If you're in a place to close your eyes,
Hey Grace nice to have you here,
Then gently close your eyes for a moment.
As your eyes close allow yourself to slowly start to settle into your being.
Gently taking your right hand to your belly.
And slowly taking a few deeper breaths into the palm of your hand and you may sigh it out.
Let's take one more full breath.
Then slowly start to open up your eyes.
Okay welcome everybody.
So this topic I feel has been something that is kind of been percolating in my contemplations for a really really long time.
And it has kind of taken this center stage now as the thing that I really trust like the most is my own intuition and my own experience.
But it wasn't like that before.
It wasn't like that before I started living life in a mindful way or I started meditating and slowing things down.
Thanks to the hearts.
Before then I kind of would just I felt really lost in life.
I felt like I didn't understand the world.
Not that I fully understand it now but you know like I felt like I didn't understand anything and I was very lost.
And like I heard people say things about you know these things about life or how life operates or how things function or these sorts of things.
And I was just kind of like okay maybe like I have no idea.
I don't know what I believe.
I don't know what I don't believe.
And over the years of listening to many spiritual teachers,
Reading books,
Being deep on this path,
Going through teacher trainings,
And then doing my own meditative practice,
I've just really started to get this hunch,
This intuitive kind of feeling that everything that is created,
Whether it's a belief system or something that's passed through a teaching or whatever it is,
Simply I feel has been deeply rooted just in that person's experience or in multiple people's experiences.
And life is a very I find experiential thing.
Like we like to talk a lot.
We like to do a lot of this information stuff especially in this time.
We get all caught up in arguing over our beliefs and all this stuff that we think is true and we think is not true.
But when it comes down to it like we really resonate with experience.
Like we know things for sure because of experience.
Not because somebody else said something.
You know what I mean?
It can resonate within you and then it becomes a truth.
So I've heard and I haven't looked deep into all the history and stuff,
But I've heard that Buddha lived a very kind of you know kind of normal life.
Like he was a part of a wealthy family I believe,
But he was in the world like doing things like living out his human life.
And then when he stopped to slow down after he kind of got all that out of his system,
Then through his observations he started to come to these realizations.
Which is interesting.
And even when I listen to Deepak Chopra speak,
Who's a big teacher for me because I took his meditation teacher training so I know a lot of his stuff.
He talks about it too I've heard multiple times of like this is you know you just watch you know watch life experience it.
Like look at it.
You know like come into that experience of the moment and see what you realize.
And then he shares those realizations.
And what I do within my talks here is I simply just share my own realizations of paying attention to life.
So I want to make sure that you understand the power that you have just in an individual with eyes,
Ears,
Mouth,
Nose,
These five senses.
You have this witnessing awareness.
You have the awareness of your physical body.
You have the awareness of the world.
And therefore you have the potential to realize and and awaken to anything.
You know it's not reserved for certain people.
Yes maybe certain people are a little more connected to it because they practice it over their lifetime.
The practice of listening,
Contemplating,
And observing life.
But anyone can practice witnessing,
Contemplating,
And observing life and paying attention.
And bringing that attention and that mindfulness into each moment to start to unravel what is happening maybe in the more original blueprint is kind of what I have been feeling into.
So for example if we look at so the past couple years I moved to this place at Baxa Forest and I'm feel have plants all over my place now.
And I've just spent so much time observing and witnessing the trees,
Observing and witnessing my plants,
Observing and witnessing when they grow,
When they don't,
When they're happy,
When they're not happy.
And intuitively I have come to many realizations that have felt deep within my own soul about the cycles of life.
For example,
Thanks for the hearts.
And because you watch these plants go through these cycles right especially the trees if especially if you live in a colder environment like me where we have four very distinct seasons you watch the leaves fall off,
You watch the leaves grow,
You watch the leaves change color,
And then you watch them die again.
And that allows you to see yourself within this process.
Thanks for the hearts.
And through that realization it's not it's not something you thought your way into,
It's not something you believed your way into,
It's something that you observed and allowed yourself to be present with just for multiple times,
You know again and again and again.
And then you start to feel this inner like,
Oh I I see this cycle.
And then you can start to witness your own life and see those own cycle those same cycles unfolding.
Sometimes you feel very energized,
You want to create a lot,
Other times you just want to rest for a long time.
You know you go through those same cycles too.
But I didn't wake up to that in like a deep you know rooted way of knowing it until I started to witness that through earth and through these cycles and how they're unfolding.
You know of course I've heard people say,
Oh your life's a cycle and think about your cycles and da da da,
But it doesn't mean anything we just hear it from somebody else who's in the headspace.
You know and when we start to see something again and again so such as me witnessing the plants and witnessing the trees and witnessing this cycle and witnessing you know over a period of time I start to look back and through those memories it's like oh I'm seeing this thing repeat and then through that repetition you can start to feel deeper into a truth or a knowing within yourself.
And you have the ability to wake up to that right?
So like and then following that impulse too like such as when one of my plants is not doing so well I have that intuitive kind of pull to put it near other plants so it has the strength of the other plants energy and from there it grows and it starts to thrive and it comes back.
You know so then from that in that observing you can think about that it's like because we are not separate from the earth we are not separate from the plants we are that we are running on the same intelligence the same energy field the same intelligence is permeating everything so when we are feeling low and when we need a little bit of help and we're struggling maybe it's good to be around people who have great support and can provide that energy that we're lacking in the moment to help us grow and to come back right?
Now this is a realization that comes through observance and through that intuitive pull of living in life being in life witnessing moving my plants with like I'm not taking this knowledge from outside myself I'm not taking this knowledge from someone else telling it to me maybe it sounds true but through your experience is where it will resonate it's where it will land it's where it will start to awaken a seed within you and then we can start to come into those kind of deeper truths so one of those deeper truths right like I'm saying it to you now but doesn't mean much it's like through your own observation so I'm saying it to you that like yes we live in these cycles no we're not supposed to be on all the time creating all the time moving forward all the time we're meant to move backwards sometimes we're meant to pause sometimes we're meant to go through these cycles that's one of the deep truths and secrets of life I deeply feel from my own witnessing experience also you know when you're feeling a little bit low to be around community and to be around support and how important that is to help bring us back up and we can all do that for each other you know going through life not just in the good times but the hard times and doing it all together right this is something that that's also could you could say another deep secret of life or a truth of life right because I trust it because my intuition has pulled me towards that knowing towards that understanding and yes it awakened to me through plants through trees through earth okay so that's an example another way observing that really brings a lot of alignment and interesting things and I'm constantly paying attention to it every single day which before I started connecting with my body and meditating and really you know I didn't have a connection to how I felt inside myself like it was just kind of this big muddled like tons of things going on at once and I couldn't like feel or connect clearly to what was happening but over the years since I've now practiced being aware and allowed myself to it just it just happened like I just kept meditating connected to myself and all of a sudden I was just able to feel the subtlest fluctuations within my entire energy system in my whole body so I just awakened to this ability through my awareness and I'm sure you know what I'm talking about too or have felt it in some degree and it's very interesting when you observe that so take it in a very simple way such as like the tightening and the expanding of your energy so the tightening of your energy you can feel the chest collapse you can feel the breath shorten you can feel turning feelings in the stomach or the gut you can feel them the mind pick up in speed and those things can feel uncomfortable and I think of that as the collapsing or tightening energy and then I think of the energy is like my heart expanding my mind calm my shoulders relaxed my energy feel open my stomach feeling clear free joyful as more of an expansive energy now it's very interesting watching this multiple times through my life if I think certain thoughts I get a certain energetic reaction to that and if I think other thoughts I get a different reaction to that right or if I say certain words or I say you know I get one sort of energetic reaction and if I say another word I get another energetic sort of follow-up towards that and it's very interesting because it kind of has pointed me and guided me not in a way of somebody telling me what to do or what not to do but in the sense of like if I want to feel expanded and open and clear and I want to be in the energy that feels more free and more loving and more peaceful in my head there is certain thoughts words actions and choices that will create that energy and the reason that I know that is because I've witnessed it happen again and again and again again again so it's through the witnessing and through the observing that you can then look back onto your life and be like oh look when I said that my body tightened and then you do it again and you do it again and you're like oh wow it's happening every single time when I said something like this my body expanded my heart opened like oh and then you do it again and do it again you do again and we're all just literally looking at our past experiences seeing what happened in creating a story or a knowing or a belief around that and all of us have the potential to do that in our own unique ways so for example right we have these like rules per se so you hear you know don't steal don't take someone else's stuff you know people tell you that but you're a kid and you're like okay yeah maybe but maybe I want to you know and you don't really like it's just someone telling you something it's just a word it's just a someone else you know and you're just kind of like it doesn't like resonate you know maybe it does for you but I'm just saying for example it might not you're just kind of like okay like okay I won't steal because they told me not to because I'm in fear of what's gonna happen to me if I do right that's one type of thing to play out but the experience that I have had is that if I were to do something like that like take something from somebody else it would hurt me so much it would collapse my energy field it would tighten my heart it would turn my gut it would spin my mind and why would I want that experience for myself if I want expansion if I want love if I want a clear a clear mind and open heart if I want that energy and I don't want to feel that collapsing and that tightening energy then then I am not going to do anything that would hurt anybody else because if I did that it would hurt me because I feel it immediately in my energy system right so it's like through that observing it's like yes I won't do something harmful to someone else because I just wouldn't in general but even if I did that doesn't make any sense because my commitment is to expansion my commitment is to love my commitment is to a peaceful mind and if I do something like that say like a little white lie or like take something or oh I'm just gonna do this and not get caught it's like it doesn't matter if you get caught or not it doesn't matter you know like any of that what matters is that you you feel tight and off in your own energetic system and you will have to live with that I saw a psychic a few months ago and she told me that she believes that karma happens in the moment that like it was very interesting I kind of liked it she said that if you do something that's kind of off you know didn't mean to do it you know you felt the energy was off she's like I don't believe that karma happens to you five ten years down the road like it happens to you in that moment like in that exact moment you feel the dissonance within your energy field right and how interesting is that and that's why you know witnessing that I find it interesting because it's like this universe that we're in so clearly wants us to thrive together and to take care of each other that it's like built in within our system that we cannot be at peace unless we do that like we can try being harmful and hurtful to somebody else and live in peace try you know doing something that feels wrong or off or you can just get away with it whatever it doesn't matter if you get away with it because it's not about other people it's not about getting caught or not getting caught it's not about someone else seeing you or not it's about the feeling that you feel in your heart and when your heart collapses when you do something that's out of alignment with what would be in the healthiest highest harmony of the world that out of alignment tension within your heart spinning within your mind and the gut feeling and that thing that is the immediate karma in the moment that the psychic told me about I was like I like that and at the same time that's within you so once that's happened it colors every other experience of your life every relationship you're having everything you're doing in your day is now colored by that energy from that thing so yes there's the you know there's an action such as stealing there's also words saying harmful things about people right we can speak our truth there's always a space for truth you can always be like you know this is my opinion based on what I've experienced with you know this person or this thing for example and you can be truthful about that like that's fine but I'm talking about if you're just like you know harmfully saying things about people for no reason you know because maybe you feel shitty I get it like people who say mean things about other people they are in a low place I understand that and then being in a low place already they probably don't feel that part of them that feels off that feels like tension because they're maybe living in a lot of tension all the time so they're not noticing that you know one little thing I say about this person and one little thing I say about that person they're not able to tell the difference between that and I'm just guessing that because that was that was my experience like back when I was younger and I was just like not paying attention to anything you know I was a teenager and just like saying things about people and doing all the things you know just like oh like I didn't notice the difference in my own system expansion and tension because everything was just like tension and muddled the so if I just did anything it was just like more of that and I just was in that kind of field you know what I mean but now that like it's more open and I do everything I can to keep my field very open it's very clear to me when one little thing is off so it's like if I say something about somebody else that's harmful just for the sake of it you know there's no purpose and I will feel immediate tension in my throat tension in my heart tension in my gut spinning in my mind collapsing of my shoulder and then I feel off right so it hurts me in the same moment as you're trying to hurt someone else you hurt yourself at the exact same time to a very similar degree so interesting you know watching that and that's that's all through observation so I'm observing if I say this if I think this if I take this action how does my body respond and time and time again I've noticed that when I say kind things loving things joyful things truthful things you know and I do good things for their people my heart expands my shoulders relax my mind opens possibilities arise I feel creative I feel connected I feel ecstatic I feel bliss right and that's just a simple observance I'm just observing how this world is functioning how this body in this energy system is functioning within the unit within the whole so that's something that I can say is you know probably a secret or a deeper truth of life through my own experience over the years is that like if you say or do or think something harmful about somebody else it's gonna hurt you in the same moment why would you do that you know let yourself if you're committed to expansion and peace then you're committed to expansion and peace for everybody else too because that is gonna be the same energy that feeds back and so if you're aware of that then you're aware of that little secret that little knowing you don't need somebody else to say don't talk shit about people don't steal stuff don't that it don't lie don't it don't cheat don't like don't do these things like you know one needs to say that to you because it is obvious within your own system that why would you do that if it hurts you you know what I mean so if that's interesting I that's something I've been contemplating as well as letting myself lean towards what feels expansive and what feels joyful and what feels open in my head and my heart choices steps I take people I talk to thoughts I have what I say what I do and the more I do that the more I lean into what feels expansive the more expansive it gets the more joyful I get the more connected I feel so could that be a little secret truth about life maybe so that's something you come up and I'd share with you yes because that's something I've gone through an experience and just witnessed within my own body which is fascinating so now I'm lit so now I built this kind of story or belief around what I've experienced over the years now you have the potential to do that too to listen to your own body to listen to your own thoughts your emotions your energy to watch life to observe it and to let yourself simply contemplate and awaken to what is there for me as a seed as a truth as something that would be so helpful for me to move forward with in my life and trust yourself and trust that that is something important and if people are talking about things that you don't know if it resonates with you what I do is I take it into my own experience so if I hear a teacher say something if I hear something from somebody it either feels true in the moment because I've already experienced it or experience something similar and I'm like okay I see what they're talking about but if they say something that's like I haven't experienced that I don't know but they're just saying like you know this is how it is or whatever then I just say okay maybe interesting you know that's interesting and I will kind of hold it in the background of my awareness of my mind and I'll live my life and I'll see if there's proof in my physical reality my physical experience of what they're saying and if I find that to be true I'm like oh interesting that was helpful thanks for leading me towards that realization if I find that it doesn't resonate then I'm like I just leave it because people are having very different experiences everyone's having a very different experience in this world and we need to honor that everybody's truth and everyone's stories have meaning and purpose based on what they have experienced within their life right but it's allowing yourself to to step into the knowing that you have that power and then to live each day through observation and to also through that observing sense I'm ready sensing it come up with my awareness here that there could be a block so a potential block could be that you see something like these are very kind of like neutral things I've been talking about kind of neutral things to wake up to in life such as the cycles being together you know like like treating yourself and other people well for peace and happiness and harmony not just for the world but for yourself like you're a part of the world so there's no difference but you could get caught if something like negative or painful happens and you watch that happen again and again and again you're like oh see it just always you know it's always terrible if you feel that energy then that's something for you to probably loosen up a little bit on and just be like okay what else could be possible say for example you've been through a lot of relationships and every relationship was shitty and you're like wow like I don't I don't like relationships every relationship I have is bad why should I even try you know like if you're in that sort of energy that kind of victim poor me like I'm you know at the short end of the stick in relationships or whatever the whatever the story is in your life then allow yourself to kind of loosen that grip and observe that you have that sort of pattern or that belief playing out that's actually not helpful and through observing that and becoming aware of that you can allow yourself to shift into a reality you want to be standing in such as today is a brand new day anything is possible I can meet anyone and I am open to receiving love attention support affection and growth to a level that I've never experienced it before because it's always a new moment so be aware and you can also use your observation for noticing when you're getting caught in limiting patterns and beliefs recognizing that today is a new day anything is possible okay but you can use it in the positive way or the neutral way like I was talking about before just looking at your life and being like oh wow like that was really helpful for me to be aware of and to take in going forward you know past experiences you learned from experiences you learn from you know if you listen to other people's stories sometimes you can really get something too so if someone's like giving you a direct belief or like this is how it is like I'd say listen to yourself or see it in your own experience but if someone's telling you a deep long story or you're watching a TV show or a movie I find from that contemplative space you can actually really learn and get a lot of stuff from that experientially because you're in it like you're in it it's like it's happening you know like it's like you're when someone's telling you the story it's like you're in that story or when you're like watching a movie it's like you're in that space and you can actually tap into the emotions of thoughts and the feelings of what's happening and there you can tap into you know more more secrets or more observations of life that are just as useful as what anybody else is talking about so just know that you have that power to unlock okay so if you come to meditation meditation is simply a practice of observing of witnessing and then seeing what happens you know people can tell you like I do this too because I teach meditation so I'll be like everything's temporary but if someone just you know they can kind of get it maybe get it yeah I can kind of yeah it makes sense you know trying to understand it you get it every everything has an end point okay I get that but there's like a deeper like knowing experience that can you that you can wake up to that which happened to me through the beginning of meditation practice because I just kept sitting I kept sitting I kept witnessing I kept witnessing I kept witnessing I kept witnessing and then I realized that my thoughts were temporary but I realized that because I was like watching them come and go and I was watching my emotions rise and fall and then through doing that experience again and again and again and again again not just once but like these repetitive experiences of what feels right observing and letting them land within your system is where it really starts to like feel true and be true for you and so doing that again again again I just realized I'm free of my thoughts and emotions because I'm sitting here they come and they go they can't be who I am it's just something I'm temporary experiencing and through that temporary experience I know that I'm free of it and then I can carry that into daily life and loosen my grip on it because I've come through that experience through observing and through the observing of meditation you can also just awaken to the miraculous nature of your life you know like I awaken to that very deeply I was like holy like I'm alive you know but that's just hit me that was not someone else coming in and being like hey by the way life's a miracle even though I do that I talk about it life's a miracle guys like you know but me me saying it is not it's not gonna resonate you have to you have to follow your own observance your own experiences your own witnessing and just really soak up the juice and the richness of what is here for you to discover in your life let yourself live from a creative space from a creative open-minded space you know and just learn along the way try one thing try another and be like oh that's how that feels that's what happens there how interesting you know you can't do it wrong there's no wrong ways there's no wrong things you can do something and just notice oh that's what happened or this is how I felt and then over time you can notice okay what do I want to feel like what feels best for me we're all seeking I feel like on some deep level flow and alignment we're not seeking uncomfortability we're not seeking pain for the most part maybe in temporary moments but like for the most part we want to feel like we're in flow for life with life in the harmony of it and if you want that and you want that intention say you want to feel a certain way just notice what in your life is getting you closer to that what is opening your heart you know like observing and through that making shifts and changes and trusting in your ability to do that trusting in your ability to learn act make choices have certain thoughts use your words as the creator in your everyday life and allow your observance your witnessing your powerful ability to create belief and storylines about everything to be coming from a place of curiosity awakening to realizations that may just be neutral a part of the blueprint of life positive things and allowing yourself to use that power to dissolve the edges if negative sort of reoccurring patterns or limiting or victimizing thoughts or beliefs start to come up okay
