The Biggest Lie in the World - "I'm Not Good Enough"

My notes from The Mel Robbins podcast, (January 23 2024), "How to Find Your Purpose & Design the Life you want". Mel Robbins with Martha Beck:

Martha quotes one of my favorite teachers Byron Katie, "If you understood how good you are, you'd shatter into a billion pieces and just be light." That in turn reminds me of Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now, where he says: "In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is described as “the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness,” which it says is “your own true self.”"

The light is everywhere.

Stuckness always means you're about to be transformed.

• Creative shuts down anxiety and anxiety shuts down creativity

  
  

• Everything the anxious part of your mind tells you is wrong - 100% of the time. Anxiety lies 100% of the time. Per Martha, "Hear me now - understand me later."

  
  

• Get out of the spiral of fear and control - "Let Them", and "Let Me assume My Responsibility to Respond with a Free Mind. Go toward creativity.

No circumstance can set you free! It's all in your mind - that's where you have to find freedom.

You have 2 best friends that go with you every where - Your Body & Your Suffering.

Healing - Set the trapped part of ourselves free by following the tracks of what feels free:

• Identify where you have anything not at peace in the body

• What emotion comes up (Mad, Sad, Glad, Fear)

• Let the Emotion get bigger - let it out, let it speak, let it be.

• Treat your suffering like a being that you loved, let it be huge, scary with 0 resistance.

• Let it tell you everything and write it down

• Capture the Thoughts that are causing the Pain - this is dirty suffering only from thoughts.

  • Don't shut it down, don't minimize it, let it speak

• Suffering is telling you the opposite of what you need to hear - so look at the opposite of the statements, and sit in how that feels and look for places where it might be true. No matter how difficult.

<<This is basically like Byron Katie's "The Work".>>

The Buddha said, "When ever you find water you can always know if it's the ocean, no matter what it looks like, because the ocean always tastes of salt. When you find enlightenment you'll always recognize it, regardless of what it looks like, because enlightenment always tastes of freedom."

To find your Purpose - Track what makes you feel Joy & Freedom

Ideal Perfect Day Exercise:

• Consider a time in the future - a specific time say 10 yrs from now.

• Consider what age you and everyone around you will be

• Now imagine your life is absolutely what it was meant to be; every expression of your greatest joy and your greatest fulfilment

• Your going to wake up on an ordinary day in a perfect life, an idyll life - let only your senses, NOT your mind (because your mind can't time travel, only your body) answer these questions:

  • Without opening your eyes on this idyll morning you listen - what do you hear?

  • Smell the air - what does it smell like?

  • Open your eyes, what color are your sheets? What does the floor look like? Who is in bed with you, if anyone? What's in the room? Are there photographs or paintings on the wall? Are there windows - what do you see out of the window? particulars.

  • You go into your perfect bathroom, then look at yourself in the mirror. You are seeing your healthiest most radiant, physically fit self.

  • Then go to your closet. The clothes in your closet reflect everything you do in your perfect life. What kinds of shoes do you have?

  • Walk through the house and look for pictures of events that have happened between now and the time you're imagining

    • Who's in the house with you? What do you do in the morning?

We are the only species that will take it's own life on purpose and it's because of the way we think in terms of language and time. We can construct a future that is so painful it overshadows our fear of death... and it's only made up of language and thoughts.

Try a day of not lying at all, especially to yourself. There are places you need to burn bridges to suffering, just do it with love. We're typically lying to try to fit in.

The opposite of what's causing your pain is your true north. When "I have to do this alone" doesn't feel good, then it's a lie.

I'll close by saying, this podcast prompted me to investigate and I've been enjoying all things Martha Beck: https://marthabeck.com/

It also prompted me to revisit one of the teacher's that's had the most impact on my life, Byron Katie. I'd recommend her light to anyone ready to do the work to find peace in their life. https://thework.com/

Peace