Unraveling the 'What Ifs' and Embracing Now

Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Welcome back to the podcast with James and Dr Zinni. Speaker 2: Good morning. Speaker 1: Yes, sir, I hope everybody's enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday and are ready for Christmas, as they stock up all their Christmas trees for all the little gifts they're giving away. Speaker 2: Get ready for the sugar plums to dance in their head. Speaker 1: And I wonder how many people dropped elbows on Black Friday. Speaker 2: I was like drop what. I mean, I remember the day we did venture out ourselves. Speaker 1: We did. It was crazy that day. We did venture out ourselves. We did. It was crazy that day Couldn't find parking places. We were all over the place shopping for work. It was pretty crazy. Speaker 2: Yeah, we had to pick up some decorations and such. Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a pretty good time, though. We had fun, we had fun, some good Starbucks. It was a different experience than what it used to be doing the whole Black Friday trying to shop for gifts and stuff for the kids and what have you, man, listen I I remember going at midnight and waiting in line oh yeah, it wasn't crazy just to get something that your kids wanted oh yeah, you stop at starbucks. Speaker 2: You get your coffee, you get your little snack, so you can go wait in line until the doors open yeah, it was. Speaker 1: It was crazy back then. It was pretty nuts, like I remember when. Speaker 2: Sears— it should be Olympic as sport. It should be Especially back then. Speaker 1: The planning and the— when Sears was giving out those $500 gift cards for the first 10 people through the door. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Man, it was a fight. Speaker 2: You wanted to get in line quick and camp out and pitch a tent for days. Speaker 1: Eat Thanksgiving and then go sleep in the line at the Sears. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: It was crazy. I remember I did that one time. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: I stood in line at the wrong. I was the first one in line and I was at the wrong door. I was so disappointed I thought I was like where's everybody at ? Am I wrong on the wrong day? And then I heard some voices and I walked around the corner and there was like where's everybody at? Am I wrong on the wrong day? Speaker 2: And then I heard some voices and I walked around the corner and there was like a ton of people there, so you missed out on your gift? Speaker 1: Yeah, and I went over and asked the guy in line what time did you get here? I got there an hour before he did. I just went to the wrong door. I was like, yeah, disappointing , but it is what it is. So you ended up like the first 50 instead of the first 10. I ended up like the right. I ended up with no gift cards and never giving away the first 200, so I just went home because I counted. I was like, okay, I'll move on to the next one. Speaker 2: It was pretty crazy because, yeah, I can remember we would get the um like newspaper flyers of where all the cells were going and we would literally make a map yeah based on what we wanted to buy. There was a whole group of us that would go together. Based that way, somebody could stand in line to check out while the others were grabbing the items for the group. Yeah, one person would go in this direction to grab these items at the store. The other person would go in this direction to grab the items at the store. The other person would go in this direction to grab the items at the store. We would look to see okay, what's the limit on the number of items you can get, and how many people do we need to take so that we can get the limit, so that everybody gets what they need on their list? Speaker 1: Strategically planned . Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a whole thing. Speaker 1: It was like a SWAT team. We would be creating a building . Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, yeah, it was a whole thing. It was like a SWAT team we were creating a building. That's right. Yeah, for sure, and we would map out our itinerary of okay, we got to be here at this time, we got to be here at this time, we got to be here at this time. And when we're here, there's a Starbucks, somebody's going to pop in, get us some nutritional value, some beverages to get us going for the next day. Yeah, and then, whenever the stores started opening at midnight, like it was a two day affair, man, yeah, it was crazy, it was no. Speaker 1: I remember when Academy. What made me go to the Academy one year was they had a like a thousand dollar pitching machine . Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: That they were going to sell for $350 on Black Friday Right and my son wanted this machine and and they were one of the ones. This is like the first year they started opening at midnight in Texas and I finished Thanksgiving dinner and my son came up to me. He's like Daddy, are you going to go take a nap Because you've got to go to the academy tonight ? I'm like okay, this is happening. Yeah, and so I ended up taking an hour nap and going to Academy . Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And grabbed the last one on the pallet. Yeah, it was crazy. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: But I got it and he enjoyed it. The whole baseball team enjoyed it for me. Speaker 2: Yeah, I only had one incident all the years that we did that, and it was with the lady over a. You know those electric knives that you cut the turkey with. Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Speaker 2: They were like on sale for I want to say like five bucks, and there was one left and she and I put our hands on it at the same time and we went down, man. Speaker 1: Did you scissor paper rock over it? Speaker 2: I don't really remember. I don't even remember if I ended up with it. It was just like an extra thing . Speaker 1: It wasn't a gift. Speaker 2: It was like just something that I had been needing to get to replace. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: And they happened to have them in a little aisle kiosk thing. So when you both looked down, and I was like, eh, you can have it, man, it's all right. Speaker 1: It's all good. You all both grabbed it at the same time. Yeah, you hear in the background. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Your eyes meet and then you both go into the stare down Right, who's going to let go? It's like a Western scene. It's the showdown at sunset. Yeah, totally. Speaker 2: It was. And then I was like eh, like, hey, you know what, it's just an extra item for me. Speaker 1: So y'all didn't have a quick draw for it. No, no I let go that would have been a more extravagant story yeah, no, no. Speaker 2: I remember one year my sister, all the kids wanted some popular thing like a furby or something, oh my something. Speaker 1: The furby trend. Speaker 2: Holy cow, that was nuts and so we had decided we were gonna get all the kids one they were on sale for like I don't know something crazy like five bucks or something, and they just had them in. You know, at walmart, those metal bins where they just threw all the balls. They had them in that and they were wrapped up and the minute they cut the wrapping, everybody just dove. My sister literally dove to the ground in between people's legs . And she was tossing them at me and I was putting them in the basket because it had the opening, like the balls do at the bottom, and so her strategy was, instead of go to the top, like everybody else she went low in between everybody's legs, so she was literally laying on the ground in between people's legs , tossing me the furbies I was catching them, throwing them in the basket that furby thing and I think our limit was like I don't know, six or ten or something like that. Speaker 1: That was a crazy that furby trend was nuts and it went on for what? Three or four years, yeah, yeah , I Like I don't know six or ten or something like that. Speaker 2: That was crazy, that Furby trend was nuts, and it went on. Speaker 1: for what? Speaker 2: three or four years. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1: I remember those little Furby keychains. Holy cow, it was nuts. They had to have them for their backpacks. Speaker 2: The Tamagotchi. Speaker 1: And the Tamagotchis yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah, that was crazy. Speaker 2: Good times, man. Good times was fun. It was dropping the elbows. Yeah, this year was much different. Experience seemed kind of low key. Speaker 1: Actually here in florida black friday, compared to texas to me, we weren't going to the popular stores, though that they go black friday shopping I mean, that's true, we were shopping for hobby lobby and michaels and kirkland. Speaker 2: Kirkland's was packed yeah, there was definitely a crowd at kirkland's, but most of the stores were pretty low key. Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, and that one hobby was busy, that one it was. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: It was packed. Speaker 2: You definitely have to bring your patience and not be in a big giant hurry. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: You just got to kick back and relax. Man, Bring your lawn chair. Speaker 1: I struggled with the old Friday tendencies where you're trying to hit all the stores. Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I struggled all day with that not being in a hurry. Speaker 1: yeah because we really didn't need to be in a hurry, right, we didn't really have anything else, but I still struggled with it all day. Speaker 2: Yeah, just reprogramming a habit yeah, it was pretty. It was fun, though we had a good time yeah definitely a new experience and uh learned some stuff for sure yeah, it's funny, so it actually brings us this story's kind of bring us to the topic of the day. Speaker 1: Yeah, you ready I'm ready you know what my topic is today. Bring it on, it's the what if. What if you actually were talking about it a little bit? You know, we live our lives in a mindset of we create our reality, and when we create reality, sometimes that throw a what if in the mix, it'll really meant like for me, specifically me, it throws me into a tailspin. Yeah, and like the what if this , what if that, your monkey mind goes crazy. Speaker 2: Yeah, it just fuels monkey mind. It gives that monkey mind plenty of energy and juice to play around and muck around. Speaker 1: You know, because you live by the premise of we create our reality and everything happens for a reason. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And we don't go through our day without understanding that this reality that we've created is ours. It's not somebody else's reality. Everybody's a player in the script of this play, an actor in the script, and everybody's doing their part of it. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: But still that monkey mind will throw all them what ifs out there. And the what if thing for me can man, it can get deep. I mean, I can get into that sleuth mode and I can bounce off 14 different walls and see every little minor clue and just create this crazy story in my head. Speaker 2: Yeah, why do you think that is? Speaker 1: I know what you're going to say. What? Because I'm addicted to drama, drama no. Speaker 2: No, I just mean as a group, just generally speaking, not you in general. I mean not you specific, just generally. Why do you think the what if is there? Speaker 1: Well, the what if for me, I mean, I think it's there in general, because we're here for experiences, and sometimes those experiences, whether we recognize them humanly in this reality or not, is something that we have set up, either subconsciously or contractorly pre-existence. Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the important thing. When I asked the question, I wanted to bring about this reminder that the belief system mechanism is designed to always be true, whether it's a beneficial belief or if it's a belief one views as not so beneficial. When you get to a point. There's a point in this journey that you will come to eventually where you find that they're all beneficial because you come to a place that all the beliefs are allowing you to learn something more and deeper about yourself, so that you can evolve and expand. I agree. So all beliefs are beneficial at some point. I don't like it, but I agree. I understand. But the mechanism itself is designed to always make itself true and if you're getting close to letting go of a belief or being done with a belief, the mind says oh, you may be close but you haven't let go of it yet . So I've got to pull out all the stops to get you to hold on to this belief and it be still true , and so that that, what, that, what if comes about, and it will just create stories in all different directions. Speaker 1: It will and you know we as humans, in the human experience and understanding that we are here for experiences , it makes us want to figure out why some of us right, I mean, not everybody is so peaceful as you are, but the for me, I want to know why this, why is this happening? because I feel like I wonder if, a lot, if I, when I come in this reality, or when I come into this existence and I created this reality, am I supposed to figure out the why? And so I mean, I'm sure there are people out there that are, you know, have um agreed to live different parts in different ways, just for the experience. But for me, anytime a what if? Comes up, I want to know why. And it's one of the things that I'm trying to figure out. I know you and I talked about some previous traumas earlier that I really thought I had released and I still, when I was checking in with it, still think I released it. It's the fact that I am one of those individuals that want to know why, and it creates this monkey story. Speaker 2: Right. So I mean that is a good topic Wanting to know why can be beneficial, but it can also have a trip up point. Speaker 1: The what if creates the why. Speaker 2: for me, Well, and the why. If you're asking why from a standpoint of looking at yourself and from a perspective of okay, why is this happening? What am I hanging on to? What do I have to believe to still be true in order to be creating this situation for me? If you're looking at it like that and wanting to know the why because you're looking at yourself, then that's beneficial . If you're looking at the why from a victim standpoint of why is this happening to me, why is this person doing this to me Then that's when it no longer becomes beneficial to explore the why, because that's a much different energy. Victim or loss of control kind of mentality or energy frequency is a much different place to come from when you're asking the why than self-exploration. Speaker 1: Well, you know, I agree with some of what you're saying there, like the part of it. Speaker 2: What you should agree with. Speaker 1: everything I don't agree with everything, because what I don't agree with or what I do agree with is the fact that , yes, if you look at it from a victim standpoint, it is completely unhealthy. And if you look at it from why this happened, why is this happening to me? It's an unhealthy thing. And I know, humanly we think that kind of stuff. But I am for for me in this scenario that we're talking about, for me. I know that I create my reality and I'm not really looking at it from a victim standpoint. Spiritually, I mean maybe humanly, I've made some comments that think, well, I mean why, you know why humanly, but that's all human in reality, when I really check in with it, I'm looking at it of why did I create this in my reality? Why is it here? Yeah, what in all these? What if things that my monkey might create are just creating more? Why? Questions? Speaker 2: and so how do you go about figuring out the answers? What do you do? Speaker 1: well, I haven't mastered that yet, and so I I go into, I guess sleuth mode and I , I guess sleuth mode and I start trying to sleuth things and figure out okay, so this happened, this blah, blah, blah blah, going through all the motions in my head and my thoughts, because I have a very, very vivid video memory and I can look back at things and almost repeat word for word and most of the time repeat word for word what was exactly said. Yeah, like the previous one that happened. I knew what I had said. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And it got twisted, and so I was trying to figure out why. Why did that, why did this happen? Because I know what I said and, humanly, I wasn't in the victim mode, in that I was more in the I'm angry mode. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Because what gives these people the right to twist things and why is it okay? And so it put me into that. Why scenario. Speaker 2: Right, I mean. So there's two different conversations there. If you're going to have a human conversation, then yeah, you could ask the questions of why, why do these people, why do they do this to me, why are they doing this to me? But the reality is is that they're not doing it to you. You've set up the play to experience it that way for some encrypted reason. Maybe going into the sleuth mode or private investigative mode is really exciting to you and fun. Maybe you find it fun to unravel the mystery. Speaker 1: Let me clarify something. I find it fun on other topics that don't involve me. I don't find it fun when it involves me, because all it does is create monkey mind frustration. Speaker 2: But why? That's what I'm trying to figure out, I mean why are you letting it create frustration and monkey mind? Why don't you look at it as just as interesting and exciting when you're part of the play? What a better way to learn and grow and evolve when you get to be firsthand one of the characters in the play than a member of the audience watching it. That's a more visceral experience of actually being involved in the lineup of characters when you're experiencing something, than it is to be in the audience I mean, that's easy to say, but you, humanly, we have the monkey mind . Speaker 1: And what I mean by monkey mind frustration is is I get frustrated and I have monkey mind? I don't mean like I'm frustrated at my monkey mind, I mean the frustration behind it is completely fed by the monkey mind traits. So you know, for example, this happened because of this happened and this is going to happen, and I don't, I don't care for that. Speaker 2: How do you know the part about this is going to happen? How do you know that? Speaker 1: That's just monkey mind. I don't know it but, but it puts that into your mind of the worst case scenario. Always, it's always, it always seems to be the worst case scenario that's going to happen. Speaker 2: Of course. Speaker 1: Because your monkey mind wants to create fear. Speaker 2: Well, because the mechanism is designed to have you hang on to that belief, and it always be true, and so, pain and pleasure, it's going to give you a scenario, that is, you're going to give yourself a scenario, even if it's subconscious, and we call it monkey mind that seems to be, or appears to be, more unpleasant than the belief, and so, therefore, you hang on to the belief and stay where you're at, rather than letting go of the belief or the definitions and moving forward. So what do you do about it? Speaker 1: You know, for many years I controlled it by using that phrase, mind over matter. Because, if you don't mind, it don't matter. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: And the power of our thoughts are so strong. You know, our minds are crazy strong. We can create things and beliefs and realities just with thought. And when I battle with my monkey mind, which is part of my thought, it becomes a powerful instinct. No, I wouldn't say instinct, instinct's not the right word. It becomes a powerful response to a hidden, or maybe not even hidden, belief in the background that runs, which makes me, you know, sometimes it creates fear, it creates angry, it creates worry, it creates all these different things. But here I am spiritually saying, okay, why is this in my reality? And the only process I've found that really works for me is just to kind of push everything to the back and say, okay, let's just stop, just stop, go on with your day, see what happens. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And not everybody. Speaker 2: Sometimes that's the only way you can do it, especially if the pile gets so big that it feels insurmountable frequency of the uncomfortable topic or problem or issue and try to get into a vibrational frequency of the solution or the answer so that you can hear it. Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. And ascending to that vibrational spot, to where you can actually hear what's really going on and have a greater understanding of it all, and then dig through. Dig through it backwards. Speaker 2: Right and then start to dig through it, because when you're knee deep in the middle of it and you're holding that frequency that's bringing it to you, it's it's hard to hear the answers or the solutions or the what do you call it whenever you're being a sleuth. Speaker 1: An investigator. Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what are the answers called? Are they just called answers? Speaker 1: Yeah, clues, why was I? Speaker 2: thinking there was a different name for it. Speaker 1: Solved. I don't know, clues, clues. Speaker 2: You can't really see the clues as clearly if you're down in that mucky vibration. And so setting that pile aside and just taking a breath and getting back to that higher frequency vibration so that your higher self can help you unravel the clues, be it conversation, be it something somebody said, the symbology of it, really kind of just unraveling clue by clue by clue. You have to set it aside, you have to come out of the garbage can, so to speak, and to get a different perspective and a different vibrational frequency. So that's a good thing. Speaker 1: That's a good way to start too. So I totally agree with what you said, but here's the part that always hangs me up. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: The bifurcation as you like to word. Speaker 2: Bifurcation. Speaker 1: Bifurcation or furcation. Speaker 2: The fork in the road. Speaker 1: Bifurcation. Speaker 2: Bifurcation. I don't know. Speaker 1: Somebody looked that up, looked that up. Okay. So because we know we create our reality, yeah. And then we know that we're here for experiences, yeah. So when it comes to a spot, to where in your human body you're living a spiritual experience on this earth, you come to this. When this scenario, the what if scenario, happens and you get to that, why of going human or spiritual with it? Why is it that human always seems to tug us in the way of following the worst case scenario line? Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I have my opinion on it. I can certainly share. Speaker 1: My opinion is that and this is your podcast, it's our podcast, it's our podcast that means your opinion too, right? Speaker 2: Wow, that was a little tart. Speaker 1: I was just playing with you, you're feeling a little tart this morning. No. Speaker 2: I'm not tart. What are you drinking? Speaker 1: I'm drinking a Monster. Speaker 2: Oh, are we going to behave like a Monster? Always always, um, my opinion of that is some of its habit. Okay, we as a society, human habit? Yeah, we as a society, have been taught to focus on the chaos of life. And we cover that in many, many podcasts. We watch the news and there's always ruckus going on there. There's groups of people that focus on battle against cancer, battle against drugs, battle against this, and we focus on the problems. Speaker 1: Is that focusing on the solution? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: I agree with that. Speaker 2: And so if you're giving your energy to the problem and you're continually just teaching yourself to focus on the problem, then it's all energy and frequency and what feels better. And if you've trained yourself that you have to focus on the problem so it doesn't get bigger , or you have to focus on the problem so that you can be ready for a rainy day or prepare to have plant ABC in place so that the other shoe doesn't drop and catch you off guard, if that's how you've been trained and that's how you've been programmed, then you're going to live your life that way until you catch yourself doing it and make a decision to live your life in a different way. Speaker 1: I agree, society does teach us to focus on the problem. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: You know I mean GoFundMe lives on that. Speaker 2: If that is your primary focus and your habitual way of thinking and you don't catch yourself and you don't make yourself consciously aware and create different habits of thinking, then you'll continue to get more of that experience because that holds a frequency in and of itself. And so you've aligned yourself with the dimension and with the parallel realities. That kind of go in that file folder of let me focus on the problem, let me focus on the chaos, let me plan for a rainy day, let me be, you know, plan A , b, c, so that I'm always prepared, so that nothing catches me off guard, so that it's not painful or uncomfortable. And so you'll find yourself living in this kind of loop experience of always having more chaos, more nonsense, more trauma, drama, and it'll just keep looping around and looping around and looping around. And I think for me, starting the podcast and the Merck Center is my way of kind of just bringing an awareness to those that haven't achieved that, so that they can make a decision to start reprogramming their life intentionally the way that they would really like to experience it, instead of just subconsciously letting it happen on auto drive based on how they've been programmed their whole life by the they society I'm completely on board with you on this page and I kind of like want to recap a little bit. Speaker 1: Okay, I want to make sure that I understand the complete process of what we talked about. So, when everything happens for a reason and then something does happen, the monkey mind creates the what if? Stories, which, in turn, humanly, we start looking at the wise. And we should go into this, knowing that society teaches our human to do this and focus on the problem instead of moving past it and focusing on the solution. Yeah, no matter what that is it can be small things, it can be large things. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: You know, the main thing for me, that kind of rings my bell more is realizing that the what-ifs are fear-based stories created by the monkey mind and can be made true if it rings a belief and are not letting yourself let go of the heavy baggage that's called a belief, so that you can redefine everything, then, yeah, that belief will continue to make itself true, whatever it's about . Speaker 2: If it's you know, like, for example, let's break it down into an example that people can maybe relate to. If you have a belief that if you were raised in a situation where in your household your parental people were wrapped up in the drama always and doing all of that oh my gosh, he said. She said gossiping, gabbing, talking about other people looking for the, can you believe she did this and can you believe she did that? And that was their whole world because it was interesting and exciting to them Then you're learning that as a child coming up and you may not know how to live a life differently unless you're consciously aware that it doesn't feel good and you don't have to live that way and start to make choices about who you hang out with and what. You've come to the determination that I really just don't like the gossiping mentality. I want to come away from that. You're ready to just dump that experience. You'll find yourself not resonating with the reality shows that are based around that experience. Drama bachelorette oh my God, can you believe he kissed her? And then you'll find yourself recognizing it in the social aspects of your life and who you're hanging out with. So your friends may change. Your family members may even change, because you find yourself no longer wanting to hang on to that lower vibrational experience and coming to a place where you get to experience life in a more calm manner that is more peaceful, because it feels better. Speaker 1: I mean because we are , we're kind of trained to be in this trauma drama. Yeah, because even in high school or in junior high, middle school, elementary you know any of the stuff you have that social trauma drama constantly who's? Dating who. Who's doing what? What weirdo, what geek, what athlete, what job? You know what? Speaker 2: of course you know anything, so it's your media uses it all the time the trauma drama is what sells news. Oh, I agree the trauma drama is what gets ratings on the reality TV shows. Speaker 1: Because we're taught to listen to the problem, yeah, and identify and fear. Create a fear-based story on the problem. Speaker 2: Yeah, and so if you're just mindlessly robotically going through life on a subconscious level and not really paying attention to it in an unawakened state, you'll just continue to live that loop and go round and round. Speaker 1: That constant loop of what ifs, and it can be a daunting road. Speaker 2: It can, it definitely can. Speaker 1: I think the well you know, moving into a different thought process and scenario for me is I today, when I identified I am that person that likes to know the why and so it gives me a little bit of a control of that reality. And I don't have to necessarily know the why, as long as I'm recognizing that I'm that guy that wants to know the why and we start working on those beliefs behind it. Because we are taught, like you said it right, we're taught from a young age to get caught up in the trauma, drama, the backbiting, the gossip, the you know, plan for a rainy day. Speaker 2: Who's sleeping with? Speaker 1: who you know financially plan for a rainy day or any of that stuff. So we're taught. Speaker 2: Wait for the other shoe to drop. I'm waiting. Speaker 1: Right, we're taught to be ready for the drama. Right, instead of being ready for the other shoe to drop, I'm waiting. Right, we're taught to be ready for the drama. Right Instead of being ready for the success. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And that's when we get to a point of awakened enough that when situations happen in our life we're like whatever. Speaker 2: I'm just tired of it, I don't want to live that loop anymore, and so you just dump your baggage because it's just experiences and it's so. Then it just becomes a okay, so what? And I find myself when, when that's going on, I just relocate myself all, all together and entirely. I just don't hang around those people. If I have to because of my job or something, it's very limited interaction just to get down to business and then move on. Yeah, because for me it just is not exciting. It is not equivalent to my joy, my excitement. I do look at it from a standpoint of curiosity, of okay , why did this pop into my reality? Is there some little nugget of debris left in that belief system? Or did I want to give myself a quick little pop quiz to see if I had actually changed? Because, that could be the thing too you have to remember. Yeah, you're checking yourself. Yeah, if you feel like and you mentioned this earlier about I feel like I released the belief and changed up the definitions and redefined that, and you may have. And so to test that, sometimes you'll recreate a small little event to experience, just to kind of give yourself a pop quiz Did I actually change and is that belief actually dissolved and dissipated? And so you'll test yourself to see if you react or respond in a different way. And so then if you don't, if you respond or react in the same way, then you're like okay, there's more work to do or there's more that's ready to come up in a different layer, or whatever. Or if you pop quiz yourself similar scenario and it really doesn't create any kind of emotion, because our emotions are a guidance system, then you can walk away and give yourself a pat on the back and the little cheer button gets hit. I passed that test and now you know what I am a different person and it feels good. It feels good to be a different person. And so sometimes you'll have those experiences that seem very similar, just to kind of test yourself to see have I really changed? Speaker 1: have I really released that belief system, or is there something more that I can release, or something else that I'm still choosing to believe is true, because I need to learn the next level of whatever this experience will bring to me yeah, and and that can be the part of the awakening process that well, I'll talk specifically about me that I always struggled with moving past it, saying okay, you know being that mallard duck, and saying I hide it from people pretty well, but I don't until as of late I've been more apt to show my You've been letting your slip hang out of your dress , yeah. I've been kind of letting my your slip showing dude. Yeah, my stupid showing too, and I allow my emotions to show, especially, you know, to you Out there really not as much, but when it comes to sharing it with my person, I have been more apt to do that and it's okay for me because part of me moving on, Whoa, let's talk about this for a second. Speaker 2: Well, what I mean it's okay for you, but is it okay for her? Speaker 1: Well, what I mean by it is I'm just kidding, I'm okay with being that person. That's the why, guy. I want to know the why I'm okay with being that person. That's the why, guy. I want to know the why I'm okay with that and I cause, I think, part of that because it brings about some sort of joy or excitement for you. I like to know the why I like, I've always kind of like, kind of liked those. If you check in with your emotional guidance system. Speaker 2: Does it bring about an emotion that is pleasurable? Speaker 1: when, when I'm doing, when I'm in when you're asking the why when I'm asking the why about other people, yes. But when it's with me, my emotional guidance system is telling me pump the brakes, batman, and so cause, I don't like it. For me, I've always been that guy that's intrigued by crime stories, murder mysteries. I've always been that guy as long as I can remember. Speaker 2: Okay, you can journey on that way if you want. Speaker 1: And it's okay for me, because I think the part of this that I have to be okay with is identifying myself as the guy that likes to know the why and then be awake enough to stop it and control it or move on from it. And I think that's where because I believe that identifying beliefs that don't resonate with you, part of a big part of that is recognizing that it's you. It's you that have created this , it's you that are doing it, it is you that is is put yourself in the what if situation, and it's you that's allowing the monkey mind to control your thoughts. And so that's part of it that gives me that empowered feeling of that reality that I feel like is not in my power Make sense. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Okay, I know you don't agree with it, but…. Speaker 2: No, you don't agree with it. I mean, there's parts of it that I have questions for you on . Obviously, if you know that it's you creating your reality, then why do you not like to ask the why of yourself and you like to ask the why of other people? Why do you not like to be in the spotlight, or on the stand, so to speak? Why? Speaker 1: Maybe I misphrased that I like being in the spotlight. I likeased that I like being in the spotlight I like, and socially I like, being in the spotlight. But when it comes to the fear-based what-if stories, I don't like being in the spotlight. Why, I don't know. I don't mind looking at it spiritually. But when it comes to the human spotlight, I don't really care for it Because, well, I do know it's fear-based. It's about, you know, waiting for that shoe to drop, or that's what it's about. Speaker 2: I mean, I understand the scenario behind it, that it is a fear, so let me clarify so what you're saying is you don't like being one of the characters in the story where the focus is on you with the story plot. You like being part of the story when the plot is pointed to somebody else. Yes, I see so. You like being the investigator who's free and clear of any like suspected wrongdoings or wrongdoings. Right, it's when you're the focus of suspected wrongdoings or the target of the topic that you're not liking. Speaker 1: Because here's the fact behind it. Speaker 2: So then, why did you create it that way? Speaker 1: I don't know. That's exactly where I'm at in my thought with it is. I'm trying to figure out why did I do this? Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: And what is the benefit of it in my spiritual journey and how much of it is societal. Because the reality is, if you were to pull an ambulance up to the front of a building that has 100 people in it, 80 of those people are going to go to the window and look. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Eight out of 10 people are going to want to know what's going on, and I don't necessarily care for the scenario when I'm the guy in the ambulance. You know what I mean. Yeah, I understand and so that's where I'm at with it is. I'm looking at the, trying to get a better understanding of why is this in my reality, why am I doing it, why? Speaker 2: are you creating? Yourself to be the center of the game storyline, right yeah and, but if you don't enjoy looking at yourself when you are , then it's a contradiction and you won't allow yourself to hear the answers. And if you're saying it's a societal taught thing as a permission slip not to look at yourself, then you're not being totally and fully accountable for whatever may come up that you need to look at. Speaker 1: So I would just caution you on that. Well, I mean, I agree with that statement a little somewhat, not quite all the way, but the reality for it is. We are humanly taught for that, and when I get into a spot of but whenever you're so I'm going to stop you right there and let me just interject. Speaker 2: Okay, yes, you are humanly taught, but the moment that you become consciously aware that it's happening, and if it keeps happening, you are then making a conscious choice to continue to believe or continue to perpetuate habits that make it keep being true for you. You're not doing something about it. Speaker 1: Okay, I agree, it okay, I agree so you can't. Speaker 2: You can no longer use the permission slip or the out of. Well, I was taught. I was taught that societally, so it makes it okay because in that wall like that no, no, I'm just saying I feel like that needs to go out to the crowd like I said, I think that same scenario that it's going on and and then you make a choice of okay, well, do I want it to be that way? am I getting some sort of enjoyment out of it? Is it fun? Do Do I enjoy it, or do I really not enjoy it? And I want it to be differently . Speaker 1: Well, that's exactly kind of where I was going with the statement, and what I mean is is, even on the little things in life, once we identify or we have these, what if stories going on? yeah and we can identify it in any level of it. Identifying, though, the questions of my involvement in it and giving yourself a reason empowers you, and so like yeah, yeah, it's not an out for me, it's humanly a way to identify and understand. It gives me empowerment into a greater understanding that I was taught this way, and so it makes it okay for me to stop and say why am I taught this? Why am I allowing it to keep reciprocating into my reality? And then you can go on to the solutions with the wise and stop the monkey mind stories. Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and that's okay. There's a minor trip up in in that process, just a hair, if I may conversate about it, yes, you may, so go into a place of okay, this is why it's in my reality, because I was taught that it's a better feeling place that will allow some of the vibrational frequency to change to where you can hear a next level of information on figuring out the puzzle. But it is, in and of itself, cloaking or covering up maybe possibly the core lesson to be learned, if you're continuing to use that excuse, so to speak of okay, well, I was taught this, so now let me figure out why I'm hanging on to it. It'll get you clear and it'll release beliefs to that point. But if you don't stop and look at it from a higher perspective, yeah, society taught me that, or my parents taught me that, but I still create my own reality, even prior to coming into this human meat suit. And so why did I put this scenario in my reality? To be taught that by my parents or by society in the first place? What did I want to learn? That's just taking it to that next, deeper level. So if you're not careful and make sure you go back and look at that, it will seem like you've cleared the belief, but it's like an onion, like we've talked about before, from you still, because you used a temporary permission slip of I was taught this by my parents or society and you don't look at it because that's your answer, but that's only a temporary answer that got you from that point to that point. And so if you find that it's popping back up in your reality, it could be that you need to then come to a place of okay, I was using that to get from there to here. Now it's time for me to dig deeper, dive deeper into this and really explore why my higher self, my spiritual self, put this whole play together and why did I come into a reality where society taught me that? What did I really want to get from it? That way that gets you down to the deepest level getting rid of , kind of the core of the seed, so that it can completely be let go of. Speaker 1: I totally on board with you and here's what I, my thoughts are in. It is I and to kind of recap, everything for me is a we preexistentially create a script that we are going to live in this life and have the experiences. The, the scene or the set is the situations that happen, and the experience is the emotions behind it and the feelings that we get, that create beliefs or bring up old beliefs that need to be cleared. That's really the experience we're looking for, and empowering ourself to recognize our involvement in anything is, I think, is the key to empowering, identifying those beliefs. Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, that's the whole. I mean that's one of the purposes. The purpose is to come and have experiences, right, but remembering that they're not real. They feel real because you created that. Because if you know that you're a spiritual being that can experience the world simultaneously in 360 degrees and that it's not real, it wouldn't be a true, authentic experience. It would be a much different experience. So there has to be mechanisms in place that allow you to make it feel very real and very, very home and visceral and like down to the core, so that you can have the deepest experience that you can have with it. The beliefs are what create the perspective on how the experience goes, and the definitions, the emotions, are letting you gauge whether you want to continue to hang on to the beliefs and the definitions or the patterns, or whether you're ready to actually look at them, be accountable for them and dive deep into them, because they no longer feel good, they're no longer serving you, you're fed up, you're tired, whatever. Those are all emotions that guide you to say, okay, you know what, I'm ready to dig into this, because the feeling of having it continue to go on is much more uncomfortable than the thought of being able to release it and be a lighter, more evolved being. Speaker 1: I agree with you. Speaker 2: It's not that the emotions create the belief. It's that the beliefs create the emotions. Speaker 1: Yeah, did I say that the other way you did? Yeah, okay. Speaker 2: If you don't have beliefs or definitions around something, then you're not going to have an emotion about it Fair enough. And if it's not some circumstance or event or situation that's hitting home, it's a much different experience . If you are watching somebody else experience something and it's not really tugging on any belief that you have in place, then you're just watching it go on and there's no need for you to emotionally respond to it, and most of the time you don't even feel like you need to be a part of it or interact with it. It is just kind of okay, it is what it is. I'm sorry it's happening to you , man, but whatever, because you may be a character in their play. It may not be meant for you to experience on a deep level like that. You just may have agreed to be a certain character in their play to get them continuing on the virtual experience that they wanted to create, and so if it doesn't hit home or it doesn't tap on a belief that's ready to come up or any of that, then you're going to look at the situation and be like, okay, so what? No? Speaker 1: emotion comes out of it, I agree. So I hope that people that are listening understand that it's okay to have the what ifs, as long as you control them and empower yourself to relook at the belief systems behind them. Speaker 2: I mean, it's always you know. The thing about it is judgment, don't judge. It's okay to be where you're at . Don't criticize and don't judge . You are where you are, yeah, and you're not going to leave where you are until you're ready to leave where you are. I agree and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how fed up you are, unless you're fed up enough to where you really dig around in it and just let the crap go. You are where you are and so you might as well embrace it. You might as well embrace contrast and look at it as not a problem, not an issue. It's just part of the whole game. Contrast is is just a neutral thing. You can't invalidate the contrast and hate it and love the positive outcome. You've got to embrace both of them and they have to be positive. The contrast is what helps you decide. Oh, you know what? I'd like to have that just a little bit better. And so you can't leave here loving the little bit better and wanting more of that when you absolutely deny or resist or ignore the contrasts that help you get there. Speaker 1: I agree. I have a what if for you. Speaker 2: What if what? Speaker 1: if everybody was to check out our website wwwthemerccentersorg that's T-H-E-M-E-R-C-C-E-N-T-E-R-S dot org. What if? What if? Speaker 2: Come see us. We'd love to visit you, yeah. Speaker 1: Give us a message on our social media at the Merck Centers. You can look it up on Instagram , facebook and Twitter. We do have a blog, by the way, and we also have more podcasts all on the website and, if you'd like to, you can subscribe to receive the blog in your email. All you do is subscribe at the bottom of the website page. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: So check us out on social media, follow us, share us with your friends. I feel complete about this podcast. How about you? Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean. Speaker 1: I'm good. Speaker 2: Yeah, I could talk for days about all of it. I could sit here and just talk and talk and talk. Speaker 1: And talk, and talk. We know that, no kidding. Hey, we love you all. Thank you all for listening and don't forget, forget check us out on social media at the merc centers and check out our website and like, follow and share ring that bell man. We love you love you have an awesome day. We'll see you next time.