Lately I've been on this cult documentary binge-watching spree.
I've watched documentaries about political cults,
Religious cults,
Spiritual cults,
All sorts of things.
And it's been really fascinating to me.
It's not because I want to join a cult or start a cult at all.
It's because I am endlessly fascinated at our collective human capacity to buy into group think.
It's like there's something within us for a lot of us,
Not everyone,
But for a lot of us,
The vast majority of us,
That we want to surrender our capacity for thought and belief and even our power to people that we perceive as wiser than us,
Or smarter than us,
Or braver than us,
Or more beautiful,
Et cetera,
Than ourselves.
It's like we want to give our power away to someone that we think is all this more than us because there's a perception of being safe if someone is all that and a bag of potato chips better than us.
I caught myself doing it.
I've recognized so many different ways that I have bought into cult-like thinking or group thought,
Buying into what a group I'm a part of thinks without really picking apart and analyzing it for myself.
And I've even found ways I've done it recently,
You know,
With certain people on the world stage that I thought were,
Quote unquote,
Good guys,
Buying into believing things that they were saying and coming to see that they really were not being truthful.
And that's disappointing,
But it's also good because it's kind of waking up from that.
I do believe we all have this divinely gifted ability to discern,
And that involves activating the discernment within us.
That involves activating that part of us that can smell lies,
Detect lies,
It can see when something's off or feel when something's off.
And when we learn to activate that part of ourselves and start to trust it,
That is true liberation for the mind and empowerment.
I think one of the big overreaching themes of our time that we're living through,
Or maybe one of the biggest God messages to wake us up and help us graduate to the next level,
To something better,
Is for us to recognize and release the deceptions that we've bought into,
To activate that ability to discern truth from within,
And to just take our power back from the individuals or even some of our family members or celebrities and politicians that we've surrendered our power to.
Now,
There's an important element in this that kind of combines the scientific biological with a little bit of the spiritual,
And that's the pineal gland.
I am also endlessly fascinated with the pineal gland.
The pineal gland is this tiny little gland.
I've heard it's about the size of a pencil top eraser located really close to the very center of the brain,
But it looks like a pine cone if you could see it.
And it has some fascinating abilities.
It is thought that the pineal gland is responsible for flock behavior in animals,
So schools of fish that all swim together in the same pattern and turn on a dime together.
It is thought that the pineal gland plays a role in that.
Birds that fly in certain flock formations,
That flock formation is thought to be controlled by the pineal gland.
The pineal gland is thought of to be or to play a role in our own discernment,
In our own intuition.
Whenever you've or if you've ever had that experience of ding,
Ding,
Ding,
Something's wrong in this situation,
Danger,
Warning,
Get out,
Be careful,
Whatever that is thought to somehow be related to the pineal gland.
It's also interesting that the pineal gland is said to have rods and cones in it,
The same kind of visual sensors that are found in our eyes.
So I have heard it theorized that the pineal gland plays a role in forming imagery when we dream or imagery for people who are visual meditators or very imaginative visually.
It is thought to play a role in creating that visual within,
Quote unquote,
The mind's eye.
You could even perhaps call the pineal gland the mind's eye.
I could go on for a long time about the science and nexus of science and spirituality there and I will spare you that for now.
But it's so fascinating to me and I wanted to let you know that because in our meditation today we are going to be working with the pineal gland.
What I'd like to do today is a meditation that will help you start that journey of deprogramming things that you believed that you picked up from other people that weren't necessarily true.
We'll work on something related to the family because many of us have picked up some things from our families that aren't true and might be causing us harm.
And some of us are also needing to let go of some programming we received from groups we were part of or a culture at large.
To start us off,
I want to give you an option for aromatherapy because making it very sensual,
Incorporating the senses like smell is a very powerful way to shift out of an old pattern,
Interrupt it and move into a new one.
So if you'd like to work with eucalyptus or rosemary,
I'm recommending one of those two because they're both to me great for clearing out the mental cobwebs,
The clutter and just cleansing everything up in the brain.
I love eucalyptus and rosemary for that.
You can also work with clary sage.
That's a great one as well or even peppermint and you don't even have to use any aromatherapy for this meditation that we're going to do.
If you are working with it,
However,
I do want to invite you to prepare for a short reflection meditation.
And if you are working with it,
Place a drop on your left palm,
Rub your palms together.
And if you're working with essential oils,
You can breathe with me.
If you're not,
You can breathe with me anyway.
I invite you to rub the palms together,
Really rapidly build up a little heat and friction and then make what I call a scent tent where you gently place the open palms just over the face.
Take a deep inhale through the nose.
Breathe in,
Cleansing,
Clearing the mental cobwebs.
Maybe a sigh out the mouth,
Letting go.
Two more breaths like that.
Big nasal inhale,
Opening up the whole brain,
Clearing the cobwebs.
Exhale,
Sigh it out.
One more time.
Breathing in,
Opening up those neural pathways.
Exhale out all those old mental cobwebs and programming.
Eyes closed,
I invite you to bring your arms down to your sides.
We are going to practice something interesting as an option.
You can try it if you don't like it,
Let it go.
There is a mudra or an energy hold we can do.
Very powerful,
Very activating for the pineal gland and our own innate sense of discernment.
With your eyes closed,
I invite you to turn your gaze inwards and upwards,
Almost as if you were trying to look backwards in your head towards the pineal gland.
Your eyes don't go all the way backwards,
Of course,
But it's almost like you're crossing the eyes with the eyes closed.
The gaze goes inwards,
Upwards,
Turning it up and back.
Try that out.
It might be uncomfortable.
If it doesn't hurt and you are fine with it,
I invite you to hold it throughout this meditation.
If you go,
This is not for me,
Just let it go.
This energy hold is a way to physically stimulate the pineal gland because it puts a little pressure on it.
Wherever you are,
With or without that pineal gland hold,
I'm going to ask that the wisdom of your own wonderful soul,
That part of you that is beyond emotion,
Beyond logic,
The part of you that was around before you were born and will continue on after your body is done.
I'm going to ask that that part of you start to speak to your conscious mind.
Perhaps it's through that nexus of mind and spirit that happens in the pineal gland.
I'm going to ask that your conscious mind point out something to you that you picked up from your family that isn't necessarily true.
Something that might have caused you some harm and pain and suffering in your life that you picked up from family.
A belief,
A way of thinking,
Something you thought about yourself that isn't true.
And in this process,
There's zero judgment.
There's no judgment of family members.
There's no judgment of self.
There's simply acknowledgement and recognition.
Judgment holds us back,
But acknowledgement moves us into freedom.
Notice what is coming to the surface of your awareness.
Something you've thought or believed about yourself or about the world that you picked up from family that's created some harm or suffering for you.
Once you're aware of that thing that's false that you picked up from family,
I'm going to ask that that higher,
Wiser part of you guide you to what the actual truth is.
If you're aware of what the falsehood is,
May your own soul guide you now inwardly to what the actual truth is.
A moment to feel that.
Beautiful.
Now,
We're going to move on to another deception.
I'm going to ask that that higher part of you help you to recognize a group that you've identified with that has led you to believe some falsehood of some sort.
This could be a political group,
A spiritual group,
An interest-related group,
Anything that you felt a part of,
Even from a distance,
That you bought into.
And then asking that you are clearly guided to what have you bought into or believed that wasn't necessarily true.
It came about through that group,
From that group.
And again,
Zero judgment.
I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater just because we have picked up some things that aren't true from family.
Groups does not mean they're all bad at all.
It just means we get the opportunity to activate our discernment so that we can recognize,
So that we can be part of groups without having to buy in wholesale to everything they tell us.
And again,
If you are aware of that thing you've believed from the group that wasn't quite true,
Or maybe even caused you some harm,
I'm going to ask that your own higher part of you,
The soul,
Guide you to what the actual truth is.
If you believe the deception,
There's also a truth.
What is that truth?
Take a moment to feel it.
Wonderful.
When you're ready,
I invite you to open your eyes.
And I do highly recommend that you take a moment to do a little journaling about this.
In activating our discernment,
It can be very powerful to write out the deceptions we're becoming aware of,
Not for judgment,
Not so we can feel bad about them.
And one thing you can do is you can write out the deceptions you've believed.
And if you'd like to destroy the paper you wrote them on,
That's a good option.
You can shred it,
Cut it up,
Throw it away,
Burn it,
Whatever you want to do.
There's options there.
But I also highly recommend writing out the actual truths,
The things that are the truth that you feel guided to from within.
Because that's very potent,
Very powerful.
There's something fascinating in our human psyche that is very drawn to give our power away.
And there's something beautiful in activating our discernment that allows us to still be able to be a part of groups and community while being independent,
Critical thinkers,
Sovereign,
Discerning.
You don't have to buy into everything the groups who are a part of believe or teach.
Because it's not always true.
No group is perfect.
No person is perfect.
And there's no expectation for that.
But you are going to be a far more empowered being while still being a part of community when you activate that discernment.
I want to thank you for joining me today.
I love this exercise.
I love getting out of groupthink and activating that discernment within that intuition.
It's so profound.
Have a wonderful,
Empowered rest of your day,
Week,
And so on.
