Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Do you ever find yourself worrying about life, worrying about how things are going to work out, wondering what's going to happen next?
Certain situations aren't happening the way you want.
It can be very, very upsetting and disturbing, especially if things are unpredictable and unexpected.
Today we're talking about spiritual surrender, how to trust the universe, how to let go and trust that things are working out.
Because there is an intelligence behind the events of life, even if it's not obvious to us right away. And today we're diving into what is that intelligence? What is it that's going on? And how can we come into a. A state of consciousness where we stop being so stressed out and anxious and instead come into a place of trust and ease and grace and align with what is the highest good for all? So welcome, welcome, welcome. Hello, Shereen, how are you doing?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Hello, Michael. Thank you.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Yay. So I'm putting you on the spot here. Train has a course on the spot. She has a course called the Trust Code, I do believe it's called. And that is in some way related to this, right? Because in life, all sorts of strange things occur.
It could be relationship issues out of nowhere. It could be money issues, could be health problems. It could be mental stuff. It could be all kinds of things, right? Having to move places or something. Something. Something in work.
So when these things happen, typically our response is resistance, stress. We don't like it. It shouldn't be like this. Why is it happening to me? Why is it happening now? I haven't got time for this. Right? Oh, my God. So that's the general response to things that happen that we don't like.
So what is a improved way of handling situations when they come up?
[00:02:14] Speaker B: You know, Einstein said the most fundamental question we need to ask ourselves, all human beings, is do you feel the universe is working for your benefit or something to that effect? Right, I'm paraphrasing. Is it working for you or it's working against you? Is it a benevolent universe or a universe that is out to get you?
That's a question you have to ask yourself. And after you ask yourself that question, it's really important to understand that it's actually working for your benefit. And even if you don't believe it, you have to take it as an experiment.
And that's the hypothesis, Right? The universe is working for my benefit. That's the hypothesis. And let me experiment. So you believe the hypotheses and you test the hypotheses.
And so what I've done is in my own life before I knew about Einstein saying this is, I did have many doubts and many questions and all of those things, right. And not only did I make myself miserable, but it was kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy because I felt things were not going to work out. It didn't work out.
But on the other hand, right, it's just my own experience, it's not a scientific experiment I did or any of those things. On the other hand, when I started really having radical acceptance, really trusting that everything is for my benefit and it's really, it's a benign benevolent world and I'm okay. When I started trusting these not only start did I enjoy myself more, but things started working out better because you are attracting that kind of energy back to you, right?
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Yeah. That's very deep. So you started practicing it as an experiment and what was the result of that experiment?
[00:04:26] Speaker B: That hundred percent of the time what I thought was not a good idea, not beneficial, later turned out to be a blessing.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: That's funny, isn't that?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: 100% of the time?
[00:04:41] Speaker A: 100%. Well that's quite a high success rate, isn't it? 100%.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: At that point I was, I, you know, later when I realized what the blessing was and then I look back and I say, why did I worry so much? And so let me go into a situation, whether I like it or don't like it, thinking there's a blessing somewhere there is a hidden blessing because then I'll enjoy myself, what's the point in worrying? And then you realize, oh my God, there's actually a blessing.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: That's a good point. And one of the ways to, to be able to do this, like to actually receive the blessing and find the blessing and not get so stressed is to go back into, to your own experience through life and think about how many times this has already happened. Because there must be patterns, right?
This, the, the general theme from my personal experience is happens like this. So we're going about our life and we have our ideas about how things should be as far as we're concerned and what we want to happen, right? It should be like this, shouldn't be like this. And I want it to be like this, right? So we're going along and then something else happens instead. Some different thing happens that we didn't plan, right? And there it is. And, and the initial response tends to be this is terrible. Why is this happening? Why is it happening to me? Why is it happening now? And then later on when we look back on it, we can see that actually there was some Benefit. So before I get into any stories, I want you to think as the listener, how many times has something like this happened to you already in your life, right?
Where something happened, you didn't like it, you complained about it, it upset you. And then down the road you realized that's a really good thing that that happened.
That's a really good thing that it happened. It's worth, just as an experiment, writing this stuff down. What has helped me personally is just thinking over this again and again and again and again because it builds trust. The longer we can go back in, in time, you know, like, and just I could have hundreds, hundreds of stories. Like the first one, probably the one that's like. What started me on my spiritual journey is that I felt really, really bad. So obviously at the time when that was happening, I didn't think it was good at all. I thought it was terrible. I felt stressed out. I felt like I was wasting my life. I didn't know who I was. So everything about my life was, was dark and terrible, right? So in that moment it seemed like this is the pits of the pits. Like what? This is awful. But because of that, I became open to something new. And because I was open to something new, I ended up having some profound spiritual experiences which then led me to completely change my life, right? But there's no question I. I didn't like it at the time.
In, in recent, this last year, I've had to do a whole bunch of what I would consider tedious technical stuff which I don't particularly like in my work. You know, email systems and techie stuff and lists and all these things.
But. And so I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, and I can't say I was whoopy doo, this is the best news ever.
But the result of that is I've learned all these things now that are already having beneficial effects and they're going to keep getting better and better and better. So that unpleasant experience leads to some sort of transformation which then allows us to learn and change something in ourselves and in our life, which afterwards turns out to be extremely useful, right? I mean, even, even recently, I did a fast, right? I did a seven, eight day fast, Rob water fast, which I didn't plan really, I just ended up doing it. But the benefit of that is that I had time to think about health more because I was. It wasn't eating and I was just like in a different state. So I learned certain things that now I know, I think are going to help me in the future.
So this Is like the pattern. And it goes round and round and round, round, round. Challenge happens, forces us to learn something, and then once we get the message, we get the benefit. Now, what often happens is that we might not get the message right away and we might not do anything about it right away. So then what happens, Shree, if we don't get the message? What happens if we don't get it?
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Patience.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: It's gonna happen again. That's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get a different problem.
If I don't get the message now. Right.
Then something else will come until.
And so sometimes it goes round and round, around. Yeah, so sometimes we get the message possibly 10, 15, 20, even 100 times before it, like, really sinks in.
And then we get it afterwards.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: One of the things I've noticed is our biggest enemy is ego.
And what ego tells you is, I am right, I have ownership and it should go my way.
And because of these three things going on in the background, first, nothing goes your way. I mean, you can think that it's going to go your way. You can control, it's going to go your way, it's going to go your way for a little bit, but eventually it doesn't.
And so it's really beyond your control. You have to release control. That's the beauty, right? It's like a bird hanging onto a thorny bush and saying, oh, I'm hurting. I'm hurting. No, release it. Because then you can fly.
And so to really release that control, because things are not going to go your way, eventually, at some point, everyone will realize that things will not go your way.
And to, you know, like children of parent. Parents of little children, right? Oh, they're the best ever. They're so sweet. Whatever, right? They listen to everything I tell them to do.
All of that is going on, and guess what happens? They turn on teenagers. And do they listen? No.
So I think that's the way the world is too. Initially, yeah, things go your way, but at some point it doesn't, right? So if things are not going your way, just think of it. You're more evolved than the rest.
You're in a higher plane, and so things don't go your way. And then there's this feeling of ownership, right? It's mine, so it should behave the way I want it to behave.
This should happen. And so there's not that releasing of control.
And control is a disease every single one of us has.
It's on a scale of 0 to 10, everyone has control. At least one.
Some people have eight or nine, and some people have one. But there is control. And I feel spiritual life is all about making your control issues to zero.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: That's great.
It's like there's life is going in a certain direction anyway. And we have our opinion and our control issues over here, trying to make it the way we want it to, but it's. It's like a train. The train is going down the track, and we have an idea that the train shouldn't be going down the track, it should be going down a different place. But the train's not going to go where we want it. It's going to go where it's meant to go. And we're going to benefit from it going where it's going. But the ego has this.
This idea, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It should only be how I like it. And the more control we have, the more anxious we feel and the more disturbed we are as well. So it's not like it's doing any good. If we can let go train to the rail, like it's called, Are you on stable? On the drama on the train tracks. Is. Is the. Are you okay with the way the train is going?
If we are, then we can actually find it quite an entertaining journey, can't we? You know, it's like, oh, absolutely. Oh, that's interesting. Oh, one, whereas if we don't accept it as it is, then we're constantly fighting against it and experiencing unnecessary trauma, really, because of our own lack of acknowledgment, lack of acceptance of the fact that it's just chugging along in the direction that it is.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: I have two tips for people.
Okay. It feels really big, right? Release control.
You know, the universe is beneficial. Everything that's happening, it feels big. But we can do two, two things right now which helps us get there.
One thing is witness, right? You were talking about the train, right? And you're sitting in the train and you're witnessing the scenery, right? You're seeing the trees go by, the clouds go by. You're seeing all of that. You're witnessing because you know you're in a train and you're looking at it beautifully. So anything that's happening in your life, including your thoughts, just take a moment and witness them.
Just witness.
Let them go.
Don't analyze, don't hold on, don't think they should go a particular way. Just witness.
Like, witness the thoughts in your head.
Witness the events around you, witness the people around you. Just even taking a few minutes to do this. Right. And you might say, brother Michael, that. That's very hard. It's like saying someone, hey, I want to make a million dol. So you need a million dollars. It's not like that. I feel witness is a gateway to everything. We can all sit and witness.
Everyone can witness.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Witnessing is a practice, isn't it?
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Right. And that practice really helps in letting go. You just keep witnessing. Keep witnessing. Keep witnessing.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, witnessing is actually a normal thing if you think about it like it's not. Witnessing, in a way, is more work than witnessing is because witnessing is just sitting there. Another way of saying it's spectator. Yeah, spectator. So if you're in the audience watching a movie or a game or something, right? The spectators in the stands, and you're just sitting there watching, and you're just watching. Right. It's more effort, really, to have strong opinions about what should and shouldn't be happening. Then it's just to watch.
That's probably why people like watching TV and movies and stuff, because you get to be a witness, actually, if you think about it, just to sit there and go, this is interesting without having to do anything. So witnessing is actually, in many ways something that everyone does all the time in a different context. So instead of saying, I'm witnessing a YouTube video or whatever, you're just witnessing this life, you know, this scream here.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: You want to hear the second tip?
[00:17:20] Speaker A: No. Yes, of course.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: To learn to be in the present moment, just this moment. We can all do this. We are constantly, either in the past or in the future, worrying about the future. This is what I have to do. Planning this, that, or in the past. Why did they say this? What happened? Right. Either in the past or in the future. We need to learn to be in this moment.
Right? Even if it is simple. Observing your breath in this moment.
Just breathe in and out. Observing your breath in this moment. But for me, more than even observing my breath, it is being aware of my immortal self in this moment. I am an immortal soul, and I'm right here.
And see how long you can keep that awareness. I'm an immortal being of light, and I'm right here.
See these moments, right? These moments of releasing your past, releasing your future, and coming into these moments of being in the present moment.
That is what really helps us accept the benevolence of the universe. To release control that, we have to start in small moments.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. It's easier to do it before some major crisis happens then, you know, because if we can just sit here in the now and Just watch it. I mean, some people have a practice. I mean, it's a fun thing to do. Like people watching, right? It's witnessing where you sit in a coffee shop somewhere or you sit somewhere in an airport or whatever, and you just sit there and you're just. You're not trying to change anything. You're just aware of what is going on, you know, and it's actually a very interesting state of mind to be in, because we're not. I shouldn't be like this. Imagine being in an airport, right? And there's all sorts of chaos in an airport. There's the kids running around and then there's all these announcements and all this is canceled, right? If you just sit there and just watch it all happening without any opinion, you can handle it fairly well. But as soon as we start thinking, why are they doing this? Why is this happening? Why is this late? What about this? Why are they. Then we're causing ourselves unnecessary pain, aren't we, really? Because it's not changing anything. It's just an airport.
So understanding the benefit that's happened already in your life is very, very important because there are plenty of experiences of this. And then witnessing it, letting go of their control, just being in the now, getting in the practice.
And another thing that I personally find very helpful is this expression, I am surrendered.
I am surrendered to the highest good for all.
I find this to be very, like, gets me in this in the right space very quickly. What does it mean? It means that how I visualize this is that there's like a beam of light coming down. So like the highest good, like the height, the greatest benefit is like a beam of light, right? You've seen, like, imagine like a beam of light coming through the clouds.
And if that is the highest good, right, and that exists separate from my opinion of it, like, that just is the highest good. My opinion is irrelevant. It's just. There it is. And if I surrender my. My will and my personal opinion to just saying I'm surrendered to being in that light, doing whatever it is, or being that or going there, then. Then I come into the power. I come into the light, and I stop resisting it, and I stop obsessing about why one and there's a huge amount of peace in that beam of light.
And it might be completely different from what I think, you know, it might be. The highest good is something totally different from what I had in mind and turns out to be better than anything I could think of. And it already exists.
So when I think about that, it Helps me kind of go into this place of peace where I'm not. I don't care. Like I've let go. So if it. If I have to give something up or change something or don't do something or do do something, it is what it is.
And there's no stress involved because I'm not fighting for my opinion.
So that can be just a useful little expression. If you find yourself stressed out. Say I'm surrendered to the highest good, the greatest good for all. Right. Because a lot of these are related to other people in different situations. What's the highest good for all? And which includes you, by the way. It doesn't just include everyone else.
So. And. And it also has this consciousness. There is something that's the greatest good for all.
Right. There is something that's the greatest good. And what is it? So you become curious about what that is.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Right? Right.
Yeah. That's really nice to really be in the light. Right. The light is the highest good for all. That's beautiful.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's not our opinion. It's something that is pre existent beyond the limits of our ego mind and its various attachments to things.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: I know, right? Ego is so crazy.
I feel if we are having issues with control, it's ego.
And like I said, all of us have issues with control. So all of us have ego. Yay, joy. But. But there's no point in denying it's there.
It's just useful to know that my happiness really lies in releasing it.
And the other thing I was thinking about was radical acceptance.
Radical acceptance of people.
Right. Not just even for one day. Right. Just go into the day thinking that I will accept everyone the way they are and however they are, whatever happens.
I'm not a fan of rats.
And this morning to the center, someone bought a rat. Pet rat.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: A pet rat into the center.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: A little mouse.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: A mouse different from a rat then.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Pet mouse. Pet mouse. Little man. Pet mouse.
And. Huh. They were in the. Holding it in a hand.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Oh wow.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: And we don't allow pets in the center. And when I meant pets, I really thought we were saying no dogs and cats.
We did not realize it was a pet mouse.
And so my. I was so scared that it will, you know, they'll lose control of it and it'll just start running around in the center.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And then. Hard to catch. Yeah.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: And so I had to really be very quiet and practice radical acceptance.
Radical acceptance.
Radical acceptance.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Did it get out of hand? The mouse?
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Now someone else felt that that was not appropriate and Told them to please leave it in their car.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: So it all worked out in the end.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: But it wasn't me. I was just practicing radical acceptance.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: You're just practicing radical acceptance? Yeah.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: No opinions.
No opinions why this happened? What, why do they do this? The same person does this all the time. You know, no opinions.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: Same thing with the peacock who wander around making a mess of the yard. I mean, like, because life is, is full of tedious little things like, like what we're talking about. Like occasionally we get these big things, like major life changes, but most of the time they're little annoying, tedious things that we're dealing with, aren't they? So this applies on both the larger scale of like major health challenges or like serious life changes and things like people showing up with mice in their hands and whatever else it is. So you can apply this on all these different, different levels and it makes it more interesting, isn't it? And we have endless opportunities for these things because every day there's some random thing happening, someone saying something, something, not saying something.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: I could easily think, oh, I need to take care of the center. We don't. And personally, I detest rats. Detest mice or mouse or whatever. I'm scared of them actually.
And I could think those things, right? But then I thought, no, just let me, let me not have an opinion.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: They're very sweet little creatures, mice, right?
I would rather I used to have rats in, in, in Hawaii. The rats somehow climbed up the house, got in through something in the house, and then they got in the walls.
And that was a very strange experience trying to get them out. And what had to happen, which was, which was not very pleasant.
But the, these things we, this constant opportunities to be detached, isn't it?
[00:28:35] Speaker B: And not, not to have opinions. Radical acceptance. Just even for one day, like six hours, practice radical acceptance.
No one needs to change. No one needs to do anything differently. Radical acceptance.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: So to conclude this wonderful session today, things are going to happen the way they're going to happen, because life is going to happen the way it's going to happen. So whether we like it or not, it's going like a train chugging along in its own predestined way. And we haven't touched on predestiny very much, but it's chugging along. Past, present, future, everything's already done.
And our opinion, our ego's opinion about what we like and what we don't like is over here. And it, it's really nothing to do with what is going on.
And so we can either have panic attacks and meltdowns and control freak issues about every little thing and ruin our own lives if we want.
But that's not a sustainable long term solution because it's very unpleasant to live like that. Or we can practice radical acceptance.
Be a witness, surrender to the highest good for all.
And also recognize that there's hidden secrets to everything that's going on. And this train is moving us in a good direction, even if we don't know quite where it's going or what's going to happen next.
But the train ride is fun. If you accept the train, then you can enjoy the ride, you know?
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Right. And also to really be in the present moment, to just be in the present moment, that's a very powerful meditation.
To be here, be in the awareness of being a soul and just being here, being now. I love what you were sharing.
Surrendering to the highest good of all.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: It's very liberating. It really is.
I've personally found that that one statement has released me from tremendous amounts of anxiety on many, many occasions, especially around situations with people where you're not quite sure what's going on and things aren't working out the way you want them to. And I found myself feeling anxious. I'm like, okay, I'm surrendered to the highest good for all, whatever it is. And I don't know what it is, I'm really open.
And it just kind of takes that anxiety and just like it's just wipes it clean.
And then there becomes curiosity. Oh, I wonder what the highest good for all actually is. Like, I don't know what it is. Like it's kind of like, what is it? It's like, where is the train going and what's going on here?
And so it goes from control to curiosity and sort of expanded higher awareness around what should happen really and truly, rather than what I want.
So anyway, lots and lots of things to enjoy every day in our life.
Let's.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: I was thinking we should. The blessing should be about being a witness.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: Being a witness. Is that one of the blessings?
[00:32:06] Speaker B: I think so. Let's see if there is a blessing called witness.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Observer, maybe.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Observer. I'm sure we have.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Yeah, detached observer.
So in essence, where life is like a movie playing out and we're watching it, and if you can watch it, like you watch a video and watch this character doing what it does, it becomes a lot more interesting, little more fascinating.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: Okay, I don't think we have those. Let's see.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: We have to make one up then.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: Well, we have a. A missing blessing. Shereen we have to add. Add one.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: Observation.
There is observation.
From the vantage point of a quiet observer, you've learned to watch life unfold with clarity.
This peaceful detachment allows you to be untouched by situations or influences.
Your observation provides an unclouded view of life's rich tapestry.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: Fascinating. So, yeah, more detached we are, the more we can see the rich tapestry, the wonders, the strange miracles of life.
Thank you, Shireen, for your lovely presence.
And thank you, everyone, for your good vibrations.
Enjoy. Enjoy. Let us know how you do. If you want, you can leave a comment about how things worked out for you unexpectedly and how being detached has made you feel more amused. My life and we'll talk to you soon. Lots and lots of love.
