Today we ask you to accept that people are different.

Though there is a fundamental unity or core that permeates every human and binds all humans together, each human possesses a totally distinct energy frequency.

It is very wise to cultivate consciousness and sensitivity around this.

One of the great sources of conflict between people is their inability to recognize valid differences and distinctions between people.

There is a belief that there is some ideal model of a “good, normal, successful man,” or a “good, normal, successful woman.”

This belief causes no end of suffering.

Naturally, these ideal models vary widely between cultures, nationalities, and generations.  The definition of “good, normal and successful” can change quite rapidly in a society.

That is why these models are meaningless, and destructive.

Think about the 1950’s American version of  “good, normal, successful men” and “good, normal, successful women.”  When you watch films and TV shows from this time period, or current shows set in that time period, you can see what distress these rigid models caused for so many people.

You are fortune to live in a more tolerant time.

And yet, even in 2013, many of you are carrying around notions of “good, normal, and successful” — and suffering terribly because you do not fit into this arbitrary model.

People are different.

It is nonsensical to expect unique human beings to conform to cultural norms.

People are different.

Your friends are different from you.  Your partner is different from you.  Your child is different from you.  Your parents and siblings are different from you.  Your coworkers are different from you.

All of the people you interact with are different from you.  Even if they appear to be very similar, they are different from you.

This seems very obvious.

And yet highly intelligent people do not understand this obvious truth.

People are different.  No one is just like you.  No one should be like you.  And you should not be like anyone else.

If you understood this, you would become more sensitive and compassionate around people’s differences.  You would judge them less, and listen to them more.

If you did this, you would eliminate much conflict and drama from your life.

People are different.  Yes, you know this.  But do you really know this?

Today we ask that you own your value.

It does not matter what you look like.

It does not matter how much money you earn, or what you possess.

It does not matter how “successful” you are.

It does not matter how intelligent, or well-educated you are.

It does not matter how spiritually enlightened you are.

None of these things gives you value.

It is by believing that such things give you value, that you give so much of your power away.

If you changed your core beliefs about these things, you could have a much more enjoyable experience of reality.  And nothing external in your life would have to change.

So please stop believing that certain physical types are more valuable than other physical types.

Stop believing that someone with more possessions or “success” is worth more than someone who possesses less.

Stop believing that “intelligent” people who studied at “good schools” are worth more than people who do not have that education.

Stop believing that more “spiritually evolved” people are worth more than people who appear to be “less evolved.”

The notion that some humans are worth more than others, and that you must strive to increase your value, is a source of terrible suffering.  Most people are imprisoned by this belief.

It is not true.

To reject the belief that some people are simply worth more than others is to open the door of your prison, and walk free.

Do not hesitate to do so.  

You can remain imprisoned by this belief if you choose.  But please ask: why am I clinging to this belief that some people are worth more than others?  How does this belief help me, and give me peace in my life?

Sit with this, and see what arises.  

Today we ask that you learn to discern what voices you can best trust.

In general, if someone has a strongly negative worldview, is prone to anger, pettiness, and jealousy, and has a lot of conflicts with people…

… you would be wise, not to listen to this person.

When weighing a person’s advice, ask yourself:

Is this someone who appears to be healthy, and balanced?

What is the person’s energy like?  Does this person have good energy?

Does it feel good to be around this person?  

Do you feel energized, or drained, by this person?  Is this person calming, or does he stir you up into a frenzy?  

Is this person purely supportive of you?  Or does this person have an agenda?

It is very good to discern when people have agendas.  An agenda is an ulterior motive.

For example, when a person harshly criticizes you or undermines you, then says: “I’m only telling you these things because I care!” — usually there is an ulterior motive.  The person is attempting to manipulate you, to gain power and dominance over you.  Sadly, many unhealthy parents do this to their children.  But such behavior is commonplace in all relationships.

Humans have an innate tendency to trust and believe anyone who speaks with confidence, and authority.

Unfortunately, humans have gotten into terrible trouble because of this.  For often, “voices that speak with authority” can be false.  That is how demagogues and dictators rise to power.

So one of the best skills to develop is that of trusting your inner guidance.

This does not mean, be mistrustful of people.

Rather it means, become more sensitive to your intuition and discernment about people.

Your intuition can almost always tell when someone has an agenda, or ulterior motive.

The best way to get in touch with your intuition is to cultivate a quiet mind.  Through meditative practices, it becomes easier to get in touch with what you sense and discern about people.

Please do not listen to people who are strongly rooted in the energy of fear, anger, or paranoia.  Take with many grains of salt anything that a fearful, angry, or paranoid person says.

Also beware of anyone who attempts to appeal to your vanity.  Beware of flatterers.  This does not mean, don’t take compliments.  Compliments are wonderful, and you deserve them.  But there is a difference between a compliment and flattery.  Flattery comes with an ulterior motive.  With a quiet mind, you can discern the difference between compliments and flattery.

When a person is calm, centered, and clear-eyed — that is someone to listen to.

Question the advice of anyone who has a lot of drama and conflict in his life.  If you wish to cultivate health, hear the wisdom of healthy people.

Today we ask that you not get carried away by concepts and ideologies.

Many spiritually-minded people are attracted to conceptual systems.  It may be Jungian psychology, or kabbalah, or astrology, or theosophy.  It may be a system propounded by a self-help guru.

There is nothing wrong with these systems, in of themselves.  They can be useful and effective tools for gaining insight into the self, and reality.

The problem arises when people become lost in these systems.  They then become like the alchemists and mad scientists of myth, shut away from the world, obsessed with their conceptual systems.

If you are prone to this kind of “mad scientist” behavior, where you get very obsessed with conceptual systems, it is essential that you learn to stay grounded.

Get back into your body.  Go for a walk outside.  Spend time in the garden.  Go to a yoga class.  Whatever you do, get back into your body.  Get grounded.

Again, there is nothing wrong with being a student of Jungian psychology, or the kabbalah, or any codified system that gives insight into the archetypal nature of reality.

Just notice if you get carried away, that is all.  Notice if you start thinking that mastering this system will solve all your problems, and help you control reality.

You are in for a rude awakening, whenever you think you’ve got it all “figured out.”  Reality has a way of throwing banana peels into the path of anyone who believes they’re in control of things.

The best remedy for this is to stay grounded, in your body, on this planet.  This will prevent you from getting carried away.

Today we ask that you have faith.

Faith means, choosing to believe that reality is intrinsically good.

There is no way to prove this to you.  That is why it is called faith.

Faith doesn’t mean, be a fundamentalist.  Fundamentalists have no faith.  They are absolutely certain about their worldview.  They believe their sacred texts literally.  That is not faith; that is certainty.

Faith can only exist in an environment of uncertainty.  If you feel certain about something, that is not faith.

For any wise man, faith is a challenge.  Reality continually challenges faith.  In fact, the moment you begin to feel certain about anything in life, you can almost expect reality to throw you a curveball.

Faith means embracing uncertainty.  Not rejecting it, as the fundamentalist or atheist does.

Faith means, embarking on a voyage.  You may have a destination in mind, but you know full well that you may take some unexpected turns.  The good traveler embraces those unexpected turns, as an integral part of the voyage.

The good traveler has faith that the act of the journey itself is intrinsically good, whether or not he reaches his planned destination.

The good liver of life has faith that the act of living is intrinsically good, whether or not he reaches his planned destinations, or the goals he set for himself as a young person, at the journey’s beginning.

Faith means being a good traveler, on the voyage of human existence.  You are game for whatever comes.  

And you know that your faith will be tested.  That is the nature of faith.  How can you develop it, if you are not tested?

Believe it or not, there is a part of you that wants all these tests and challenges.

It is the traveler part of you, the part that knows this life is but a temporary voyage.  It wouldn’t be a good journey if there weren’t some major detours along the way.

Cultivating faith means, choosing to believe that reality is good, even when events — and the majority of humans — scream otherwise.

It means, believing in the goodness of this world.  Certainly it does not mean engaging in the fundamentalist fantasy of an apocalypse, and utopian aftermath.

Faith means, this world is very good, right now.

It means choosing to believe that life itself, and all living things, are intrinsically good.

It wouldn’t be faith, if you didn’t have terrible doubts.

Today we ask that you let go of your attachment to external voices that tell you that you are “worth something” or “worthless.”

Please stop giving over so much of your power to other people.

Stop giving your power to parents, teachers, and authority figures.  Stop giving your power to people you are desperate to please, people you need to “like you.”

Stop giving your power over to cultural and societal values that determine what is “normal,” or “successful.”

Just stop giving over so much of your power.

Those of you who feel stuck in your lives — ask, who am I giving my power to?

Those of you with low energy or fatigue issues — ask, who am I giving my power to?

Those of you who want to create positive change in your life, but feel unmotivated — ask, who am I giving my power to?

Those of you with low self-esteem — ask, who am I giving my power to?

Look at the ways you give over your power.

Make the decision to reclaim that power.

Say: “I am reclaiming my power.”

“I am reclaiming my power from [this person].”

Reclaim your power from those you gave your power over to years ago.  Some of you may be giving over your power to dead people.  They don’t need it!

No one else needs your power.

You need your power.

So please, look at the ways in which you give away your power.

All of you are fully supported by this universe.  All of you are given a great deal of power.

But the universe cannot stop you from giving it away.

Please, reclaim your power.

Today we ask that you accept people as they are.

This is a very hard thing for most people.  Really, it is a skill to be mastered.  If you master this skill, you will feel much calmer and more stable in your life.

People are who they are.  But there is a tendency to either idealize people, or vilify them.  One moment you see them through rose-colored glasses.  The next, they are monsters and villains.  People are all good, or all bad.

In reality, people are messy, and complex.  They are neither heroes, nor villains.  They are just like you: a complex bundle of conflicting desires and motives.  Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are not so good.  In general, this is what it is to be human.

Dogs are dogs, and cats are cats.  Dogs tend to do dog-like things, and cats tend to do cat-like things.  If you don’t like dogs, you probably shouldn’t live with one.  If you hate cats, don’t live with one.

And yet people often find themselves deeply entangled with types of people they don’t like at all.  They then sit around wishing the person was different.  This is like wishing for a dog not to be a dog, or a cat not to be a cat.

When a dog does doggy things, it is very predictable.

When a cat does catty things, it is very predictable.

When a self-absorbed person does self-absorbed things, it is very predictable.

And yet so often you are shocked!

When a judgmental person behaves judgmentally, it is very predictable.

And yet so often you are shocked!

When a dishonest person does something dishonest, it is very predictable.

And yet so often you are shocked!

Why are you so shocked?  Usually people’s patterns of behavior are very predictable.

It is because you idealize people.  You wear rose-colored glasses, often ignoring what is happening right in front of you.

Then, when these very predictable people do something predictable, you are shocked!  Suddenly, they are horrible.  They are monsters.

All that has happened is, your distorted perception has been corrected.

This does not mean, be very cynical, and never trust anyone.

It just means, it is good to be very honest with yourself about what you are perceiving and sensing.

People do change, but usually change happens slowly, and gradually.  If it happens overnight, beware.  Overnight change rarely lasts.

It is okay to be involved with messy, complex, imperfect people.  Who isn’t messy, complex, and imperfect?

But it is crazy to want a messy, complex, imperfect person to be a pure hero.  Naturally, they will fail to live up to your expectations.

See people as they are, not as you wish them to be.  Accept them as they are.  Do not be surprised when they do things you disapprove of.  The wise man is never surprised by human fragility.

The more clearly you perceive people, the easier it will be for you to have compassion for them.  

Today we ask that you not get caught up in life drama.

Everyone has a life drama.  It does not matter if you work in a coffee shop, or are the President of the United States.  If you are a human and you are breathing, you are experiencing a life drama.

Life drama is just like the drama in movies and on TV shows.  There are stakes, there are consequences.  There are fears, there are conflicts.  

Will you ever find Mr. Right?

Will your business thrive, or go under?

Will your child get his act together, or fail?

What if your health collapses?  Will you ever be well again?

Will climate change destroy the world?

Ask almost everyone what is going on with them, and you will get an earful of life drama.  You will hear their conflicts, their grievances, their injustices, their fears.  You will hear how they have no control over anything and how crazy it makes them.  Everyone is the star of their own reality show.

You may notice that in movies and TV, the characters usually suffer terribly.  They may sometimes reach a happy ending, but not without a great deal of suffering along the way.

So there is an intrinsic connection between drama, and suffering.

If a character on TV or in a movie suddenly gained the awareness that he was merely a character playing a part in an imaginary reality, what would happen?

Some movies have depicted versions of this.

If the character in the film understands that he is merely a role performed by an actor, who will go on to perform many different roles in his lifetime, how would that affect the character?

Initially, the character would experience profound existential confusion.  The character would no longer be sure who he is, or what he is doing.  The character would become increasingly aware that his role is temporary.  At some point, the show will end, the curtain will fall.  But the actor playing him will continue.  If he really accepted this, he would no longer be at the mercy of the drama.  Things would still happen, but he would not take it so seriously, nor be so frightened all the time.

This is a way to describe the state all of you currently are in.

You are like characters, in a film.  The character is who you think you are, your ego identity.  The movie is your unfolding life drama.

But beneath that role, that character, is your deeper, truer self.  This is like the “actor.”  The actor is that part of you which is immortal, which transcends this particular life drama.  When your character dies, the actor continues — just as the actor in a film or TV show lives on, even when the character he plays dies.

This is really the nature of enlightenment.

An enlightened person knows that his ego identity, and all the drama associated with that persona, is temporary.  At a certain point, the curtain will fall, the drama will end — but you will continue, beyond your ego identity.

Knowing this, an enlightened person is no longer at the mercy of his life drama, and does not experience the same kind of suffering.  He may certainly still experience pain and loss, but he does not feel the same kind of continual suffering and anguish.

It is like waking up in a dream.  For those of you who have ever had a lucid dream, you know that the moment you become aware “I am dreaming,” the dream drama no longer has any power over you.  

The process of meditation is an ancient and powerful method of realizing the dream-like, film-like nature of reality.

The moment you gain even a little awareness of this, the life drama ceases to have as much power over you.

This doesn’t mean you have to be a monk in a cave.  You can still live your life and do all the things you do.  You can create light, beauty and goodness in this world.  In fact, you will be much freer to do so, because you will not be experiencing nearly as much suffering or anguish over things — especially all the things you cannot control.  

You are a dreamer in a dream, a character in a movie.  And what a splendid dream it is, what a grand and magnificent movie, this reality you perceive yourself to be in.  

Some of you may fantasize about living inside your favorite movies, or TV shows.

In truth, your wish has already come true.

So — knowing this, enjoy yourself!  And do not be so afraid.  Even the most fearful aspects of this reality are temporary and passing.  The show always ends, the curtain always falls.  But the actors take their bows, and continue on.  So will you.

It is okay if you do not believe this.  But if you do, you will suffer less, and enjoy life more.

Today we ask that you look at your scar tissue.

Many people are walking around with a heavy burden of psychic scar tissue.

Scar tissue serves a purpose.  It grows over a wound.  It stops the bleeding, and protects the body.

But sometimes scar tissue can stand in the way of true and full healing.  Sometimes the body learns to compensate, to avoid pain, in ways that prevent the full healing of an injury.

When this happens, it is necessary to work with the scar tissue itself.  Sometimes scar tissue must be removed for a fuller healing to take place.

The emotional body is just like the physical body.  It can be wounded.  It grows scar tissue.   It learns to compensate.

When people experience severe emotional trauma, the scar tissue that forms is often of a nature that dulls or deadens the emotions.  It may also attempt to compensate, or protect the injury, by avoiding any further emotional trauma.  

So, classically, people who are very hurt in romantic relationships develop an aversion to exposing themselves to further hurt.  This aversion is scar tissue in the emotional body.  It grows over an injury, and serves to protect that person.  Ultimately, however, it causes additional, unintended damage — by preventing that person from connecting intimately with others.  

An important part of your growth process as a human is to honestly look at yourself, and assess the places in which you carry psychic scar tissue.

Usually these coincide with hot-spot issues in your life, those areas in which you feel most vulnerable, and insecure.

The good news is, the emotional body is even more plastic than the physical body.  It can be healed, even after sustaining major injuries.

It is just that healing psychic injuries is difficult, and in many ways easier to avoid than healing physical injuries.  It requires the opening and examination of old psychic wounds, which can feel very painful.

However, this is a very worthwhile pain.  Clearing away psychic scar tissue can allow old, unhealed injuries to fully heal.  This releases a huge amount of stuck energy in your life.  It can literally transform your life experience.

One of the greatest skills you can learn is that of knowing when your emotional body is severely injured, and surrendering to the healing process.

If you are carrying around a lot of anger at people who have wronged you, at the world in general, or at God or the universe, this is a good indicator that you have old psychic injuries in need of excavation.  If you are crippled by your fears, this is also true.  

Imagine a person who has broken a leg, but continues to walk around with a cast and crutches many years later — possibly for the rest of his life — because he is too scared to remove the cast.

That is what many people are like, when it comes to psychic injuries.  They are limping through their lives, cut off from their full mobility and empowerment, because they are afraid.  Removing the cast will be a painful procedure, but the subsequent relief will make it very worthwhile.

If you are someone who carries around terrible anger, or crippling fear, please seek help.   Do not stop at masking the problem with antidepressants or other drugs.  Drugs can help deal with the symptoms, but they do not address the root problem.  A cure is possible.  Please find a good therapist, or hypnotherapist.  Find a good energy worker, or healer.  Find someone who specializes in dealing with PTSD.  

If you cannot afford to work with someone, the Work of Byron Katie and EFT are techniques you can do at home, for free, that can be very helpful in healing psychic injuries.  You can also learn how to meditate.  Meditation allows deeply buried issues to come to light, as you sit with yourself and notice what arises.

Don’t be afraid of uncovering old psychic injuries.  Which would you prefer?  A sharp, temporary pain, followed by profound and lasting relief?  Or a dull, debilitating pain that never fully heals?  The choice is yours.

Today we ask that you examine your aversion to disapproval and rejection.

If approval is the sweet sugar all humans instinctively crave, disapproval and rejection is the painful electric shock from which all humans instinctively recoil.

In scientific experiments, laboratory animals, like rats, are conditioned using sugar pellets, and electric shocks.

Sugar encourages a desired behavior.  Electric shocks stop the animal from an undesired behavior.

This is a highly effective form of conditioning.  You can get rats to perform complex tasks using sugar pellets as a reward, and electric shocks to discourage unwanted behavior.

Humans are not so different from rats.  In fact, many children are conditioned in similar ways.  They are rewarded for desirable behavior with sugary treats, and punished for undesirable behavior by being yelled at, which produces a physical response in the body that is almost identical to an electric shock.

Humans instinctively crave approval, and fear rejection.  For much of human history, to be rejected by your parents or tribe meant a death sentence.  The human brain therefore associates rejection with death.

This is why for so many people the experience of disapproval, rejection, and criticism feels so horrible and debilitating.  The human brain instinctively responds to disapproval and rejection as a terrible threat.  It may even feel like you are being killed.  At minimum, the experience of disapproval and rejection is usually quite painful.

Because of this instinctive pattern, combined with childhood conditioning, many humans are really not free in their lives.  They are enslaved by their approval/rejection conditioning.  They spend their days pursuing the sweet sugar pellets of approval, and avoiding the painful electric shocks of disapproval and rejection.  They are like rats in a maze.

The energy of disapproval, rejection, and criticism can be so destructive for people that it creates paralysis, sickness, and sometimes even drives people to suicide.

In lab experiments, animals that are exposed to constant electric shocks, without any clear pattern or reason behind them, will fall into a state of helpless paralysis.  They will not try to do anything, for fear of the shock.  They are frozen.

Something similar happens to children who are raised in environments where they are exposed to constant disapproval and harsh criticism.  They fall into a state of helpless paralysis.  The same thing happens to adults in environments where disapproval and harsh criticism are continual.

This may sound very tragic, and indeed it is true that many people are imprisoned by this instinctive tendency of the human mind.

The good news is, there is a way out.

The first step is simply becoming conscious of how much your life is currently run by approval/rejection conditioning.  

Are you desperate for approval?  Are you terrified of disapproval and rejection?

One thing to keep in mind is: disapproval and rejection will not kill you.

Your animal instincts may tell you otherwise.

But when in your life has disapproval, rejection, or negative criticism actually killed you?

Obviously, you are here, reading these words.  It didn’t kill you.

Disapproval and rejection will not and cannot kill you.

If you really own this, you are well on your way to freedom.

Disapproval and rejection may feel unpleasant.  In fact, it may feel like a strong electric shock, that traumatizes your system.

But at the end of the day, this is all it is.  A momentary painful shock.

One thing that happens is people become so averse to disapproval, rejection, and criticism that they are consumed by the desire to avoid it at any cost.  When this happens, they actually begin to give themselves the “electric shock,” even when nothing external is happening.

This is how paralysis sets in.  You are so terrified of the electric shock of disapproval and rejection, that you sit around worrying about it all the time, and as a result you keep reliving the experience in your imagination over and over.  Every time you relive it in your imagination, you actually experience the “shock.”  Nothing outside is giving it to you, at this point.  You are giving it to yourself!  So you become paralyzed, like the helpless rat who is constantly being shocked.  

Disapproval, rejection, criticism and judgment cannot kill you.  Your cave man brain believes otherwise, but it is not true.

One of the best ways to inure yourself to unpleasant experiences is to sit with the experience, without reacting.

For example: pinch your arm.  This is painful.  Your instinct will say: make it stop!  But if you do not react, if you simply sit with the painful sensation, you will find that it is not so bad.  It is tolerable.  It is even interesting, on some level.

This is called, cultivating equanimity.

Sit with a memory of someone disapproving of you, rejecting you, or harshly criticizing you.  Notice the feelings that arise.

Now, imagine that you are standing outside yourself, observing yourself in that situation.  Was the experience of disapproval or rejection killing you, at the time?  No, it was not.  

Now, go back inside the memory.  Isolate the different emotions you are feeling (anger, terror, frustration, etc.), and the physical sensations (tightness in the chest, sick stomach, etc.)  Just sit with these sensations, without reacting.  Like the “pinch,” you may find these sensations much more tolerable than you might have otherwise thought.  You are capable of sitting with these unpleasant sensations, without getting reactive.  

With practice, you can increase your tolerance to disapproval and rejection, the same way you can increase your tolerance to physical pain and discomfort.

If you take the time to do this, you will be freer than most humans alive on the planet.

And if you combine increased tolerance to disapproval and rejection along with a reduced craving for the sweet sugar of approval, you will be amazed by the freedom you experience in your life.

To no longer crave the sugar of approval, nor fear the electric shock of disapproval and rejection, is true freedom.

You are then like the lab rat who breaks right out of the maze, and goes off to do what he really wants to do with his life.