Great Pods
Becoming Okay Inside | The Michael Singer Podcast

Key Points

Most people are constantly trying to be okay rather than examining why they're not okay in the first place
Your body naturally takes care of itself and maintains health without your conscious effort - it's a miracle you didn't create
The mind and heart are even more miraculous than the body, yet they're not naturally okay because of how we use them
You have free will and the power to concentrate consciousness, which creates willpower
Concentrated consciousness is like focusing sunlight through a magnifying glass - it creates tremendous power
Your consciousness gets distracted by thoughts about yourself - your likes, dislikes, wants, and fears
The ego is simply a collection of things that bothered you in the past that you chose to hold onto
You use willpower to store negative experiences inside your mind instead of letting them pass through naturally
Most of your thoughts are not consciously created - they arise automatically from stored past experiences
You are not your thoughts or emotions - you are the consciousness that observes them
Psychology agrees that humans are "the sum of their learned experiences" - but you don't have to be trapped by this
Everything in the universe takes care of itself naturally - forests get watered, planets stay in orbit, stars function properly
You're focusing your infinite consciousness on one tiny person (yourself) out of 8.3 billion people on a planet that's existed for 4.5 billion years
True relationships happen when you don't expect others to behave in ways that match your stored psychological patterns
Events are not personal - they're just moments passing through, and you can choose to let them go
Liberation means letting go of the psychological garbage you've stored rather than trying to manipulate life to avoid dealing with it
When painful memories surface, welcome them as opportunities for purification rather than pushing them back down
Your natural state is high consciousness, love, and joy - this is who you really are beneath all the stored psychological content
Full Transcript

Language: en
Welcome to the Michael Singer podcast
presented by Sounds True in partnership
with Shanti Publications. For more
information about Michael Singer's work,
access to all prior episodes, and
information about upcoming releases, we
invite you to join us at michaels
singingpodcast.com.
degrative trime masters.
If almost every single person took a
look inside themselves,
which rarely they do because they're
very busy outside trying to do things
outside, but if you did look inside
objectively,
what you would see is that you're trying
to be okay.
Now, if I teach you that, I talk about
that, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do
that. It doesn't mean you practice
renunciation.
that I'm not okay, but it's okay that
I'm not okay. I won't do what I think
will make me be okay. That's
renunciation. Doesn't seem very rational
to me. But to look deeper inside and see
I am trying to be okay.
Like there's two levels. Non- negative
and positive. I'm trying to be positive,
trying to be okay, trying to feel happy,
trying to feel love, trying to feel
inspiration, trying to feel passion,
good stuff. And I'm trying not to feel
pain, rejection, loss, fear, anxiety.
How's that? Did I get it? I don't know.
Is that not what's going on in there?
How often? All the time.
All the time. Even when most people turn
towards spirituality, whatever that
means, it's because I'm trying to be
okay. All my problems will go away. I
turn to a God. What's that about? He'll
solve all my problems. I can give
everything to him. That's it. It's just
you don't realize how trapped the inner
state is.
And I could say in trying to be okay,
but I want to say in noticing that
you're not okay. Because if you're
trying to be okay, it means you're not
okay. That is the foundation of real
spirituality. Yes, you can go out there
and do drugs. Yes, you can go out there
and have relationships. Yes, you can go
out there and make money. Yes, you can
go out there and travel. Yes, you can go
to have vacation. Yes, you can go to
movies. There's so many things you can
do in the hopes that they will do what?
Make you feel better. Always trying to
find things that you can do make you
feel better and trying to make sure that
things are not happening and make you
feel worse. And so this constant
duality, they call it yin and yang. This
constant duality of struggle. It's a
struggle. Why? If your starting position
is I am not okay. Nobody wants to admit
that, but you prove it. If you're out
there trying to be okay, you're saying
you're not okay. How you like that? If
you're trying to make more money, means
you're okay with the money you have.
You're trying to find more food means
you're not okay with the food you have.
If you're trying to get face lifts and
change your body looks and all kinds of
stuff, it means you're not okay with
what you look like. I mean, there's
nothing to argue with deep real
spiritual teachings. They're not
philosophy. They're just okay. There's a
fact. The question is, is there an
alternative?
That's the question. Is there an
alternative to noticing that you're not
okay and trying to be okay and noticing
that you're afraid of not being okay and
trying to protect yourself and have
boundaries and and just define a world
in which you won't be bothered and maybe
we'll be okay. Nobody asked that. They
asked how to do it. They asked what job
will give it to me. They asked what
finance how much money do I need in
order to retire by 65 and not have
financial problems. Okay. How old are
you? 14. They start at that age. Don't
kid yourself. What is that telling you
that I'm going to spend my entire life
trying to be okay at least the best I
can and not be not okay the best I can.
And that's the yin and yang. That's what
they call the duality. There's a real
dual I don't be about God duality.
That's too mental. Let's just talk about
duality. I'm not okay. I'm trying to be
okay. I'm not okay. I'm trying to not be
worse. And there it is. And it's a
constant dance. Constant. You wake up in
the middle of the night thinking about
what you did wrong. And what could you
do could have done better? Well, why
should you have said that or shouldn't
have said yes or no? Come on, be honest.
Do you ever end a conversation with a
friend or enemy, I don't care, and walk
away thinking you shouldn't have said
something or you should have said
something or it would have been better
if you didn't or maybe you should go
back and say it. I don't know. Well, why
bring it back up? I don't want to point
it. Yes or no? Of course you do. Why?
Cuz you're not okay.
That's what that says. I'm trying to be
okay. There's 8.3 billion human beings
on planet Earth. Most of the time
there's some words in some language
coming out of their mouths. Are you okay
with that? Yeah, unless I set them or
unless you set them near me. No, I'm not
okay with them. And you start to wake up
and say it's not about trying to make it
be okay.
It's about why is it not okay? And what
you're going to find out is if you're
trying to make it be okay, you have to
deal with everybody and everything. The
weather should be a certain way when you
need it to be and the people should
behave a certain way and a person should
treat you a certain way and the finances
should turn out the c the whole outside
every moment unfolding in front of you
really has to be a certain way otherwise
it's boring it's no fun it's scary
because things could go wrong or I like
it how do I keep it
busy aren't
pretty busy. You look at it and then
instead of asking how do I do it? How do
I buy into this this not okayess and
trying to be okay? It's very hard. So I
keep talking like this. Well, what do
you mean buy into? How do I ask the
question, why am I not okay?
Bodies can get sick. We know that. But I
you could check out the numbers. There's
8.3 billion bodies on the planet Earth
right now. I'm telling you that 99.9% of
the time they're fine. The breath, every
breath coming in out over the course of
the lifetime, not really old, but you
know, within reason. Their bodies are
reasonably healthy. They know how to
take care of themselves. They have
immune systems. They do all kinds of
things, don't they? It's going on. Why
are you not okay? If the body can be
okay, why can't the heart be okay?
You're not doing anything to make the
body be okay. is taking care of itself,
isn't it? Within reason. The same thing
is true of your mind and the same thing
is true of your heart. But nobody will
tell you that. They will tell you get to
work. You're on a relationship, work on
it, find somebody, make sure it's the
right person. Get a checklist and then
judge it every single date and make sure
and write it down. Take notes. Like 80%
67% here. Well, that's okay. Oh my god.
Play stats.
In other words, I'm trying to figure it
out. Figure what out? And you're saying,
I'm trying to figure out how to be okay.
And I'm telling you, you should be
asking, why am I not okay? Why am I not
okay? Is it really true that even though
your body gets born what the foot big
and grows into this thing, right, with
with kidneys and the it oh my god, not
to mention it starts it starts as a
fertilized cell. What does this
what got added? Twinkies and Coke that
mommy ate.
And it managed to take that by itself,
that's fertilized cell, break it down
into its component chemical parts, even
though it didn't seem so healthy, and
make livers and kidneys and pancreases
and everything, and then managed to come
out. I want to talk about that. drop
down to the planet Earth and then get
bigger by eating Twinkies and Cokes or
whatever it is you eat. You did not do
that. How much of that did you do?
You can blow it by smoking this that
doing different stuff. You make it hard
for it to be healthy, but it's trying to
be healthy, isn't it? Why do people
cough when they first smoke? Because the
body doesn't want that in there. Okay?
They try to throw it out. And so you
basically wake up and realize the body
is a phenomenal thing. It's beyond
comprehension. Hear me talked about that
a single cell knows how to make the
whole rest of the body by itself while
the mother says I made this. You did not
make anything. Make me an eyeball here.
Make me an eyeball. I'm waiting. I'll
wait a long time. It is doing it by
itself. Your mind, you have a mind
creates thoughts. You have a heart. It
creates emotions. They are way higher
than the physical body. They are
subtler. Your body can't go to Mars.
Your mind can
and literally it can it can create
rocket ships and so on. Your body can't
do that. But your mind can your heart
can become inspired and create music and
your body can't do that. You need the
body to manifest it. But it does not
create the inspiration and the beauty
and the music that the heart can do. And
it certainly cannot create the thoughts
that the mind can do. So your mind and
your heart, man, they are so far beyond
the miracle of your body or the miracle
of this planet of earth. They are
phenomenal things, but they're not okay,
are they? Why are they not okay? Why do
we need therapists? And so eventually
you wake up and you ask the right
question. It's not the question people
are asking now. Question they're asking
now is I want to be okay. What do I need
to do? Where do I need to go? How do I
be okay? How do I have fun? How do I be
happy? How do I
how do I have a meaningful life? When
you ask how to have a meaningful life,
you know, just said I don't have one.
He's just not looking at it properly.
And this is the spiritual awakening. And
call it whatever you want. This is the
spiritual awakening. You go, wait a
minute. The body is a miracle. Is the
mind really? Somebody once wrote me and
said, "I got that voice you're talking
about in your head. I got that. It never
shuts up." Why did God put that in
there? God did not put that voice inside
your head.
You did. What does that mean? Can we
talk about it? You have this thing
called free will.
That's where it starts. You have free
will. Do you or do you not have the
ability to decide some of your actions?
So, I'm saying everything, but do you
have the ability to decide when you're
going to eat, whether you blow your
nose, how to drive, how to move this
muscle or that muscle? Do you do you not
have some control in there? Can you
create thoughts?
Can you create thoughts anytime you
want? Can you see a boat? Can you talk
about music? Can you do anything you
want in there? Okay, your emotions. Can
you feel love? Can you just Whoa. You
have free will. I'll say it this way. Do
you have the ability to make things
happen inside yourself?
Bury your free will. That's the power
that does that. You have will. You just
decide I want to think this. I don't
want to think that. Do you have the
ability to suppress thoughts and
emotions? Yes or no? Who does?
Via what power? nuclear power, wind,
solar, coal.
What power, what force in the universe
are you using to push, which you do
inside, to push away a thought, to push
away an emotion? You use willpower. You
do do things in there, don't you? And
you do things out here. Why did this arm
move? Cuz I told it to.
It didn't move by itself. It can, but it
didn't. I used will.
I've talked about it before. I know that
unless you meditate very, very deeply,
it's hard to see this for yourself.
What is will?
What is will? What is willpower? Where
does it come from? What's it made of?
Why is it there? Who gave it to you?
They're reasonable questions.
They're not complicated. And you can
feel it. Just let's get a foundation
since will is very important. You you're
doing nothing without will. You messed
yourself up by surpassing things. Use
will. You fell in love because you were
scared but you opened. You allowed did
not allow it to happen. You used your
will. Use will to stop. You use will to
do. You have will in there. What is it?
When you want to do a math problem
in your mind, I don't care whether
you're good at it or not. Doesn't
matter. When you want to do a math
problem more than 2 plus 2, 173 * 5, it
takes concentration.
You have to concentrate. Maybe you write
it down. 1735 carry. All right? Or maybe
your mind can think about it. Whatever
it is, you are using the power of
concentration. If when I give you that
problem, you're listening to music and
people are talking to you and you're
doing, you get it right, are you? You
say, "Wait, wait. I need some time to
concentrate. And you know how to focus.
What does that mean? Concentrate. Focus.
It means use will to concentrate. That's
what does it. You focus it on a given
thing. Stays there. Focus. What?
Concentrate. What? I understand. When
you concentrate orange juice, what
you're concentrating
same word. What are you concentrating?
When you are concentrating, you're
concentrating consciousness. What do you
mean? Are you conscious? Are you aware
that you're aware that you're aware? Can
you space out completely and just be
aware of everything and nothing all at
once and so on so forth? Okay. Every
day. All right. So, you have
consciousness, but it doesn't always
concentrate, does it? Can you, if you
really had to cause it to concentrate?
The answer is yes. The nun comes up to
you in third grade, bam, slaps you on
the knuckles. Pay attention. What does
that mean? Pay attention. It means put
out the effort to concentrate.
You do it every day. You do it all the
time. Some people are much better at it
than others, but we all have the ability
to concentrate our consciousness.
When you concentrate your consciousness
is creating the power of will. That is
what creates will. The example I always
use I really like to get it once is the
sun is shining out there on the field
where everywhere. Show me. It's
everywhere. And I can show you where.
It's everywhere. It's just equally
everywhere. Okay. Take a magnifying
glass. Just a magnifying glass. Hold it
somewhere. What happens? The sun that
was everywhere
concentrates,
focuses what? The power of the sun. Does
it create power? Can it set things on
fire? Can it do things? Yes or no? That
is what you're doing when you focus your
consciousness. Consciousness is
everything. Consciousness is God.
Conscious created the universe. The
consciousness is what's underlying
everything. When you concentrate it, you
are creating the power of will. That's
what it is. Concentrated consciousness
is focused and it creates that effect of
the magnifying glass on light. You now
are focused. One point that's yogis
teacher to meditate on a candle. I used
to wonder in the 70s med 60s7s, right?
Why meditate on a candle? What's so
special about a candle? Guess what?
Absolutely nothing. It is the act of
concentrating. Patanjali talks about
onepointed concentration dhana he calls
it you have the ability to instead of
your consciousness focusing on your
thoughts on this on that different
things it is focused completely
onepointedly doesn't matter on what on a
candle on a mantra
it it doesn't matter the point is you
have taken this power of consciousness
that is generally scattered around and
you've brought it down to a single point
that creates tremendous power that
creates the power of yoga just so we
finish the discussion. Patanjuli he
didn't say that was meditation total
onepointed concentration no nothing you
can't hear anything else nothing the
first step is pryahara you transcend
your senses you pulled your
consciousness out of the senses and you
focused on something that's pryora
that's dharma he didn't say it was
meditation got to meditation yet even
total onepointed you can't hear anything
else right he said there's a state
called dion what is that when the
onepointed concentration
that was focused on an object. Doesn't
matter what the object is onepointed.
When it focuses on consciousness itself,
in other words, the sun came down. It's
all over. There's this focal point. What
if that focal point says, "Oh, it's very
focused. Where did I come from?" All of
a sudden, it's one-pointedly focused on
the sun itself. Goes back to its source.
That he calls meditation. When one
pointed all of your consciousness, all
of your awareness is taken off that
onepointed object and moves back to the
source of conscious itself. Merges back
into the source of consciousness. That
is meditation. It's really beautiful.
But notice it's all about will and it's
all about concentrating consciousness.
Your whole life is about concentrating
consciousness. It's just a question of
what you're concentrating on. I was
married and we were very happy that I
met the golf pro and all of a sudden I
keep concentrating your whole life go
because you concentrate on different
things and what you're taught. Make sure
you decide what you want to concentrate
on and well then you're running around
after something that some not working
out. There's something that's got to you
got to do some work. All right.
Spirituality is what we just talked
about where you wake up inside and you
realize why am I picking what has to
happen outside for me to be okay inside.
I'm going repeat that. You don't care
what's going on outside. You care what's
going on inside. If you're standing with
somebody you love so much, you're in
that high state of merged love. You
don't care what anybody else is doing,
do you? You don't care what happened
today. It's gone on one point of
consciousness on you. All right. That's
what this is about. Okay. Well, that
could be on anything. Spirituality
is when you wake up enough to realize
I'm always chasing something,
either running away from or chasing
something. And somehow it doesn't always
work out. Have you noticed it just
doesn't seem to always work out? It can
work out a little bit. I can avoid
certain things. I can try to grab
certain things, but I have to keep
working on it. I have to worry about it.
In other words, I'm not okay. I can be
for short periods of time. You can turn
a corner and see a sunset that blows
your mind. Unbelievable. And next thing
you know, you're not there. You've
merged. You one point of concentration.
All right. You're not thinking about
your worries, not thinking about
happening at work, not thinking about
relationship, nothing. Just like, wow.
Wow. How long does it last? You have
fallen in love before. I know you have.
Shh. Don't look around you. Right.
That total love that blew you away and
you couldn't even see straight. How long
did it last? Shh. Doesn't mean you don't
have relationships. But some people used
to call that puppy love. It's not puppy
love. It's love. You just don't get to
keep it. All right. We're together for
the kids. How you doing? It's working
out. Oh, really? Okay. Last time you
couldn't even talk. You've been around
the block. You're not newborns and you
understand what we're talking about and
so you understand that basically
consciousness
can focus but you don't have that much
control over it.
You can get my favorite word lately is
distracted. What does that mean? Your
consciousness was focused on something
now is focused something else. Did you
move it there? No.
It got distracted.
And if you look at it, that's all that's
happening. You're in a certain state and
then you get distracted from it. Then
you get distracted. I'm okay. I'm having
a good day. And then I think about
something that happened a few years ago.
Yes or no? All of a sudden my mood
constantly.
and what you think the answer is. Find a
vacation, find a drug, find a thing,
find a person, find a movie, find a
hobby, find something that when it
starts to go south, I can go do that and
feel better. I'm always doing something
to make me feel better. Eating is really
Yes or no?
Do you or do you not? Sometimes eat
because you're not doing so well.
And sometimes what you're eating, you
shouldn't be eating. Just it covers
everything. I don't want to talk about
specifics. This is your life.
Spirituality dares to say something
different. It says that's your life
because you're not okay. Why are you not
okay? I started telling you your body
rel reasonably okay. The world takes
care of itself. It spins through outer
space. There's 300 billion stars in your
galaxy. They seem to do okay. Even with
the black holes eating them, that seems
to work out okay, too. The whole
universe seems to take care of itself.
Does the planet stay in orbit? There's
no strings attached. I don't understand
at all. How does that happen? For 4.5
billion years, you don't have much to
worry about here for what, 80 or 90? You
hear me? How does that happen? Well,
there's these forces. Where do they come
from? It's called God, creation,
reality. There's stuff going on, isn't
there? And it seems to be doing pretty
good. That's something they ask you. In
Germany, there's a thing called the
Black Forest, and I know that there's
not an ocean near it. And I know it's
really big and it needs to get watered.
Who waters the black forest?
Who waters the rainforest? Who waters
the forests?
You don't. We don't pay people to. They
water themselves.
Is that what you're going to tell me?
That they require lots of water and it
just happens by itself. Just like your
little fertilized cell made a body by
itself. Just like your breath goes in
and out by itself. Every single time you
do a minute for your entire life, you
don't have to do a single thing.
Generally, your heart beats all of it. I
can't even talk about it. Like I said, I
don't do seminars cuz you guys would not
want to go cuz I would just keep talking
about this because it just blows me
away. Everything's happening by itself,
isn't it? And you know what you would
say? Well, not everything. my boyfriend.
Why are you doing this tiny little thing
when everything is going on? And you
eventually wake up and realize I'm not
okay cuz I am being distracted by
thought patterns that make me not okay.
What if my thought patterns were
distracted? What I just said? Isn't it
amazing how does the black forest get
watered? Well, there's this thing out
there called the sun, which is a star,
right? 93 million miles away. is very
far away, right? And I always tell you
1.3 million earths inside the sun. 1.3
million earths inside the sun. What's
your problem?
It's sitting on a planet in the middle
of nowhere and the sun's a certain
distance away and there's these things
called oceans. They're full of salt
water. Please don't water trees with
salt water. And they're sitting there
minding their own business. And because
this thing takes care of itself, it
evaporates water from the ocean and
somehow it becomes a cloud because of
mist and vapor and then the wind blows
it and then waters the forest.
Every single thing is going on by
itself. It's phenomenal. But you don't
think about that. You're not even
distracted by it. You're not even
interested. People say you keep talking
about it. It's boring. No, it's not.
It's very important that we talk about
this. Why? It's called reality. What's
the alternative? Talk about yourself.
But you're just tiny. Here's this little
nothing sitting on a planet in the
middle of nowhere for a few years. Let's
talk about you. No,
you got distracted by you. Your
consciousness got distracted by you. Yes
or no?
Isn't that what it's distracted by? What
I like, what I don't like, what I want,
what I don't want, what happened to me
that I didn't want happen. You're even
distracted by things that already
So what has happened is your
consciousness which happens to be very
very great and it's capable of
contemplating great things in fact it's
capable of being everything but we'll
talk about that right now is distracted
by this tiny little mind that only
thinks about itself and it does doesn't
it? There's everything else to think
about. Why are you distracted by you?
And the fact that you're distracted by
you means you suffer.
Why? Because what is you thinking about?
What do I want? What do I not want? Who
do I like? Who do I like? What does
somebody say that I don't like? What
does somebody think about me? What do I
look like? Okay, all the
self-consciousness and fear and
insecurity and need, that's what you're
focused on of this tiny little object,
one of 8.3 billion of you guys running
around the planet that will only be here
for 80, 90 years. It's been here for 4.5
billion. Will you allow me to expand
your mind? Isn't it silly to do that?
So, if you want to find out why you're
not okay, I just told you you're not
okay because you're focusing on
something in the universe that's not
okay called your psyche. It has needs,
it has fears, has anxieties, it has
loves, it has oh my god, it has so many
things and they're very personal. You
could love somebody today. Have them say
one thing to you in their sleep
and never talk to them again for the
rest of their life. I'm not even
exaggerating.
That is a mess. The personal mind is a
flaming mess. And that's what your
consciousness is concentrating on. So
now I'm tying it all together. Do you
have the ability to focus? Do you have
the ability to focus? All right. What is
ADHD? Do you have ADHD? You better say
Every single one of you, you understand
that the difference is this?
You're so-called focused on something.
Do you get distracted?
How often? Constantly.
Why is that not ADHD? We've just defined
a certain amount of distractions. Okay.
And depending on what you're distracted
by, you're distracted by thoughts of
hurting people. Nah, we don't want you
running around. You're distracted on
thoughts by this. It's like we're
measuring what's okay to be distracted
by spirituality system says will you
please wake up and realize you are in
there and you're getting distracted by
all these things and therefore your
whole life is a mess. It's all over the
place. What's the alternative?
The alternative is to do what I'm trying
to teach you gently. Pay attention to
what is distracting you.
And what you're going to find out what's
distracting you is this thing called
your ego.
What do you mean? My likes, my dislikes,
my wants, my fears, my anxieties, what I
think of myself, what I think other
people think of me. Ego. A set of
thoughts created in your mind that are
there all the time distracting you. I'm
so happy. We're going to go someplace.
George is going to come too. No, I don't
want to go. What is that? Where's it
coming from? How can you live your life
so neurotically with all that stuff
going on? And you'll find out. I'll do
it very quickly. Ego is very easy. Ego
is very not to get rid of, but ego is
very, very easy to understand and
explain. What is ego? I'm in here.
I can get distracted by my thoughts.
Check. But I'm not. I'm just in here
experiencing the outside world,
experiencing love, experiencing creating
thoughts. Here I am. I'm just in here.
What happens? An event happens outside
that's not pleasant when it comes in.
What does that mean? It didn't feel
good. All right? The heart can feel
different things. Mind can thinks
different things. This event came in and
it was not acceptable to me in here. So
what did you do? I talked about this all
the time. Instead of saying into every
life some rain must fall. Here it comes.
It goes. It's all temporal. It happened
five minutes ago. It's not here now.
Somebody said something. I didn't like
it. They're not sitting in the sand of
my ear all day. It just happened and it
went through. But it didn't go through,
did it? Why? Because you have will. Now
I'm going to tie it all together because
you're in there. It distracted your
consciousness because it had some power
or the vibration was strong. And what
did you do when it distracted your
consciousness? You applied will to keep
it there. As unbelievable as that seems,
you literally decided, I am not going to
let this go. I'm going to keep this
inside of me for the rest of my life. I
will remember what you did. I remember
what you said. I remember the car
accident I had. I remember that it
rained on my birthday when I was in
fifth grade and the party got all wet. I
hate the rain. I hate the weather. I
hate birthdays. Well, this is 30 years
later. I don't care.
I never have another birthday. I don't
have parties anymore. It could rain.
You kept that inside of you. Does it
naturally stay inside of you? No. Why
would it naturally stay inside of you?
You drive by trees all the time. You
don't keep them inside of you. You drive
by the white lines of the road. Yeah,
they're double. They're single. They're
white yellow. You know, you see them.
You deal with them, but you don't keep
them. But there is stuff you keep in
there. And you know what stuff you keep?
The stuff that bothers you. Not just big
stuff. Little stuff. You say hello to
somebody. Welcome by. Hey, George. He
doesn't say hello back.
That bothers you. Okay, fine. Bothers
you for about a minute? No.
Next time you see George, you give him a
cold shoulder. If you're in high school,
you don't talk to, you don't see him,
you don't talk to him, you avoid him.
It's weird.
And so you build inside that mind of
yours, that brilliant, beautiful mind.
You build a collection of things that
bothered you in the past. That is called
the science of psychology.
If you didn't do that, they don't have a
Your mind is open. Your mind is free to
study different things and go different
places and create and do all kinds of
things. But it's not now. Why? Because
you're busy. Oh my god, I'm so happy. I
got a new job and so on. Then you see a
billboard that reminds you of something
your stepfather did when you were eight.
And all of a sudden that's it for the
day. That's where every single mood you
have comes from. You store it. And guess
who said so? Freud.
This is psychology. You You don't
realize it because you're so used to
doing it. You stored inside this mind,
this beautiful mind of yours that can do
You used will, here's our word again,
used will power to hold it in there. Do
you have to keep holding it in there? It
doesn't come back up by itself
in dreams, in this something reminds
you, somebody's wearing glasses whose
rim reminded you of your sisters who
died three years ago. You're crying.
You held it inside of you. You made a
collection. Who agrees with me?
Psychology. Why? What does it say? Man
is the sum of his learned experiences.
Doesn't it say that? And you don't even
think about it. Oh, yeah. You're right.
Answer B. Man is the sum of learned
experiences.
Holy mackerel. You are the consciousness
that is being distracted
by what you held in there, which are
your learned experiences. And now that's
your ego. That's your self-concept.
That's why you like what you like. Don't
you dare think you decided what you
like. You did not decide what you like.
But it happened. And then she was
wearing red and it was such a beautiful
color. It just melt in my heart. That's
because you saw some movie when you were
younger. This happened. They just didn't
make it up. There's experiences that you
had with red that were positive and just
the right shade and just the right way,
man, you opened. And then the same thing
with red knot. Then you closed. So you
are not in control of your life. You're
allowing this habit form patterns that
you stored in there to distract your
consciousness and apply your will to
either get or avoid. And you run around.
You run around after your past. How's
that? If you fill out what I want to
happen, you didn't make that up. There's
things you movies you saw, books you
read, people told you something,
experiences you had, and the mind just
puts them all together because you held
on these little pieces. And therefore,
this turns me on and that turns me off
because of what you stored in there from
your past. And that's the main thing you
will ever learn. You don't even think
about it. You do it every day. You store
stuff like you could be driving behind
somebody and you don't like the way
they're driving. They don't use their
blinker. They're going 10 miles the
speed limit. You're driving on the road
and it gets you upset. I'm telling you,
you may never drive down that road
I'm going to take 23rd instead of 39th
anymore. And if you happen to see a car
up ahead that looks like that car, it's
not, but it looks like it. You turn
around. So, you've held this stuff
inside of you and most of it is
negative. And so, now it runs your life.
And so, eventually, you get to the point
you understand you have will. And what
you've done with the will is make a mess
of your mind. And that's what the ego
is. There's no such thing as a good ego.
I'm sorry, psychology. I'm sorry. No
such thing good personality. You're an
open being. You're the greatest of all
the face of the earth. You're some
little human. Your consciousness
staring at a human better. Your
consciousness distracted by a human's
thoughts. Which human? Yours. No
worries. Like I said, there's 8.3
billion of them. It's one of 8.3
billion. And you think your thoughts are
so important. And so you are you are God
consciousness distracted
by the thoughts that your stored stuff
generate and your emotions body and the
field of vision that you see outside.
That's who you are. But you don't think
that's who you are. You think of your
ego. I am this. I'm married here. I did
this. I'm this kind of person. Oh, I
hurt somebody in fifth grade. I've
always felt ashamed by that. That's who
I am. That's not who you are. as
something you stored inside your silly
mind and now you be distracted by it.
How would you like to be free?
That's what spirituality is about is to
sit there and say, "Yeah, you can find
something that makes you feel better
about the fact that you don't feel good.
I'll find a job that distracts me from
my distractions so much that I can't
wait to go to work and get to do it
because it really turns me on." Same
thing with a relationship. Same thing
with drugs. Same thing with anything
else. I'm not okay
because I'm distracted by the part of me
that I stored inside of me that is
definitely not okay. And psychology
agrees and Freud agreed to all that
stuff you stored in there. You're not
okay. It's a mess. So you're trying to
manipulate your life so you don't have
to deal with yourself. There is such a
state in which you are okay when always
under all circumstances. And okay is not
defined by oh I feel better. It's
defined by what is the highest state
you've ever felt in love in inspiration
in creativity. Live there. That's where
the great ones went. That's who you are.
So spirituality
is not about getting what you want or
avoiding what you don't want. There's
nothing wrong with that. It's not
renunciation. You're not renouncing what
you want, making yourself deal with what
you don't want. No. What you're doing is
saying, "I have all this stuff stored in
here. While I have it stored in there,
it's going to make my thoughts be what
they are." That's why you're you. Yes,
you. I told you. Can you create
thoughts? Yes. Do you create all your
thoughts? Do you willfully sit in there
all day and create every thought you
have? Not even close. They go on by
themselves, don't they? You worry about
what this person is saying. You're not
doing that purposely. They say, "I'm
going to screw myself up today, boy."
They just start talking to you. So, oh
my god, I don't do that. What if I'm
late? Left lane get my boss be mad. Oh,
I'm not late. Okay.
Do you purposely make yourself neurotic?
I mean, you're right. At some level, you
do, but that's not the level I'm talking
about. It's not functional will that
you're sitting there purposely, okay,
what do I want to do today? Be neurotic.
And so, basically, there is a state,
let's get down to it, that we'll work
our way back. There is a state inside of
you constantly high, filled with love,
filled with joy, so much that's
overflowing. It's just feeding everybody
else around you. That's the saint.
That's a great pain. Not what they did.
They don't have to do anything. That's
what's going on inside of them. Why?
Because their consciousness is not being
distracted by the garbage that you
stored inside your mind or the garbage
you stored inside your heart. Can your
heart hurt? Can it be really bad? Can it
go on for a long time? Why? Because you
stored that stuff in there. You've
accumulated over your entire life. You
got rejected and this great and then
that happened and the girlfriend left
you and the boyfriend did this. You
stored every one of those things in your
heart and it can hurt and and then when
something goes you okay I rested on you.
I trusted you. I like that one. I
trusted you. I trusted. What did you
trust that person? I trusted that you
would behave in a way that didn't bother
me. I trusted that you would be the way
I want you to be. Well, how'd you decide
you want me to be? I have these past
experiences and you better know about
How does anybody else know what's going
on inside of you? How does anybody else
know the sum of your learned
experiences? They weren't there with
you. They were growing up or anything
formative years or nothing in high
school. Nothing. They weren't there.
Nothing. You've known them for two years
or two weeks. And you honestly believe
that I can trust you. But isn't that
silly? You don't know them. Did they
know you? I told them about me. What?
Are you kidding me? Have a whole life.
Every moment that ever happened to you
has influenced you. Has it not? You tell
them all about that? You better sit down
and have a long talk.
You wouldn't have told them anyway.
They're I guarantee you to leave stuff
out. Nobody knows you. You're in there.
And what you have in your mind is a sum
of your learned experiences and they
have in their mind the sum of their
learned experiences.
Does that mean you can't have
relationships? No. It means you can have
great relationships by sitting there
saying, "Okay, I like you. I hang out
with you." There's 8.3 billion people on
planet Earth, I picked you. What does
that mean? Do your thing. I'll get to
know you. Getting to know you.
That's what's going to happen every
single day. You'll get to know them. You
get to know more different aspects of if
they go to work, they're going to come
back a different person than when they
left. So are you. Do you know what
happened to you? Why? Because psychology
is right. your ego, your thought
patterns are the summer learn
experiences because that's what you
collected. But I don't want you coming
back different. We were talking in the
morning and you seem to be different.
No, I don't like that. Do you? You think
it's solid?
How can it be solid?
What you think is supposed to be what
you think. You're supposed to behave the
way I expect you to behave when you come
home. You're supposed to be throughout
your life and be what I thought you were
going on. Just take that one line from
psychology. Man is the sum of his
learned experiences. It's true. It's not
true. You're the consciousness watching
what you collected as a sum of your
learned experiences. But you did do
that. And that is your ego. That is your
self-concept. But you do not know
anybody else. Do you? You know your
children. Have you found out you really
know your children real well? You better
be laughing.
No matter what age they are. I know
there's only two, but I know there's
terrible truth. Not my child's not going
have terrible twos. Not that way.
Anyways, you don't. How can you know
somebody else?
They're very complicated, aren't they?
How about you? You complicated?
You have many different layers in there
and all. So, do they? And so, what does
it mean to have a relationship? To have
a relationship with somebody else
instead of yourself.
But you can't have those. Why? Because
you have needs. Because you need the
other person and the whole thing and
everything to be the way you need it to
be so that it matches all this garbage
store inside yourself. A deep wise
spiritual relationship does not do that.
It says, "Wow, this is fun. Why do we do
this? You be you. I'll be me." And we'll
keep trying to let go of the garbage we
stored inside ourselves over the course
of our entire life. And I don't have
expectations.
I don't have expectations that you will
be the way I need you to be for me to be
Can you imagine such a thing? That's
called a real relationship with somebody
else. Instead of here's me, be like
that. That's called a relationship with
yourself. You expect them to be the way
you expect them to be because you're
unable to handle anything else.
Spirituality is so much deeper. It's
everything I'm talking to you about.
It's waking up and realizing, whoa, as
long as I'm staring at me, is not going
to be okay
because the world is not going to match
me. I already showed you the world's
going about its business quite well. And
you're not even running any of it. But
you want to say, "I'm in charge." You
are not in charge. You're you're a
player in the game of life. And here it
is. And moments come by, don't they?
They come by and they pass through you.
And if you're wise, you let them pass
through you. You sit there and say,
"Hi." Hi moment. Hi. Go be here now. Hi.
How you doing? And the person's yelling
at me. Person's standing right in your
face yelling at you. They are not
yelling at you. You just happen to be
standing in a place on the planet Earth
where somebody's yelling. They don't
know you. But I said something they
didn't like. How do you know what they
like and what they don't like? And maybe
they would have liked it five minutes
ago with something else. But you take it
personal and yelling at me. I don't have
to tolerate that. Instead of hi,
bye. The moments come and go. It's a
motion picture. You don't have to take
it personal. It's not personal. Like you
get in a car accident. You're in a rush.
You get in a car accident. Not a major
thing, minor thing. You sit there. You
want to tell that person, "How could you
do this to me? I was in a rush. I got a
whole day I have to do. Why did you do
that?" What I told you was it's not even
an accident in order for two cars to
touch each other in an intersection. Do
you have any idea what has to happen
before that moment? The coffee maker, it
was made four years ago and the solderer
of it had a fight with their wife the
night before and was upset and was
distracted, wasn't paying attention and
didn't solder the coil really well. So
four years later, it took 15 seconds
longer for the coffee to make than it
would have made. Otherwise, you wouldn't
have been the intersection together. And
the same thing goes for every single
other thing. Did it not take every
moment prior to that to unfold exactly
the way it did for that to take place?
Is that not true of every single thing?
Wake up. Use your mind for something
expansive, for something in truth.
There's an accident. Say, "Well, you
okay? Let's call the police." Why?
because you're supposed to and you just
go about your business and it's over.
You say thank you. Make take you to
those numbers and you do what you need
to do. It's not a thing. Don't even tell
anybody about it. It's just something
that happened. All kinds of things
happen. Do things happen? But you have
things you want to happen that you don't
want to happen. You think should have
happened. Well, you're wrong. They just
happen. And you stop doing this with
your ego. You stop doing this with your
mind. It's so small. It's ridiculous.
And that's why you're not okay. I
started this conversation. You have two
ways you can live your life. I'm not
okay. How do I be okay? Why am I not
And I just explained it to you, didn't
I? Because you did this with your mind.
If you did that with your body and it
was bad enough what we do with our
bodies, if it was still reasonable, you
guys try to be healthy, eat healthy,
whatever it is, right? But the net
result is you don't do that with your
mind. You don't do anything to make your
mind healthy. Most people do not
anything. They let it be completely
screwed up and then try to figure out
how they can be okay even though it's
screwed up. Do you need to be like that?
The answer is of course not. You have
free will. You just didn't use it. And
you did use it. You use it to hold on to
that stuff.
So you have will and you have will that
can fix this and you have will that can
break this. It's all an act of will. If
you're holding on to stuff that happened
a year ago, you're holding on to it
because it's not happening anymore.
That's what I want you to be challenged
by. And so, you finally wake up and you
realize, I have a choice. Either I'm not
okay. What do I need to do to make me
feel okay even though I'm not okay?
Or get to work? Why am I not okay? And I
told you and I do it every time. You're
not okay because you made yourself not
okay. I didn't make him say that to me.
No, but you held on to it. Well, I
didn't get make you be in the car
accident. No, but you didn't handle it.
You stored it. You called it negative
instead of an event in life. How many
events does life happen in a given
moment? How many events are going on
right now in the planet Earth
everywhere?
700 billion zillion and you can't handle
the one that's happening to you. Okay.
So, this is why I yell at you. Excuse
me. Why I teach you? All right. You are
capable of being a liberated. That's
what li a liberated being is
consciousness that's not distracted by
this garbage by the personal garbage.
You know who taught you this? Christ.
You must die to be reborn.
You must die of this thing you're
staring at. In order to be liberated,
you die of the person of to be born in
spirit. The net result is spirituality
is a beautiful thing. In the end, what
you will find, and then I'll stop. What
you will find is if you will let go of
this garbage you're staring at. How? Let
it go. When it comes up, offer it up. Do
whatever you want, but don't keep it in
there. If you go to sleep and have a
nightmare and you wake up, you have this
dream of prior to the divorce, wake up,
take a breath, and say, "Thank you."
Why? It's coming up. It needs to come up
to go out. Would you rather not have the
nightmare and have it stay down there
and suppress and like a virus screw
everything up inside of you? Or would
you rather sit there and say, "Okay,
man. This stuff's got to go. There's a
start. I don't have to push it. I have
to pull it, but it started coming up.
Thank you." You take a totally different
attitude of what it means to purify this
garbage you stored inside. And as you do
that, I assure you, I guarantee you,
your life will become easier. Why?
Because you're not holding that junk in
there, making you do certain things and
think certain things suppress them and
be scared to be. I would like the
following. And you wake up in the
morning every single morning like this.
I'm back.
I wonder what's going to happen today.
Anything can happen. And guess what? I
can handle it. It'll be fun. But if it's
challenging, I love sports. It'll be
challenging. I think I'm challenged to
learn an instrument. challenge to play a
sport. I challenge to play the sport of
being okay. That's my sport. I'm okay.
I'm okay. What if something happens that
you're not okay? I'll work with it. I'll
work with I'll welcome it because I
don't want there to be anything that I
can even think about. How would you like
to state that not a thought could cross
your mind you don't think is fine?
Because you can handle it. You'll be
fine. If worst can happen, I'll grow
from it. I'll become a greater rare
athlete because I got challenged by
someone that's better than me. Okay? And
that's how you start dealing with life.
Just completely open. You still do the
best you can. Why? Why not? If you're
playing a sport, do the best you can.
It's no fun to not. So you go there,
make money. Go there and be go a
relationship and have a family. Not
because you need anything. No needs, no
hopes, no dreams, no concepts, no views,
no beliefs, no fears, no anxieties. Just
freedom. free consciousness and you
bring that into this world, he has
brought a gift down to every single
person you will ever meet. It pours off
of you. All right. So again, where do we
start? You have a choice. I'm not okay.
What do I need to do to be okay? I'm not
okay. Why?
And how do I let that go? It's your
natural state is the highest thing ever
walked the face of this earth. You're a
beautiful being. Okay. Chiff.
You've been listening to the Michael
Singer podcast produced by Sounds True
in partnership with Shanti Publications.
For more information on Michael's body
of work and all back episodes, please
join us at michaelelsingerpodcast.com.
Thanks so much for listening. Sounds
true. Waking up the world.
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