realizing selflessness

[whoknows]

Only a "self" can label a simple contraction/no feeling as "frustration. " It is part of the unlearning.

Ah, right. Emotion = sensation + thought. (Or so I've been told, and this seems plausible enough and helpful.)

The "no" is there is no self. Whenever you have a thought based on self, such as the idea of frustration, you will feel "no."

Hmm . . . Will continue to examine that.

You kind of have it backwards.

I don't want to still be viewing the world as if there's a "self" separate from "my" experiences.

But you are. That's the no.

Right. I don't want the "self" overlay on my experience.

There is already no "self."

Will keep on trying to LOOK and see that clearly . . .

[Anastacia42]

Good.

[whoknows]

Did about 25 minutes of ButtChair. The main thing I noticed was that I have a much harder time keeping sustained attention on bodily sensations than on visual or auditory sensations. Wait, actually, that's not right. Attending to breathing is attending to bodily sensations, and I do okay with that. Well, anyway, I have a hard time keeping my attention on the butt-on-chair sensations for more than one or two seconds at a time.

[Anastacia42]

That's fine. This is not a marathon.It only takes a couple of seconds of honest looking to see the truth.

You must stay relaxed.

Loving

[whoknows]

I contacted Christiane Michelberger. She isn't running groups anymore. Here's part of her response:

I focus on mentoring new guides right now. We are a team of guides though, one of them offers group meetings. She is very experienced, her name is Steffi Mania. You’ll find her here:

https://stromeintritt.org (bilingual)

On her website, you’ll see different offers for group meetings. Once a month, I join a communal group.

There's a flag in the top-left corner of the home page to switch between German and English. Here's the English version of the home page: https://stromeintritt.org/en/through-th ... awakening/.

[Anastacia42]

Great.

Anyone Christiane recommends will be good, too.

I really didn't mean to include her.I usually suggest fetter work after you're finished here.

Loving

[whoknows]

I’ll probably check out one of Vince’s groups soon.

[Anastacia42]

Great

[whoknows]

Did about 15 or 20 minutes of ButtChair just now, and my mind was a lot quieter than usual, so I was able to spend more time with the sensations.

I realized that the visual metaphor of LOOKing was giving me a sense of observing the sensations from the vantage point of my eyes, so I changed my reminder to myself from LOOK to SENSE or FEEL, which reduced the sense of there being a separate observer.

Also, I remembered your repeated encouragement to relax and tried to have a sense of sinking into the sensations like sinking into a hot bath.

[Anastacia42]

Okay.

I'm not sure about Sensing & Feeling, but let me know.

[whoknows]

10 minutes of ButtChair: Mind quieter than usual. Trying to relax into the sensations and observe them with a bit of a sense of scientific curiosity and precision.

[Anastacia42]

That's good, particularly the relaxation.

Loving,

[whoknows]

Did another 15–20 minutes of ButtChair this afternoon. Nothing new to report.

Participated in one of Vince Schubert’s Zoom groups this evening. I plan to participate again.

[Anastacia42]

That all do a good.

How was the group?

Loving,

[whoknows]

How was the group?

I like Vince. There weren’t many people there, especially at the beginning, so he spent a lot of time interacting with me. I think we were mostly getting a feel for each other. I’m not exactly sure how the group will help, but I’ll drop in at least another time or two.