Rope Burn

This is a voice message I left for my uncle who at one point was suicidally depressed and working as a police officer. It's taking him about 50 years to figure out that his own mind is the source of his suffering, and yet not the only source. Culturally, we tend to believe that strength and Independence are synonymous. our research however, is beginning to show clearly that strength is in numbers...

I had a panic attack yesterday, and wanted to hide from my life but couldn't. I still had to participate. I thought it was going to be excruciating to be around people, because I didn't have the energy to be myself. But I may have stumbled across an insight, where if I don't have to be myself then there's a pain in being around people. If there's no attachment to being perceived a certain way, the...

I've been experiencing a terrifying and familiar blanket of misery for the past week or so, and struggling like hell to try to get out of it, to try to get back to how I was before — which was energetic, optimistic, positive, powerful. Just, in short, feeling good. And I've been feeling bad. In the middle of a long drive, some insights have come up to reveal why I've been feeling the way I have an...

Pia Leichter is a creative partner, certified coach, author of 'Welcome to the Creative Club', and founder of Kollektiv Studio. A recovering nomad and chaos curator, she’s worked as an award-winning creative director for some of the biggest brands in the world. Now, Pia co-creates wild visions and ventures with unconventional dreamers and doers. Get a copy of her book: On Amazon: https://www.amazo...

I currently feel like an arthritic porn star who made a name for herself deep-throating cheese graters. In other words, I’m in pain—and I think it’s probably a good time to talk about my experience while I’m in this state. Because, honestly, most days lately, I’m walking around in a kind of bliss. My day-to-day life feels indistinguishable from what some might call Heaven. And I genuinely believe...

In this session, I narrate (in real time) the process I go through when I feel flooded with anxiety, and decide to give it my full attention. At first, I struggle to locate anxiety in my body - but with time, unpleasant sensations become clearer. I'm able to work with my emotional bind, even just a little bit. Along the way, I realize just how fucked up my situation is - probably beyond any ki...

Leading into the new year, I experienced what felt like an uninterrupted depression for about 6 months. To date, this had been the darkest period of my life. But in some way which remains mysterious, it felt deeply necessary. And now, on the other side of it, I seem to be experiencing a level of childlike freedom I haven't known since childhood.

Each time we blink, it can feel like seeing goes away. But actually, we're still seeing darkness, and we can't help but keep seeing as long as we're conscious and have functional eyes. In a similar way, each time a thought arises, it can feel like our awareness recedes or vanishes completely, replaced by the thought itself. But the thought is actually not able to interrupt our bare being in the sa...

I got way too drunk with a friend last night and this is what it feels like to continue abiding in awareness through a hangover.

I was pretty depressed for a long time. I had no energy and I couldn't sleep very well. In the end, it seemed helpful to just take a bunch of time off, unplug from everything and sleep. I more or less forced myself to exercise most days and that helped too. But I did learn that spirituality isn't able to provide happiness on demand. Rather, the big freeing disappointment seems to be that I just be...

It can seem as though we live in two Worlds, one with eyes open (the "real" world) and the other with eyes closed (an imaginary world). But a pawn closer inspection of how our brains render our sensory input, it can be possible to see that both of these are actually the same. Playing between the two with eyelids filtering just a small amount of light in can reveal the illusory quality of our visua...

The danger with thinking is that it easily becomes the primary lens through which we experience reality. The advantage to thinking is that it's a powerful tool with which we can navigate the world. The time to think is only when it's necessary, on an as needed basis. The rest of the time we can luxuriate in the experience of whatever's happening, which will include the bubbling up of random though...

The feeling of rushing is a signal that "the factors of enlightenment" are out of whack. And so it can help to slow down and be with the pressurized feeling of purposefully slowing down.

This is a guided meditation in which we use labeling to extract ourselves from identification with the six aspects of experience: sight, sound, body sensations, visual and linguistic imaginings, and emotions. Once freed of identification with the above, we abide in/as the space beyond it all.

You would still be you, because everyone is always "I" and feels just as much "me" as anyone else. We all are this mysterious "I" in different costumes.

How will I know if I'm fully enlightened? I think it can be a strong signal that the finger is pointing at the right moon if, during hard times, the mind remains as beautifully joyous and radiantly happy as during easy times.

If you worked out yesterday, how can you tell you worked out? If you have no memory of the experience, what of that experience leaves residue on the present moment?

Reality is already perfect in every moment exactly as it is, it's only when I bring my own preferences and desires into the picture that any unsatisfactoryness at all is capable of existing. But prior to all of that, everything is perfectly okay.

Nothing whatsoever is to be clung to as "I" or "Mine". Those who have heard this have heard all the teachings. Those who have practiced this have covered all of the principles.

When we ask the question, "Who am I?" and wait in the not-knowing of the question itself, not turning to thought for an answer, the not-finding itself becomes an experiential resolution to the question.

Buying reality in "as is" condition has the potential to end stress and unhappiness. When we practice leaving all sense perception, thought and emotion as is, we relax our reactivity and come into harmony with what is.

Last night I had a full-blown awakening experience without the help of psychedelics or extended meditation or breathwork. I was however, on the tail end of an IFS session and this certainly had me in the right neighborhood for magic to happen.

When I was high and experienced oneness with everything, I looked to see if there were stepping stones back to this perspective in sober consciousness. What I found was that the breadcrumbs were hard to see because absolutely everything was a breadcrum, and so became hidden as separate "things". It's almost too simple to see because we expect it to be something else or more complicated than it is.

I've made a recent discovery that my mindfulness practice wasn't working because what I thought was mindfulness was actually recognition. True mindfulness needs to be free of aversion and clinging. What I was practicing was recognition without an awareness of my attitude toward what was being recognized.

As it turns out, I have even less control over my mind and mood than I thought.