that's the present moment. Awareness, we can feel the chair beneath us. We can touch the armrest or the desk or table. And we can look with fresh eyes at whatever's in front of us. And feel how it becomes a part of us as we take it in with our awareness. And if and when thoughts come up, and they surely will. 

We witnessed those too. And we just observe everything that is happening without adding new stuff without avoiding the here and now without picking up the phone and checking social media, resisting the urge to fill that time up by doing any of the number of chores, tasks, activities that the ego can come up with to try to strengthen itself. 

And we simply allow for the moment in whatever form it takes, with no craving and no resistance because this is peace and presence when we just allow for everything in the universe to come and go within our field of consciousness, no cleaning, no aversion. 

Simply acceptance, with embrace, and even love. And this is how we love the universe, in all its forms, and there is no greater sense of connection, than love. The second thing we can do, to feel connected, to help curb that ego, and to create a sense of quiet, and spaciousness within our mind in our lives, is to, instead of fighting the ego, trying to kill the ego, being angry with the ego that disrupts our peaceful moments, is to love the ego. 

Because this ego is a part of us, and it's here to help us and it didn't mean to create so much suffering. And so we can love it for its protective nature. And because we can't kill it, we will either accept it, and work with it. Or we will fight it futilely. And like, in any fight, violence begets more violence, and the conflict will only grow, and that suffering will only increase. 

But we can love it for what it is, we can look at it with curiosity, and we can accept the good thoughts, and the bad thoughts, the useful thoughts, and the annoying thoughts. And we can just create a space for all of that to be. And as we create that space, we are making a friend with that ego. And a friend is much more likely to do something for us than an enemy. If we get mad at our ego, that is actually the ego who is mad at itself, and it is disguising itself as another level of consciousness. 

But it is that thinking mind. And this is just one of the survival tactics of the ego. It is awareness that is our higher self. It is consciousness itself that perceives all thoughts, which is who we truly are. And that direction, we put our focus is our highest intelligence, and wisdom. And just like paying attention, and spending time with a friend, is the greatest act of love. 

We can also spend time and observe our ego and create a love that transcends thoughts. And this is what will lead to a better functioning, less neurotic, ego. The third thing we can all do, now that we have created some space and room in our lives. And we have accepted and embraced and loved that ego inside of us is to expand our awareness beyond the five senses. 

Beyond these very limited sensory organs that we have in our bodies, expand beyond our own thoughts and feelings. Beyond the physical objects that we perceive, and beyond all the thoughts and stories we tell ourselves. Because beyond the stories that we tell ourselves about the past, or about some current situation we're in a much deeper understanding emerges. 

And that is a realization that insight, beyond thoughts are words, where we gain a sense that everything is happening exactly as it's supposed to. We understand that these stories we tell ourselves where we are at the center, and that everything is happening to us comes from that ego driven mind. 

And that in reality, everything is happening according to the laws of the universe, accord according to the actions and desires of the other 8 billion people on this planet. And that there is this beautiful flow, this sea of oneness, sometimes waves rising, sometimes falling, but that is all part of that perfect dance of the universe, unfolding before our eyes, we no longer see things as existing on their own permanently. And we see within the present moment, all past and all future, all the causes, and all the effects that make up this moment, it's too much information for the ego to keep in its head at one time. 

But we are able to see this reality on the many layers, many dimensions. And all of the factors that had to go into making this moment exactly the way it is, and understanding that it couldn't have been any other way. And the inescapable fact, becomes perfectly clear, which is, nothing is disconnected. Everything is connected.  There is no separateness, but the illusion of separateness and there is only one.

 Thank you so much for listening. This has been path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host Todd Perelmuter. Peace and love. You've been listening to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. Being here and putting in this important and noble work is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and others. If you found this podcast even a little helpful. Please make sure to leave a review so it can reach others who may be in need. And remember, the path to peace starts with a single step.