The Real Opportunity Of Emotional Pain | Healing Perception

Everything that creates an emotional conflict within yourself,

It's not responding to what's happening.

It's responding to how you see what's happening.

This is your whole life.

It's so epically powerful.

You see this.

The only healing that is being asked for is a healing of perception,

A healing of how you see.

You know what is fun to say right now that is part of the problem?

Is thinking that this is a problem.

We can of course see the problems that it creates in our lives.

But part of the problem that really makes it a problem is thinking that it's a problem.

Which is also like looking at this insanity and thinking it means you're wrong.

Thinking it means you've failed.

Thinking it's a problem.

And I would say that this is one of those first steps of understanding on your way to healing.

Which is to open to the possibility that what you think is a problem isn't one at all.

And actually it's the perfect opportunity for you to grow and expand.

Like just the fact that you can see what I'm talking about is really good news.

Because I'll tell you,

I've had many conversations with human beings who simply refuse to see this.

And understandably I can understand why.

And it's not so much that they consciously refuse.

It's just there is a block on the inside that says it is so not safe to look in that direction.

Understandably.

Right,

In one way,

And this is kind of how the mind can distort it.

The mind hears me say,

So you're saying it's all my fault.

That's the wall that goes up.

But that's not what I'm saying at all.

But that's what the ego mind hears.

And so as it interprets my words as an attack,

It just refuses to look in the direction that I'm pointing.

And so I understand that it might sound like I'm saying it's all your fault.

But more deeply what I'm saying is there's no fault at all.

But human beings,

My goodness,

They revel in the concept of blame.

Or it must be somebody's fault.

Right?

It has to be somebody's fault.

And if it's not their fault,

Then it means it's my fault.

And I'm pointing to a landscape where a fault as a concept doesn't even exist.

And I don't know if I can go into that right now,

But it's essentially what I'm pointing to.

And so this doorway towards healing begins with an openness to see problems as an opportunity.

And let me tell you why this is so important.

You see,

Part of the fundamental issue that we are exploring here is one of an innocent misunderstanding that is not seeing reality clearly.

And this is something you've heard me say a thousand times,

If you've listened to me talk for any length of time,

That our suffering is the result of an innocent misunderstanding of our nature,

Of what life is,

And what's really going on.

Meaning that we're looking through this filter and it's distorting what we see,

But we don't see that that's what's happening.

And so what we see really looks like it's out there.

And so it makes sense that you would act the way that you act,

You respond the way that you respond,

Because it really looks like it's out there.

It's kind of like the nature of fear.

In one way,

It really looks like there's something to be afraid of.

And so it makes sense why people would act in a scared way that results in all manner of behavior.

But in a more true,

Deeper layer,

There's actually nothing to be afraid of in reality.

And I've done many talks on this.

That we are not afraid of anything in reality.

We are only afraid of the content in our mind.

But if you don't see that,

Then you really think there's an enemy out there.

And so we walk around on eggshells,

Essentially,

Because we think there's something to be afraid of.

And that adds a tremendous burden and attention to our human lives.

And creates all manner of quote unquote problems.

But again,

It's an innocent misunderstanding.

And so what is the opportunity of this problem?

To bring understanding.

And here's why it's so important to be open to the idea of an opportunity.

Because if you can see that it's potentially an opportunity,

You're more willing to look at the problem.

Which is to look at the misunderstanding.

Which is to bring clarity to the misunderstanding.

And this is absolutely required.

If you've made any sort of progress at all,

Which is to experience healing in any way,

It's because you recognize within yourself a courage to get more honest about what's really going on.

And before that happened,

You could see a definite pattern of avoiding that self-honesty.

Right?

You saw a pushing away.

You saw a,

I'm right,

They're wrong,

There's nothing else to see here.

But the pain didn't go away.

And so again,

It's understandable that we would take our time because it looks the way that it looks.

But the pain doesn't go away,

And the pain keeps inviting us to become more clear about what's really happening.

And that pain is so beautiful.

Because in one regard,

It wants to shut down your whole life.

Understandably,

Because it's essentially saying,

Please,

Let's not continue on like this.

Let's not continue on with this misunderstanding,

Which is simply going to create more pain.

And so the pain tries to stop you,

Tries to slow you down,

Inviting you home to look at what's really going on here.

This is the nature of healing,

By the way.

And for me,

It's so incredibly practical.

And that is to see that the only healing that is being asked for is a healing of perception,

A healing of how you see.

You know what,

My friend?

My goodness.

This is another one of those things that I wonder if it's as obvious for you.

Do you see that your entire human experience,

Every circumstance you encounter,

Every human being that you encounter,

Every response that you have,

Is in response to how you see.

Do you see that?

Like,

Even how you're responding to my words,

You're not so much responding to my words as you're responding to your interpretation of my words,

Which is responding to how you perceive my words.

So you're responding to how you see.

When somebody insults you or says something unkind,

You're not responding to what they're saying.

You're responding to how you see what they're saying.

And everything that creates an emotional conflict within yourself,

It's not responding to what's happening.

It's responding to how you see what's happening.

This is your whole life.

And it really speaks to where your power is.

Your power is in how you see,

Which also speaks to your power to create.

Because behind your eyes,

You're creating a whole world.

And every person you see,

You're creating a person.

Do you see this?

It's so epically powerful,

Which is also wild because,

Get this,

I mean,

Imagine for a second that what I'm saying is true.

And the more you heal perception,

Do you see that everything in the world loses its power to disturb you?

Because you realize that you're not disturbed by what's out there.

You're disturbed by how you see what's out there.

And so as you heal your perception,

Which is to see things more clearly,

Then everything loses its power to disturb you.

Because don't you see that most people are disturbed by things because they think that they're really disturbed by things.

But once you realize you're not disturbed by things,

Then it's much more difficult for things to disturb you.

And even look at your past.

Like,

In one way,

You can say,

My past disturbs me.

Is that true?

Or is how you perceive your past what disturbs you?

You see,

So it's not about what was,

It's about how I see what was.

And this is so awesome because the pain that we're experiencing that's caused by our perception is simply saying that we're not seeing it clearly.

And again,

This is difficult because we can get so self-righteous in what we think we know,

Right?

Like you can look at your past and be like,

Nope,

Nope,

Nope,

I'm right.

They're wrong.

They're wrong.

They're wrong.

They're wrong.

But I can promise you that if you're hurting,

Then there's a misunderstanding.

There's something that's not being seen.

And so again,

The pain is not wrong.

It's not bad.

It's not in the way.

It's a beautiful alarm mechanism designed within this conscious landscape that serves a very fundamental purpose,

A purpose that is ultimately trying to teach you to see things more clearly,

Which is also in another way,

Trying to teach you to see the truth of life,

Which really speaks to the whole fundamental journey of being human,

Which in one way we can say is a spiritual thing.

But for me,

It's just a human thing.

It's like,

This is just what's going on.

It doesn't have to be spiritual.

It's just the truth.

Imaginary fear.

It's time to show up.