Latest / The Observatory | Discovery of Consciousness & Awareness / Prayer as Medicine | Scott & LaRae on Words, Gratitude, and Intentional Asking revisited

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Prayer as Medicine | Scott & LaRae on Words, Gratitude, and Intentional Asking revisited · The Observatory | Discovery of Consciousness & Awareness

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Observatory Podcast.
0:05
Speaker 2: With your hosts Scott and lay Wright.
0:08
Speaker 1: Join us each week as we explore living life from
0:11
Speaker 1: the inside out. Welcome back to the Observatory Podcast. Today,
0:21
Speaker 1: Ray and I are going to sit down and talk
0:22
Speaker 1: about prayer that may be not in a way that
0:26
Speaker 1: you might think it's going to be. We're going to
0:30
Speaker 1: discuss different kinds of prayer and how words are so
0:37
Speaker 1: important as part of prayer and what prayer actually is.
0:42
Speaker 1: What does that word mean? Maybe it carries a little
0:45
Speaker 1: bit of history for you. It did for me, but
0:50
Speaker 1: I'm letting go of that history and leaning into the
0:54
Speaker 1: importance of what prayer can actually be for me. And
0:59
Speaker 1: it's not what he used to be, so it's not
1:02
Speaker 1: for Ray either. We're going to discuss that here in
1:05
Speaker 1: some great detail. This is not a super long podcast.
1:09
Speaker 1: I hope you can take the time to listen and
1:11
Speaker 1: share this if you feel like it's a message that
1:13
Speaker 1: you want to share. So sit back, relax, and enjoy
1:16
Speaker 1: this podcast on the Observatory. Welcome back to the Observatory podcast.
1:23
Speaker 1: Ray and I are sitting down here on our comfy
1:26
Speaker 1: little chair in our comfy little living room.
1:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a Sunday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and it's
1:32
Speaker 2: a beautiful day. We really haven't had a winter this year,
1:36
Speaker 2: zero snow, so it feels more like spring. It feels
1:39
Speaker 2: like May. Yeah, but it's February.
1:41
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say May. Probably at least late March or April. Yeah,
1:46
Speaker 1: in like sixty today, So it's been in a crazy year.
1:50
Speaker 2: And it's the day after Valentine's Day and we had
1:54
Speaker 2: a lovely Valentines. I just have to say, I feel
1:58
Speaker 2: so loved and so appreciative of our life together. And
2:04
Speaker 2: while we don't necessarily need a Valentine's Day to express that,
2:09
Speaker 2: it's just nice to take a pause and just really
2:12
Speaker 2: honor the fact that I love you, and I love
2:16
Speaker 2: you every day, and that love grows all the time
2:21
Speaker 2: as I spend more time together and learn more about
2:26
Speaker 2: myself in ways that only having a true amazing partner
2:32
Speaker 2: like you mirrors to me the aspects of myself that
2:36
Speaker 2: I couldn't kind of find out unless someone was in
2:39
Speaker 2: my life as intimate as you are.
2:42
Speaker 1: Thank you men, love, and I reflect those same words
2:47
Speaker 1: back to you because I need someone, have needed someone.
2:51
Speaker 1: I think everyone needs someone in their lives to be
2:54
Speaker 1: that true mirror, that real authentic mirror that we can
3:00
Speaker 1: be ourselves with and be okay to be very open
3:07
Speaker 1: with talking about all of the things vulnerable vulnerability, And
3:12
Speaker 1: I mean this, this podcast is coming on the heels
3:16
Speaker 1: of a podcast I did last week with you and
3:19
Speaker 1: Steve that was super vulnerable to me. And as I
3:23
Speaker 1: as I've re listened to that and that experience, it's
3:27
Speaker 1: it's made me reflective on a lot of things. And
3:33
Speaker 1: you know, you and I have both been kind of
3:35
Speaker 1: going down this path of opening ourselves up to new
3:38
Speaker 1: ways of seeing and new ways of learning and going
3:41
Speaker 1: back to patterns in our lives and where those came
3:45
Speaker 1: from and not really trying to evaluate yet, but just noticing.
3:49
Speaker 1: And we do that for each other.
3:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's not even that the patterns are disruptive,
3:53
Speaker 2: it's just the patterns are limiting us to some way.
3:56
Speaker 2: And we're finally, you know, kind of shedding layers and
4:00
Speaker 2: layers and layers and getting to things that are that
4:04
Speaker 2: are like a hause in our life. Yeah, like WHOA,
4:07
Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't ever really think about that. But
4:11
Speaker 2: does that limit me? Does that give me a perspective
4:14
Speaker 2: of life, that makes my life less abundant, that makes
4:18
Speaker 2: me not see opportunity when it's there. And so those
4:23
Speaker 2: have been things that have been just really beautiful and
4:26
Speaker 2: and you know, without you, I don't believe I would
4:29
Speaker 2: have as much encouragement. I definitely have encouragement within my
4:33
Speaker 2: family and and for some things that I'm really embarking on,
4:38
Speaker 2: I've had some really beautiful encouragement with several of my
4:43
Speaker 2: nieces and nephews and things. So but it's nothing like
4:49
Speaker 2: what I get from you, And for that I am
4:52
Speaker 2: deeply grateful.
4:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am too. So this week what we wanted
4:59
Speaker 1: to do is I dive in and talk about something
5:03
Speaker 1: that I experienced in the men's group. So I'm part
5:05
Speaker 1: of a men's group. We call it the Virtual Men's Council,
5:10
Speaker 1: and it's headed by two of my good friends, Adam
5:13
Speaker 1: Heaps and Michael Canalis, and the two of them and
5:17
Speaker 1: I we've been good friends now for quite a while.
5:21
Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of work together. I've helped
5:23
Speaker 1: them facilitate some of their offerings that they do with men,
5:28
Speaker 1: and we've co created music together and just rubbed shoulders
5:33
Speaker 1: a lot. And as part of this virtual Men's Council.
5:35
Speaker 1: We meet every Tuesday on a zoom call and there's
5:39
Speaker 1: twenty four men I think, so twenty four to twenty
5:41
Speaker 1: five men total, and they split it into two groups,
5:46
Speaker 1: but once a month they bring both of those two
5:47
Speaker 1: groups together, so it's usually twelve or thirteen and then
5:51
Speaker 1: they shift it to one week a month we do
5:54
Speaker 1: everybody all together. And so we had a group a
5:59
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago where the group was all together
6:01
Speaker 1: and they usually assign one or two of the men
6:05
Speaker 1: to do what they call a long shair, so they'll
6:08
Speaker 1: come in and talk about different things. And one of
6:11
Speaker 1: the men in the council, his name is Igor, and
6:17
Speaker 1: he lives in Panama. He's I'm pretty sure he's American,
6:23
Speaker 1: but he's living in Panama and he's down there, you know,
6:28
Speaker 1: having this life of living in Panama and experiencing all
6:31
Speaker 1: of these things, doing work on himself. He's part of
6:34
Speaker 1: this group to I think, explore what he wants to
6:39
Speaker 1: do and be and see. And it was he was
6:44
Speaker 1: one of the long shares that night, and when he
6:46
Speaker 1: came on and started talking. Initially, when he started talking,
6:50
Speaker 1: I kinda I didn't I wouldn't say I checked out,
6:55
Speaker 1: But he was talking about some things that I had
6:57
Speaker 1: to witness myself in a space of judgment. And it
7:02
Speaker 1: wasn't judgment of him or what he was saying or anything.
7:06
Speaker 1: It was judgment of kind of where I had been
7:10
Speaker 1: in my own life regarding a certain subject. And that
7:13
Speaker 1: subject was the subject of prayer. What is prayer? And
7:18
Speaker 1: he was talking about that and sharing a couple of
7:22
Speaker 1: different kinds of prayers that he had been connecting with
7:26
Speaker 1: And for me, because I grew up in a structured
7:31
Speaker 1: religion that taught prayer to be a certain way, you know,
7:36
Speaker 1: I took that to heart that it needed to show
7:38
Speaker 1: up a certain way, and that's the way I tried
7:40
Speaker 1: to make it show up. And what I found was
7:43
Speaker 1: that with it showing up in this structured pattern, in
7:47
Speaker 1: this structured way. I'm not saying that it was wrong
7:50
Speaker 1: of them to teach it that way. What I am
7:52
Speaker 1: saying is the way I perceived it kept it in
7:55
Speaker 1: this structured way, where it was I was less able
7:58
Speaker 1: to really connect to God. I'll use the word here God.
8:04
Speaker 1: I was unable to connect to God in a way
8:06
Speaker 1: that I felt like was an actual connection, if that
8:10
Speaker 1: makes sense, you know, to me, prayer is supposed to
8:13
Speaker 1: be this communication. At least that's the way I see it.
8:17
Speaker 1: So when I left religion, I stopped. I stopped that
8:23
Speaker 1: type of praying, and I really shifted as I've gone
8:27
Speaker 1: into this place. I've spoken about this on the podcast before,
8:30
Speaker 1: of rather than trying to find this relationship with this god,
8:37
Speaker 1: a man on a cloud with a white beard outside
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Speaker 1: of myself waiting to judge me when I die, through
8:44
Speaker 1: this other place of a more energetic being that lives everywhere, everywhere,
8:53
Speaker 1: all the time, is everything. Nothing is outside of God.
8:58
Speaker 1: And that's come from a lot of different philosophies and
9:02
Speaker 1: things that I've read, but also my own personal experience
9:06
Speaker 1: of what I've done in my life and the way
9:09
Speaker 1: I've experienced it in my life. So when he was
9:11
Speaker 1: sharing some of these prayers, and that's going to really
9:15
Speaker 1: be the subject of what we're going to talk about,
9:17
Speaker 1: I'm going to share one of those prayers and then
9:18
Speaker 1: we're going to kind of discuss that. But I mean,
9:21
Speaker 1: before we go there, I just kind of want to
9:24
Speaker 1: ask you, you know's, what's your concept or has been
9:28
Speaker 1: your concept of prayer? That word and what was it?
9:33
Speaker 1: Maybe and then kind of what is it now? How
9:36
Speaker 1: do you feel about that?
9:37
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm very similar in that. Growing up,
9:41
Speaker 2: I was taught kind of the structure of nightly prayer, right,
9:45
Speaker 2: and we would say our prayers every night before would
9:47
Speaker 2: go to bed, and that definitely had a structure of like,
9:50
Speaker 2: you know, things that I was thankful for and then
9:52
Speaker 2: things that I needed help with or wanted before I'd
9:55
Speaker 2: go to bed. So it had this structure and then
9:59
Speaker 2: beyond that, you know, and I never really saw anything
10:01
Speaker 2: wrong with that. It just but I wouldn't say that
10:04
Speaker 2: I saw.
10:05
Speaker 1: It being communication.
10:07
Speaker 2: It felt more like a ritual or maybe a task
10:11
Speaker 2: that I had to do. And then later, you know,
10:15
Speaker 2: I definitely see prayer when there were times of fear,
10:21
Speaker 2: like fear for things that we didn't want, right, So
10:26
Speaker 2: someone is sick or someone's in danger, and so prayer
10:30
Speaker 2: became something that came because I was afraid. And I
10:35
Speaker 2: think about that now, and we need something resolved, right,
10:38
Speaker 2: And the energy of praying then is feels more desperate
10:44
Speaker 2: or weak, and that feels like you're already in a
10:50
Speaker 2: place of less than and so like you said, it's
10:55
Speaker 2: definitely something outside of you reaching for a power that
11:01
Speaker 2: is outside of you, and I would say, as I
11:05
Speaker 2: think of my relationship with prayer now, first of all,
11:07
Speaker 2: I wouldn't call I don't really recognize the way I
11:12
Speaker 2: commune now as prayer. But having this conversation, I realize
11:17
Speaker 2: it is prayer. My moments of silence is just prayer.
11:23
Speaker 2: It's just connecting. It's silencing my mind. It's like going
11:28
Speaker 2: inside to just allow answers to come to me. So
11:33
Speaker 2: it's not even a plan or a seeking or a
11:36
Speaker 2: trying to conjure some sort of mystical moment. It's really
11:41
Speaker 2: just being quiet enough to be silent and hearing an answer,
11:47
Speaker 2: or hearing not even an answer, hearing an inside, hearing
11:52
Speaker 2: something come to me that I'm not even aware that
11:54
Speaker 2: I need to know that, but I do. And so
11:59
Speaker 2: that has changed lot, because you know, when you and
12:02
Speaker 2: I first started talking about presence, and I really struggled
12:07
Speaker 2: with the concept of that as to what it was
12:09
Speaker 2: until after my ten day silent retreat. Now I know
12:13
Speaker 2: what that space feels like, and I know what happens
12:16
Speaker 2: in that space when.
12:18
Speaker 1: I'm an experience.
12:20
Speaker 2: I experienced it, and now I know how I can
12:23
Speaker 2: be quiet enough and sometimes I'm quiet and nothing comes
12:27
Speaker 2: and that's fine. And then other times I'm quiet enough
12:31
Speaker 2: and a lot comes, or other times, and you've seen this,
12:35
Speaker 2: you know, there will be times when I feel prompted,
12:40
Speaker 2: whether that's during the day or in the middle of
12:42
Speaker 2: the night, when I feel that a conversation needs to happen,
12:49
Speaker 2: and I've gotten up and I've come out and just
12:51
Speaker 2: set here by the fireplace and been quiet, and then
12:55
Speaker 2: I have insight. I have meaningful moments of insight that
13:04
Speaker 2: come to me that are what I would call conversation
13:11
Speaker 2: between me and the divine that my soul is more guiding,
13:16
Speaker 2: not that I as a human art seeking, but that
13:20
Speaker 2: is more of the agreement and arrangement that I have
13:24
Speaker 2: between my physical self, my soul or higher self and
13:28
Speaker 2: divine divine energy, divine beingness, you know what I would
13:35
Speaker 2: call God, and that more shared space of being together
13:42
Speaker 2: for communication, you know, for but it's not a conversation
13:49
Speaker 2: that's out loud.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's interesting how you know, each of us
13:55
Speaker 1: were so individual and we have that experience in our
14:00
Speaker 1: own way, and there's no That's why no one can
14:03
Speaker 1: tell you what to do. That's why no one can
14:06
Speaker 1: can set up a structure or a program that works
14:09
Speaker 1: for everyone. It may be something that has that points
14:14
Speaker 1: you in a direction, right, you know. And I look
14:18
Speaker 1: back on what I was taught about prayer when I
14:21
Speaker 1: was in the religious world, and that's what that that
14:24
Speaker 1: really was. I take it now as it was guiding
14:26
Speaker 1: me or sending me towards something, sending me toward a
14:30
Speaker 1: path that I got to explore on my own right
14:33
Speaker 1: that I can hold that pretty loosely in my hands,
14:37
Speaker 1: not judging that it was right or wrong or anything,
14:41
Speaker 1: but it was it was pointing me in a direction.
14:44
Speaker 1: And I'm I'm actually really grateful to have the opportunity
14:48
Speaker 1: to have the experiences I had growing up inside of
14:51
Speaker 1: the LDS Church because it gave me some some structure
14:57
Speaker 1: and some probably boundaries to keep myself on, you know,
15:05
Speaker 1: as they say, the straight and narrow, right, but you know,
15:09
Speaker 1: there are morals and there's guidance, which are all all good.
15:13
Speaker 1: We don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,
15:16
Speaker 1: so to speak, when we're talking about religion, because it
15:19
Speaker 1: serves a positive purpose and has served a positive purpose
15:23
Speaker 1: in my life right well.
15:26
Speaker 2: And I also think, like prayers on food signs of
15:29
Speaker 2: when prayers are given that are in gratitude or connection
15:33
Speaker 2: or a blessing to someone. You know, those serve very
15:37
Speaker 2: specific purposes. And then you know, there have been moments
15:40
Speaker 2: when you've come in the observatory and I've been working
15:43
Speaker 2: and you play music and you start to hum and sing,
15:46
Speaker 2: and that can feel like a prayer to me as well.
15:48
Speaker 1: And it feels like it to me while I'm.
15:50
Speaker 2: Doing, you know, and that has no other purpose other
15:52
Speaker 2: than this beautiful, creative exchange of you being in the
15:57
Speaker 2: moment and the music and your words and how you're feeling,
16:01
Speaker 2: and it kind of lands on me and it feels
16:05
Speaker 2: it feels like a like a prayer, like a invitation
16:10
Speaker 2: to something that is more sacred in that moment.
16:14
Speaker 1: Well, you know talking about that prayers on food and gratitude.
16:18
Speaker 1: So I haven't really given a prayer for a long time.
16:22
Speaker 1: There's a certain structure the way the prayers would show up,
16:25
Speaker 1: and I was really resistant to using that kind of
16:28
Speaker 1: a structure where you start it in a certain way
16:30
Speaker 1: and you end it in a certain way, and you
16:32
Speaker 1: say certain things, you ask for things, and you think
16:35
Speaker 1: for things, et cetera, et cetera. And I was talking
16:40
Speaker 1: about the men's council, so they had to retreat. This
16:42
Speaker 1: men's Council had to retreat last fall, which I attended
16:47
Speaker 1: down in Canonville, Utah. And one of the knights they
16:52
Speaker 1: do four it's a four day event and one of
16:54
Speaker 1: the knights they have is the last night when we're together,
16:56
Speaker 1: they have what they call the King's Feast. And Dan
17:01
Speaker 1: McFarland is the cook and Ali joins him. So Dan
17:05
Speaker 1: and Al they've been on the podcast.
17:07
Speaker 2: And they're amazing.
17:08
Speaker 1: They are. They are, I mean magical when it comes
17:12
Speaker 1: to what they do, the things that they create. So
17:15
Speaker 1: they had created this beautiful dinner and it was it
17:19
Speaker 1: was this beautiful beef and homemade salads with dressing and
17:26
Speaker 1: potatoes and you know, all the good stuff that that
17:30
Speaker 1: human beings like to consume. And before they started, we
17:36
Speaker 1: were all in a circle getting ready to eat and
17:38
Speaker 1: Dan and Ali were there and a few people said
17:41
Speaker 1: a few words, and then they asked me if I
17:43
Speaker 1: would say a blessing on the food. And I was
17:46
Speaker 1: just like, well, you know, automatically, I'm like, oh, here
17:50
Speaker 1: we go. I'm going to go back to the old
17:51
Speaker 1: pattern and see all the old things. And it was
17:53
Speaker 1: just that just immediately washed away, and because my heart
17:58
Speaker 1: opened up and I could see dan an Alley there,
18:01
Speaker 1: I was just so grateful for that they spent hours
18:06
Speaker 1: that day preparing this meal, and so my heart for
18:10
Speaker 1: them it was really full, and we all kind of
18:13
Speaker 1: joined hands, and when I started it out, I made
18:17
Speaker 1: sure to say that I wasn't going to say the
18:19
Speaker 1: things that I usually say and have usually said in
18:23
Speaker 1: prayers when I used to pray, but I wanted this
18:27
Speaker 1: to be the real thing. I wasn't going to say that,
18:30
Speaker 1: you know, bless this food that it may nourish and
18:32
Speaker 1: strengthen our bodies. So that's one of the things I
18:34
Speaker 1: used to all say in every prayer. You know, not
18:38
Speaker 1: that there's anything wrong with that, but that's one of
18:40
Speaker 1: the things that becomes part of a pattern and something
18:43
Speaker 1: that's I just said it. There wasn't meaning to it.
18:48
Speaker 1: It was one of the things that got said every prayer.
18:52
Speaker 1: So rather than do that, I really felt the gratitude
18:56
Speaker 1: and opened my heart thank each of them personally as
19:00
Speaker 1: part of the prayer, eyes open. We were looking at
19:07
Speaker 1: each other as we were praying, but in real gratitude
19:13
Speaker 1: and reverence to the opportunity that we had to have
19:16
Speaker 1: this beautiful meal, this food, the animal that gave its
19:20
Speaker 1: life for it, the plants that were giving their all
19:23
Speaker 1: for it as well, and the consumption of it, and
19:27
Speaker 1: it was it just felt really good to do that
19:33
Speaker 1: beautiful because it was it was authentically genuine, heartfelt gratitude
19:41
Speaker 1: and we were all there in that moment, and I
19:43
Speaker 1: think we all were able to tap into that and
19:46
Speaker 1: feel it together because everyone felt that gratitude for this meal.
19:50
Speaker 2: Well, it creates a resonance like a song would, right
19:53
Speaker 2: that those words create a resonance when you're all in
19:57
Speaker 2: that moment and you're feeling the words and you're you're
20:00
Speaker 2: seeing what Ali and Dan have prepared, you're feeling each
20:05
Speaker 2: other's energy and the and the time you've been spending together. Yeah,
20:09
Speaker 2: so there's a there's a real resonance with you.
20:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So that being said, this this prayer that we're
20:19
Speaker 1: going to talk about, I'm going to read it first,
20:22
Speaker 1: and it talks about the importance of words and what
20:27
Speaker 1: words actually are. And after I read this prayer, we're
20:33
Speaker 1: going to talk about that a little bit more, because
20:35
Speaker 1: you know, you'd like to talk about words a lot
20:38
Speaker 1: and communication and what words actually mean. Tone and tone
20:42
Speaker 1: how the words are said and how they're how they're
20:44
Speaker 1: how they come out. And so this this prayer, it's
20:47
Speaker 1: one of the reasons it resonated so deeply with me
20:50
Speaker 1: is because that's what it's addressing here. So thank you
20:54
Speaker 1: Igor for sharing this prayer. First of all, I want
20:56
Speaker 1: to say, and then I'm just going to read it.
20:58
Speaker 1: So this prayer is called maybe you've heard or read
21:02
Speaker 1: this prayer before. I don't know where it came from,
21:05
Speaker 1: but it's called the the he Cow Prayer h e Kau,
21:10
Speaker 1: the he Cow Prayer. And then as in parentheses after it,
21:14
Speaker 1: Queen Afua. I know nothing about that. I haven't researched
21:17
Speaker 1: where this came from or who that is or anything
21:19
Speaker 1: like that, but I'm going to just read it. So
21:23
Speaker 1: here we go. Divine Creator, create tress, assist me in
21:30
Speaker 1: speaking he cow words of power. May my words be anointed.
21:36
Speaker 1: May my words not damage a soul. Divine Mother, help
21:41
Speaker 1: me to speak words that heal, words that empower, words
21:45
Speaker 1: that build, words that transform. Help me guard my words,
21:50
Speaker 1: so no venom passes my lips and no destruction results
21:54
Speaker 1: from my speech. Rather, may my words impart light two
21:57
Speaker 1: souls who are seeking your face if my words show
22:02
Speaker 1: me to be out of divine right order, may my
22:04
Speaker 1: mind and mouth be cleansed. Help me to not speak
22:10
Speaker 1: words that break down the divine in me, or in
22:13
Speaker 1: my sister or my brother, my mate, my child, my elders,
22:18
Speaker 1: or my ancestors, the divine creator creatress. Place words upon my
22:24
Speaker 1: lips that make my voice disperse sacred medicine. May my
22:28
Speaker 1: words be lotus blossoms that encourage all souls I meet
22:33
Speaker 1: to reach for greater heights. May my words speak with
22:36
Speaker 1: your breath and sing your sweet songs of life. Because
22:41
Speaker 1: because of the words and the evolved tones that I utter,
22:45
Speaker 1: make goodness follow me all the days of my life.
22:50
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just that's beautiful. How to show up
22:53
Speaker 1: in the world and use the power of your voice
22:58
Speaker 1: and every word that you use speak to be positive,
23:03
Speaker 1: to take yourself into a higher vibration, not speaking negativity,
23:12
Speaker 1: not speaking denseness, all of the different ways that we
23:17
Speaker 1: can use to describe those those two different ways of
23:22
Speaker 1: speaking right.
23:23
Speaker 2: And I believe when you sent that to me originally
23:28
Speaker 2: and I read it one, I picked up immediately just
23:32
Speaker 2: the vibration of the words, because we all know and
23:36
Speaker 2: when I've taught communication classes. We all know that the
23:40
Speaker 2: tone with which you say a word can change the
23:44
Speaker 2: definition of the word, or can change the meaning of
23:46
Speaker 2: the word, whether that meaning is in alignment with the
23:50
Speaker 2: dictionary or not, it definitely changes the meaning, yes, And
23:55
Speaker 2: so you know a good example of that is the
23:57
Speaker 2: word whatever, And you can say that all different ways,
24:01
Speaker 2: and each way you say that word, it can shift
24:05
Speaker 2: whatever whatever. It can be a question, it can be
24:09
Speaker 2: a judgment. It can definitely change with the tone. And
24:13
Speaker 2: so you know when you're saying positivity. I also think
24:18
Speaker 2: that there are times when we have to communicate hard things,
24:23
Speaker 2: we have to use discernment and do hard things. And
24:26
Speaker 2: so it's with a tone of love and a tone
24:30
Speaker 2: of caring and a tone of nurturing that we share
24:34
Speaker 2: than sometimes hard messages. Sure, And so because I think
24:38
Speaker 2: people get concerned that, you know, I work too much
24:41
Speaker 2: in corporate environments and there I remember telling you this,
24:46
Speaker 2: I think late in the year, yes, last year, given
24:49
Speaker 2: a project I was working on that the term was
24:52
Speaker 2: going around toxic positivity, right, and I when I first
24:58
Speaker 2: heard that, I was like, whatever, Like those two words
25:01
Speaker 2: didn't feel CONGRUENTAO more on there, But unless what would
25:05
Speaker 2: ever make positivity feel toxic judgment well and out of
25:11
Speaker 2: alignment right where these positive words may have been being said,
25:15
Speaker 2: but the then action coming from them wasn't in alignment
25:20
Speaker 2: or something. So I think that's where we can have words.
25:25
Speaker 1: But what's the meaning or what's.
25:28
Speaker 2: Under all words is a vibration a tone that they
25:33
Speaker 2: are said with that carries them or gives them flight.
25:37
Speaker 1: And I don't think that's something that we give enough
25:41
Speaker 1: attention to. No, you know, it's like, well, these are
25:44
Speaker 1: the words that I said, especially because we're you know,
25:48
Speaker 1: we're now a society of texting, but BI just harder
25:52
Speaker 1: to know. You don't know what the emotion is behind them.
25:55
Speaker 1: We got every emoji known demand, which can be helpful
25:58
Speaker 1: I guess in communicating how your feelings are that go
26:02
Speaker 1: along with it, But a lot of times you just don't.
26:04
Speaker 2: Know well, and even then people that are sending it
26:07
Speaker 2: could be sending it sarcastically. Sure, So how many times
26:10
Speaker 2: have you been in a conversation where someone has stopped
26:15
Speaker 2: and said are you upset? Now? It may not be
26:20
Speaker 2: the words that are signaling the emotion, right, it's the
26:26
Speaker 2: tone that the words are carrying that says I hear
26:29
Speaker 2: what you're saying, but I'm not sure you're okay, or
26:33
Speaker 2: that you're fine, or that you're not upset. So I
26:37
Speaker 2: do think that we all have a much deeper vibratory
26:42
Speaker 2: communication pattern, channel capacity whatever that is happening, whether we're
26:52
Speaker 2: aware of it or not. And I think once we
26:55
Speaker 2: become aware of that, this poem, this prayer really asks
27:00
Speaker 2: help me to speak at that level of.
27:03
Speaker 1: Awareness, perfectly said, help me speak.
27:06
Speaker 2: To use my words where they are medicine. They are
27:12
Speaker 2: in alignment with what I want to say, what I
27:14
Speaker 2: want to lift others, that I want to be a
27:18
Speaker 2: light to others. So sometimes those words may have to
27:21
Speaker 2: be discerning and difficult, but they can they can carry
27:27
Speaker 2: the meaning of love and compassion and support. You know,
27:36
Speaker 2: Like I think about a time, you know, when maybe
27:38
Speaker 2: someone's making really bad choices, you know it, or when
27:43
Speaker 2: someone's really hurting it. Being overly positive in your words
27:48
Speaker 2: may not be exactly what they need to hear, but
27:53
Speaker 2: if what you say carries the depth of compassion that
27:57
Speaker 2: they need to feel, I think that's what this point
28:00
Speaker 2: is getting to.
28:01
Speaker 1: I mean, sometimes people are going through something very difficult,
28:04
Speaker 1: and you know, if you're just trying to remain positive
28:06
Speaker 1: and saying positive things that doesn't necessarily help them. No,
28:09
Speaker 1: they need some passion behind that.
28:13
Speaker 2: They need to maybe hear like, your choices have been bad,
28:18
Speaker 2: you know, so let's talk about those and how they
28:20
Speaker 2: make you feel. But when you're having that conversation, if
28:24
Speaker 2: in your voice they hear support and compassion and genuine
28:28
Speaker 2: interest versus judgment, that whole conversation then shifts. And I
28:34
Speaker 2: think this prayer is a call for all of us
28:37
Speaker 2: to not only become aware of our words, but at
28:40
Speaker 2: a much deeper level, become aware of the vibration and
28:44
Speaker 2: tone that we carry the energy behind our words, because,
28:50
Speaker 2: like I said, there have been times when you know,
28:52
Speaker 2: you can tell someone thanks, but you're either rushed or
28:56
Speaker 2: annoyed at them, and that thanks doesn't sound like things right,
29:00
Speaker 2: It just it sounds dismissive. Yeah, like I'm now done
29:03
Speaker 2: with you, begone. And so I think it's just us
29:07
Speaker 2: really being prompted to a deeper, heartfelt communication.
29:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree, And I kind of wanted to
29:17
Speaker 1: just break this down just a little bit a couple
29:19
Speaker 1: of the things that it says in here, and I
29:23
Speaker 1: think we could talk about that a little bit help
29:26
Speaker 1: me guard my words, so no venom passes my lips
29:30
Speaker 1: and no destruction results for my speech. That one kind
29:34
Speaker 1: of stood out to me because you know, how many
29:37
Speaker 1: times do we let our emotions get carried away and
29:41
Speaker 1: we just say things I know I do.
29:44
Speaker 2: Right, and people feel belittled, people feel less than people
29:50
Speaker 2: feel bad, they feel judged, you know, and then we
29:55
Speaker 2: kind of dismiss it like, well, I was just in
29:57
Speaker 2: a bad mood. But some people could really carry the
30:02
Speaker 2: weight of what was said in a brief moment. They
30:06
Speaker 2: could take it very, very deeply and very personally. So
30:10
Speaker 2: I think that's what it's saying, like, beware of what
30:15
Speaker 2: that venom is. That venom is like poison, it's not retractable.
30:21
Speaker 1: I think that what I've been doing with this prayer
30:25
Speaker 1: is when I go out for my morning meditation, when
30:28
Speaker 1: I go out to the tpee and the shed in
30:30
Speaker 1: the garden, I've been reading this. I'll just take a
30:34
Speaker 1: moment before I start into, you know, doing some smudging
30:40
Speaker 1: or maybe a seven directions prayer. Just sit quietly, take
30:46
Speaker 1: some breaths, calm myself down, ground myself, and then just
30:51
Speaker 1: read to these words. Not just read it, but I
30:54
Speaker 1: read it out loud, right, and I'm reading it out
30:57
Speaker 1: loud to myself and the universe and God, whatever words
31:02
Speaker 1: we want to describe that energy as, and trying to
31:06
Speaker 1: connect into that and begin my day that way and
31:12
Speaker 1: really take to heart what it's talking about and paying
31:16
Speaker 1: attention to my words. I've been really trying to do
31:18
Speaker 1: that more over the last week or two since this
31:22
Speaker 1: got shared with me, paying attention to my words as
31:25
Speaker 1: much as I can so that I know it's something
31:28
Speaker 1: that I need to work on.
31:30
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's something we all do. We get
31:33
Speaker 2: caught up in the day, right the energy of the day,
31:35
Speaker 2: the hustle of the day, our schedule, what comes next,
31:40
Speaker 2: at the amount of time have So I don't think
31:44
Speaker 2: it's anything that anyone has down. I think it's an
31:48
Speaker 2: ongoing process for all of us. But it's just a
31:51
Speaker 2: prompt to each day take a moment and say, wow,
31:55
Speaker 2: did I how did I communicate today? And then would
32:01
Speaker 2: I have felt supported in my communication? And be honest
32:04
Speaker 2: with yourself And if it's no, then that's how you
32:08
Speaker 2: gain self awareness. You say wow, I'm going to be
32:11
Speaker 2: I'm going to look at that differently because I know,
32:15
Speaker 2: especially when I get frustrated. My tone changes very quickly.
32:19
Speaker 2: And you know the other day, I was trying to
32:22
Speaker 2: book some hotel arrangements and things. I heard my tone
32:25
Speaker 2: changing and I had I caught myself, so at the
32:29
Speaker 2: end of the call, I expressed more gratitude for the help.
32:33
Speaker 2: But then, you know, we had an experience with an unexpected,
32:40
Speaker 2: very delayed dining experience. And I told you as we
32:44
Speaker 2: were falling to bed last night that I felt bad
32:47
Speaker 2: that I didn't express differently gratitude. So I think it
32:54
Speaker 2: is not. No one's doing it perfect. I really don't
32:57
Speaker 2: think so. I think, but it's a if you are
32:59
Speaker 2: at least st aware and drawing, like you said, that
33:02
Speaker 2: attention to.
33:03
Speaker 1: It, trying to trying to be aware of it and
33:06
Speaker 1: paying some attention to it. And that's the reason I
33:10
Speaker 1: want to do it in the morning is so that
33:12
Speaker 1: that energy can kind of stick with me during the day. Yeah,
33:16
Speaker 1: I love to stick with me for the day and
33:18
Speaker 1: let me pay a little bit better attention to what
33:21
Speaker 1: I'm saying, because it's easy to just you know, pick
33:24
Speaker 1: up the phone, you're in a conversation with somebody, and
33:27
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, something comes up in the
33:29
Speaker 1: conversation that might be annoying, difficult or annoying or frustrating,
33:34
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden everything shifts right. So
33:37
Speaker 1: paying attention to that and trying to keep your emotions
33:40
Speaker 1: more on an even keel as much as possible. Feel
33:45
Speaker 1: them absolutely, but you don't have to express the venom.
33:50
Speaker 1: You can express with compassion. Like you said, with compassion
33:54
Speaker 1: and love. When you're expressing, I think of, you know,
33:57
Speaker 1: maybe when I've tried to give advice to someone who's
34:03
Speaker 1: having some struggles or something in life, you really for
34:07
Speaker 1: me in when I'm in that situation, I try to
34:11
Speaker 1: feel compassionate about what they're going through and not try
34:16
Speaker 1: to give solutions, but just being compassionate and trying to
34:20
Speaker 1: hold that space for people as they're going through it.
34:24
Speaker 1: The reality is all the stuff that we're living and
34:28
Speaker 1: going through in this thing we call life, they're all
34:31
Speaker 1: just lessons and we pay We give way too much
34:34
Speaker 1: importance to things sometimes when they when they feel dense
34:38
Speaker 1: and difficult and hard, and we get stuck there. If
34:41
Speaker 1: we do that, I agree, if we get stuck in
34:43
Speaker 1: that energy, we can remain there for a long period
34:48
Speaker 1: of time, might be hours, might be days might be months.
34:54
Speaker 1: So it's important that we we try and maintain our
35:01
Speaker 1: emotional balance and find ways to stay balanced and stay
35:06
Speaker 1: emotionally As the buzzword of today emotionally regulated.
35:11
Speaker 2: Yes, keep that regulation, keep that.
35:13
Speaker 1: Emotional regulation in place. But you know, even though it
35:17
Speaker 1: might seem like a buzzword, there's a reason it's a buzzword.
35:20
Speaker 2: Right, because, well, people feel anxiousness, right, So as we
35:25
Speaker 2: are all becoming more aware of when we get anxious,
35:28
Speaker 2: we are then likewise becoming aware of that when we
35:34
Speaker 2: can influence that anxiety up and down. And that's what
35:37
Speaker 2: really people are referring to as self regulation, right that
35:40
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, wow, I have the power in me
35:43
Speaker 2: to recognize that this experience is causing me to become anxious,
35:48
Speaker 2: and I can breathe and slow it down, or I
35:51
Speaker 2: can shift it.
35:53
Speaker 1: Well. And you know, we were watching the show the
35:57
Speaker 1: other day and there was an author on this show,
35:58
Speaker 1: and he has written a book called The Anxious Generation, right,
36:03
Speaker 1: And as we were watching this, it's like, we've never
36:06
Speaker 1: heard of the book, never heard of the author, never
36:08
Speaker 1: even heard about the concept of what he was talking about.
36:11
Speaker 1: But it's this this generation that's being raised right now
36:15
Speaker 1: in this place of high anxiety because everything that they
36:18
Speaker 1: do is being observed, right, everything that they do is
36:22
Speaker 1: being captured and then social media sharing it, and it
36:26
Speaker 1: makes people super anxious to be that that uh, you know,
36:32
Speaker 1: it's like you're always being watched.
36:34
Speaker 2: Right, So that's why the regulation thing becomes language people
36:38
Speaker 2: can understand.
36:40
Speaker 1: Now.
36:41
Speaker 2: A part of the prayer that I really loved is
36:43
Speaker 2: the second part where it says, you know, Divine Creator,
36:48
Speaker 2: Creator's place words upon my lips that make my voice
36:52
Speaker 2: disperse sacred medicine. And the concept of just is my
36:58
Speaker 2: voice and the words and my tone when they're all combined,
37:02
Speaker 2: are they medicine? And you know, you probably have someone
37:07
Speaker 2: where you think, oh, that person's voice and tone and
37:13
Speaker 2: everything was medicine, like a mother's voice or a sister's
37:19
Speaker 2: voice or a grandmother that every time they saw you
37:23
Speaker 2: they loved you, they were excited. Their tone carried that enthusiasm.
37:28
Speaker 2: And it's like, ask yourself, like, how do I want
37:33
Speaker 2: my voice and my tone and the words I choose
37:36
Speaker 2: to be medicine?
37:38
Speaker 1: Yeah? I love that.
37:39
Speaker 2: Because that's something after reading that poem, I thought, I
37:42
Speaker 2: want that. There's definitely you know, people in my life
37:48
Speaker 2: young people that when we're around them, that I want
37:51
Speaker 2: them to hear my voice's medicine as encouragement, as a
37:56
Speaker 2: voice of you know, someone that just has so much
37:59
Speaker 2: love for them and so much encouragement for them. And
38:03
Speaker 2: so as the listeners are listening, think about that. Think
38:08
Speaker 2: about where you want your voice, the tone, the words,
38:13
Speaker 2: all of it that comes together as you communicate. Where
38:17
Speaker 2: do you want medicine to flow from you through how
38:21
Speaker 2: you speak?
38:24
Speaker 1: Words are important? Words are impords? Are medicine? Words matter? Right?
38:29
Speaker 1: Words do matter? Yes? Absolutely? Well, I think I think
38:35
Speaker 1: I'm feeling kind of complete on what we're talking about here.
38:39
Speaker 2: I'm glad you decided to do this. This was a
38:41
Speaker 2: great I was excited when you came in and you said,
38:44
Speaker 2: I have an idea that I want us to talk
38:46
Speaker 2: about in the podcast. So thank you for bringing this
38:49
Speaker 2: because the prayer is beautiful and I think it's a
38:52
Speaker 2: great self reflection for it's been a great self reflection
38:56
Speaker 2: for you and I and so I hope our listeners
38:58
Speaker 2: find that meaningful in their lives.
39:01
Speaker 1: Awesome, all right, So I guess we will close this one.
39:06
Speaker 1: Just everyone, pay attention to your words, pay attention to
39:10
Speaker 1: whether they are venom or medicine. Yeah right, So until
39:16
Speaker 1: next time.
39:17
Speaker 2: Bye.
39:20
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the Observatory Podcast, please consider subscribing, sharing us,
39:26
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39:28
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39:31
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39:34
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39:36
Speaker 1: more and more people so that it can be shared
39:39
Speaker 1: and we can help ripple out this energy that's emanating
39:43
Speaker 1: in the world today. There's been so much separation and
39:46
Speaker 1: we want to find a way to create conversations where
39:49
Speaker 1: we can come together, not divide so much as we
39:53
Speaker 1: have been to learn to come together in unity.
39:56
Speaker 2: Thank you you've been listening to the Observatory Podcast.
40:04
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40:07
Speaker 1: of our future episodes.