Latest / Spiritual Sense: Practical wisdom to quiet an overthinking mind and recharge your soul / You are more powerful than you think (spiritual politics and taking responsibility)

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You are more powerful than you think (spiritual politics and taking responsibility) · Spiritual Sense: Practical wisdom to quiet an overthinking mind and recharge your soul

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Hello. Hello. Welcome back. So today we're talking about taking personal responsibility for our life. So if you have felt like there's something that you're struggling with, you're not quite sure what to do about it, maybe you think you need help from this person, this person. There could be help that you need and you can get from various people. But we're talking about how much control and power do we actually have over our own lives? And are we taking complete responsibility for all the things that we can do right now, this week, today, to improve our lives? It's a very, very important topic because we live in a world where a lot of people are blaming others for their problems or even they're just making excuses for things. And one of the key tenets of spirituality is to become an embodiment of solutions and to find a solution to problems and to think, what can I do practically about various things in my life? There, of course, are going to be situations that require more people and various different complicated systems. But we're not talking about those things today because that's a whole different topic. We're talking about how can we take responsibility for challenges in our life and turn things around. So that's what we're diving into. So if you have a challenge or something that is blocking you, then hopefully this episode will help you figure out what to do about it. Hello, Shireen, how are you doing?
• 1:38
  Speaker B: Hello, Michael.
• 1:40
  Speaker A: Hello. So have you found ways to solve problems in your life?
• 1:46
  Speaker B: Maybe.
• 1:47
  Speaker A: Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. This is. This is a very interesting topic when you think about it. One thing I recently found was very helpful for me is I felt that I was getting distracted and not doing certain things in my life and just wasting my time in different ways. And I decided to just literally write down everything I'm responsible for, like different projects, different people, different situations like my health. And to actually have a list of all the things in my life that I am actually responsible for dealing with. And when I wrote that list, which I have on my computer here, it was a very interesting process because it made me realize, for a start, how many things I need to take care of, which is quite concerning when I wrote it all down, but also how easy it is to just get off track and get caught up in random stuff that I can't control and waste my time in those things rather than focusing on what I actually can do something about. You know, for example, the news. Most of the time there's nothing I can do about news stories, people's gossip and this and that. There's nothing I can do about that either. There's so many things that, like, I can. Can find out about on this phone, which I can't do anything about in any positive way whatsoever, except maybe send good thoughts. So there's millions and millions of things that we're not responsible for and we can't do anything about. And there's a very, very small number of things that we are responsible for and we can do something about. And the question we can ask ourselves is, are we taking responsibility for those things or not?
• 3:42
  Speaker B: So how many items were there on your list?
• 3:46
  Speaker A: About 25.
• 3:48
  Speaker B: Are you serious?
• 3:49
  Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it depends how nuanced you want to go. I mean, it could, you could say is less overall, or it could be even more if you break them down into smaller chunks. So you got the whole world and then there's a handful of things. And those handful of things require a lot of effort. You know, various projects I'm working on, people I connected to. And I didn't list all the names of all the people because then there'll be a lot longer list, but things that I need to be giving my attention to. When I wrote it down, I was like, if I'm not focused on this and I'm focused on something else, then it's actually at the expense of me not doing. You know, it's like that thing is suffering, that there's something on that list is. Is not getting taken care of because I'm off track with some random stuff. And I feel that the world we live in is genius at getting us off track into random things. So instead of taking responsibility for what we're responsible for, it just goes into all these millions of other directions.
• 4:52
  Speaker B: You know, I did a similar one where I was really asking myself the question, what is my business? And I took. I took a piece of paper and I did three circles, right? I did the first circle, and inside the circle was what is under my control. And then I did a circle around that circle with some space in between the two circles, and I put what is under my influence. And then I did another circle around that second circle, a third circle, and left some space. And the outer circle. Inside the outer circle, I wrote down what is not under my control. And I realized there were very few things under my. What is my business? Very like three or four things, my business under my control. And you're right, absolutely right, about if I don't do this, right? If I don't do what's my business, then it really Gets it. Suffers.
• 5:58
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 5:59
  Speaker B: Like, what really is under my control suffers.
• 6:02
  Speaker A: That is our business, that's our life, is what can we do to make a positive influence, positive effect for ourselves and others and the world? And there's hardly anything there. I mean, I think my list was probably like, maybe like five main things. And then within that there's certain details, but, like, there's not that many things we're really needing to be responsible for, but the. These devices and the world around us and people that if you notice, like, if you just sit back, right, and don't do anything, you'll notice that people try and pull you into things all the time. You know, whether it's buy this thing, marketing companies, buy this thing, or whether there's this new series that's come out. You know, they're very good at getting people hooked on series or political messages or people with some random gossip about some random. It just goes on and on. You just sit around and you're going to come across all this stuff.
• 7:01
  Speaker B: Now, I feel that it goes both ways, right? People want to look at new series and go to get hooked on new things because they want distractions.
• 7:10
  Speaker A: That's true. That's true. No, it's both.
• 7:13
  Speaker B: It's not like some evil company sitting there and saying, hey, get hooked on this without my consent. It's not happening.
• 7:22
  Speaker A: If people didn't want to do it, it wouldn't work. That's true. But they are sending. I mean, I'm a. I have a business that is involved in marketing, so I'm actively trying to get people to do things myself. Right. And we're sort of doing that with the podcast. So there are. There are millions of people trying to get millions of other people to do things all the time. But you're right, if someone didn't want to do it and they're not interested, then they wouldn't. They wouldn't engage.
• 7:50
  Speaker B: Like, if a new series comes out on Netflix or Prime, I'm not looking at it. I had no interest in looking at it.
• 7:57
  Speaker A: Right.
• 7:58
  Speaker B: I don't even know what they are. I don't look at it. So it's. It doesn't always work one way, you know, Like, I don't think there is one evil thing out there looking, you know, whatever doing us in. Even the system, Right, Even the system. I feel in this system, we can live autonomously. It is a very interdependent system, though. It is a very interdependent system. But even in this very interdependent system, we can live Autonomous. Autonomous. We can have autonomous lives.
• 8:32
  Speaker A: We can. We can. It's not easy, though, because there are lots of various other things. Like why do people not take responsibility for their lives overall? Is. Because it's easy to get distracted. It's harder to take responsibility for our lives. It isn't really harder. And when it comes down to it, but it certainly seems like it in the. In the moment. Like I could. Why is the entertainment industry so enormous? Because it's harder. People want it because they want it, and they want it because, say, somebody feels anxious and they feel stressed out and they have various problems. Right. Looking at all that stuff directly is going to bring up all sorts of things and they have to think about it and deal with it and deal with all sorts of hard, complicated, internal things. It's much easier to say, let me just check this thing real quick, and get caught up in a fantasy world.
• 9:35
  Speaker B: Escape, you know? Escape.
• 9:37
  Speaker A: Just escape.
• 9:37
  Speaker B: Yeah, it feels easier. It feels easier in the beginning. It feels easier. But you know what they say, right? You can run, but you can't hide. At some point, you have to face it. It's not just going away. Life just doesn't go away. At some point you have to face it. You might as well face it now.
• 9:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, I agree with you, and I'm sure our listeners agree, but that doesn't stop the fact that there's millions and millions of people who are escaping constantly. And it often takes. It often leads to the point where somebody is like, on the death row sort of situation before they finally face some things, like whether it's a major crisis or major illness or bankruptcy. So if taking responsibility was easy, then we wouldn't have all these problems, would we? Know? It's. It's a whole. Whole thing. Like, hardly anyone does it, you know, like, for example, how many people have a list of what's. What's their responsibility? I don't know. I have. We haven't done a survey. It's hard to know, but I don't think there's that many because it's much easier to get caught up in other stuff than it is to say, what is it, you know, that I need to be doing with my life?
• 10:55
  Speaker B: See, now it. Whatever you're suggesting, Michael, sounds very hard work.
• 11:01
  Speaker A: Well, it's hard work.
• 11:04
  Speaker B: It's hard work. Okay, thank you for admitting it then.
• 11:08
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's hard.
• 11:09
  Speaker B: Thank you for admitting it. It's very hard work. People don't want to take responsibility. It's a hard work. But we have to weigh in the pros and the cons. Right. Like, what are the. What are the advantages of doing the taking responsibility and what are the disadvantages? Okay. One thing is it's hard work. And you could say that's a disadvantage. It's hard work. Yeah, it's. And the other disadvantage is it's easier to get distracted and watch the next Netflix series or the next prime series or whatever.
• 11:46
  Speaker A: Well, there's lots of fun things to watch, for sure. Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's easier to do that. So let's say those two things. It's easier and that. But there are a lot of advantages. I feel the first advantage is freedom, like, really spiritual freedom. Because if you think about it, in today's society, what is the one thing that gets taken away when people misbehave? Their freedom. So what that means is, like, if someone misbehaves, let's say, in society, they go to jail and their freedom is taken away. So what that tells me is. And this is in all cultures. Okay. All cultures. And so what that tells me is that freedom is an innate quality of each of us, that we really want it. Right. Above everything else, we want freedom. If we were to tell you that if you start looking at what you're responsible for and taking responsibility for it, then you will have your freedom. Is that true or not?
• 13:00
  Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, if it. Not only do you have freedom, but you actually have happiness as well. Because. Because there's a lot of joy in being on point and having a conscious life. So. And not only that.
• 13:15
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 13:16
  Speaker A: We'll get success as well. Because success comes from taking responsibility.
• 13:21
  Speaker B: Fulfillment, right?
• 13:21
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker B: Like a personal fulfillment.
• 13:24
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:25
  Speaker B: Yes, fulfillment. And which really. I mean, it's as cliched as it sounds. Money can't really buy that.
• 13:33
  Speaker A: No.
• 13:33
  Speaker B: You know, like a personal fulfillment. Right, the personal fulfillment you have. So. Okay, so the advantages are you will have freedom, you will have happiness, you will have personal fulfillment, you'll have success, you said.
• 13:47
  Speaker A: Yeah. And you'll have inner transformation. You're going to face certain transformations, unresolved stuff, and actually deal with it properly. Which might be the best thing of all, actually. Because when I say to myself, I have to take care of this thing that I've been putting off because I've been distracted, I have to find the power within and get the help from God and just do everything to sort something out, which leads me to become a different sort of person. But none of that's going to happen if I'm distracting myself, you know?
• 14:20
  Speaker B: Right. Power. And I was Also thinking confidence, Right?
• 14:24
  Speaker A: Yeah. Because you have confidence to achieve success. Yeah.
• 14:29
  Speaker B: Yes. Confidence, power. Right. And so, yes, it is hard and yes, it is easy to just get distracted, but then it. All of these advantages outweigh these disadvantages, wouldn't you agree?
• 14:46
  Speaker A: Well, that's why we're doing this podcast. And I agree, but I think that we have to the listeners, do you agree that this is. This is. It's worth just looking at it. Right. So, like, right now we could say, I don't really want to deal with this, it's too much. And then just go off and get distracted in whatever it is. But the thing is that distraction time will come to an end at some point, and then the things that were going on that were an issue is still there. And then what are you going to do next? Go distract again. And after a while, it's not getting any better just by trying to ignore it, you know? And I really feel like as a.
• 15:28
  Speaker B: Society, like I said, you can run, but you can't hide.
• 15:31
  Speaker A: No, as a society, America is such a fascinating country. I mean, I'm very grateful for America in many ways. And it's also the leading. The cutting edge of massive, massive distraction. You know, like there's nothing. Never been anything like it before and maybe never really will be in the future. The amount of. I mean, this device here, I think is a fascinating device, but it's is absolutely incredible because, I mean, I have all these students and people I talk to, and I've discovered that one of the worst things someone can do is get up in the morning, pick up their phone and check social media and the news while they're in bed. Because what that does is before they've thought about their life and what they want, what's important. Now they're caught up in, oh, my God, there's all these things that I need to deal with. They're not going to deal with them, but they're now. That now sets the tone for the day of reacting to chaos. And then the whole day goes by reacting to chaos. And then they think, what is my life about? And what am I responsible? Then all that's even come up that hasn't even entered the conversation. And so I think a lot of people are in some version of this where the whole day is spent in responding to crazy things that aren't their responsibility and they can't do anything about. So this is a huge problem, and that's why we wanted to talk about it.
• 16:55
  Speaker B: I still feel that the reason why people are not doing it is because it's hard.
• 17:02
  Speaker A: Well, of course. Yeah, it's definitely very hard.
• 17:04
  Speaker B: What I want to ask you this question. What made you come up with the list recently? What motivated you to do this?
• 17:11
  Speaker A: I can't remember the exact. It was something along the lines of. I just had the awareness that most things going on. I think it might have been because of I was watching the news or something or I was connecting with someone. It was just stuff that wasn't related to me. And I felt like, why am I even bothered with this stuff? And I thought, hang on a minute. I can't do anything about that. Maybe. I think. I can't remember the exact. I think I saw something that was upsetting to me in the world or something, and I felt bad about it. And it was somehow affecting my thoughts and feelings about life. And I thought, well, I can't do anything about this. And this is actually sabotaging my capacity to do something good in my own life and actually help other people in a real way. And then I wrote the list and I thought, interesting. This is stuff that I can do to actually help people that is in my control. And I'm capable of making a difference in this, in these ways, and these people need me.
• 18:22
  Speaker B: And these interesting. This feeling of disempowerment, right?
• 18:25
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 18:26
  Speaker B: You felt a feeling of disempowerment.
• 18:28
  Speaker A: Disempowerment and stress and sort of like Napoleon Hill calls it drifting, where he considers that drifting is the biggest problem in the world. Which, in other words, means not having a clear goal and a clear purpose that's meaningful and just getting caught up in everything else. Just like a piece of driftwood in the ocean, just drifting about in the waves of life.
• 18:55
  Speaker B: I was thinking of this, that when you were saying about the feeling of disempowerment. So we all have these very uncomfortable feelings, right? Feelings of disempowerment, lack of confidence, lack of purpose, emptiness, all of that. And so the question we have to ask ourselves is, do we really want to get out of those feelings? Or we could just wallow in it, blame someone else, you know, or do something about it. Yeah, I don't like feelings of disempowerment, really. So I would do something about it. But that's a thing that, you know, all of us, we should ask ourselves that question.
• 19:41
  Speaker A: Yeah. The reason it's hard to do it is because the system, the kind of cycle of this is that we might feel disempowered or negative or whatever. And the reason for that is because of getting distracted and drifting around and whatever else that's causing that feeling. But the easiest way to get rid of that feeling is to get distracted again. That's. Do you know what I mean? So I've seen this in myself. I might be distracted in some random thing and I feel bad and I'm like, why don't feeling like this? So then I get distracted again to avoid feeling bad. And that can potentially go on and on and on indefinitely. Not completely forever and ever, but like this can go on for years and years in many, many cases. So the reason it's so hard is because if we feel bad, we have to have the courage to say, I am going to do whatever it takes to turn this around. And that is, that takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of capacity to face unpleasant feelings. Because what are we distracting ourselves from really? We're distracting ourselves from an emotion most of the time or a problem or both. And to deal with it, we have to say, instead of running away from it, I'm going to look at it and I'm going to go towards it and I'm going to actually take actions and shift my thinking patterns and do whatever I have to do to move it towards the solution. And that goes against the tendency for escapism completely. Like complete opposite escapism is running the other way. And this, what we're talking about is going straight at it know. But it leads to a lot of joy, actually. Ironically, there's. There's a certain discomfort, but then afterwards there's a certain empowerment and sense of mastery that comes from it.
• 21:57
  Speaker B: You know, one of the things, the double whammy of this is not only are we not experiencing whatever. Whatever, right? But we're losing so much. It's not only that we are not experiencing joy, but we are losing so much. And the whole system is designed to not share with us what we are losing. And so I feel that all the invitation for all our listeners is not only to write down what really is your business and what's not your business and what's out of your control and really what's in your control and what's your responsibility, but if you don't do this, what are you losing? To really sit down and write down what are you losing? Because if you feel you're not losing anything, then you won't do anything about it. We all personally should feel, oh, I'm losing so much. That's why I need to do this because I'm losing so much.
• 23:05
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's a very good point. It's not obvious what that is. I think if there's a habit of drifting and distracting, then until someone starts to take responsibility and get the feeling of what that's like, it's hard to tell the difference. You know, I'm really quite worried about a lot of people because it does seem like the society is designed to encourage distraction and it's become like a social norm. So there aren't that many people who are like on point, getting it done and like focused, though those people tend to be very successful in whatever they're doing. But yeah, you have to. It's one of those things where you don't really know what it's like until you do it, you know, I mean, the main thing that you're losing is you're losing out on the opportunity to create a great life that you love and to feel wonderful and to do great things. So that's a huge loss.
• 24:12
  Speaker B: One of the things I was thinking about was the every one of us really is after new technology, right? Knew this, new that. Let's get the latest iPhone, the latest computer, the latest whatever, right? Latest gadget, latest thing. We want the latest. And so these, I feel whatever you are sharing, Michael, that is the latest. That's the latest in life. It's the latest in psychology. You know, just. We all have a psychology, and if we understand our psychology, we can actually be very happy. It's possible to be happy.
• 25:03
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 25:04
  Speaker B: It's possible to have purpose, it's possible to have joy. And if you're not understanding psychology and busy distracting ourselves, if you're not understanding what's motivating me to do what I'm doing and busy distracting ourselves, then we are missing out on this new paradigm. There's a new paradigm going on and we are not buying into the new paradigm. For me, that would be the biggest loss, is I'm not even seeing the new paradigm. I'm not buying into the new paradigm. Not seeing the new paradigm. Leave alone experiencing the new paradigm.
• 25:41
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's. This is why. It's one of those things that unless you've experienced it, it's hard to know what it is. Because to some people, what we're talking about might seem less strange, abstract idea if they have never experienced it. But once you move in that direction, then you start to feel, you know, it's like if someone has never done running or exercise or whatever, they don't know what the benefit is. Like, practically, they might understand it intellectually. Even meditation. People go, oh, I should meditate, I should Meditate. But until you've had like a really good meditation experience, you don't really know what it is like. And so to some degree, we have to go on trust here that it's going to be worth the effort. And really, it's not that much effort. I think this is something you say a lot, Shreem. It's more effort, ultimately more effort to avoid dealing with stuff than just dealing with it because you have to suffer all the way through.
• 26:48
  Speaker B: I know, right? Let's say I'm distracted, but I need more and more of that to be feeling distracted. You know, I need more of it. And then the emptiness doesn't go anywhere. You can run, but you can't hide from it, right? At some point it's going to come and bite you. So why not just do it now? But the other thing I was thinking is people have normalized this, right? Like let's say in the 90s, right? In the early 90s, you know, we didn't have cell phones and we didn't have always Internet access and all of that, right? We did. I mean, we had. We checked our email or we did, and we were fine. Our lives were fine. We were fine. And. But now it's so normal for someone to like, if I don't answer the phone recently, I didn't answer the phone because I was very busy for maybe three, four hours. You will not believe in how many avenues and how many people try to contact me, right? Is she okay?
• 28:02
  Speaker A: What's your.
• 28:02
  Speaker B: I mean, before it was just. It was before it was just, you know, landline phone that people got in touch with me, right? And now it's my cell phone. And then now not only it's my cell phone, it's text now not only it's text, it's WhatsApp. Now. Not only it's WhatsApp. Now it's email, and not only it's email, then everyone around has a phone. So if I'm not answering, they'll call two other people around me to see why, go check on her. Why is she not answering? Right? Why has it become so normal for me to be so plugged in?
• 28:35
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's out of control and it's normal.
• 28:38
  Speaker B: That is normal behavior for people. And I, when I think about this, right, I feel, oh, my God, I sound so old. And then I think, you know, this is like, we are not buying into a new paradigm. We think it's progress, right? All of this technology, all of these things. We think it's progress, but it's Just a false progress. It's not real one.
• 29:05
  Speaker A: No, it's definitely not. And you have to keep in mind that there's a whole bunch of companies with large amounts of money who want us to use their products because they benefit from us using them. So there's vested interest in us doing all this stuff. There's. Whereas on the back of my computer actually it's just here I have one of these things called a light phone, which is like a smart. It's less like a phone that doesn't have any, any of this stuff. I just use this for other purposes. And their slogan is your time equals their money. Basically that, that sums up the. The model of most of the Internet stuff is we give them time away from our own purpose and our own mission and as a result of that they get paid through advertising. Right. So we are slaves to a system where we're giving our precious time.
• 30:08
  Speaker B: I know, right.
• 30:09
  Speaker A: So that people get these massive companies make trillions of millions and billions and trillions of dollars. I mean it's just insane situation. Really what you've just talked about is the most extreme version of it because if you don't do what they want, not only are they going to not like it, but loads of other people are connected to this same system and they can complain about it as well, which makes it even harder to get out of.
• 30:35
  Speaker B: So you know the one thing, right, what am I losing if I ask myself that question, right. I want you to think about what you are losing, but let me answer that question. What am I losing? I feel I'm losing my self respect because the one thing I absolutely don't like is being a puppet for someone. Don't care for that. I just don't like it. I don't like the feeling being a puppet for people. And if not for anything else, I refuse to be a puppet.
• 31:12
  Speaker A: There you go.
• 31:13
  Speaker B: Yeah, that, that's my main motivation. I will not be your puppet.
• 31:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's great.
• 31:21
  Speaker B: I will not be a puppet of big corporations, big social media. No, not. Will not be a puppet. I don't care. I don't need anything from you. I don't need people to see me. I don't need people to like me. I don't need to do any of that stuff because that means I have to be your puppet. I'm not going to do that.
• 31:40
  Speaker A: Yeah. Now there's people with the strings pulling this, pulling the strings on a number of levels and that the key thing we're losing is we're not living our own Life, you know. And one statement that I've always appreciated from spiritual teachings is renunciation leads to fortune. I might be paraphrasing this a little bit, but I've always liked that quote because it means, like, if I give up wasting my time in getting caught up in distraction and escapism, even though it's a renunciation of temporary pleasure, it leads to fortune, you know. And so that's what it comes down to is, am I willing to give something up that I. That I might enjoy on some level temporarily, so that I can get something better? And that's really what responsibility is, is saying, am I?
• 32:41
  Speaker B: So what do. What do you feel you're losing, Michael?
• 32:46
  Speaker A: I'm losing out on being my authentic self. I think I'm losing out on being a master of my destiny and being in my joy and claiming my power and just having the best life I could, you know? Like, I remember one time I took like three days offline, right? So I was just like, let me just work on what I want to and not get back to all these various things and caught up in all this stuff. And I felt so good, it almost felt like it was illegal. That's how I felt. I was like, I felt like I'd escaped the trap and I was like, oh my God, I've got the best life ever. I'm so happy. This is the wonderful. It almost felt like it wasn't okay because everyone else is caught up in, oh my God, oh my God. So that's what I'm losing out on is that kind of like feeling of mastery and freedom and magic and wonders. And so, yeah, that there's a huge difference. And so we're getting temporary benefit versus a magical life of attainment. And also I'm screwing myself over because I'm not doing the things that I need to do that are going to change my life.
• 34:12
  Speaker B: One thing I do want to know is, I don't think, Michael, you are advocating people completely give up any kind of technology, right?
• 34:22
  Speaker A: No, you can't.
• 34:23
  Speaker B: It's not possible because we need to pay bills and do everything on our own. Everything is online, right? Get a passport, whatever it is.
• 34:32
  Speaker A: No, you have to have the Internet.
• 34:34
  Speaker B: And yeah, the thing is, for other people shouldn't be pulling your strings. You should be the master. That I would say is another thing. I don't like to lose. I don't like to lose my spiritual power. And I feel when I'm autonomous, I'm self governing. And in our language we say self sovereign. When I do That I feel so much power. But if I'm a slave to things that, you know, if I don't take responsibility, if I'm a slave to distractions, if I'm a slave to laziness, slave to whatever, you know, the next thing, drifting, whatever. Right. Because that is also a choice. We think we are not making choices, but drifting is a choice we make. When I do that, that's the thing I lose the most, is spiritual power. And feeling spiritual power is so good. Right? It's so good. I know when I feel that. Right. I know this is my original state because I feel so good.
• 35:49
  Speaker A: Yeah. It's the best feeling ever. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I've correlated this. Like, I'm keeping a little book of this at the moment of how am I feeling? How much meditation am I doing, what am I achieving, what's going on? And I've. I can correlate that if I waste my time or get caught up in random stuff that's not related to me, it reduces my level of joy. And if I don't do that, my level of joy goes up. So there's no. This is another thing, just like, for those listening that you might want to try out is one, is, what are you responsible for and what are you losing by not taking care of these things? And then how do you feel? I mean, it's just good to be honest about it. How do you feel in your life if you do one thing or if you do something else? Like, what's the difference? Because unless we have a good look at our own heart and soul and mind and feelings in our life, we don't know, you know, so keeping some sort of journal diary or something. How are you feeling? What are you doing with your time? Is it working out for you? Like, is. How do you feel? Is it. Is it good or is it not good? Then you can decide whether or not it's worth doing certain things or not. The main issue, I find is that this is just like a philosophical dilemma, in a way, is that most things that are good for us have a certain amount of discomfort involved in doing them at the beginning. Like, meditation has a certain discomfort of dealing with the thoughts and whatever else at the beginning of the practice or even during the practice. Exercise is sort of uncomfortable. Eating proper, healthy food is sort of a little bit annoying. And extra work, doing work that we need to do is hard, harder to do. So there's all this discomfort involved in things that are good for us. But on the other hand, all the Stuff that's bad for us is extremely easy to do and pleasurable. You know, like watching random stuff or eating junk food or this and that. They're all like, really, really easy to do and they give immediate pleasure. So this is the dilemma that we have. Am I going to do something that gives me instant feedback and like a kick, but then causes me sorrow, or am I going to do something that actually causes some level of stress to start with, but leads to, well, being afterwards? I just think this, like, it's almost like a cruel joke. It would be better if it was the other way around, wouldn't it? Like, if. If the things that were good for us immediately gave us pleasure, we would probably be in a different situation right now. But instead of that, the things that are bad for us give us pleasure. It is a bit of a.
• 38:51
  Speaker B: The whole world would be in a different situation. Yes.
• 38:54
  Speaker A: Yeah. Isn't that strange?
• 38:56
  Speaker B: The one thing, though, you know, we're coming to the end of the podcast and I want you to give us one thing that you suggest we do. One thing.
• 39:09
  Speaker A: Write a list. Write a list of what? What? Your response.
• 39:13
  Speaker B: Write a list.
• 39:16
  Speaker A: Just so you know, like, what is it? What do you want in your life? Like, what is your goals? Your. Your vision for you? How do you want to feel? What sort of situation do you want to be in? What kind of work do you want to do? What kind of relations? Just think, what do you want for your life? What's your highest vision for your future? And then what are you responsible for that's going to lead you to that so you know where you're going and you know what you need to do. And, and then, and then also, what are you not responsible for? All the other things that are kind of a distraction to that, to those things, what are all the other random stuff? Once you know what that is, then you can do something about it and see what happens. Congratulations in advance.
• 40:09
  Speaker B: Yes. Because it is not. It's not easy, because to even admit, right, to even admit we are drifting is a big job. To even admit to ourselves. That's what we say.
• 40:29
  Speaker A: Napoleon Hill says 98% of the world is drifting, which might be a bigger percentage than that. So I don't know if you realize this, but only 3, 32 to 3% of the population has written goals. So just writing down this list we've talked about puts you in the top 2 or 3% of the whole world, because most people don't know what they want and they haven't written it down. So if if you don't even have it written down, then it's definitely going to be drifting, isn't it? You know, so that's why. That's why writing it down is so important. And then re. Then reread it again and again and again. All right.
• 41:12
  Speaker B: A blessing.
• 41:13
  Speaker A: Blessings.
• 41:16
  Speaker B: I'll pick a random page.
• 41:18
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 41:21
  Speaker B: Insight. You've harnessed the power of insight, using it as a lens to peer beneath what's visible. The world has revealed its depths to you. Your newfound power grants you access to life's wonders, which you embrace with heartfelt appreciation.
• 41:48
  Speaker A: There it is. The magic. The magical life. Ah. Yay. Well, thank you, Shireen, for your lovely presence.
• 41:59
  Speaker B: And thank you, Michael.
• 42:01
  Speaker A: Yay.
• 42:02
  Speaker B: Thank you for sharing.
• 42:03
  Speaker A: It's my pleasure. Thanks for being here. And for those of you who don't know, we have lots of free goodies for you. Courses, trainings on changing your thoughts, your feelings, taking responsibility for your life, meditations. And you can get them all at the links below the podcast. Yay. Talk to you soon.