The Positude Podcast

[00:00:25] Speaker A: Evening, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Positude podcast. I am your host, Maggie Hart. Looking forward to spending another hour with you this week, talking about pertinent matters of the heart, of the soul of the mind, sometimes broaching some current events. But for this week, I've been drawn to talk about personal struggles and trauma. So many people before COVID during COVID and most notably after Covid, have been struggling in ways that are unprecedented. We have different things to worry about. We have different anxieties to overcome. So much has transpired on the face of the planet in the last several years that I wouldn't even know where to begin. But one thing that I've noticed is in my work with clients, there are just so many new things out there that were inconceivable to us four years ago, things that we worry about that were never even in our mindsets before the events of the last several years. And also people that maybe previously didn't have struggles, or at least to the extent that they have them now, mentally speaking, being able to deal with depression, anxiety, things that maybe were hidden below the surface before and weren't brought to the surface because there wasn't a severe enough trauma to have those things come up and be a factor, or new things have transpired. And people that normally in mainstream would be considered normal now are seeing that they're having these issues that it's just so hard for them to deal with and their families to deal with. So there's been a lot of things going on. I try and always bring things to the table, or at least end things on a positive note, because we are the positude podcast, and I feel that it's important to always maintain a positive attitude while at the same time being realistic. So in talking with people, one of the root causes of their anxiety has been their health and how to protect themselves. Whether or not they've chosen to take the jab is a big issue. It's split families, it's broken apart relationships, personal relationships, professional relationships, even casual relationships. There was the whole social media warfare thing going on, not only politically, but in regards to whether or not people chose to inject something into their bodies. And as a result of that, the people that chose not to, and even the people that did choose to take the jab, became more self aware of different ways that they could protect themselves from pretty much an unknown monster that is seeming to morph and change depending on the formulations that are out in the environment. The different strains of what is that a result of where did that come from? Where did it initiate from? Even that has been a source of stress and anxiety to people, is trying to figure out and determine with the facts that we have that are presented to us and in our research, what was the actual origin of all this? Where did it come from? And is it possible that the people that are supposed to be out there protecting us and watching out for us really did this to the american people and to the people on the planet? There's just so much to consider. And in the healthcare field, I'm proud. I'm so proud. And it's so awesome to see so many people taking a more holistic approach to their health and also a more serious approach to their individual physical fitness. There are people that I've known that have been overweight their whole entire lives that are now in regimented exercise programs. There are videos and apps and websites and any manner of things, thanks largely to technology. I'll give them a plug there, but different ways to be at home and resource personal fitness goals. There are some apps out there that I've been checking into that are actually kind of cool. I never thought I'd hear myself say that. But personal apps that help you to get into shape, although there are, you know, there's personal information that you're putting into those apps, and there are some in these little watches that you put on that check your pulse rate and your steps and all of that. I'm not really a fan of that, I've got to be honest. But the apps that are out there to legitimately help people exercise that previously would have gone to a public facility or their YMCA, a private membership gym, or, you know, just done VHS or dvd tapes at home. Now you can do all that on your phone, you know, and take that with you, so that during your lunch break at work, you can just pull up your phone and do some exercises, or go to a park on your lunch break and do exercises, or in your downtime, just get out in nature and the tool is right in your hand to be able to utilize, to help you to reach your goals and to exercise effectively. Also, the healthcare industry, we know what that is. But there are a lot of alternative people that have come into focus that are teaching people about glutens and different foods that we shouldn't be eating, and the toxins that are put onto the foods that we're eating, and how to eradicate those, whether it be a fruit wash, or dawn dish detergent, or just buying simply purely organic. And even with that, that's caused anxiety for people that I've talked to because apparently there are codes on things like avocados and tomatoes and supposedly the numbers on the code dictate whether or not the product is actually pure in origin or whether it's been sprayed by Monsanto. But even that, just a simple trip to the grocery store. Let's think about that for a minute. Used to be mom and dad went to the grocery store once a week, or mom went or dad went sometimes with their children in tow with a shopping list and you picked out the meat from your local meat counter and you bought a bunch of vegetables and called it a day. Now that people are becoming aware, do we organically source our meat? Do we buy meat that's got a sticker on it that says it's organically sourced? And if so, how legitimate is that? How do we know that's real? How can we trust that with the stories that have been put out there insofar as people being forced to in some instances, I believe. But farmers putting the injections into their livestock that potentially could contain an mRNA virus is something that can send somebody that normally went to the grocery store and just bought their stuff and didn't have to worry it conceivably over the top and put them into a panic attack. Or buying produce, vegetables also growing their own gardens. I mean, how many people really bought organic seeds and were aware of the fact that there were chemicals sprayed upon the crops and subsequently the seeds that we were purchasing to put into the ground? So we're growing vegetables thinking that we're living healthily by growing our own vegetables and storing our own vegetables and then oops, wait a minute, all of these chemicals and gmo's have been put into the seeds that we're growing. So in the end result, is it any better than just buying them from the grocery store where they're already chemically treated anyway and saving ourselves four or six months of strife and killing bugs and digging gardens and putting in raised beds and which is also an affordability issue for a lot of families that are trying to do self sustenance, right? Just putting in a simple raised bed garden could cost hundreds of dollars. Because if your soil is not adequate, you've got to buy the soil, you've got to buy the lumber and the equipment to put in the raised beds or buy the raised beds, which is even more exorbitantly priced now with COVID everything's just so high. And then the seeds that you grow and then what are you going to use to naturally combat killing those bugs. That all costs money. So there's stress on so many in every level, it seems, in society today. And I feel as though it's mostly as a result of COVID and maybe not just directly as a result from COVID but a lot of people are, quote unquote, waking up and realizing, we need to be a lot more careful about what we're doing on all levels than you go into the school systems and all of that. There's just so much. So, yeah, somebody who on the outside may have seemed relatively normal, rather, and not had a lot of struggles. Now, are they dependent on big pharma for something to help them sleep or an anti anxiety pill? Or has it caused a physical detriment to their body as a result of the stress? So now, as a result, they're on some sort of heart medication or high blood pressure medication. And therein, it's, again, it's a circle. Do those people choose to treat themselves as best they can, holistically and as organically as possible? Or did they just buy onto the big pharma train, which creates even more possibilities for stress and anxiety and deterioration of health? Because look at the ads on the television. For any pharmaceutical that's out there, the side effects are literally, in a lot of cases, much, much worse than the ailment that you're trying to prevent or to control or cure with that pharmaceutical. So it's just this whole big ball of wax. And maybe these are things that you didn't even think about. And just by me talking about them, oh, my gosh, I didn't even think about that. Now, that's something else I gotta worry about. So you see the cycle here. And so many people that didn't seem to need help before, or as I said earlier, maybe they were hidden under the surface, but the people were able to control their issues in a day to day normal, quote, unquote normal environment. But these unseen factors have thrown them over the edge of. To where they're seeking help, you know, and counseling and therapy and all of that. Anger management has. I mean, just the numbers for that have gone through the charts the last couple of years. I've noticed in my own personal life that the instances of road rage, just in the past week, I've personally witnessed four instances of road rage. And one of them was very serious in nature. I mean, there was actually a family in the middle of the street getting ready to throw down with another person. It's just. It's incredible to me that we've come that we've digressed to this state as a humanity as a whole, but also people that I've known for years that seem to have things pretty much under control are now seeking these ways to get better. And that's a good thing. Anytime we're looking for help, anytime we're seeking sources to better ourselves, anytime that we're utilizing things like prayer and meditation and different tools, whether it be a video that's got affirmations in it or things like that. And there, again, let me caution you that you got to be very careful what you listen to. So a lot of the stuff that's on YouTube may say that it's got a healing resonance in there or a positive affirmation in there. But when you do your research, you find out that under the surface, they're spewing witchcraft in their subliminals. And there's another thing that maybe, oh, my gosh, I didn't think about that, you know? So there, I've added something else to your plate. But at least if you're trying to seek help and you're trying to do the right thing, there is a force of nature. There is universal power at play, spiritual power at play, that is looking to assist you and that is pulling for you. Whether or not you realize it at this particular moment or whether or not you realize it in a couple of weeks. There are energies and forces at play that should you take those first steps to better yourself in any aspect of your life, they are there to help support you and guide you and give you intuitive guidance if you're open enough through prayer, meditation. Some people call them spirit guides. Not a fan. Some people call them angels. Some people just are in tune with themselves and they're hearing the voices. Tell them, you know, don't eat that. It's not good for you. Buy the organic fruit they're reading in a book. They're spreading knowledge verbally through others. They're talking, they're communicating, and they're getting information that way. They're learning things from other people that previously maybe they wouldn't have considered. Maybe they thought that other person was crazy. I had that happen in a personal family experience as well, on more than one occasion where I've been told I'm a nut job. And now there are family members that are researching the very things I talked about eight and nine and ten years ago on my programs, and it turns out I'm not so crazy. So. Well, pat on the back to me, well, that would kind of be an ego stroke. That's really not how I want to look at it. I look at it from the perspective of if people are seeking knowledge and they're coming together to discover truths, I just find that awesome because they, it means that they are waking up and we truly are that ripple in a pond like one person at a time. That's all we need. My concern is, though, and I've said this on previous shows, that I'm concerned that it's not happening as quickly as it needs to be in order for us to be able to sustain our way of life as we know it. I feel as though with the times that are approaching, not just from a biblical perspective, but just as a whole, depending on your belief structure, that we really need to get our shit together and soon. Working on healing our past traumas and how to deal with stressors and finding our joy and our happiness and keeping and maintaining positivity are things that we really need to focus on as a whole. So many times we get wrapped up in just the busyness of life that we say, I'll do it tomorrow or do it next week, or I set a new New Year's resolution, but we don't follow through on them. Now is the time. Today is the day, this is the hour, this is the minute. This is the moment that we need to start working on ourselves and helping each other to collectively heal, to be where we need to be for the times ahead. From the portable do it book committing to a dream is not a one time occurrence. It must be done daily, hourly, continually. We must choose to commit to our choice over and over. Woody Allen quotes in the afternoons, Gertrude Stein and I used to go antique hunting in the local shops, and I remember once asking her if she thought I should become a writer. In her typically cryptic way, we were all enchanted with, she said no. I took that to mean yes, and sailed for Italy the next day. The test of commitment is action. If we say, I commit to being a great dancer and then don't practice, that's not a commitment, that's just talk. Norman Douglas said, never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it. What we also need to realize is not everything is going to come to us immediately, especially when we're beginning these practices and we're starting to learn how to manifest what we want. We have to learn patience. It's really important that we work on exhibiting patience also from the portable. Do it, but you can have everything you want. We live in a finite world for a finite period of time, but with an infinite imagination, our imagination can create more wants, then a computer can generate random numbers. We're not going to have time for all the wants we want. Winston Churchill said, when the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber. Someone else also said, you can have anything you want. No dream is too big to achieve. If one other person has achieved it, you can be the second. If no other person has achieved it, you can be the first. Dream big. Dream big. John Cage said, if someone says can't, that shows you what to do. So whether or not you believe that you can or cannot have everything you want, which you need to understand and believe in your very soul, is that you can manifest energetically what you want. The universe and your creator will provide to you much of that as it deems necessary. So you might not get every single thing that you want, because you might get something else that's just as valuable or more valuable than what it is you asked for. The universe always knows what's best for us. So it may not be everything that you want on the surface, but in retrospect and upon reflection at a later time, you may have received exactly what you needed and deserved at that time. And it probably, most likely, I'll say, definitely was better for you. It was what you needed, but didn't realize that you actually needed. I've been researching and reading a book that I've had for quite a while called the inner work invitation to true freedom and lasting happiness, and I was guided to get this book out the other day and look at it and start to highlight some key points in this book. And trust me, there are many. If you can grab a copy of it, I would definitely suggest that you do so. But one of the things that the inner work says is the amount of suffering or satisfaction we experienced. Experience on a daily basis is completely dependent on our current state of consciousness, which we can heal, transform, and evolve at any time. True freedom and lasting happiness are realized through the internal transcendence of limiting things of consciousness. Not understanding this powerful truth has caused the vast majority of us to tirelessly strive to attain happiness externally, and that's another key point, is happiness needs to come from within. Vichnit Hahn said, happiness does not come from the consumption of things. All attachments and aversions keep us focused outside of ourselves. Happiness is not something that can be attained through ideal conditions, nor in the escaping of obligations, but rather happiness is something that we become through the transformation of our consciousness. All resistance to accepting and enjoying deep happiness and fulfillment in our lives is ultimately stemming from a limiting theme of consciousness, a theme that we innocently inherited at some point along our journey, in repeated beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and finally in our words and actions, this limited version of our potential becomes our sense of who we are. The inner work, as I skip around, also goes on to say, the most important realization of the inner work is that the mind's internal dialogue is the source of our dissatisfaction, not the subject of its complaints. So the principles contained in this book are basically teaching you about your ego and how, because of past traumas and experiences that you've had in your lifetime, your ego develops this Persona, which isn't actually your Persona. It's based upon your life experiences. And in a lot of cases, in a self defense type situation, you put these skins and these shells and these fortresses all around you to try and protect yourself. Or rather, the ego specifically does this to try and protect you. But in essence, what it does is it's hindering you. So, going further, there is still a huge part of you, an ego, a shadow identity, stuck in a limiting theme of consciousness that actually does not want you to succeed in awakening. The only enemy to ever exist in an external one is an external one. Rather, it is hiding in the very last place you'd ever look within yourself. It goes on to say, whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all inherited, limiting beliefs, thoughts, and programming that are counterproductive to our well being and bring suffering. Chris Prentice said, the universe doesn't make mistakes. We mustn't run from the discomfort of life's lows, but instead have the courage to lean into them with humility and curiosity. In every painful or challenging experience, we can benefit from asking ourselves, what can I learn from this? What do I need to let go of? What part am I playing in this? Where am I limiting my own joy and peace? Where am I getting stuck? Paramahansa Yogamanda said, your trials did not come to punish you, but to awaken you. The book goes on to say, the desire to hide, deny, or reject our insecurities, pain, anger, or sadness ultimately only hurts us farther. When repressed and buried, our emotions will slowly poison us from within. Also, to feel is to heal. Another excerpt is due to our unique ability to make conscious choices and exercise a yemenite spiritual will. Humans are actually capable of experiencing dramatically different levels and rates of evolution, that is, themes of consciousness, just like I was talking about earlier in the segment. It says, you are a crucial part of a greater whole, deciding to be free from the inner shackles of limitation. For every time we heal, a personal limitation and trauma within ourselves. We are healing it with the collective, within the collective as well. By holding the door open for others to join us, by following our example, every advancing consciousness of the individual uplifts the rest of us with it, like an ocean tide rising. Just like I'm always fond of saying, we're a ripple in a pond. And also, as I was saying earlier in the segment, to heal our collective, we need to do these things. While a lot of people have their own personal belief as to happiness, Gandhi said, happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. And let me just interject for a moment to let you know that some of the quotes that I've listed and will continue to quote and list throughout different shows are from self help, from positive affirmation books and things like that. And so, even though some of these people may not be as profound as we thought that they were back in the day, their statements are still pertinent. I believe they still have some positive essence or energy to lend to the collective whole. Even if we've discovered at a later date that this actress or that actor is now a scoundrel, it doesn't mean that they didn't have any wisdom to share or something positive to put on the table to help other people. It may have been unwittingly, it may have been rehearsed, it may have been scripted, but even so, somebody told me a long time, even the dumbest idiot you can learn from. While that may not be politically correct, the statement in itself holds a tremendous amount of accuracy. We can all learn from each other, regardless of what level we're at. Babies teach us things every single day. Our animals teach us how to love and share, unlimited and just off the charts love and devotion, the likes of which, if humanity acted like dogs, the world would be such a better place. They're the most loyal, faithful creatures. They're empathetic. They can heal. They're kind. So we can learn from everything if we just open up our minds and our ears and our hearts and really pay attention. Probably the most powerful paragraphs in this book to me, are when they're talking about the truth of this moment. And we were just talking about this a minute ago about putting off until tomorrow. You don't have to wait until tomorrow or until some big event transpires in order to live your dream life and feel your best. You already actually are living your dream life and already have everything you need to be happy. You only need to wake up from the nightmare of your not self to see it. It is your birthright to be infinitely peaceful, joyful, and free in every new moment. And your not self is where they're relating to the ego and the Persona that the ego has created versus who you truly are. But some statements that really touched me and spoke to me and I feel could help everybody out there are the ones like these that they shared. By holding on to past trauma, we deny ourselves healing. By feeling self conscious, we deny our own self worth by finding fault in other people's actions, we deny ourselves compassion by feeling hopeless, we deny ourselves faith by collecting excuses, we deny ourselves our own power by clinging to our losses. We miss out on the miracles happening now by feeling skeptical, stressed, worried, paranoid, or anxious. We deny ourselves contentment and trust by feeling envious of the others. We deny ourselves abundance by waiting for the weekend to come. We deny ourselves presence and gratitude by becoming offended or defensive. We deny ourselves peace by holding a grudge, seeking revenge, or gossiping about other people. We deny ourselves security by seeking attention and validation. We deny ourselves completeness by operating on autopilot. We deny ourselves inspiration. And by reacting to situations unconsciously, we deny ourselves discernment. By closing our hearts, we deny ourselves love. And I think contained in those sentences, those statements, there's something that every single one of us can learn from, maybe from one or a few, or maybe all. I definitely see upon reading those sentences some things that I need to work on internally myself. Because we're always a work in process or progress. We're always striving, or should be striving to be better people, and in turn, to be able to help others with what we've learned to, with the gifts that we've been blessed with, that we've received as a result of our hard work. And just as I was saying earlier, the energies there, the universal energy, the spiritual power, the God force, the God, whatever it is that you choose to believe in, those energies are there behind you, guiding you along the way. It may not seem like it, but they are. Everything happens for a reason. And Siddhartha Gautama Buddha said, it is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. With that, I'm going to stop right there and we're going to take a break. Please enjoy the music from my good buddy pat Carr. His music is my original music that I'm contracted with him for. I'm really thankful that he allows me to play his stuff. So it's my introductory and my ending music, and it's a lot of times the break time music that you'll hear, but please check him out on Soundclick reverb Nation. He's all over the place. Look him [email protected]. it's HTTP www.itunes.com backslash packed car. Also, please support the network. We're totally listener funded and the owners would appreciate any help that you can give. Buy a cup of coffee, send them a couple of dollars, whatever it is that you're able to afford. All of it is so greatly appreciated. We thank you so much for listening to the shows and the network and for supporting us. And also, if you have your own business and you want to be a real superstar, please consider putting an ad on our station, whether it be for my show or another on the network or just the network in general. The producers, in conjunction with the owner, may even be able to record a commercial that's customized for you if you don't have one. So if you haven't had the money to get one and you were thinking about buying a commercial, this would be the perfect time to do so on our station and support the network that way. Thank you very much, all for listening to the first half of the positude podcast. I am your host, Maggie Hart. And we'll be right back after this musical break. [00:31:33] Speaker B: If I were an astronaut, here's what I would do I'd fly in the sky in my little spaceship until I touched the moon I'd go and cut me a piece of green cheese and catch me a moon and two and one day I will leave for that place and maybe one day soon I say whoa, can I ever go? I say whoa, I promise to fly very, very slow and if I were an astronaut here's what I would say please give me my freedom and I'll be on my way I need to fly above the sky I need to fly today please let me go to you I don't know and I'll thank you all someday I say whoa, can I never go? I say whoa, I promise to fly very, very slow and if I were an astronaut I would be alone away from the earth, the place of my birth the sky would be my home and every day I would play on my guitar I'd sing if the stars in the sky and I'll place it very far I said woo can I hear? I say woo please God, don't let them say no astronauts, spaceships, stars in the sky these are all the things I hope I get before I die but if some way I die today and all these things are gone you still can't hear me as I sing my hope for song I say whoa, can I ever go? I see whoa, I would give my life to go. [00:35:17] Speaker A: And we're back for the second half of the Positude podcast. I am your host, Maggie Hart. This song that I just played was actually from my other good buddy, bear, Barry Cooney. Barry Cooney has been a friend of mine for a lot of years. We chatted together for hours and hours on the old network. He's an amazing, original musician from our wonderful sister country of Canada. And that was called if I were an astronaut. Barry doesn't have his own webpage because he just flies under the radar and does his own thing in his own awesome way. But you can look him up on Facebook and give him a shout and tell him that Maggie sent you and was playing his music and really appreciate his stuff. That'd be awesome. Shout out to you, bear, if you're listening, I know you always used to and you've been busy lately, but hopefully we can connect soon and make sure you and your family are doing okay up there in Canada. With all of the political strife that you guys are facing, I'm really not sure which is the best country to be in right now. I'm being facetious. But, hey, brother, we're all having struggles, and I hope you guys are doing okay. So, getting back to this book here, this wonderful book that I was guided to sift through my bookshelf and find this book, because I knew, just inherently, that I needed to read through it again and highlight some portions of it to help other people that I became addicted to it again. And I remembered the wisdom and the knowledge that was contained in these pages, and it might not be a best selling novel, and other people may have taken the perspectives from this book and applied them, and those books may very well be bestsellers, but the information contained within and the strategies that they utilize, I feel, are very healing in nature and very positive in nature. And so I wanted to share some of that with you because it goes in conjunction with a lot of what I teach. And so I can't sell something that I don't believe in, but I do believe in the techniques that are utilized in this book and others like it that are effective, that are teaching people how to be positive and how to help stop hurting, how to uncover hidden traumas and heal those, and how to learn how the ego is such an adversarial thing when it comes to our healing. I wish that I could say, as I record this episode, I'm being totally Zen and I have my fountains playing in the background. But at this time, that was my dog drinking some water. And hopefully it had the same calming effect on you that it did on her. So continuing on, the book goes on to say, as we begin to grow older, we were encouraged to identify ourselves as separate from the world around us, form an identity or ego Persona. And again, I'm jumping around to things that I've highlighted. So this isn't going to be necessarily in order with mindness mentality. That's what they call the ego. We lost our sense of surprise and wonder, and instead developed expectations over the world around us. Our ego became master collectors, in a sense. And because we confused who we were with a world entirely outside of ourselves, our identity was threatened every time life didn't go the way we wanted it to. To deal with such uncertainties, our ego Persona created mental programs in order to protect and defend itself. If it can't control others or the outside world, it assumes control over us in the form of thoughts and emotions that it believes will keep us safe. All expectations, judgments, and opinions about our lives and others are essentially the ego mind, attempting to convince itself that it is in control of a world, that it feels threatened by not knowing any better. We have spent our entire lives listening to the frightened voice inside our heads, believing it was us. This is where all limiting beliefs, thoughts and emotions begin. Eckhart Tolle says, as long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it. And that's very true. As time goes on, the free, happy, innocent child of bliss becomes buried deep underneath the layers of fear for so many years that even you forget your true identity. You've been wearing the protective layers for so long that you completely overlooked the fact that you could just take them all off at any point. Luckily, underneath the layers of past experience, experiences you have dressed yourself in, you still remain the innocent and happy child. In the Bible, Matthew 18 three says, to enter the kingdom of heaven, become like a child again. The book reminds us about being happy to be alive. It says, think for a moment about what it means to be alive. And then there's a quote by David R. Hawkins. In reality, everything is actually happening of its own. One's life is a continuous gift, and its continuity from moment to moment is sustained by God, not by the ego. Our ego's greatest mistake, therefore, is to claim to be its own source of existence, oblivious of how it even came to be in the first place. It suppresses the truth of its need for humility and gratitude by instead believing itself to be its own goddess, thus capable of judgment of self and others desire for control and entitlement. This can either be subtle, such as impatience, other people are taking my time or as extreme and grandiose as kings, emperors and pharaohs claiming to be gods demanding worship. Even if you do see yourself as someone who believes in a higher power, look deeper into your suffering and you may find the egos God complex hiding in subtle behaviors you may be unaware of. Do you have impatience and traffic and feel others are in your way? Do you ever feel like family members should clean up better so you don't have to? How about feeling like people are interrupting you and taking your time? Or that life should be different? According to your opinion, the belief that anything should be how the ego wants it to be is its God complex. No matter how trivial the topic. All of us face this ego mentality on some level until we do the work to acknowledge, understand and surrender it. Skipping around again if you want to remember the truth of who you really are and begin to move beyond the limitations of the ego mind, spend some time with nature. And I'm totally an advocate of that. You've heard me say for years on my shows, get out in nature. Spend some time walking around barefoot, experience the beauty in a flower, or the joy of a bird singing, or watching a beaver create a dam, or watching a fish rise out of the water, whatever it be, just to walk on the path feeling and hearing the sounds of the leaves under your feet, the sun rays escaping through the trees and shining down on you. And in moments of prayer and meditation, doesn't it almost seem, or is it in fact, that the sun's rays are actually facing you and shining on your face in moments of deep prayer, when you're asking for an answer? That just happened to me the other day. Frequently when I'm outside in prayer and meditation, I'll ask for a sign, or I'll just be deep in prayer and thought, and I won't even ask for a sign. And the sun, which it could be a cloudy day outside, but the sun will just automatically appear miraculously, it seems. And just for that 30 seconds shine on my face. And at that time, there are times that I'll also hear messages inside of me, answering my questions or giving me guidance and direction when I need it. And that's a part of being in tune with yourself and with your inner body and just opening up your channels through prayer and meditation to be able to be receptive of those things. I've also talked before about the wonder of childlike joy, and it's spoken about in the Bible as well. To be like a child, to have that joy and that pure innocence and just the wonder in the simple things that happen during the course of the day, whether it be in nature or just something, synchronicities that's happened to us in the course of a day and being in awe of that or the music that we hear just in the rippling of a pond, anything like that. This is the real secret of life, to be completely engaged in what you are doing in the here and now, and instead of calling it work, realize it was play, said Alan Watts. It's the return to your childlike nature. The book continues before you piled on the layers of mindness, pure surrender, pure trust, pure presence. Children and enlightened sages actually have a lot in common. Both are innocent, fearless and present. The only difference between the child and the enlightened sage is naivety and wisdom. We know this discussion on the ego mind can be a lot to face at first, and it's not meant to be insulting or overwhelming. It's meant to re empower you and assist you in remembering the truth of who you really are. Push past the mind's initial discomfort and buckle up because this may be uncomfortable for a while, depending on how tightly the ego is clinging. Don't worry though, remembering the truth will be worth it, guaranteed. Look at it this way. You are so powerful that you can be happy, satisfied and free right now in the life you are currently living, despite your current circumstances. All you have to do is push past your ego's resistance, which is a monumental demonstration of your strength. Nothing external needs to change. You already have within you everything you need to transform your experience of life. It then goes on to say, no matter what your mind is saying as to why your story is different and why you need your circumstances to change in order to be free and happy. Disregard its excuses for now. Another passage says, true happiness is lasting and ever present. Not to be confused with the temporary hits of pleasure that come from external ego gratification. We've talked about that before on previous shows, finding your true happiness, your true joy. What is your true happiness? What is your true joyous? Is it an external, temporary gratification? Or is it something lasting and meaningful that will be able to sustain you in your moments of need, that will be able to lift you up in your times of depression and keep you at that level of joy and positivity. The book goes on to say, the ego mind becomes terrified of its lack of control. In order to cope with this fear of the unknown, it creates mental delusions through judgment, opinion, inner commentary and constant evaluations to mask its existential insecurity. In reality, the ego mind knows nothing, but has the audacity to claim it knows it all. When internalized, the ego judges itself harshly and cowers in fear at the challenges of life, and seeks to make us feel powerless and a victim. When projected externally, the ego's fear comes out through its desires to manipulate its conditions, circumstances and other people through force. Using force, however, will always leave it feeling defeated, because life has a divine will of its own, which is far more powerful. We can only unlock the true fountain of freedom through surrendering. The ability to surrender to the divine will is actually the most powerful demonstration of our freedom. This is because surrendering requires us to have immense strength, inner discipline, to consciously ignore the demands of a resilient, fearful ego. The ego is rooted in fear and lack, and therefore cannot have faith and trust in something higher than it. Whenever we consciously ignore the demands of the ego to either cower in fear and victimization, or attack with aggression and force, we prove our liberation by challenging our ego's agenda. We take the focus off of the external circumstances which it is resisting, and instead focus on the resistance itself. We talked about this also before, how when you submit, submit and surrender to the divine powers, the divine will, all is right, everything will work out in your favor. I constantly have to remind some clients when they make a statement to me that it's an ego based statement, and that if they look within and they really think about what they truly said, they didn't actually mean that, that it was coming from a place of inner protection, or what they thought was inner protection, which was actually the ego portraying what they thought was the inner tension, when in fact, if they had just thought about their words, taken a couple deep breaths, thought about the root of the problem and a way to solve it, and not acted out of fear and anger, and just jumped to defense when someone was just looking to help them with a true heart and a kind, compassionate nature, they may have taken a different approach to the situation that would have had not only a much more positive outcome on the situation at hand, but also internally. We're all a work in progress. That's what this is about. It's a journey to become better. When I say better, I don't just mean better from a personality aspect, but I mean to be fully healed. The book goes on to say that unknowingly, we have allowed our outer circumstances, other people's actions, and external gratifications or losses to determine how we feel inside, tell us who we are, and define us as a being. The smallest of things can steal our joy for a moment or sometimes for an entire day. We may even keep a running tally of other people's actions to collect proof and validation of our ongoing disappointments. What I've noticed is when people have traits like this, it can very easily morph into, if it's not already an aspect of their Persona, but narcissism. So we have to be really careful about that. The book says the result of this externally focused perspective is that circumstance becomes the authority over our inner perception of life. This is ironic, because all of life is actually an inner subjective experience. This limited way of thinking will leave us forever riding a roller coaster of highs and lows, elations and sorrows. And while it is absolutely true that we are all interconnected, affected by each other and our environment, our perspectives and beliefs are not innately controlled by anything outside ourselves. We always have and always will have freedom of choice of how to respond. And I've spoken about this many times also. The choice of free will. Circumstance can only rule us so long as we declare it the ruling authority. It is actually us who holds the key to happiness and contentment. It has always been us. Again, as testament to free will, give yourself at least five minutes of a complete inner silence. The book wants you to think about all of the thoughts that pop into your head. If you can actually sit still and see if you can quiet those thoughts in your mind for five minutes. And then it asks, how did it go? And to notice if judgment or frustration arises. Now that the exercise is over, that is still the ego mind doing what it does best. Don't worry about too much. Just take notes on what the mind did during the exercise and what it's doing now that the exercise is complete. It's a great exercise, for it reveals the tenacity of the mind, how dominant it is within us, yet never questioned or even noticed. Skipping ahead, things like skepticism, frustration, anxiety, or jealousy can become so hardwired into the brain that they become, quite literally, a neurological reflex. The brain can then become addicted to the chemicals released, called neurotransmitters. Each time a neurological reflex is activated, the brain will even look for and find a reason or excuse to go there so that it can receive a chemical hit of the thought or emotion that it is so addicted to. The good news is, with each moment spent in states of gratitude, love, ease and trust. The neuron connections for them get stronger as well, and the old pathways begin weakening. This is something else that I regularly teach, is that if we have a negative thought and we push it out of our brain and refuse to listen to it, and consequently, as a result, think of the most joyous events of our childhood, a special memory that we have, something that gave us complete and utter joy, and we focus on that moment, and we just give all of our energy to that moment and that remembrance and raise our vibration and keep it there. And every time something negative creeps in, keep going back to that positive emotional response, to those positive feelings of love and joy and pride, or whatever it is, and eventually you'll somehow learn, your mind will learn to keep that as a steady diet and to have those feelings in you all of the time. And the negativity will just wash away. It's powerless. Also addressing blame for a minute, the book goes on to say, by keeping us focused on the external issues of our life and blaming something outside of ourselves, we never think that something within us could be the possible source of all our problems. By believing that our anger, guilt or sadness is created by other people or external situations, we help to strengthen the particular ego attachment and feed the neurochemical addiction. The mind is always thinking something or someone else is at fault, thus protecting itself from ever being discovered. The downside of the displacement, however, is that in the process of defending itself, the mind accidentally makes us a victim by giving our power away to the external person, place or circumstances. It is blaming. There are infinite other perspectives, responses, emotions and thoughts to choose from if we have the eyes to see them. And I've spoken about this for years on my show as well. Accountability means everything. We need to look at and examine our true selves and our actions and our behaviors, and take responsibility for what we've done. And stop blaming everybody else or the other situations that have surrounded what we think are the biggest problems in our lives, which in essence, if we really take those apart and think about them, they're really not usually a big deal. And if they are, they're not insurmountable odds. If we keep the right perspective and the right mindset and the right vibration going, those things will fall away. They will solve themselves. We can change our destinies. It goes on to say the mind subconsciously puts itself in dangerous or pressured situations, situation, so that it can be a failure or hero. It wallows in suffering to be a martyr or pious. It sees life as hard and full of challenges in order to be a champion or a victim, and so on. All roles ultimately are imaginary, and attachment to them has to be shed eventually if we are to know true peace, true freedom, and lasting happiness are found in the balance between effort and non attachment to your roles. By giving your very best in all that you do and simultaneously letting go of the outcome or merit, you will be truly fulfilled and full of joy. If we know the mind likes to play these characters, then we are in the world, but not of it, not attached to the role as me, but rather something we're just playing at. And that's also a paraphrase of a biblical quote when we talk about raising energies. The book also addresses this about you being in antenna receiving thoughts. Depending on which frequency or theme of consciousness they call it, you're tuned into. And they say in quantum physics this is referred to as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, in which human consciousness affects physical reality and not the other way around. Tesla said, my brain is only a receiver. In the universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration, and that's a very true statement, the book says, but it is actually a surrendered receiving attitude which is most effective for insight, and even then it is not personal or coming from a me. True genius is given and accompanied by humility. It is wise, therefore, to practice and give thanks for all beneficial thoughts and simply release all that brings suffering. Be unattached in both cases. Something else I've also talked about for years on my shows is surrendering, accompanied by humility. Being thankful and grateful for everything that you have, and be thankful and grateful as though you already have it. As the ego mind can only think about and fantasize about things it has already been exposed to, like a database of memory and past programs. It also says silence isn't empty, it's full of answers. Every thing you could ever desire to know is available to you. Hence, as we were discussing earlier, and I've talked about before, also the power of meditation and prayer and stillness of mind. The book says, because thoughts are downloaded and given to the mind, it's important to become aware of which station or theme of consciousness you are tuned into. I just talked a couple weeks ago about downloads. If you are not consciously choosing a frequency by default, you will either become the frequency of your environment or the frequency of a past program. That is something that's amazing. That statement in itself is so true. To transcend a theme that is no longer serving you and move into a theme that does, you must stop compartmentalizing your life. So many of us do that by looking for recurring patterns. You can start to identify the frequencies you're living in. If you are living in love, love will come out of you even in times of struggle. I just said that. It goes on to say we all may be looking at the same world or be sharing the exact same situation, but how we each experience it is drastically different. We refer to this as paradigm blindness. As much as we like to think there is a fixed, objective world that is separate from us, in truth, objectivity is in the eye of the beholder. This has now been confirmed through discoveries in quantum physics that is collapse of the wave function. It's easy to complain, but it's a worthy challenge to be consistently grateful. Our misery has actually just been a reflection of the ego's narcissism. Didn't I just use that word? And a demonstration that it would rather complain, throw tantrums and kick and scream about our life instead of doing anything to change its perspective in a delusional way, our ego convinces us that being miserable and depressed is secretly empowering. It subconsciously believes if I can't control my life, at least I can control my resistance to it. The ego actually believes that suffering is proving a point. But the only point it is proving is how confused it is. If not careful, the ego can actually become enthusiastic about proving how awful its life is. Which is a fascinating discovery because our mental stories have become so familiar to us. Our brain actually becomes accustomed to the emotions and chemicals those particular types of thoughts produce. For example, fearful or aggressive thoughts release adrenaline. Worrisome and stressful thoughts produce cortisol, another powerful hormone. Over time, our bodies start to crave and expect these chemicals on a regular basis. I'm going to go a minute or so farther, but I just wanted to continue my thought. The book also quotes Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who taught that in every moment there is space between the situation and how you are going to respond. You can either react unconsciously or I repeating a past behavior, or you can respond consciously in a new way. Your reaction or response is the frequency you are choosing to align yourself with in that moment. Leonard Jacobson said, people have no clue that they're in prison. They don't know that there is an ego. They don't know the distinction. It goes on to say, while awareness watches the mind's chatter, presence goes beyond its entirely and transcends all lower themes of consciousness. Through watching the mind, we naturally become curious as to what life might feel like without all of its noise, thus evoking our first encounter with divine presence. And then it talks again about gratitude. The most powerful attitude and outlook on life is gratitude. In the state of gratitude, there can be no suffering. Also talks about meditation, something also that I teach about. Instead of attaching to thoughts as mine, we observe them impersonally, a thought of shame arising, a feeling of fear coming up. It all just is nothing to do, nothing to change, nothing to figure out. We become the sky and stop identifying with the temporary passing clouds, in a sense. And then finally, even the smallest mundane moments of life become ripe for a breakthrough, such as sitting in traffic, revealing attachment to anger or pride, and therefore providing opportunity to surrender and transcend. Our thinking has been biologically inherited, programmed and modeled, and is running based on subconscious patterns. Without us knowing it, we think it's us. We didn't know the distinction. We didn't know there was a difference. Originally, this came from our primal, animal nature to survive, but eventually morphed into a flawed, limited perspective of reality, and we did it collectively as a species, but in the same way as a collective species. We will one day awaken through each individual committing to their own inner work and transcending the limiting themes of consciousness, which is something that I also talk about all the time. We're all a ripple in a pond, and it is a collective consciousness, and we can all raise the vibration independently and then consequently, collectively as a whole. So there you go. That's my show for tonight. Kudos to the book the inner work. There are others that I will be referring to on future episodes. Thank you so much all for listening. I hope you got something beneficial and positive out of tonight's episode. If so, please comment in the chat room or shoot off a message to the owner and let him know what you think. Let him know that his shows are affecting you and that you like them, and stay in touch and listen to the other shows on the network. Check them out. There might be something else of interest to you. With that being said, I'm going to say thank you all again so much for listening. We'll see you next week. This has been Maggie Hart with the positude podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. I appreciate every single one of you. Good night.