Changeable Podcast

Emillie has been around this understanding for a while. She was in and out. She'd hear something profound and helpful, then fall back toward her long-time disordered eating habits and assume she had lost whatever it was she heard. But after a while, something interesting began to happen. Even though Emillie was still binge eating--worse than ever, actually--what she saw and felt about the health she possessed beyond her habit--grew and grew. For a while, Emillie was on a wild ride, knowing that she was peace, love, and health, and yet falling into habitual thoughts, feelings and behaviors often. But the scales were tipping. I could see it. Others in LSBC could see it in her. Eventually her habit began to break up and fall away in large chunks, like an iceberg breaking apart and melting in the water. Emillie's story is full of insight and wisdom about how it sometimes looks as we shed old habits that no longer make sense. ***** Do you want a sneak peek inside LSBC? Check out The Little School of Big Change Highlights Series at https://www.thelittleschoolofbigchange.com/highlights to see 5 “highlights” from various lessons in the school that will begin to show you a brand new way to view yourself and your experience.  

In this episode, I talk about the feeling of hunger. As I experiment with feeling of hunger (as opposed to quickly trying to “satisfy” it so that it will go away), things have opened up that I never imagined. I feel stronger. Safer. Far more peaceful and less shakable. My capacity to feel anything and everything feels as if it has expanded exponentially. The space around feelings—especially those I label ‘uncomfortable’—appears to have massively grown. ****** Do you want a sneak peek inside LSBC? Check out The Little School of Big Change Highlights Series at https://www.thelittleschoolofbigchange.com/highlights to see 5 “highlights” from various lessons in the school that will begin to show you a brand new way to view yourself and your experience.

Before Patricia came to the New Paradigm, she was having frequent panic attacks. She went to the ER regularly, sure each time that there was a physical issue that needed to be addressed. She had trouble leaving the house without water, an energy bar ("just in case I got stranded"), and some sort of self-help listening material to help quiet her mind if needed. In the 9 months she's been around this understanding, so, so much is different. Patricia has seen so much in just 9 short months. She's free of much of what held her back, and she's sharing new insights she's having in The Little School of Big Change all the time. I know you'll find so much hope and insight in Patricia's story.

Are you ready for some light, summer listening? You’re in the right place! Because this episode is all about the fact that you’re going to suffer in life. And you’re going to die. It’s a given. It’s also a given that you’ll not suffer in life. You’ll feel lots of stuff…some you like and some you don’t like. See, I’m not as negative as it may seem. Actually though, as you listen in, you’ll see what great news it is to see that some suffering and eventual death are givens. That means they are non-negotiable and can’t be avoided. Which means that all the stuff you’re doing to try to avoid them is unnecessary and you can stop doing it. Don’t think you’re doing things to avoid death and suffering? Look again. Once you’ve had a chance to listen, reach out and let me know what you want to devote your next 50 or so years to!  

You might know that I’m a huge Lisa Esile fan. Lisa was essentially silent for a year or more of her life. In that time, she did very little and very little “input”. What she saw about how her mind works, and what’s there beyond her mind, is pretty awesome. I especially love the affection she has for her mind! It doesn’t look like the enemy, or a thing to quiet, suppress, or ignore at all to Lisa. It looks more like her best friend, who just happens to act like an overactive puppy much of the time. I know you’ll enjoy this conversation with Lisa. You can see more about her and her work here: http://lisaesile.com/ And definitely check out the book she wrote with her husband Franco, here: https://www.amazon.com/Whose-Mind-Anyway-Your-Head/dp/1101982632

You are lived. Stuff occurs to you and you act on it, with very little input required by you. You see things. You know things. And, at the very same time that you’re being lived by life, your mind is narrating the whole thing in that opinionated way it often does. Your mind is making it all about you, telling you what should be happening, reminding you what did happen and what it means about you, and predicting what will happen. They are two separate events. You’re lived, and you think. When we look toward that fact that we’re lived, we see that a lot more. When we are tuned into the thinking mind, everything looks fragile, insecure, and scary. It looks like we have a lot of work to do. A billion choices to make. Tons of things to figure out, remember, and make happen. Your thinking mind makes it feel as if life is a riddle you need to solve. A puzzle you need to figure out so that you pass the test. It can’t be that difficult, can it? Here’s the link I mentioned in this episode to download a free copy of my book Being Human: https://www.dramyjohnson.com/beinghuman And here’s the link I mentioned about the upcoming workshop in Santa Monica: https://www.barbarapatterson.com/reset    

This episode is a little different than most. In this episode, I talk with Nicola Bird. And we’re not talking to you. Nic and I have a conversation, practitioner-to-practitioner, about what it’s like to do what we do. Our “jobs” are essentially to point people toward an invisible realm. To gently turn them away from the physical, psychological experience they are in—that might feel heavy and real and problematic—toward a space. A behind-the-scenes space where they are well and healthy, and where life and anxiety are not as they appear. Because we decided to purposely keep this conversation between the two of us, I think you’re likely to hear something new. (Sneaky, huh?) If you’d like to learn more about Nicola’s new book and what she’s up to, you can see that here: https://alittlepeaceofmind.co.uk/ If you’d like to get a free pdf of my book Being Human, you can grab that here: https://dramyjohnson.com/beinghuman And if you’d like to come see me with Angus & Rohini Ross, Scott Kelly, and Barb Patterson in Santa Monica next month, you can see more about that here: https://barbarapatterson.com/reset  I’d love to meet you there!  

Our experience almost always looks like it’s about something, right? It looks to us like we think about stuff. We feel emotions over what happened or about what’s coming up. Human brains love stories. Human experience typically includes a logical storyline and a bunch of reasons for why we’re thinking and feeling the way we are. But how accurate is the “about”? What if I told you that the about part, comes after the fact? It’s not so much that you’re thinking about the upcoming trip, as that you’re thinking—first and foremost. Your thinking mind is wrapping its thought around the plot of an upcoming trip. Maybe that sounds the same as saying that you’re thinking about the upcoming trip, and in many ways it is the same, at least as far as your experience of it is concerned. But it’s also incredibly insightful and freeing to separate out the “about”. To see that we think and feel, always. And it’s not necessarily “about” what it appears to be about. You might see your experience in a whole new way after this episode.

Today’s episode is the first in a new series I’m bringing to Changeable, featuring real change stories from people who have been impacted by this new paradigm. When I met Monique Koven not all that long ago, she had already come a long way in moving out of some pretty severe anxiety and PTSD diagnoses that stemmed from a history of trauma and abuse. She had come a long way…but she wasn’t exactly free. Her recovery was a lot of work. Monique used to drill me with questions about whether this new paradigm could really apply to something like complex trauma. A history of repeated trauma—and the symptoms of that—must be exceptions, no? Nope. Monique was open to seeing things in a much different way and her openness has paid off for her, as you’ll hear about in this conversation. Monique spoke just last weekend at our LSBC LIVE weekend event here in Michigan and she woke up hope and insight in the audience. I hope this episode does the same for you. You can see more about the amazing work Monique is doing with trauma survivors here: https://www.moniquekovencoaching.com/  

It happens all the time. You hear something and your mind quiets. Maybe something falls away...a habit, a line of thinking, an obsession or worry is no longer there. Life looks and feels different and you're thrilled. You're changed! Cured! Fixed! And then--inevitably--thinking comes back. Why didn't your insight last?!? If you've been there, this episode will help. Register for the free webinar about your midyear reset on June 12th, here: https://barbarapatterson.com/resetwebinar  

Horizontal change starts with what you know, and moves you toward a place you can see. It's linear. Incremental. Often effortful. Horizontal change is you bettering, or improving upon something. Vertical change isn't about what you know and it doesn't take you to some finish line you can currently see. It's all about the "I don't know". Rather than coming about by effortful, incremental action steps, it's a leap. Vertical change happens via insight, when you move from one consciousness to another. Horizontal is fixing; vertical is SEEING. Horizontal is personal; vertical is universal. Both types of change are awesome and we're all experiencing both all the time. But what I've seen about vertical change is that we can have a lot more of it...like, a lot more of it....when we know about it. When we see that it's possible and when we look toward how we work and what's true of all people in a universal, impersonal way. I hope this episode opens you to a new level of curiosity about vertical leaps in your own life. And if you'd like to see much more about this, please join me at my US and UK workshops this year--Transformation Along the Vertical Dimension. I'd love to see you in Michigan or London this month for a truly vertical, insight-full couple of days.

In this episode of Changeable, Jack and I talk about how life is an illusion. What does that mean? Jack and I explore what this great illusion means for our opinions of ourselves, our relationships, our habits…even those glimpses we catch of ourselves in store windows (you’ll see what I mean). Especially listen when Jack talks about his center line…I love that part…how this new paradigm we share doesn’t KEEP us centered, but it pulls us back to center. There was so much good in this conversation with Jack. I floated through the rest of the day after recording this one, and I hope you will after listening.  Find out more about Jack Pransky here:  https://insideoutunderstanding.com/    

What is health? What is wellbeing? How do you know if you’re healthy and well? Turns out, the way we answer those questions has huge implications for how well we feel. I talk with John El-Mokadem in this episode about massively expanding our concept of what health and wellness really are. We talk about how we can be well…we are well…despite what we’re feeling. How health and wellness do not necessarily equal the absence of pain or anxiety. They do not necessarily equal a “cure”, or an external change at all. Wellness is the space beyond experience. John speaks about these big issues so clearly, with so much compassion and understanding. I know you’ll hear something helpful in this episode. If you want to learn more about John, you can do that here. And if you are interested in the health course that John teaches with Karen DiMarco, I highly recommend checking that out. Their newest course begins in late May.    

Harry claims that all problems in life come from overthinking. All problems? Really? I play devil's advocate a bit in this one as we discuss the single, common source of all suffering. I love Harry's personality and the way he talks about this understanding. He is fun and light and always puts the feeling first. I hope you enjoy this episode! Harry works in Native communities and does a lot of work with people in addiction. His book Evolution of Addiction Recovery shares how this new paradigm paints a very hopeful picture of the future of addiction treatment.  Harry also co-hosts the show Addiction, Alcoholism, and the Three Principles.  

There are so many safety nets built into our human design. Seeing more about how we work...the forgiving, safe, self-correcting, can't-be-damaged design we've all been blessed with...does a lot for us. But perhaps one of the most notable things it does is that it allows us to feel secure. When we feel secure, we are free. Free to feel what moves through us because we know that we bounce back naturally. Free to think what our mind thinks, because it's not 'ours' anyway. Free to have a big, varied life; to try things, to fail at things, to mess up, to experiment. It's a lot like being raised by loving parents who allow you to feel safe and unconditionally cared for. You are free to go off and explore, knowing there is always a 'home base' where you can return. Home base is in all of us. Seeing that makes being human a much bigger, richer experience.