Deja Vu

[Anastacia42]

Hi

Please watch this, too:

https://youtu.be/wyNwhK2Ur1c

Loving,
Stacy

[ElaBlue]

Will do!

Thank you, Stacy!
~Ela

[ElaBlue]

6/14

Looking at a peach: image/color
Looking at food: colors
Holding a peach: sensation
Looking at watermelon: picture/color
Cutting watermelon: sound
Eating watermelon: taste
Sitting in the chair: sensation
Looking at the computer: seeing /picture
Listening to a meeting: sound

Drinking water: sensation
Listening to drinking: sound

Touching dog: sensation
Kissing dog: sensation


~~~~~~~~~~~
Not sure why at times I have difficulty breaking it down. It feels like I have to stop and think about what I am doing 

[Anastacia42]

Hi

Not sure why at times I have difficulty breaking it down. It feels like I have to stop and think about what I am doing

Well, yes. You are bringing awareness to the details of your now experience. Taking your attention away from thought's stories and paying attention to Actual Direct Experience now. It's different than being caught up in thought all the time.

So, next:

Mind Labeling Experience

Here is an exercise which examines the way in which the mind labels experience - it takes about 20 minutes and you will need a pen a paper.

This exercise is broken into 10 minute lots. For each 10 minute period pay attention to any bodily sensation i.e. is there any tightening, or any relaxing?

For the first ten minutes write down what you are experiencing right now using the word “I”.

For example:

I am sitting on a chair,
I am hearing a clock ticking,
I am looking at a computer screen,
I am feeling hungry.

Get right to the point, no past or future fantasy, just a plain description of your experience right here and now.

Then for the next ten minutes continue writing down what you are experiencing but this time without using the word “I”. Just describe the experience as it is happening using verbs.

For example:

Sitting on a chair,
typing,
breathing,
blinking,
hearing the clock.

(Again, watch what is happening in the body.)

At the end of the twenty minutes compare the two ways in which the experience was labelled and answer the following four questions:

1. Is one truer than the other, and If so, which one?

2. What is here without labels?

3. Do labels affect the experience or just describe it?

4. Did you notice any differences in the body?

Loving,

~ Stacy

[ElaBlue]

Well, yes. You are bringing awareness to the details of your now experience. Taking your attention away from thought's stories and paying attention to Actual Direct Experience now. It's different than being caught up in thought all the time.

Stacy, yes!! That is precisely what I thought. It reminded me of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “mindful walking, mindful breathing, mindful eating”... He sais that one can touch the reality with every step…

----------


Exercise questions:


1. Is one truer than the other, and If so, which one?

It took a little bit to see this one. The truer one is the one without the “I”, because the I cannot “do” the hearing, the thinking, the remembering, etc


2. What is here without labels?
Nothing, really!! Without labels, there really is nothing, or no things! I wouldn’t even know how to call it.


3. Do labels affect the experience or just describe it?
It seems that the labels affect the experience, labels are the experience, a least a mental experience.


4. Did you notice any differences in the body?
I must say that I did notice some tension in the first part, while the second part felt more “impersonal”, less weight on experience.

[Anastacia42]

I must say that I did notice some tension in the first part, while the second part felt more “impersonal”, less weight on experience.

Yes exactly.

Please watch the video on the Quote function.

Use PREVIEW button to make sure you quote only the questions with your answer underneath outside the quote box like above.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=660

When you've watched that please quote this sentence with your own words underneath for practice. Then we'll move on.

Loving,
Stacy

[Anastacia42]

Okay. Hopefully, you've watched the video & can now use Quote.

Here is how to distinguish truth from lies.

We often lie every day & don't realize it.

For example, the grocery clerk asks, "How are you?" You reply, "I'm fine." While, yes. there is a sense in which we are always fine, even in the middle of suffering, at that moment, you were grieving the death of your dog, you had a slight sore throat & you had a headache, but you didn't feel like sharing all of that with the grocery clerk, so you lied, "I'm fine."

Also, it matters none at all how "distant" the remembered lie is. Besides the fact that time itself is fictional, a kind if lie, as we recall the lie it becomes present in this moment, as if it were happening now. This brings the body Sensation that accompanies lying.

Lies can be intentional or unintentional, conscious or unconscious, even so automatic that we ourselves are fooled.

The story of a separate "self" is a lie.

This is the lie you came here to see through. Therefore, it is helpful to notice the body Sensation of lying as one of the tools for finding the truth of no self.

You want to be in touch with body Sensations & able to clearly express them in words. This will help.

Lies are usually felt in the heart or solar plexus as a contraction that we may label as tight, heavy or tense.

In contrast, truth is usually expansive. We may call it loose, light or relaxed.
[/b]
First, can you remember a time when you lied to someone you loved?

Here we count anything, lies we think of as "big" or "small" that "matter" or don't "matter."

How are you? I'm fine. No, your knee hurts, but you don't feel like discussing it with the grocery clerk.

It's a lie. A seemingly "bigger" one will work better for this exercise.

Find the lie. I don't need the whole story, just a few key words to refer to it.

Then scan your body for any Sensation (DE), particularly in the gut or maybe the heart. Check very closely. What is found?


If you think the memory you used wasn't clear enough, find another one or lie to yourself right now, make something up.

1 + 1 = 14 is a lie.

The Sun rises in the West is a lie.

I love eating worms is (probably) a lie.

Or call up a video of a lying politician & notice what Sensations arise as you listen.

I will give you a clue: it is not that peaceful Sensation you felt before when you omitted "I."

Please report back with what body Sensations (not interpretations) you feel. Bodies can feel hot or cold, heavy or light, contraction or expansion, etc.

"Peaceful" is an interpretation of a body Sensation, not a name for the Sensation itself, for example. Do you see that?


Loving,

~ Stacy

[ElaBlue]

HI Stacy,

First, can you remember a time when you lied to someone you loved?

I remember lying to my mom, and I felt very uncomfortable, either very light (as if naked, or being very light in the gut/pelvic area) or, very heavy, as if I was myself a burden I could not shake off.

What is found?

Depending on what or whom I lied about, it feels mainly the same. A sensation of being very light or strong contraction or heaviness.

Not sure if it’s worth mentioning, but I feel that sensation daily, as soon as I wake up (that’s not to say that I don’t have very happy days, or wonderful body sensations, for apparently no reason– perhaps there is one)

Thank you!
~Ela

[Anastacia42]

Hi Ela,

The light feeling surprises me.

Truth feels expansive, light, relaxed.

Lies feel like contraction, heavy, tense.

This is usually mainly in the gut or heart area.


I suspect you may also have a true thought in there somewhere. The light feeling might be love for your mother.

You can try to notice what you're thinking when you wake up, if you like. Something is a lie.

Thank you for learning to quote. That helps.

Pay attention to light vs heavy Sensations as you do these pointers.

Let's look back at whether labels affect experience or not.

Label-Reality Correlation

There is a belief that labels have a one-to-one correspondence with ‘reality’. But there isn’t. Just like it is a generally accepted belief that labels like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are inherent characteristics of ‘things’. But actually, they are not.

When you look at the word label ‘GREEN' , what is the actual experience?

Is the color red ‘experienced’, or is the color green ‘experienced’ as the label suggests?

Does the label ‘GREEN’ have a one-to-one correspondence with ‘reality’? Or does the label suggest something else other than what is here now (red colour)?

Is 'green' associated in any way with the experience of the colour red; or is green just a label that overlays the actual experience of red?

If the label ‘GREEN’ is replaced with the label ‘GOOD’ or ‘BAD’ , is the redness affected in any way as the labels suggests?

Does redness become ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or do the labels have no affect whatsoever on ‘reality’?

Let me know what is SEEN.

Loving,

~ Stacy

[ElaBlue]

Hi Stacy,

The light feeling surprises me

When I said “light” I meant faint, as in thin, or weak, but that would have been an interpretation, so sorry I did not know how to describe that sensation of dissolving.

You can try to notice what you're thinking when you wake up, if you like. Something is a lie.

As soon as I wake up I feel dread, the burden of the thought of now having to get up and start working (I work form home) and have to do this or that… and I just don't want to move... And so it starts……

Let's look back at whether labels affect experience or not.

Labels do not affect the appearance, but they affect the way we experience the appearance and that is what I meant previously.

For example, when I first read the word GREEN , I did not even notice the red (though it was obviously there) but my experience was the thought GREEN, or rather the “knowing”, or the meaning associated with the word.
Now, when I look attentively at the word GREEN I do see red, although that is just another interpretation, isn't it? But I definitely see what is there, without interpreting.

Is the color red ‘experienced’, or is the color green ‘experienced’ as the label suggests?

As I described above, yes red was there but the interpretation was in forefront and the main experience was the thought of green. How strange is that, and now I wonder if that's even true?

If the label ‘GREEN’ is replaced with the label ‘GOOD’ or ‘BAD’ , is the redness affected in any way as the labels suggests?

No, the redness is not affected, but the thought/meaning overlay was grasping more / most of attention.

Does redness become ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or do the labels have no affect whatsoever on ‘reality’?

No redness does not become anything whatsoever and the belief that it does would be quite madness. :)

Thank you!
~Ela

[ElaBlue]

Hi Stacy,
Hope all is well?
Not sure what is happening, I thought we will be posting every day.
Thank you,
~Ela

[Anastacia42]

Hi,

Sorry. I read this b in the way to work & hadn't remembered to revisit. The notification was gone.

Hang on.

[Anastacia42]

Okay. Your answers show that you rely heavily on words to the extent that you're missing the dirrctv experience of GREEN by which I mean red color.

You're going to want to stay very alert for Direct Actual Experience.


Direct or Actual Experience is

Seeing
Hearing
Feeling (Sensation, not emotion. Emotion is Sensation plus made-up thoughts & labels)
Tasting
Smelling
Thoughts Arising (but not their content)

Please let me know if you are clear about this or if you would like any further clarification.


We don't care here about the stories thoughts tell. Above thoughts told you "green," with no green anywhere to be found. The Actual Experience is red.

In the same way. thoughts tell you "self" when the Actual Experience is no self.

Thoughts can't affect experience at all. They can only affect other thoughts. The color is still red, no matter what thoughts say. Can you see this?

Okay, let's try another one. It's a little harder.

Friend/Stranger

Bring up a thought about a character labeled "friend."

Then bring up a thought about a character labeled "stranger."

Compare these thoughts.

Is there a difference in these thoughts?

Is there a true difference or is it just different content?

Now, bring up a thought about a character labeled "friend."

After that, look at a thought about the character labelled "me.”

Is there a difference?

Is there anything special about thoughts with the content "me-character?"

Let me know what is found.

Labeling the day, the Sensations, etc. does nothing to reduce their beauty or joy, but can hide them from our awareness.

Loving,

~ Stacy

[ElaBlue]

Hi Stacy,

Is there a difference in these thoughts?

There is no difference between the thoughts, only in the content – the images and the emotions that may arise with each one.

Is there anything special about thoughts with the content "me-character?

No, there is no difference between any thoughts and the “Me” thoughts, other than the belief that they are important, or considered “special” because they are about me.
Indeed, as thought activity, there is no difference at all.

Thank you,
~Ela

[Anastacia42]

You're welcome. Very good.

Now try this one to look at this idea of "choice."

Palm Flipping Exercise

1. Hold a hand in front of you; palm turned down.

2. Now turn the palm up. And down...and up and so on.

Watch like a hawk.

Don't go to thoughts – examine your direct experience.

Do this as many times as you like, and each time inquire:

How is the movement controlled?

Does a thought control it?

Can a ‘controller’ of any description be located?

How is the decision made to turn the hand over?

Track any decision point when a thought MADE THE DECISION to turn the hand over and the hand turns over immediately.

Who or what ​ chose which hand - the left or right hand for the exercise?

Can you find a separate individual or anything that is choosing when to turn the palm up or down?

Loving,

~ Stacy

"Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion."

~ Rumi