Today we ask that you be considerate of your own individual neurology.

What does this mean?

Every human has a different brain.

No two brains are alike.

Many of you have concepts about “normal” brains, and “abnormal” brains.

Many of you who deal with various forms of anxiety, depression, and other neurological “disorders” may believe that your brains are “abnormal.”

It is not so much that your brains are “abnormal.”  

Your brains are unique.

And human beings are currently undergoing a rapid evolutionary process that is being manifested on a wide scale with neurology that appears to be “abnormal.”  What is called “autism” is very much a part of this.

It is not that you possess abnormal or defective brains.

Rather, you have brains in which an extremely high volume of energy is running.  

This is happening at the same time that humans are living more sedentary lives, and absorbing a lot of toxicity into their bodies, from food and the environment.  In addition, humans are spending most of their time absorbing electrical stimuli from TV and computers.

So your neurology essentially “short circuits.”

Not only are your evolving brains running a lot of energy on their own, but you are constantly bombarding them with additional stimuli.  Meanwhile, your bodies are sedentary, and overtaxed cleaning out toxicity from food and the environment.

The point is, maybe your brains are not abnormal.  Your brains are doing the best they can under very challenging circumstances.  Nevertheless, they may be going haywire.

Most brain dysfunction is essentially electrical in nature.  This affects the biochemistry, but the root of the issue is electrical.

Your brains are overloaded with electricity.  They are shorting out.

This is why it is absolutely essential that you learn to ground yourselves.

Grounding practices balance your energy, and particularly help to discharge excess or loose electrical energy.

One of the simplest ways to ground yourself is to literally stand on the ground.

Go outside, in bare feet, or socks.

And stand on the open ground.

If you did this several times a day, particularly when working with computers, you would notice an improvement in your well-being.

If you are feeling “fried” or “burnt out,” standing on the open ground with bare feet is a very simple healing practice.

It is good to go outside.

It is good to take relaxing baths.

It is good to turn off the TV, phone, and computer.

It is good to be around animals and children.

It is good to meditate.

It is good to do grounding physical practices, like yoga and tai chi, that balance out the energy system.

It is good to work with energy workers and healers.

It is not that your brains are broken or defective.

You are evolving.  Humans are rapidly evolving.

It is essential that you help to midwife the evolutionary process within yourselves.

You must remain balanced, grounded, and in touch with the earth.  You must assist your bodies and brains in these challenging times.

If you are feeling anxious and nervous, try going outside, and standing on the ground with bare feet, or socks.  You will see — it works!

Today we ask that you honor your teachers.

And know that everyone you interact with is a teacher.

Every interaction you experience is a learning situation.

You can learn from everyone, and everything.

Some might even say this is what you are here to do.

We would say that learning is a part of what you are here for.  Not all.  But a major part.

So embrace your teachers.

And know that the people who challenge you the most are usually your greatest teachers.

Just as in school, the greatest teachers are the ones who really challenge you.  You learn the most from such teachers.

In this way, family members with whom you have contentious relationships can be great teachers.

But even the annoying clerk on the phone, or the person who cuts you off in traffic can be a great teacher, too.

Your own body can be a great teacher, particularly if you deal with physical or mental illness.  Illness is a great teacher.

Children are always great teachers.

Think of all you have learned in this lifetime.

Could you have learned it any other way?

So that is why reality is a great teacher.

And everyone you meet today is a teacher.

Animals are teachers.

Even inanimate objects can be teachers.

The mountains are teachers.  The oceans are teachers.  The clouds and rain and weather are teachers.

If you walk through life in the position of a very open-minded student who is eager to learn, then the flow of reality will really start to make sense to you.

Today we ask that you examine the idea of “specialness.”

“Specialness” is so much a part of your culture that most of you do not question it.

“Specialness” simply means that some things are better or more important than others.

So, in your world, there are special people.  Celebrities, the very wealthy, people who win prizes, politicians, athletes — such people are considered “special” in your reality.

That is why so many people crave nothing more than to become rich and famous.

Specialness is very insidious.

Parents wish their children to be more special than other children.

People fantasize about special romantic relationships — so much so the they are closed off to the real, true relationships that are right in front of them.

People get hung up on “special days.”  Weddings, bar mitzvahs, confirmations, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.

People experience terrible stress around “special days,” for if these special days fall short of their fantasies, there is deep depression, and disappointment.

This is one of the causes of postpartum depression.  Women believe that motherhood and birth will imbue them with specialness.  When confronted with the all too mundane reality of parenthood, depression follows.

Notice this pattern in yourselves.

Do you have an obsession with specialness?

Are you especially interested in the lives of celebrities?

Do you fantasize about being a “special person”?

Do you fantasize about “special days”?  Weddings, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.  The birth of a child.

Do you fantasize about your children being “special”?

As commonplace as all this is, the craving for specialness is a direct road to terrible misery.

This is why people get depressed around holidays, and other “special days.”

This is why people spend fortunes on weddings they can’t afford.

It is why they buy big, special houses they can’t afford, or send their children to special schools they can’t afford.

Specialness, specialness, specialness.

If you could let go of the craving for specialness, what deep,  lasting, profound peace you would feel.

How present you would be.

You would greet each day with equanimity.  Each day would be “special,” and no day would be “special.”

You would no longer fantasize about events in the future that will make you special.  You would not be let down and depressed when your fantasies do not come to pass.

You would be better parents to your children.

You would have a saner, more loving society.

All of this would happen if you could let go of your obsession with specialness.

And people would still do wonderful things.

They would do wonderful things, and not be driven mad — like so many of your celebrities, who have been driven mad by the addiction to specialness.

So just observe this behavior in yourself.  Notice how it operates inside of you.

If you observe it, it will lose its power.

Today we ask that you believe and know in your hearts that there is nothing to fear.

There is nothing to fear.

There is nothing to fear.

For many people, these appear to be fearful times.  The world is changing.  Things that they believe in, that they were taught by their parents and culture, are being questioned.  And the more deeply entrenched one is in the old ways of being, the more frightening these changes are.

But there is nothing to fear.

There is nothing to fear.

Truly, there is nothing to fear.

The world must change.  It cannot stay as it has been.  The world must change.

The changes that are coming are purely good.

The changes that are coming are purely good.

And the more you relax, the more you cultivate a calm and peaceful mind, the easier it shall be for you to ride these waves.

When you wade into the ocean, you are buffeted by the waves.

If you stand rigid and locked, this experience is very painful and frightening.  The waves strike you.  They knock you down.  It is a terrifying experience.

But if you allow your body to relax and be fluid, you begin to move with the waves.  The more you relax, the more pleasurable the experience becomes.  It is exhilarating, it is fun.  Yes, you may still be knocked down.  But you laugh when you are knocked down.  You do not take it personally.

So that is the best way to live in these times.

Relax.  Let go.  Let go.

Let your body and spirit move with the wind, the waves, the water.

Be like the water and the wind.  

Go where you are sent.

Receive what comes to you.

Accept the life that you are given.

Love and embrace the life you are given.

Love and embrace this reality.

There are no mistakes.

And if you are one who has already learned to ride the waves with grace, and embrace change — have compassion for your brothers and sisters who are not there yet.  

Today we ask that you not worry about things that are beyond your control.

Everything in your external reality is beyond your control.

Everything.

You are not in control of anything.  If it sometimes seems like you are, this is a temporary illusion.  The passage of time will soon disabuse you of this notion.

There is only one thing you have control over.

And that is what is inside.

The way you perceive things.  The quality of your consciousness.

This, you have some control over.  Though “control” is not the best word for it.  It is more like you are operating a vehicle, and with skill and practice can become a good driver of your consciousness.

The best thing to do with your consciousness, always, is to relax and stay calm, no matter what is happening externally.

You may believe it is impossible to stay calm when life is so upsetting and worrisome, but this is not so.

Many of you believe that you are supposed to worry about things.  That it is irresponsible not to be tense and worried all the time.  But this is not so.

Who do you want around you, in a crisis?  A tense, anxious, worried person?  Or a calm, relaxed person?

Who is more comforting?

As a child, which would you prefer?  A tense, anxious parental figure?  Or a calm, relaxed parent?  Who would a child feel more secure with?

So really the best thing to do in this life is to cultivate a calm mind through meditative practices.  

This can be as simple as learning to meditate on the breath, and still the thinking mind.  Physical practices that get you back into your body, like yoga or tai chi, are also very beneficial.

Because you cannot ever control what is happening outside of you.  

But you do have the capacity to be a good driver of your own consciousness.

Change the way you perceive things, and you will change your life.

And then you will change the world.

Not by trying to change the world.

The only way to change the world is to go inward.

So don’t worry.  That never helped anyone.

Today we ask that you receive what you are given.

Reality is constantly giving you things.  It gives you experiences.  It gives you moments.  It brings people into your life.  Things are always happening.

Most people tend to live life in a reactive mode.  They wake up tired, and worry about what the day will bring — as if reality were something to be fended off.  They meet reality with armor on and shields up, worried about what new threat is coming their way today.

But there is another way to live.

And that is to wake up, and greet reality as a friend.  What new experiences will it bring you today?

Children wake up like this.  Reality is a friend, and each new day a cause for excitement.

But adults forget this feeling.

Can you remember how to wake up like a child?

Can you greet the new day with a sense of joy, and playfulness?

It is possible even to meet difficult or negative experiences with this feeling.

Reality is always giving you something.  Even if the experience is challenging, there is something to be received.  Many of you, in retrospect, can perceive that your challenging experiences were great gifts.

So be open to receiving what reality brings today, whether “good” or “bad.”  Reality is always giving you something.  If you are quiet and spacious, it is easier to receive.

Today we ask that you have compassion for people who are suffering, but do not believe them completely.

What does this mean?

Most people feel like victims in one way or another.  Many people will readily tell you how they have been victimized, how life has dealt them a bad hand and been cruel.

And often if you heard their stories of pain, tragedy, and grief, you would agree that awful things have happened to them, and feel very bad.  You might even become hopeless, and depressed.  

It is okay to listen calmly as people tell you their stories of suffering.  It is good to be quiet, and compassionately sit with them — not judging, not arguing.  Just be quiet with someone, when they tell you about their pain.

However, it is very important that you do not believe in everything they say.

That is not to say they are liars.  They are very likely telling you the facts and the truth as they perceive it.

And this does not mean they are not feeling real and terrible pain.

But the upshot of all stories of victimhood is that there is something wrong with reality.

Reality is cruel.

Reality is unjust.

Reality is broken.

If you believe in God, then it is God who is cruel, unjust, and broken.

If you are an atheist, then it is because you live in a random, meaningless, totally uncaring universe.  That is why bad things happen to good people.

None of that is true.

Reality is not cruel, or broken.

You do not live in a random, uncaring universe.

Each and every one of you is deeply loved, more than you can conceive of.

There are no mistakes.

We know that every cell in your being may cry out in outrage at this idea, and yet is is true.  

There are no mistakes in reality.

And if you accepted this on a deep level, you would no longer experience suffering.  You might experience pain, and loss — but you would not suffer unnecessarily.

Suffering exists because you believe in the possibility of mistakes in reality.  Because you believe that things happen, that should not happen.

Nothing is happening, that should not happen.

This will be clear to you when you depart your physical bodies, at “death.”

Until then, it is a matter of faith.  

Faith in the goodness of reality means an end to the mental suffering that occurs when one cries out: “This should not be!”

And that is why it is good to create space for people who are suffering, and to listen to them and be present for them.  However, if you believe them, you will become hopeless and depressed.  And then you can’t help anyone.

So listen, and be still.  But do not believe that the universe is broken because bad things appear to happen to good people.

Reality is so much bigger than you could possibly dream of.  There is so much you don’t know.

But rest assured: reality is good.  Life is good.  

Today we ask that you know it is possible to create deep change within yourself.

Many people follow life paths that are very rigid and predictable.  There is a burst of vital energy in youth, that flattens out as one reaches adulthood, and one follows in the paths laid down by one’s parents, ancestors and culture.  This is followed by the decline into old age and death.

Such lives are heavily proscribed by one’s genes, one’s culture, and one’s karma — which is to say, what you brought in with you, into this lifetime.

But is very possible to change all of this.

You can rewrite your genes.  This is true.  You can actually rewrite your genetic material, and even pass on different genes to your offspring.  

You can change your karma.  This is true.

This is why in every generation, certain individuals radically break out of their genetic and cultural matrices.  Such beings are capable of creating great collective evolution for all mankind.

You can do this.

It begins with questioning.

You question what your parents and culture have taught you.

You question collective and societal values.

You even begin to question your thoughts.  You learn not to believe your thoughts.  Your thoughts are deeply influenced by genes and culture; they cannot be believed.

Instead of listening to the external voices and the internal critic, you begin to listen to something else.

The stillness.  The silence.

The sound of your breath.  The beating of your heart.

You learn to meditate, and quiet down the mind.

You learn how to relax the nervous system.

You learn to step outside of the collective drama.

When you do this, you are rewriting your genes.  You are changing your karma.

For most people, life is like a closed, predictable loop, from birth to death.

But it is possible to open the loop.  To break the loop.  To move into new, unexplored territory.  Places your parents and ancestors would never have dreamt of going.

You can do this.  You can do this now.

You are not a victim of your genes, culture, or karma.  

You can liberate yourself completely.  

The path lies in the still center within you.  In the space between your thoughts, when you are very open, calm, and still — that is the way.

Today we ask that you do not confuse yourself with other people.

This is one of the traps that egos so often fall into.

The ego looks at someone else.  Someone you know, someone you don’t know.  And it says: “That person has something you don’t have.  You should have what that person has.”

This is also known as “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.”

A lot of unnecessary suffering arises from this phenomenon.  You look at other people and feel this sense of lack, because they appear to have something you do not.

Maybe they appear to be more successful in their careers, or make more money.  Maybe they have a good relationship or marriage.  Maybe they have a child.  Maybe their child is better-behaved than your child.  Maybe they have a bigger house, a nicer car.  Maybe they have more free time.  Maybe they have better health.  It is endless, all the ways in which egos compare themselves to other egos, and find themselves lacking.

It is a terrible, misery-creating thing.  For always life is not good enough.  Someone is better off than you, and you can’t stand it.

You cannot find inner peace until you let go of this completely.

You cannot be someone else.  You cannot have someone else’s life.

The life you are living, right now, is the perfect life for you.

Moreover, everyone deals with challenges and struggles.  You cannot really know what someone else’s life is truly like.  All you know is your own fantasy, your projection about that other person.  That is why the grass always seems greener somewhere else.  It is an illusion.

Sometimes it is even harder to love and embrace your own individual life, because well-meaning, but misguided people tell you that your life really is lacking, and should be different and better.

If you are single, how often do well-meaning friends want to “set you up” in a relationship?

If you are in a relationship but have no children, how often do well-meaning people insist that you should have a child, for your life to be complete?

If you are non-religious, but have religious friends, how often do these people insist that you must have religion in your life, for your life to be complete?

This is very common.

Such people mean well, but they are very misguided.

What works in your life will not necessarily work in someone else’s.

Parents often make this error, by attempting to impose their choices and values on children who might be totally unsuited to them.

Everyone is different.  No two humans are alike.

What is good for someone else might not be good for you.

And what is good for you might be terrible for someone else.

Knowing this is very wise.  Neither crave someone else’s life, nor try to convince someone else that they ought to have yours.

Just be yourself.  Love the grass you’re standing on.  Then you will find peace.