Hello again!
My retreat was great but I'm excited to be back! I'm starting with a whole new wave of inspirations. For now, here's last week's Twitter tweachings:
Laugh at absurdity, cherish sincerity, respect difficulty, dismiss negativity, allow unpredictability, accept insecurity & trust possibility.
We miss the satisfaction of the present moment because we're usually treating this moment as a way to get to the next one. What's here now?
If we aren't laughing at the voice in our head we're usually being tortured by it. We have to see the humor and not take it too seriously.
Complaining and resistance is a gritty and abrasive way to push through life. Lubricate your life with acceptance.
Complaining about what you can't change, won't get you any more of what you want than what you have now. Being grateful invites abundance.
Try having a true connection with the next person you have random business with. Ask them how they are before you begin. It changes things.
When your present, you get to watch yourself see what you're going to do next over and over again. It's no wonder we often stay distracted.
I ran into someone who thought second guessing themselves was a bad thing. I think if most of us could keep it down to twice we'd be happy!
Worry is spending a lot of time living in your negative imagination. How many times do we need to watch things work out before we let it go?
Just forgive and bless everyone whenever you feel like complaining. You don't have to feel good about. The power of your intention is enough.
In meditation, you get to just sit and watch yourself complain. When you get bored with yourself, instead of believing yourself, it's working.
My teacher used to say "the mind is a terrible thing to watch". At least you can trust you're not the only one dealing with its craziness.
You can't control your thoughts, but you can control whether you tell yourself a story about them or not. They come and go if you let them.
Do you ever feel like you should be somewhere other than where you are? It's just a program that doesn't see where the moment is taking you.
We're guessing at how much reality we personally create but I sense the power will come only after we find peace with what we already have.
Our complaining mind has us convinced we need to worry about tomorrow. It ruined yesterday the same way.
You're never disconnected from your heart or spirit even though it might feel like it. It's yet another illusion of the mind.
Just explaining life's discomfort isn't complaining, unless you overwork being a victim and need to criticize or condemn what's annoying you.
When you're present you're like a blank chalkboard, waiting for life to write something on you and tell what you're supposed to do next.
Peace to you,
Bryan
View the KnowComplaints blog with all past inspirations: http://bryanzerr.blogspot.com
View past tweets and quotes: http://twitter.com/#!/KnowComplaints
Receive these inspirations via email: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
bryanzerr copyright 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The 70Th on the Mcgurck effect and how we can be fooled by our mind.
Greetings,
Are you ready to be really blown away? Watching this experiment might do it.
I wish I could watch you watch this clip. I trust this is worth your time because it's crucial to know how capable your mind is of fooling you. It's not even subtly fooling us, but outrageously making us hear what isn't real. It's called the McGurck effect. Watch this 3-minute video and then come back if you would...or feel free to read on and look later, but it's better to watch it now. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0&feature=player_embedded
This reality bender works every time even though you know you're being fooled. The helplessness you feel is almost embarrassing and certainly humbling. The first thing I thought was, "How often do I get things wrong?" I saw how beautifully this supports the idea of distrusting our thoughts and feelings. No wonder we misunderstand each other all the time. This also explains why it's so difficult to change our feelings even when we realize they don't make sense.
If you're afraid of spiders, no matter how harmless one might be it's unlikely you're going to feel calm about it when it's in your house. You could trying feeling comfortable in spite of your fear, as a practice, but that's a lot to ask of yourself.
As a public speaker, I rarely felt confident and secure even after hundreds of seminars. I had to act like I did, and that was my practice because I "knew" I was capable. Sometimes you have to grab onto your wisdom and let go of all feelings including the occasional panic.
It's difficult to push past feelings, but it gets easier, and when you see how many of your reactions are misleading you, you want to find every misinterpretation possible because you see how much trouble they've caused you.
We're totally capable of taking things the wrong way, so we need to consistently respond to our thoughts and feelings with healthy suspicion. Here's a simple example:
If someone shows up at your door with flowers, you might have a program that goes off and says, "this means he/she loves me", and you will feel very nice. Or you might have an automatic program that says, "This means that they're out to get something from me", and you'll feel suspicious and nervous.
So which reaction makes sense? The one that reflects the truth, but was your initial reaction incorrect? It's always possible we aren't "feeling" the truth. Your feelings might be based in your last experience with someone else and may have nothing to do with this person giving you the flowers. One bad experience can unconsciously create many more because of the memory filter it creates that we see through.
Try to pay attention to what happens in the moment as you react with thoughts and feelings. Decide what really makes sense. Challenge your initial feelings and make sure you're seeing and feeling the truth. Then respond to what you learn.
If you feel loved with the flowers, but realize you have provable reason to distrust this person, remain cautious. If you feel suspicious, and it makes no sense given your history with them, choose trust and enjoy the love.
Of course, if you feel suspicious and they really deserve it, that's fine. And if you feel loved, and they really do love you, that's good too. The problem is when they really love you but you believe your suspicious feelings, or they really want something from you and your good feelings keep you blind. These are the kind of misunderstandings we can avoid.
This sounds so simple but we don't do it because we over-trust our feelings. We're taught to trust them and it's not the best advice. We need to second-guess ourselves, especially when we negatively react to another person. This habit of doubting all of our negativity is what we want to lay down to change our future.
And what you might find, is most people mean no harm and don't want to make us feel bad. Even if they're incompetent, annoying, inconsiderate, or clueless, it's likely not about you and they just aren't seeing beyond their own struggle... Even so...
I know how HARD it is to let our anger and frustration go. It's not easy even though the concepts are simple. I've been battling my critical mind for a couple of days now over a situation where my complaining mind feels victimized and wants to retaliate. But I know better, and letting go and restraining my words are the wise choice.
Restraint is difficult but letting go of this will pay off. I know deeply that "I will not be letting go of anything that I will regret losing later." I've decided to surrender, and I know if I wait, the feelings that want me to attack will go away.
I also have to realize that I'm not going to feel good about this! This is very important. Every time we restrain ourselves and move past our ego we have to be prepared to feel like we've lost, but the fact is we have just gained back our freedom to choose compassion and peace.
The other catch, is that just because you know what the appropriate feeling is to have, like trust or safety in a secure situation, you can't just make yourself feel the way you want on command. The mind won't let you feel what you know is true once again, but in this case it will let you feel safe over time.
I use to rock climb, and even though I knew the ropes would hold a pickup, I still felt terrified dangling 500 feet in the air, no matter what I told myself.
So when it makes sense to let go of your suspicion, you still might feel distrusting. The trust is a decision and you may or may not feel it, but that's OK. Just because you don't feel it, doesn't mean it's the wrong decision. The feelings take time to catch up.
When you forgive someone, the anger may not go away immediately but that doesn't mean you haven't forgiven them. Your wisdom's choice has to be integrated, and again it takes time to feel the compassion.
However this applies, The McGurck effect gives us reason to consciously evaluate why we feel and think what we do. Make conscious hesitation a habit and a style of being. Use your breath to create a gap between feeling and reacting or responding. Find your center when life's moments make you uncomfortable and challenge the way you're thinking. This approach is how we're going to move from being controlled by our negative programming; to living and loving the way we know we can.
Best wishes and feel free to ask a questions at mailto:bryan@bryanzerr.com
Peace to you,
Bryan
bryanzerr copyright 2011
View my blog with everything on it here:http://bryanzerr.blogspot.com
View my twitter teachings here: http://twitter.com/#!/KnowComplaints
Receive these inspirations via email here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
Are you ready to be really blown away? Watching this experiment might do it.
I wish I could watch you watch this clip. I trust this is worth your time because it's crucial to know how capable your mind is of fooling you. It's not even subtly fooling us, but outrageously making us hear what isn't real. It's called the McGurck effect. Watch this 3-minute video and then come back if you would...or feel free to read on and look later, but it's better to watch it now. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0&feature=player_embedded
This reality bender works every time even though you know you're being fooled. The helplessness you feel is almost embarrassing and certainly humbling. The first thing I thought was, "How often do I get things wrong?" I saw how beautifully this supports the idea of distrusting our thoughts and feelings. No wonder we misunderstand each other all the time. This also explains why it's so difficult to change our feelings even when we realize they don't make sense.
If you're afraid of spiders, no matter how harmless one might be it's unlikely you're going to feel calm about it when it's in your house. You could trying feeling comfortable in spite of your fear, as a practice, but that's a lot to ask of yourself.
As a public speaker, I rarely felt confident and secure even after hundreds of seminars. I had to act like I did, and that was my practice because I "knew" I was capable. Sometimes you have to grab onto your wisdom and let go of all feelings including the occasional panic.
It's difficult to push past feelings, but it gets easier, and when you see how many of your reactions are misleading you, you want to find every misinterpretation possible because you see how much trouble they've caused you.
We're totally capable of taking things the wrong way, so we need to consistently respond to our thoughts and feelings with healthy suspicion. Here's a simple example:
If someone shows up at your door with flowers, you might have a program that goes off and says, "this means he/she loves me", and you will feel very nice. Or you might have an automatic program that says, "This means that they're out to get something from me", and you'll feel suspicious and nervous.
So which reaction makes sense? The one that reflects the truth, but was your initial reaction incorrect? It's always possible we aren't "feeling" the truth. Your feelings might be based in your last experience with someone else and may have nothing to do with this person giving you the flowers. One bad experience can unconsciously create many more because of the memory filter it creates that we see through.
Try to pay attention to what happens in the moment as you react with thoughts and feelings. Decide what really makes sense. Challenge your initial feelings and make sure you're seeing and feeling the truth. Then respond to what you learn.
If you feel loved with the flowers, but realize you have provable reason to distrust this person, remain cautious. If you feel suspicious, and it makes no sense given your history with them, choose trust and enjoy the love.
Of course, if you feel suspicious and they really deserve it, that's fine. And if you feel loved, and they really do love you, that's good too. The problem is when they really love you but you believe your suspicious feelings, or they really want something from you and your good feelings keep you blind. These are the kind of misunderstandings we can avoid.
This sounds so simple but we don't do it because we over-trust our feelings. We're taught to trust them and it's not the best advice. We need to second-guess ourselves, especially when we negatively react to another person. This habit of doubting all of our negativity is what we want to lay down to change our future.
And what you might find, is most people mean no harm and don't want to make us feel bad. Even if they're incompetent, annoying, inconsiderate, or clueless, it's likely not about you and they just aren't seeing beyond their own struggle... Even so...
I know how HARD it is to let our anger and frustration go. It's not easy even though the concepts are simple. I've been battling my critical mind for a couple of days now over a situation where my complaining mind feels victimized and wants to retaliate. But I know better, and letting go and restraining my words are the wise choice.
Restraint is difficult but letting go of this will pay off. I know deeply that "I will not be letting go of anything that I will regret losing later." I've decided to surrender, and I know if I wait, the feelings that want me to attack will go away.
I also have to realize that I'm not going to feel good about this! This is very important. Every time we restrain ourselves and move past our ego we have to be prepared to feel like we've lost, but the fact is we have just gained back our freedom to choose compassion and peace.
The other catch, is that just because you know what the appropriate feeling is to have, like trust or safety in a secure situation, you can't just make yourself feel the way you want on command. The mind won't let you feel what you know is true once again, but in this case it will let you feel safe over time.
I use to rock climb, and even though I knew the ropes would hold a pickup, I still felt terrified dangling 500 feet in the air, no matter what I told myself.
So when it makes sense to let go of your suspicion, you still might feel distrusting. The trust is a decision and you may or may not feel it, but that's OK. Just because you don't feel it, doesn't mean it's the wrong decision. The feelings take time to catch up.
When you forgive someone, the anger may not go away immediately but that doesn't mean you haven't forgiven them. Your wisdom's choice has to be integrated, and again it takes time to feel the compassion.
However this applies, The McGurck effect gives us reason to consciously evaluate why we feel and think what we do. Make conscious hesitation a habit and a style of being. Use your breath to create a gap between feeling and reacting or responding. Find your center when life's moments make you uncomfortable and challenge the way you're thinking. This approach is how we're going to move from being controlled by our negative programming; to living and loving the way we know we can.
Best wishes and feel free to ask a questions at mailto:bryan@bryanzerr.com
Peace to you,
Bryan
bryanzerr copyright 2011
View my blog with everything on it here:http://bryanzerr.blogspot.com
View my twitter teachings here: http://twitter.com/#!/KnowComplaints
Receive these inspirations via email here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
The 69Th. More Tweachings.
Greetings,
Just to let you know there is a "very curious" inspiration on the way tomorrow.
Here are the published quotes from last week:
To stop your complaints and negative thoughts is very difficult, so just remember they only have as much value as you choose to give them.
5 minutes can make all the difference. My Meditation instructions are from personal experience with traditional teachers. http://dld.bz/Meditate
To meditate is to watch the flow of your thoughts and feelings, meeting them without a need to stop them, judge them, or complain about them.
Once your centered in your breath, you re-arise from it over and over again, always falling back into a flowing and alive state of peace.
If someone makes you complain, try to see him or her as your teacher. Every time you see your complaining mind in action you take its power away.
Maybe the answer to your situation is still coming together. Let the next step come on it's own time and relax. Trust and just be present.
All tweets on KnowComplaints are original messages and teachings by Bryan Zerr, yet any wisdom within is of course eternal.
We need to learn to be more suspicious of our interpretations and less suspicious of each other.
When we let go of the need to make things right or wrong and just try to make things better, we transform our aggression into solutions.
Let go of any feeling or story that wants to punish anyone no matter what makes you feel entitled. Your true heart and self know only love.
Your wisdom can't get through if you're busy giving your attention to your complaints. Trust your complaints are big part of the problem and let them go.
It's unconsciousness and ignorance that need to be attacked, not the people who express them. Can we care instead of letting our critical mind take over?
When something doesn't happen it literally re-arranges your entire future chain of events. Your unmet desire may bring amazing unpredictable gifts.
Peace to you,
Bryan
See my blog with everything on it here:http://bryanzerr.blogspot.com
See my twitter teachings here: http://twitter.com/#!/KnowComplaints
Receive these inspirations via email here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
bryanzerr copyright 2011
Just to let you know there is a "very curious" inspiration on the way tomorrow.
Here are the published quotes from last week:
To stop your complaints and negative thoughts is very difficult, so just remember they only have as much value as you choose to give them.
5 minutes can make all the difference. My Meditation instructions are from personal experience with traditional teachers. http://dld.bz/Meditate
To meditate is to watch the flow of your thoughts and feelings, meeting them without a need to stop them, judge them, or complain about them.
Once your centered in your breath, you re-arise from it over and over again, always falling back into a flowing and alive state of peace.
If someone makes you complain, try to see him or her as your teacher. Every time you see your complaining mind in action you take its power away.
Maybe the answer to your situation is still coming together. Let the next step come on it's own time and relax. Trust and just be present.
All tweets on KnowComplaints are original messages and teachings by Bryan Zerr, yet any wisdom within is of course eternal.
We need to learn to be more suspicious of our interpretations and less suspicious of each other.
When we let go of the need to make things right or wrong and just try to make things better, we transform our aggression into solutions.
Let go of any feeling or story that wants to punish anyone no matter what makes you feel entitled. Your true heart and self know only love.
Your wisdom can't get through if you're busy giving your attention to your complaints. Trust your complaints are big part of the problem and let them go.
It's unconsciousness and ignorance that need to be attacked, not the people who express them. Can we care instead of letting our critical mind take over?
When something doesn't happen it literally re-arranges your entire future chain of events. Your unmet desire may bring amazing unpredictable gifts.
Peace to you,
Bryan
See my blog with everything on it here:http://bryanzerr.blogspot.com
See my twitter teachings here: http://twitter.com/#!/KnowComplaints
Receive these inspirations via email here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
bryanzerr copyright 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The 68th. More quotes.
Greetings,
This week's Twitter teachings:
5 people complained to me yesterday about other people. Are we the "other people" ? Somebody is. If we could all just be a kinder it would change.
Hope has power or it can create attachment and suffering depending on your attitude. I like to think of it as having my fantasies encouraged.
The word "simple" takes on a new meaning when you truly see how the complaining mind has been complicating things. Try to simply just be here a 1000x a day.
Without shame we just pick ourselves up and go onto the next choice. Feeling bad just blocks us from the wisdom that shows us what we need to change.
If you find yourself being drawn into negative story by your complaining mind let your it take you back to what's positive. Your breath is so powerful.
Our unnoticed complaining mind's programs use our present moment intelligence to construct inner stories that focus on how everything sucks.
The inner voice or critic can have a very obsessive style. Turn this way that your mind is shaped into a skill. Be obsessed with gratitude.
If we feel like blaming others it's often because we haven't forgiven ourselves for the past, where we also see that we could've been better. Our authentic self
When you let go of your complaining feelings and extend yourself kindly instead, you aren't giving up anything that you will value later.
Our negative programming uses our voice to tell us distrusting stories about what other people feel and think, and then we painstakingly believe them.
People don't choose to make mistakes. Look back at your least favorite moments. You would've been better if you could've been right? We all deserve forgiveness.
When a story is encouraged and it looks like we might get our way it's partnered with the fear we won't, so maybe we're better without one.
Trust is facing the future as blindly present and storyless as possible, with no need to know what's next because you trust you can handle it.
It's unconsciousness and ignorance that need to be rejected, not the people who are victim's to them. Can we care instead of complain and criticize?
Trust the timing. When something doesn't happen it rearranges your entire future chain of events. Your unmet desire may bring amazing gifts.
There's a committee in my head and each one has their own opinion when something happens about how I should feel. Figuring out which one is telling the truth is the challenge.
You experience many good things but let the moments go by too quickly. Rest in the good moments. We usually give most our time to our fears.
Peace to you,
Bryan
To receive these inspirations click here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
To see the initial invite/oath click here:http://bryanzerr.com/newspad/newsletter.asp?article=8
bryanzerr copyright 2011
This week's Twitter teachings:
5 people complained to me yesterday about other people. Are we the "other people" ? Somebody is. If we could all just be a kinder it would change.
Hope has power or it can create attachment and suffering depending on your attitude. I like to think of it as having my fantasies encouraged.
The word "simple" takes on a new meaning when you truly see how the complaining mind has been complicating things. Try to simply just be here a 1000x a day.
Without shame we just pick ourselves up and go onto the next choice. Feeling bad just blocks us from the wisdom that shows us what we need to change.
If you find yourself being drawn into negative story by your complaining mind let your it take you back to what's positive. Your breath is so powerful.
Our unnoticed complaining mind's programs use our present moment intelligence to construct inner stories that focus on how everything sucks.
The inner voice or critic can have a very obsessive style. Turn this way that your mind is shaped into a skill. Be obsessed with gratitude.
If we feel like blaming others it's often because we haven't forgiven ourselves for the past, where we also see that we could've been better. Our authentic self
When you let go of your complaining feelings and extend yourself kindly instead, you aren't giving up anything that you will value later.
Our negative programming uses our voice to tell us distrusting stories about what other people feel and think, and then we painstakingly believe them.
People don't choose to make mistakes. Look back at your least favorite moments. You would've been better if you could've been right? We all deserve forgiveness.
When a story is encouraged and it looks like we might get our way it's partnered with the fear we won't, so maybe we're better without one.
Trust is facing the future as blindly present and storyless as possible, with no need to know what's next because you trust you can handle it.
It's unconsciousness and ignorance that need to be rejected, not the people who are victim's to them. Can we care instead of complain and criticize?
Trust the timing. When something doesn't happen it rearranges your entire future chain of events. Your unmet desire may bring amazing gifts.
There's a committee in my head and each one has their own opinion when something happens about how I should feel. Figuring out which one is telling the truth is the challenge.
You experience many good things but let the moments go by too quickly. Rest in the good moments. We usually give most our time to our fears.
Peace to you,
Bryan
To receive these inspirations click here: http://www.bryanzerr.com/newspad/sign_up.asp
To see the initial invite/oath click here:http://bryanzerr.com/newspad/newsletter.asp?article=8
bryanzerr copyright 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)