Latest / Remember Why You Are Here / Let Yourself be a Paradox
Transcript
- 0:00The more we practice embracing paradox,
- 0:04the more we can expand the contours of our own
- 0:09consciousness to see reality, see our own nature,
- 0:14and discover our life. When I let go of what I am,
- 0:18I become what I might be.
- 0:29Hello and welcome back to Remember Why You Are Here,
- 0:32a podcast for seekers and sensitives where you can relax, receive,
- 0:36reconnect yourself and remember why you're here.
- 0:40I'm Asia Suler, author,
- 0:42earth intuitive teacher and paradoxical person,
- 0:47and this podcast episode today is all about allowing
- 0:51yourself to be the paradox that you are.
- 0:56This episode is here to give you permission to be
- 1:00complex, contradictory,
- 1:02to be a paradox. There's this level of reality in which we are
- 1:07meant to be all of the things that we are,
- 1:11that no part of us is out of place,
- 1:13that every part of us has a role to play.
- 1:17And I truly believe that part of our goal here on this planet,
- 1:22part of why we're here is to embrace the paradoxes that we are,
- 1:26to embrace our multitudinous nature,
- 1:29and that it's really through embracing our own diversity and complexity
- 1:34that we can bring the diversity and the deep nuance and complexity of
- 1:39our gifts to this world. Embracing your own paradoxical
- 1:44self is an act of service for this world.
- 1:49It brings healing to our planet, and of course within our own lives,
- 1:53it brings healing to ourselves. So in this episode,
- 1:57we're going to explore what a paradox is,
- 1:59why it's at the heart of basically every major mystical tradition on the
- 2:04planet.
- 2:06We're going to look at this idea of paradoxes as portals and really see the way
- 2:11in which we are all paradoxes. I'm going to tell a story from my life that I
- 2:15always harken back to illustrate this and really guide you to start
- 2:20seeing and embracing the paradox within yourself because the paradoxes that you
- 2:24carry have encoded within them the energy of the
- 2:29gifts and the healing you're meant to bring to this world.
- 2:31So let's get into it. So what is a paradox?
- 2:35A paradox is a contradiction that is nevertheless true.
- 2:40It is something where there's seemingly two opposingly opposite
- 2:45truths or ways of being that coexist at once and that
- 2:50they're both authentic, they're both true at the same time.
- 2:54A paradox is a way of being in which there are these two qualities or
- 2:59characteristics that seem as if they'd almost negate each other,
- 3:03or that they couldn't coexist at once,
- 3:05and yet it's actually through embracing that they're both real and that they're
- 3:09both true that we grasp and connect to ultimate
- 3:13reality. Paradoxes defy our logic,
- 3:20and yet we can grasp them through our wisdom.
- 3:24Wisdom tells us that paradox is at the heart of
- 3:29reality and that, actually,
- 3:31if we want to grasp the truth of existence,
- 3:35we do this through embracing paradox. Paradox is at the heart
- 3:40of reality here on our planet.
- 3:43It is at the bedrock of this experience of physical reality.
- 3:46It's everywhere you look. It's darkest before the dawn,
- 3:50that decay and death leads to new life.
- 3:55That earth as a mother gives and gives
- 3:59birth and nourishes us and also takes away-that initiates death,
- 4:04initiates transformation.
- 4:06All of these things are true at once here,
- 4:09and it's part of what makes this planet so interesting,
- 4:14such an interesting place for our souls to come,
- 4:16such a dynamic place to come learn,
- 4:18is that paradox is built into the fabric of our
- 4:23reality.
- 4:24And this is a big reason why the embracing of or the
- 4:29cording of paradox is at the heart of every major mystical
- 4:34tradition that we see on our planet. Paradox,
- 4:38it bridges us beyond
- 4:40our logical mind.
- 4:42It bridges us beyond the duality of thinking,
- 4:46this black and white view of reality,
- 4:48and helps us touch the numinous nature of reality.
- 4:52It brings us closer to the mystery.
- 4:55Mystery is the bedrock of our existence.
- 4:59Everything is made up of mystery.
- 5:01There's more that we don't know by leaps and
- 5:05bounds than we do know. It's like the bulk of a mountain,
- 5:10the bulk of an iceberg, is beneath the surface,
- 5:12and that's the nature of reality.
- 5:14That mystery makes up our
- 5:18existence. And so mystical traditions really valued and enshrine the
- 5:22paradox as a tool for helping us connect to the mystery,
- 5:27to connect to the deeper tides of existence,
- 5:30and to understand our existence here on this planet,
- 5:35the way that this planet operates and functions,
- 5:38the beautiful in some ways non-dual nature of
- 5:43this planet: that dichotomy exists,
- 5:46but within that dichotomy is always the paradox. Paradox will show
- 5:51you where the deep meaningful stuff exists. This is why,
- 5:56in our true nature,
- 5:58all of us are paradoxes because this is where the deep and meaningful
- 6:02stuff lives. It's only through paradox that we touch the nature
- 6:07of reality because reality is such a paradox.
- 6:10We are these eternal beings who
- 6:14come here to live and die,
- 6:18who come here to forget about our eternal nature and have these
- 6:22temporary experiences on this planet.
- 6:26Has there ever been a greater paradox, right,
- 6:28that we are both eternal and mortal? So
- 6:33there's this level in which paradox,
- 6:36it helps our brain to transcend the limits of our thinking.
- 6:41It helps our consciousness to expand.
- 6:43The more we practice embracing paradox,
- 6:47especially embracing paradox within ourselves,
- 6:51the more we can expand the contours of our own
- 6:55consciousness to see reality, see our own nature,
- 7:00and discover our life outside of the bonds or the confines of
- 7:05what we think is possible. I love this quote by Carl Jung and he
- 7:10says,
- 7:11"the paradox is one of our most valuable spiritual possessions.
- 7:16Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the
- 7:20fullness of life." Life is so powerfully
- 7:25full of all the feelings, all the experiences.
- 7:29And yet the human mind often tries to put things in
- 7:32certain boxes.
- 7:32And we live in a time right now where that categorization and that
- 7:37delineation, that and or thinking,
- 7:41versus the both and thinking, is kind of at the center of our culture.
- 7:45And so embracing the paradox that is us, within us,
- 7:49helps us also expand the potential of what we can
- 7:53create in this world because our consciousness expands as well.
- 7:58And this is really at the heart of why paradox is at the
- 8:03center of so many mystical traditions on our planet.
- 8:07For example,
- 8:08Jesus was considered to be both fully human and fully divine.
- 8:14That's a paradox. Or in Hindu mysticism,
- 8:17you are both the drop and the ocean. You are both at once.
- 8:21Or in Daoism,
- 8:23the Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.
- 8:27At the heart of so many of these traditions was this awareness that paradox is
- 8:33a portal.
- 8:35It's one of those inbred portals to existence where
- 8:39when we learn how to embrace it,
- 8:43it opens up another way of seeing and being on this planet.
- 8:49I think in a lot of ways we came to earth to experience the delight of
- 8:53paradox. As souls who are in the
- 8:58spiritual world and not embodied,
- 9:01there's no opportunity for there to be paradox in the same way because
- 9:04everything exists and is. There's no opposite.
- 9:08There's no contradictory forces, there's no dichotomy. There's no yin and yang.
- 9:14And so I think on a soul level,
- 9:15we're actually really delighted to come here to this planet and like,
- 9:19let's experience the juiciness of paradox.
- 9:21Let's experience the juiciness of being in a place on a
- 9:26planet at a time where it seems like there's opposites and
- 9:30polarities.
- 9:31And yet somehow this process of separating out into two parts
- 9:36actually brings us back together into more wholeness. And this is a big
- 9:41part of the origin story in Daoism,
- 9:44this idea that out of the void came something,
- 9:50the one thing, and this one thing, energy,
- 9:54decides to split itself,
- 9:57literally split itself into the yin and the yang,
- 9:59into these two opposing forces. Because it, the presence,
- 10:05the whatever you want to call it, wanted to learn about itself.
- 10:08And it knew that through separating these two pieces, could come back together.
- 10:12And when they came back together after this experience of polarity,
- 10:17when they came back together,
- 10:19they create more wholeness and more integration than existed before.
- 10:22And this is so much of what we're doing when we embrace the
- 10:27paradoxes that we are. We are moving towards greater
- 10:32integration and wholeness within us.
- 10:33And this is also why I really name this reality that
- 10:38we bring wholeness and healing to the world through embracing our own inner
- 10:42paradoxes,
- 10:43through recognizing that there's going to be parts of us that don't make sense,
- 10:46that seem to be completely opposing, that don't fit the script,
- 10:50that don't fit the paradigm of how we're expected to act or who we're expected
- 10:55to be or even who we expected ourselves to be or who we think we should
- 10:59be. That all of this is such rich, juicy,
- 11:03important terrain.
- 11:04That paradox is a portal and it's a portal within your own life as well for
- 11:09reaching new levels of integration and self-awareness and
- 11:13possibility. We are all paradoxes, every single one of us.
- 11:18It's really just a matter of how tuned in you are or not to the fact that you're
- 11:22a paradox. But know this, that our healing, our wellbeing,
- 11:26the expansion of our consciousness is dependent upon embracing this,
- 11:30that we are complete paradoxes.
- 11:34And within the realm of this
- 11:37earth and this reality, it's irreconcilable.
- 11:41And I'm putting that in air quotes because it's not meant to be reconciled,
- 11:45it's meant to be enjoyed as textures of two energies
- 11:49coming into play with each other. So I have to tell this story of...
- 11:54from my own life that really helped me see and embrace the paradox
- 11:59within me.
- 12:01I always get a kick out of the story and hopefully you will enjoy this too:
- 12:06So I was at a gathering, the primitive skills gathering,
- 12:10Earth skills gathering. And at this gathering,
- 12:14there's always a mead circle. So people come, they bring their meads,
- 12:18everyone tastes like a million different meads and everyone gets a little bit
- 12:22tipsy, as I'm sure you can imagine. Well, I came late to this mead circle,
- 12:27and so everyone was already deep,
- 12:28like several hours deep into tasting every different kind of mead you could
- 12:33imagine.
- 12:34And I roll up and there's two people there that I
- 12:38know and have known for a long time.
- 12:40At that point I've probably had known them for at least a decade.
- 12:44And I sit down and they're very jolly and they're very
- 12:48talkative and just open,
- 12:50and we're having this really heart-opening conversation.
- 12:52And it was a man and a woman. And as we're talking, the woman says to me,
- 12:57Asia, when I first met you,
- 12:59I thought you were completely different than you actually are. And I was like,
- 13:03that's interesting. And then the guy says the same thing. He's like, oh my God,
- 13:08I can't believe you just said that, because that was exactly my experience too,
- 13:11that when I first met Asia,
- 13:12I thought she was completely different than how she actually is. And I'm like,
- 13:17okay, tell me more. What do you mean?
- 13:20How did you experience me then versus how you experience me now? And so the
- 13:25woman who was my friend was like, oh, when I first met you,
- 13:27I thought you were this vivacious, sexual,
- 13:32sensual, party girl,
- 13:35just like this person who threw this lavish parties and was embedded in this
- 13:39sort of erotic atmosphere. And she said, but then I got to know you,
- 13:44and I'm like, oh,
- 13:44Asia is actually so deep and spiritual
- 13:49and holds this wisdom and is really this channel
- 13:54for this sort of grounded, peaceful, spiritual information.
- 13:58And is like this teacher. And I never saw that.
- 14:02And in her mind these were two contradictory things. And
- 14:09then the guy was like...
- 14:11I could just see his eyes skim back and forth in his jaw open. And he was like,
- 14:16it was the exact opposite for me. He's like, when I first met Asia,
- 14:21I thought she was this ethereal,
- 14:25kind of angelic, cottage core,
- 14:29innocent, Anne of green gables. Like,
- 14:32come with me to the meadow and I will show you, help you speak to the flowers.
- 14:36And he was like,
- 14:38it wasn't until I got to know you that I realize that you have this
- 14:43really vivacious side to you,
- 14:47that you have a raunchy sense of humor,
- 14:49that you know you're sarcastic,
- 14:52that you have this sensuality to you.
- 14:56And it was just this moment where I saw them look at each other and realize,
- 15:01oh my God, we had these completely opposite experiences of this person.
- 15:04And I'm just here kind of laughing, also in awe,
- 15:08also thinking about how funny it is to have people who know you from the time
- 15:12that you're 23 to your mid thirties.
- 15:18But it stuck out to me,
- 15:19and it was one of the first times that I remember being like, ah,
- 15:23I am both. In whatever ways you think those two sides are
- 15:27paradoxes: the part of me that
- 15:31was for years like a pole dancer, as my hobby I loved pole dancing,
- 15:36and I competed in the Atlanta Pole competition and won second place in my
- 15:41category. That that was happening at the same time that I launched
- 15:46my big program, Intuitive Plant Medicine,
- 15:49which was really that more
- 15:53spiritual, in the garden, the flowy dresses,
- 15:57and the big hats, and the quiet listening and all these things that people,
- 16:02I think, think of as paradoxes, but coexist within me,
- 16:07have always been with me: that I've always been both of those things,
- 16:10that I am both introverted and I love being at the
- 16:15center of a party. I don't know, it doesn't make sense
- 16:19that I'm an introvert and I'm in some ways shy and private.
- 16:22And yet part of my whole life thing is to put myself out there in
- 16:27the world and to perform and to express myself.
- 16:31And I share this, not to go on and on about myself,
- 16:36but to illustrate for you that you contain these
- 16:40paradoxes too. And that,
- 16:42while you might not have had two people who maybe had a lot of mead
- 16:47openly admit this to you,
- 16:49you have probably had this experience happen to you in your life where people
- 16:53meet you, they see one version of you,
- 16:55they see you inhabiting a certain side of yourself,
- 16:57and they sort of assume that you are a certain way.
- 17:02And yet you contain these incredible multitudes.
- 17:05I also think that we get stuck in these traps too.
- 17:08I can't tell you how many times in my life I felt like, oh,
- 17:11I need to be a certain way. I need to be this,
- 17:16whatever it is, straight A, kind of studious person,
- 17:21and that that's at odds with this person who wants to throw it all away and just
- 17:25be a poet and not go to school that day or whatever it is.
- 17:29That we're constantly at odds with the paradoxes within us.
- 17:33But the whole point is to embrace that they're all meant to be
- 17:37there.
- 17:38That these paradoxes are meant to exist within us because it's like the flake,
- 17:42it's the seed of the divine within us,
- 17:44to have these multiple facets of our being that coexist at once.
- 17:50And when you stop resisting the diversity within you,
- 17:56even when it seems like they're in conflict - the part of you that wants
- 17:59something and the part of you that doesn't want something -when we stop
- 18:03resisting that and we're just with it, we open up so much energy,
- 18:07we open up this potential for all the energy that exists within us.
- 18:11If we stop resisting,
- 18:12maybe the part of us that wants to stay home and cozy up and be in our
- 18:17blankets and read our fantasy book,
- 18:19and also the part of us that wants to go out dancing and wants to be
- 18:24seen and wants to kiss someone cute. This is just one example,
- 18:29but it's like when we stop resisting that we actually open up this big energy
- 18:33potential of who we really are,
- 18:35which is this beautiful complex mix of all these facets of
- 18:40our being, of a spirit, a soul,
- 18:44that is beyond this human form that comes in with all the
- 18:48depths, all the complexities,
- 18:50and that comes in wanting to play. And we really see this at play in what's
- 18:54called parts work or the Internal Family Systems Therapeutic Model,
- 18:58where the whole idea here is it's viewing the
- 19:02mind not as a single entity, but as a series of parts,
- 19:06a system of parts,
- 19:07and each have their own personality and desires and roles and
- 19:12viewpoints and emotions. And sometimes it feels like these parts of us are in
- 19:17conflict,
- 19:18that they're causing conflict for one another and because they want different
- 19:21things and they're trying to do different things. But in this model of thinking,
- 19:25this therapeutic model of thinking,
- 19:27healing happens when we realize that all the parts are welcome.
- 19:32That it's not like just some parts or the good parts and other parts are the bad
- 19:34parts. All parts are welcome. And our goal is not to fix them,
- 19:39but to befriend them.
- 19:42That they're all here in part to work with one
- 19:45another. That we are complex, we are multitudinous,
- 19:49and it's part of the delight of getting to be here in this
- 19:52existence. Embracing this is not only just healing for us,
- 19:56it's also healing for the cultures in which we move, right?
- 20:00There's this myth of consistency, especially in western culture,
- 20:04this myth of consistency,
- 20:06that somehow you need to be consistent.
- 20:11Your routines needed to be consistent, your life needs to be consistent,
- 20:14the messaging you put out there in the world needs to be consistent,
- 20:16the way you present yourself. Well,
- 20:18the reality is nothing in life is consistent.
- 20:21Everything's changing all the time. There's this beautiful quote
- 20:26from the poet,
- 20:27Adrian Rich that I love that goes like this: "The moment of change
- 20:33is the only poem." And it touches the heart of reality
- 20:38that everything's in motion, everything is always changing.
- 20:41Nothing is consistent, and anything that is consistent,
- 20:45that's static, that's death in a certain way.
- 20:50We want the Qi the life force
- 20:53of life to keep flowing, to keep changing. That movement is life itself.
- 20:58And so when we allow ourselves to be contradictory,
- 21:02to be complex,
- 21:04to be a paradox that frankly can't be figured out,
- 21:08then we are actually rewriting the cultural paradigm of
- 21:13what it means to be alive, what's valuable about what we bring,
- 21:19what we're here to experience,
- 21:22what is really at the heart of
- 21:25life. You know, what is a good life?
- 21:28A good life is embracing the paradox of it all,
- 21:32embracing that there's within grief, there's love,
- 21:35and within love there's grief.
- 21:37And within death is always life,
- 21:41and life is a process of accepting and dancing with death.
- 21:45All of this is at the heart of our existence. So
- 21:50there's this invitation here to when we can embrace paradox,
- 21:54we open our gaze to nuance and complexity.
- 21:58We bridge beyond the black and white thinking that is just really
- 22:03so embedded in our cultural narrative right now.
- 22:06And it's really unhelpful.
- 22:08It's very deeply unhelpful to be thinking in black and white terms in a
- 22:13world that is so complex and so numinous, and so
- 22:17full of potential. We need more both and
- 22:21thinking.
- 22:23We need people who are willing to embrace their own paradoxes and
- 22:27complexities so that as a world we can step back
- 22:32into really being in touch with the nature of reality of this...
- 22:37that both and, that they can coexist.
- 22:39That there is not one right way and one wrong way,
- 22:44that there is not an us versus them,
- 22:47but that it's all of us as a part of this greater source coming
- 22:52in to have these individual experiences and learn about our wholeness and our
- 22:56oneness through this experience. So yes,
- 22:59I think embracing the paradox of yourself is this important,
- 23:03is this vital, is this rich. It's such rich terrain.
- 23:09And so I really encourage you to ask yourself,
- 23:11what are the sides of you that you deem unwelcome,
- 23:16the parts of you that feel unacceptable?
- 23:19And this might change given the situation that you're in, right?
- 23:24When I was in my pole dancing class,
- 23:27it's perfectly acceptable to be vivacious and sensual.
- 23:31But when I'm sitting down and teaching about a flower essence,
- 23:35there was definitely a time in my life where I felt like that wasn't welcome.
- 23:38That wouldn't have been okay. And so I ask you in your life,
- 23:43what are the parts of yourself that feel unacceptable,
- 23:47that feel unwelcome,
- 23:49that you feel as if there's no way that they could be embraced
- 23:54in whatever space that you're moving through? And just notice what arises.
- 23:58Notice what comes up.
- 24:00It's often the parts of ourselves that we're resisting the most,
- 24:03that we don't want to embody the most,
- 24:06or that we feel like is the most taboo in a situation,
- 24:09that's actually here to liberate us in the biggest way possible.
- 24:15And I really invite you to play with how can you delight in that
- 24:19energy instead?
- 24:21And I'm not necessarily asking you to wear your pole dance shoes to
- 24:25church on Sunday. You can if you want to. But what I am asking you to do is,
- 24:31in what ways can you personally, in your own life, in your own existence,
- 24:34in your own existence of your reality,
- 24:37delight in these parts of yourself that you think for some reason are just
- 24:42not welcome in certain situations? Can you create arenas,
- 24:46safe spaces, places in your life, where you can enjoy those parts,
- 24:50where they can be let out,
- 24:52where they can be celebrated? To relish the fact that
- 24:57you are like an unsolvable mystery,
- 25:00that you don't know why you like those two things at once.
- 25:03You don't know why you are these two things at once. It's not to be figured out,
- 25:07it's to be experienced.
- 25:10So in what way can you not only embrace that you are a
- 25:14paradox, and that it doesn't make you lesser than,
- 25:16it doesn't make you inconsistent. It doesn't make you confused,
- 25:20it doesn't make you confusing. It makes you human.
- 25:24It makes you a spirit, a soul inside of a human body,
- 25:29having this incredible human experience. It makes you real.
- 25:33It makes connected to the heart of reality.
- 25:37When we feel tension around a certain part of ourselves,
- 25:41and especially a part of ourselves that's unexpressed, or repressed,
- 25:44or somehow we feel like we need to put it in a certain place,
- 25:47that tension is actually energy.
- 25:49It's an indicator of the energy that's here to be used, enjoyed, played with.
- 25:54And that's why when we embrace these parts of ourselves,
- 25:58when we allow them space to delight in life and do their
- 26:02thing, that we free up so much energy.
- 26:07We use an incredible amount of energy anytime we're resisting or repressing
- 26:10something inside of ourselves. And bless our hearts, we're human.
- 26:14It's like part of the deal. And we can do this conscious work.
- 26:18We can do this work of really embracing the
- 26:23paradoxes within us and actually kind of delighting in it. And
- 26:28haven't you found this to be true?
- 26:29That the people who you find most interesting in this world are kind of
- 26:34openly paradoxical? That like you love it, right,
- 26:39if you hear the story about this very spiritual monk who just
- 26:45on their off days, of their days when they're like, go to town,
- 26:49their guilty delight, hey might go get fast food.
- 26:53Isn't that delightful? I made this up. I'm sure that exists somewhere,
- 26:56but there's something about that that's so delightful,
- 26:58right? We love paradox actually,
- 27:02if we sort of drain some of the fear out around paradox of
- 27:06will I be accepted. Will I be embraced?
- 27:10Is it okay if reality is not so predictable if we let that go?
- 27:15Paradox is so fun and delightful.
- 27:18Isn't it more fun to have both and in existence?
- 27:21Isn't it more fun to have two seemingly contradictory things exist at once?
- 27:26It's like the definition of delight.
- 27:28And so you in yourself are like the definition of delightful.
- 27:32When you simply embrace that you have all these layers,
- 27:35you have all these textures,
- 27:37you have all these colors. You're not a riddle to be solved.
- 27:42You are a monument of existence that's here to be honored.
- 27:47You're a work of art, a creation in existence that's here to be honored.
- 27:51You are, in this way,
- 27:53you are like a zen koan.
- 27:57Zen koan don't have answers. That's not the point of a zen koan.
- 28:01A zen koan is asked because, through asking,
- 28:05it breaks down the barriers inside your mind.
- 28:08It opens your mind up to new possibilities of seeing new levels of
- 28:12self-awareness, new perceptions of reality.
- 28:16That's who you are.
- 28:18And when you are willing to embrace the paradox within yourself,
- 28:22you become like a zen koan in this world,
- 28:24something that people might encounter and go,
- 28:28this does not make sense to me,
- 28:29but honestly it's freeing me in ways
- 28:34I can't even express. And I think this is why we love hearing about or being
- 28:38around people who really embody their own paradoxes because it frees us too.
- 28:43It frees our mind, it frees our perspective,
- 28:45and it frees our consciousness back into the wider contours that are possible.
- 28:51So I encourage you to make a list of your own paradoxes. Write them down,
- 28:56make a category, have two different sides. I'm this and this.
- 29:00I'm this and this.
- 29:02I'm introverted and I'm gregarious.
- 29:05I am thoughtful and I'm spontaneous.
- 29:09I'm spiritual and I'm irreverent.
- 29:12Write these things down and maybe even write down with these,
- 29:18when you feel these different sides of yourself come up. You know,
- 29:22when do they have time to play?
- 29:24And make more space for both of those places,
- 29:26especially in the places and the parts of you that don't get enough playtime,
- 29:30that don't get enough time out in the world. And there's this reality where if
- 29:34we can find the paradox in any situation,
- 29:39we find peace.
- 29:41Because so much of what causes us internal strife is trying to
- 29:46make something be a certain way,
- 29:48trying to figure out is this good or is this bad?
- 29:52Is this right or is this wrong? And if we just allow it to be a paradox,
- 29:57to be complex, to have layers, to be like, it's both.
- 30:02This is good for me and this is kind of hard for me.
- 30:05This is something that's bringing a lot of joy to my
- 30:10life,
- 30:11and it's something that's bringing up these layers of grief or loss
- 30:16or worry or whatever it is. That's okay.
- 30:19It's allowed to be a paradox.
- 30:21You're allowed to have both exist at once inside of something,
- 30:25just like you're allowed to have both exist at once inside of yourself. So if we
- 30:28just embrace that the biggest richest things in life will naturally
- 30:33be a paradox, they just will.
- 30:37It's what adds to their beauty. It's what adds to their death.
- 30:39When we can embrace that, we find freedom.
- 30:43We open up energetic layers of our own self,
- 30:46and we can really embrace our own selves in a way that we have access
- 30:50to all of the energy that we're meant to use here on this
- 30:55planet, to be a part of the dreaming of our planet,
- 30:59to bring ourselves closer into the heart of reality and deliver into the heart
- 31:04of reality the gifts that we're here to offer. If paradox contains this
- 31:09much energy, then you, living out your paradox, letting it be,
- 31:13is you allowing life force to exist on this planet.
- 31:18It's allowing yourself to be in alignment with the life force of this planet and
- 31:22letting that energy move through you.
- 31:23And you probably even notice now as you're listening, this sense,
- 31:28this feeling, of more energy arising within you. There's a relief,
- 31:33right? There's a relief in just being the paradox that you are.
- 31:37And I promise that the more
- 31:40you allow yourself to be this paradox,
- 31:42the more you will call into your life the people in situations that really love
- 31:46and honor you as the paradox that you are,
- 31:49that don't want you to be just one thing. That's boring.
- 31:54They don't want that. The people and the places and the situations that are
- 31:58meant for you will delight in the paradox that you are,
- 32:04will find it to be one of the most invigorating and freeing things,
- 32:08will want to be in your presence because you are so willing to embody the
- 32:12paradox.
- 32:13And this is really a force of becoming an evolution for our planet. So as
- 32:18Laozi says in the Tao Te Ching, "when I let go of what I am,
- 32:23I become what I might be." And that's what we're doing.
- 32:28We're letting go of what we think we are,
- 32:31what we've been trained to do in all the ways in which we've been
- 32:36programmed to view, how we view ourselves, what a good person looks like,
- 32:41what an acceptable person looks like. And when we do that,
- 32:44we're becoming who we might be. And so there's this energy, there's this force,
- 32:49of when we do this for ourselves,
- 32:51what we're bringing to the planet is this energy of letting go of what
- 32:56was to embrace what might be.
- 32:59There are so many potentials and possibilities for what might be on this planet.
- 33:05So many. And I think so often we get stuck in the
- 33:10doomsday loop of the news and the news cycle that the
- 33:15things we're being bombarded with every day,
- 33:17that we don't recognize just how much potential and possibility is still before
- 33:21us. How much can shift and change,
- 33:26the ways in which when we let go of what was,
- 33:28we embrace what might still be,
- 33:32we step towards new realities, new possibilities on this planet.
- 33:37And I deeply believe,
- 33:40and have heard over and over again from this earth,
- 33:44that it truly begins with us accepting the earth of our own
- 33:48selves, coming into alignment with the earth of our own beings,
- 33:52with embracing the way reality manifests itself through us,
- 33:57which in this way of thinking is embracing the paradox of who we
- 34:02are, the beautiful, conflicting,
- 34:07confusing, complex,
- 34:10utterly delightful paradoxes that each and every one of us
- 34:14are. The paradox that you are, that you came to embody here on this planet,
- 34:19this is part of your gift, part of why you're here.
- 34:24And I want you to know that this earth is just absolutely
- 34:28delighting in all it is that you carry,
- 34:31in all it is that you are in the complex,
- 34:34nuanced landscape of who you are in your
- 34:37being. And that you simply coming home to that, and resting there,
- 34:42is creating these greater ecological systems of transformation
- 34:46and care on this planet. So if you feel moved to share,
- 34:50I'd love to hear about what paradoxes came up for you.
- 34:55And if you'd like to share, leave me a voice message:
- 34:57head on over to AsiaSuler.com/remember, and you can leave me a voice note there.
- 35:01And I would love to hear your voice and celebrate you in the paradox
- 35:06that you are. And if you're listening to this when this first came out,
- 35:11it is officially a few days before my birthday,
- 35:14which always feels like such a fun time to embrace paradox on one's birthday.
- 35:19What do I want to do for this day?
- 35:20Maybe I want to do all the things that the different parts of me like to do.
- 35:24But if you are listening in this timeframe,
- 35:26then we're running a 20% off sale for my birthday,
- 35:30off everything on the website.
- 35:32So if you're interested in a course or my collection of guided
- 35:36meditations,
- 35:37all of that is there and available and you can get 20% off your entire order
- 35:41between now and the end of my birthday on Friday,
- 35:44July 18th. So if you're interested, go check that out.
- 35:48It would mean a lot to me to get that little birthday gift from you on my
- 35:52birthday. So just use the code birthday20 at checkout,
- 35:55and the entire discount will be applied to your whole cart. And
- 36:00if this podcast is bringing something to your life,
- 36:03if you're enjoying listening,
- 36:06if it's helping you in any way see yourself,
- 36:10embrace yourself,
- 36:12or if you're just finding moments of delight inside this podcast,
- 36:15I would love it if you left me a review, a thumbs up, stars. It means so much.
- 36:20It actually really helps in a very logistical way to get this podcast out
- 36:25there in the world and it just makes my heart sing. So let me actually,
- 36:30lemme do that whole thing again.
- 36:32And if you would like to give me another birthday present,
- 36:37or if you just want to do a good deed, an act of service today,
- 36:41something like leaving flowers on someone's doorstep or a little
- 36:45offering out in the world,
- 36:46then I would love it if you left a rating review or stars or
- 36:51thumbs up for this podcast.
- 36:53It really logistically very much helps this podcast to get out there into the
- 36:57world. And each and every one just means so much to me.
- 37:02I will be reading them on my birthday this year.
- 37:05So if you feel moved to do that,
- 37:07if this podcast has been meaningful to you or helpful for you in any way,
- 37:11that would just be such a wonderful birthday gift for me this week. So thank
- 37:16you. Thank you so much for being here.
- 37:18Thank you for being the paradoxes that you are.
- 37:20I love that we get to hang out as paradoxical people and just
- 37:24enjoy and embrace the levity of it,
- 37:28and delight really in this existence of being able to be who we are:
- 37:32these beautifully complex, paradoxical beings, on this beautifully complex,
- 37:36paradoxical planet. It's a joy.
- 37:42And may your explorations of your own inner paradoxes
- 37:47only bring you closer to this most important thing of all
- 37:53remembering why you're here.
- 37:58Let me do that again.
- 38:00And may your explorations of the podcast And may
- 38:05your embracing of the paradox that you are,
- 38:09this exploration of this beautiful paradox that you contain and that is at the
- 38:13center of your being,
- 38:15may it only bring you closer to this most
- 38:19important thing of all: remembering why you're here.