Running in Circles: How Diffusing Subconscious Patterns Frees Us From Rumination and Negative Belief Systems with Erin Mac

Swell AI Transcript: Running in Circles- How Diffusing Subconscious Patterns Frees Us From Rumination and Negative Belief Systems with Erin Mac

Jeffrey Besecker This is The Light Inside. I'm Jeffrey Biesecker. Overthinking. Socially, we hear it reinforced almost systematically. Yet our processes of cognition and reasoning are complex. And so too are the ways our thinking and reasoning can become derailed or led astray. This highlights emphatically how circular thinking and rumination can lead to heightened stress and anxiety levels, hinder our effective decision-making, or even disrupt our healthy patterns of mental and physical well-being. Yet at its core, are these issues inhibited by the number of thoughts we entertain themselves, or might this pattern be more deeply nuanced? At times, these thoughts are racing, repeating or simply negatively weighted. And the issues of circular thinking and rumination can often be witnessed when we haven't done enough emotional processing, or even at times, underthinking. And here's an interesting point. The science supporting circular thinking often underscores what happens as we engage in what is classically labeled overthinking. Rumination isn't problem solving, and instead, it surfaces as limiting patterns of cognition. Today, we explore why the subjective label of overthinking often falls short in capturing the complex factors that underlie circular thinking patterns and ruminating behaviors, with Executive Coach Aaron Mech. Stay tuned for a fascinating discussion on the subtle nuances of our mental landscapes and why we often find ourselves not only running around with our thoughts, but getting carried away by our emotions as well. Tune in to find out why when we return to The Light Inside. We'd like to offer a shout out to our affiliate matching partner, Podmatch.com. Podmatch is the revolutionary podcasting matching system driven by AI. As an industry leader in podcast guesting and hosting, they are a go-to solution for creating meaningful podcast interactions. Podmatch.com makes finding the ideal guest or host effortless. Stop by and visit our affiliate link today at www.thelightinside.us. Whether you beat yourself up for a mistake you made last week, or you fret about how you're going to succeed tomorrow, rumination can be debilitating. So much so, that we even initiate heuristics or cognitive shortcuts to describe it. aligning it with the biased belief that it only happens when we have too much thought. Our thinking is often categorized into different classifications and systems to better understand and analyze various cognitive processes. Similarly, anxiety disorders, including a variety of distinct forms of anxiety, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder, characterized by fear of social situations and judgment. An individual can suffer from panic disorder, typified by sudden and intense bouts of fear, specific phobia, fear of a specific object or situation, and obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by repetitive, intrusive thoughts and behaviors. Anxiety can mask or obscure the under-recognized symptoms of various disorders or behavioral issues in three common ways, keeping our awareness of these patterns at bay. In symptom overlap, many disorders share common symptoms with anxiety, like irritability, sleep disturbance, and concentration difficulties. This overlap can lead to the misattribution of these symptoms solely to anxiety, potentially missing an underlying disorder or behavioral issue as a result. And when defensive mechanisms come into play, anxiety can serve as a psychological defense mechanism, allowing individuals to cope with underlying issues by redirecting their focus to worry and fear. In this way, anxiety can act as a protective barrier, canceling the root cause of behavioral issues or disorders. Therefore, it becomes essential for healthcare professionals and the individuals who experience them to carefully assess and differentiate anxiety as a symptom for its potential role as a masking mechanism in different evaluations. These disorders can significantly impair daily functioning and often require specialized treatment approaches. However, Classifications and systems help us study everything from logical reasoning and problem-solving to emotional intelligence and creative thinking, providing valuable frameworks for exploring the complexity of human thought. Today we chat with Executive Mindset Coach Erin Mack. While following the muse of her thinking, in the year 2000, Erin moved from San Francisco to the exotic environments of Hawaii in an effort to escape the crippling anxiety disorder she was facing. only to discover traversing a few essential changes inside was the only distance needed to enact and empower lasting, lifelong changes that would ultimately reshape her life. So while mindset is often thought to matter, the type of thinking systems we engage might be seen as significantly instrumental in the success of our more embodied processes of cognition and emotional regulation. As we lean in today, we learn how more effective patterns of thought, recognition, and reasoning allow us to move beyond circular thinking and rumination to stress less and enjoy more, all while we more fully embody our unique and natural emotional cycles. Aaron, as we jump in today, you mentioned how rumination, or what we often label overthinking, can become such a disruptive force throughout our lives, as we engage in the cycles of circular thinking so characteristic of anxiety disorders. Could you begin today by sharing your thoughts on why circular thinking in particular plays such an essential role in this pattern? So my definition of circular thinking is that when you get into that space where you just keep thinking the same thoughts over and over again and there is no resolution there, there isn't even an intention of resolution, it's just something's happened, it's triggered you into this pattern and you get into that pattern and you just keep thinking and thinking and thinking, I think that there is an idea that you might come up with a solution by overthinking it. over and over and over again, but the reality is a solution doesn't come from that space. It's not the right energy and it's certainly not the right intention. And so what happens is you begin to get into a pattern. So when you are triggered by something, and by triggered I mean emotionally, right? So you have an emotional response, And I call them, the things that trigger these are low-level experiences, right? So they're anything that doesn't feel good. It's stress, anxiety, worry, depression, all of those low-level, not feeling good emotions that trigger that. And it's typically in response to a person that's done something that didn't fit into what we wanted them to do or say or didn't feel right somehow. or a circumstance. And so, I mean, the key behind all of that really is the resistance piece, right? It's about the expectation that something or someone should show up a certain way, and us needing for them to be that certain way. And when they're not that way, then we have a response to that. And then we begin that cycle of the circular thinking.

Erin Mac Erin, cognitive fusion plays a significant role on how we often form what is known as subconscious scripts, or the stories that we form based on a more implicit thinking and memory. Can you share the significance of this pattern of fusion as we interact with the emotional associations experienced during anxiety?

Jeffrey Besecker And so one of the things that I talk to clients and people that take my classes is this idea that circular thinking is, for lack of a better word, it's kind of an addiction, right? So it's like you get into this addictive state where that is your response to everything that happens. And so you're constantly in reaction to all these things. And one of the tools that I like to teach is how to disrupt that pattern. And it's kind of silly, but I'd love to share it with you and your listeners. It's kind of this idea that, okay, once you recognize that you're like, oh, I can't stop thinking this thing, it's like driving me crazy. Then you go, oh, okay, that's happening again, that thing, that pattern. And then you say to yourself, enough, right? And so at first it could be just enough, just like that. You recognize it and you go enough. Sometimes that's just enough, right? For your brain to go, oh, We're not supposed to be thinking that. Okay, move on to something else. But when it's something that we're real dug in on, like it's an old thing that we have a lot of energy behind, then sometimes it requires a little bit more. And sometimes I'll do like a gesture, like I'll snap and I'll go enough. And if that doesn't do it, I'll even get further in. And I want you to think when you get into that space, what it would be like if you were talking to the little child that was you long ago that created this belief structure that is being triggered at the moment by emotions and circumstance and event and person and think like how you would speak to when they're doing something that is not in their benefit, right? You wouldn't just say, Oh, enough, you would go enough. Did you feel the energy shift there? It was like enough, there was some power behind it and it went, oh, and your brain just went, oh, something is there we need to take a look at and we need to recognize. Oh, so then you think about it like a small child and you're going, that's enough. And that often will do it to get your brain to stop. and I'll even say it out loud and I'll snap and I'll do those things because what we really want to do is disrupt that brain pattern thought activity. It's really just non-awareness but when somebody explains it to you like this or you get awareness around it then you can tackle it otherwise you're just in response to or reaction to what's going on and you don't have any way to recognize that it's something that you're at the mercy of.

Jeffrey BeseckerErin, as we face significant life changes and trauma or conditioned beliefs rise to the surface, we often experience those familiar feelings of anxiety. In that regard, how does anticipatory anxiety contribute to the formation of subconscious scripts and what strategies or techniques can individuals use to address and manage these scripts as a means of emotional coping?

Erin Mac My belief is that change, which is a scary word for a lot of people, well, there's three things that need to happen in order for change to happen. And one is awareness, right? We have to understand that like, oh, there's a pattern of behavior that's happening that doesn't feel good and it's not serving a future that I'd like to create. The second piece is getting a tool or strategy to, once you are aware of it, to go ahead and use it. And the third, which is actually the hardest part, even though those first two seem like they might be the hardest, the third is the practice of the new way of being. Because here's the thing is, we have all these belief structures that we put in place a long time ago that we don't have awareness around that are basically running the show. And until we get awareness around those belief patterns, we will continue to make decisions from that place. And, you know, the experts say that that happens between the ages of 3 and 5 and 8, somewhere around there, where we have experiences. and typically traumatic, not all traumatic, obviously, you know, we're here, we're thriving in some ways, right? And those belief patterns are great, we don't need to touch those, but it's the ones that are disruptive and not serving that future, not allowing us to be like tremendous and thriving in this life. Like, we are meant to be in joy, like that is the state of being that we're supposed to be in. And yet we're in this other state of resistance and anxiety and all the things, all the low level stuff.

Erin Mac Considering the interplay between emotional thinking originating from the limbic brain and logical processing from the prefrontal cortex, why is it so important to identify and adapt somatically influenced reactions and patterns rooted in emotionally driven cognitive structures, including that of the central nervous system?

Jeffrey Besecker So understanding that these belief structures were put in place a really long time ago, intellectually it makes sense that they wouldn't serve this older being, right? You know, I'm 50 this year and me making decisions based on a five-year-old me doesn't make sense intellectually, but until you understand that on a deeper level, it's difficult to make changes. And it starts with the awareness pieces going, okay, here's that voice again I hear in my head saying this pattern of things that are not helpful. And I'll say that the belief that lies, I believe, the deepest for all of us is this, and it all centers rather all kind of the same thing, which is, I'm not lovable. I'm not good enough. I don't deserve. It's all around that and every single person I've met, not that I've met everyone certainly, but everyone that's gone through this work with me, this is that belief and it sits there for all of us and it came in different ways, different experiences, traumas, whatever, but that is the underlying thing and so once we get awareness around that, that we are deserving, that we do have value, and it isn't dependent on the external things. It's not dependent on what house you live in and the car and the career or business you have or any of those things. The value lies in your pure existence. because we came from a place bigger than us and that means that we are part of that, we are that stuff and so the value lies in the pure existence of you as a being and you don't have to do anything to earn that.

Erin Mac We start to form our reality in the womb. We start to form our interaction even before that. Going even deeper, we carry DNA forward from our parents, we carry those experiences forward in that matter of our being and that energy that makes us up. So that ball starts rolling well before we even start forming our own thoughts. Aaron, in order to overcome generational emotional patterns, What steps can individuals take to better recognize their emotions and take responsibility for their own experience in the process?

Jeffrey Besecker We aren't taught those things, right? We are like who I am is not, you know, mother, daughter, business owner, any of those things, right? That's just my personality. The essence of who I am carried forth And then it met up with the experiences. So we were shaped based on our environment, based on, I also believe, by shared DNA experience, right, from relatives past. That just keeps getting shared generation after generation. And that's why this work is so important, because if there's something that keeps getting transferred generationally that is not of value in terms of getting evolutionary consciousness, which is the goal for all, If that thought pattern or belief system is not in favor of evolutionary consciousness, then this whatever it is, peace or you know, like you said, it's saying or whatever is the awareness piece where you can go, okay, there's that. I don't want that to go on generationally. And it's possible that you can stop those patterns. I believe I've stopped some for my daughter in my generation. So it meets that essence, which is the deepest part of us, not the personality, not all the things that we all see. That essence carries through and meets up with this environment. and the idea is yes it meets up with the environment and you recognize that from those experiences you create the lens in which you see everything, the filters that are put in place because of these experiences, then recognizing that some of them were wonderful and have helped us to thrive to this point and some of them are unnecessary moving forward. And again it comes to that awareness, oh okay this isn't serving that so I need to figure out a strategy or some sort of tool so that I can practice a different way of being and take this ultimately it's we want the essence, that deepest part of us or the soul or whatever you want to call it, to shine through at all times and so it's sort of getting over, for lack of a better word, these environmental things that met up with that essence to move forward in our lives joyfully, right? And thriving and all the outrageously with all the possibilities in front of us. And that's really, I believe that the thing, you know, and it's, it's not that these past things are so horrible or, I mean, some of them are, you know, you listen to, I listened to, that's the first thing I do with a client is I say, tell me your story, right? And then they tell me all the horrible things that have happened. And then I say, I don't mean any offense to the people that were involved in there, because I'm sure there are some that you really love in there, but you don't get to tell that story anymore, because that story is not you. That's something that happened to you. That's something that happened in this time-space reality for you, but it is not you. You are a deeper-essenced being that is below that, that is wanting to come out, and that's why we're doing this work. And that's really the work there.

Erin Mac What's so fascinating about that is we form that notion of personality based on how we're projecting. We're forming that out of past experience so often rather than being present with how am I currently feeling, how does this currently relate, how does this reaction or interaction with another person in the present, with myself in the present, create a meaning right now.

Jeffrey Besecker Yeah, absolutely. So I teach by two tenets that I think are the foundation behind everything that I believe, which is that the dominant thoughts that you have is what creates your reality. And if that's true, then the second tenet is taking personal responsibility for what you've created, not in a way of blame. but in a way that says, if I've created something that I don't like, I can uncreate it. That's empowering. That's, I'm in the driver's seat now, right? Instead of I'm in reaction to everybody and everything. But what that means, and this is the scary part for a lot of people, is like, if you are responsible, then that means you're responsible for everything. That's your emotions and your actions and all of the stuff, right? So you are no longer the victim to circumstances, events, or people. And so that means that when you have an emotional reaction to somebody or something, you get to own that. But not from a place of beating yourself up or going, oh my gosh, I'm less than. More like from a place of what is that gift that's being given to me at this moment, telling me there's an area that either needs to heal or there's growth in that area. And that's it. There's no more to it. You don't need to judge yourself or judge anybody else for that matter for where they're at. Just this is happening for me right now. And this is I own it. And that's where the projection piece that you were speaking about comes in. It's like we literally are going around all day long and projecting our stuff on everybody else and expecting them to behave how we need them to be. And I'm asking for the opposite. I'm asking for you to be so solid and okay inside of you in recognizing what you're experiencing is yours, that you created it through your lenses and your filters and all of the experiences you've had, and just be kind to yourself and go, oh, okay. I'm overreacting right now, that's interesting, right? So you create a space between what's happening and your reaction to it so that you can get in wonderment of what is there, what's that piece that just got triggered for me and how can I take a look at that differently and the healing part is reacting differently, being a different person when that situation comes up again, but it starts with the awareness piece.

Erin Mac The whole notion of all of our energy is the sum of all energy in the universe. That can be overwhelming. We are all connected and made of the exact same energy. We are all embodied in the same things, the same matter. What so often happens is we shift that perspective inward. We feel and think inward, but we stay inward. We stay in our minds, we stay in our thoughts, we stay in our energy to the point where they become overwhelming and we act out upon them. Examining the context of ego development, particularly in individuals who are still in those earlier phases of pre-conventional and conventional development and growth, how do you feel ego filters and emotional masking influence the formation of our subconscious scripts?

Jeffrey Besecker Yeah, I, you know, it's funny when you can recognize what's actually happening versus what you think is happening, right? And I always like to use the example that here's how you know it's you, not anybody else. I don't know, have you ever been to a party where you're with somebody else and they're like, man, I don't like that person. They're, you know, rude or whatever, abrasive, And you go, oh wow, I didn't have that experience at all, they're super nice, right? So that's how you know. Your filter is this, their filter is that, that person is triggering something in them that you don't have, right? You have plenty of other things that you get triggered by, but that particular person or their way of being doesn't trigger you. And so like recognizing these things it becomes or for me it has become this stillness with inside that the outside out here is all it's like a movie. And so I'm watching these people and these things go on and every once in a while I'll have a reaction I'm you know I'm not immune. to having a reaction, I definitely have. It becomes less and less as I practice these things, right? And when I do have them, I'm in awareness, like, and you were talking about the present moment, like how important that piece is, is sort of, I feel like it's not brought to the forefront enough, like how important it is to be here now, like this moment, like this is really all we have guaranteed. this very moment. And if we truly believed that, we would live our lives very differently. We wouldn't wait to do the things. We wouldn't wait to make amends with people, or ourselves for that matter. more importantly, because the relationship that you want to nurture in this life is the one with you. Everything comes from that. And it's like, you know, I get clients or people in classes and they go, I want to find, you know, the one, my soulmate, all of that. I'm like, your soulmate is you. That's the relationship you have to work on because this person that you've projected out that has all these things that are fantastic and wonderful is going to be looking for that person that's fantastic and wonderful. And so that's the inner work that gets done to attract the other person that has that same inner work done versus what I see a lot, which is couples that come together that are this idea of you complete me or you know two halves make a whole it's no it's one whole one whole makes a whole right it's two people coming whole together in spiritual partnership that's the relationship and that only comes when you do that inner work personally can you attract that fantastic you know wonderful person

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Jeffrey Besecker Yeah, it's so interesting because we spend an awful lot of time delineating ourselves out from others. I'm this way, they're that way or I'm better or worse or whatever and this comparison thing and it's just interesting like I'm just throwing this out here because I hadn't really thought about it that deeply. You know, it's like I need to survive so that's the thing as I do whatever it takes to do that thing. There's definitely some of that mentality going on still and that's some of the stuff we have to disrupt, right? The subconscious mind would have us to just be surviving, but we're well beyond surviving, right? We're past going out hunting and doing all that stuff, right?

Erin Mac When you look at it, we're not truly fighting for our existence so much. We're not truly fighting for our survival. Things are so readily accessible and available to us that I think this is opinion that we've lost touch with those basic drives, those basic needs that we truly have to prop ourselves up. I love that you brought up that caveman equation. I literally had that thought and shared it with my fiancee this weekend that where did that occurrence happen that the first caveman said, ugh, you, you not lift rock hard enough, you know, ugh, you gotta lift more rock. Where did we start that? Oh, he's not doing enough walk, you know, lift more rock. Where did that start? Where did that happen? What was that thing that got that ball rolling? Because that's the patterning, what we call human evolution, human existence, give or take whatever the actual equation might be. Our understanding, vast, large amounts of time have passed where we carry these patterns forward of judgment. of ego of competition rather than saying we've got rocks we've got to move and we've got to feed we've got to eat we do it together because when we do it together it gets done something unraveled there that's the part that really kicks me in the ass

Jeffrey Besecker Well, you know, it makes sense that it would be that way, because I mean, if that's if survival is the end game, if that's the goal, then, you know, do what you got to do. But we are not there anymore. Right. So we've evolved so much further past that. And yet a lot of our thinking is still in that space. Right.

Erin Mac Have we made the wheel more complicated than the wheel ever needed to be? You know, that's another angle for me to look at. I think in order to truly move within our essence or be aligned and aware within our essence, we have to look at where are we truly not connecting, where are we truly not moving into what we are fully capable of being, our limitlessness.

Jeffrey Besecker all over the place. I mean, think about it. I mean, like literally, like in almost every reaction, you know, interaction is like, you know, think about like, I'm the one that goes to the grocery store and when the clerk is doing my groceries, I'm looking them in the eye saying, how are you doing today? Fine, whatever. Right. They have that exchange. We do this, like, robotic exchange. It's like, no, like I look at people, I watch people, I look them in the eye and I ask them how they're doing because I recognize that there's an interaction that's happening. We have no idea what's going on for other people. And so when we become the light for them in that moment, you know, you have no idea. Maybe they were thinking they were going to commit suicide or they just found out they have cancer or whatever the circumstances are. Maybe it's not even that bad. Maybe it's just, or, you know, I don't think I'm good and bad, but maybe it's just, I'm having a bad day or, you know, nobody's even recognized me today. We don't even recognize each other anymore. We don't even like stay in that moment and go, hi, how are you? Like, let me look you in the eye and ask you from human to human, we are connected. What can I do? Can my beingness lift your beingness up in any sort of way? If that's possible, fantastic. That makes me feel good. That makes you feel good. Let's move on. The problem is we don't get the feedback, right? Like, I don't get the feedback from the clerk that I was depressed and you coming through and genuinely acknowledging my being made a difference. And so because we don't get that feedback, it's hard to know, you know, that am I doing any good? But we're literally that drop in the water, that ripple effect out, like literally, like energetically, you don't have to even do anything or say anything to another human being. If your energy and vibration is high, people feel that. And that's enough. So again, it becomes about you working on the internal piece, right? So that you can have that high energy.

Erin Mac Speaking to that point. So often I feel we become so robotic and so attuned to that unconscious autopilot. We just spit back the okay, you know, okay, fine. You know, we don't truly open the door to the potential, that energy in that conversation. For whatever various reasons, we've developed that habit of just okay. Which to me, okay, there's not a real battle with being in a state of okay because I broke this down not too long ago. Okay is simply at its core when you take where the meaning of that word come from, all correct. all correct and it was even a joke on all correct was a misspelling of all correct o l l k o r r e c t which was a colloquialism of it's okay because it's not all correct and that's okay too but it's curious that so often we answer that okay it's just it's all correct and we don't take it any further we don't dive any deeper in opening ourselves to others

Jeffrey Besecker Well, I mean, I have to say it's really not our fault, right? We are taught these things. We're not taught how to be. We're not taught how to be, right? We're taught how to, we're human beings.

Erin Mac We're taught that there should be a fault. Release that notion of blame. Release that notion of shame. Release those subconscious teachings that we have to be guarded and closed.

Jeffrey Besecker Yeah, and I even think, I mean, I don't know about you. I've done a lot of work, self-development through different seminar companies and things. And I was just thinking this morning about the first time that I truly felt peace. And I had gone to a seminar. It was a week long, and I was on a ranch. And so you're taken away from your environment for a week, obviously on purpose, right, so that you can have this experience. It's the integration back into the real world that is challenging, right? Because it's like you create this loving bond with all these people and you recognize that piece that yes, we are all one, right? We're all connected. But out in the real world, that's not the message. That happens all day every day, right? And so there is that guarded piece, but I would challenge people to not allow that to be their way of being. Because let's think about it, what's the worst thing that can happen? If you bought into the tenets that I said, which were, you know, your dominant thoughts create your reality. you are responsible for everything and anything that's going on in your world, you're creating it, right? Then if you decided to be open to all and everybody, I don't mean careless, I don't mean like, oh, well, that person needs money, let me give them all my money and then not have for myself. That's not what I mean. What I mean is allowing yourself to just be yourself, not the ego, not the personality, just be you on all ways. And I don't mean some of that, that be you thing. I love the idea of that. There's some challenges with it because you know, I find sometimes when people say that they actually end up being sort of rude or brash because they don't have any filters all of a sudden. And that's fine too. Like you can be that too. Just know that that is not going to attract a whole lot of people to want to hang out with you. Um, that's all you can be you. And if that you is this thing, then be you and do that thing. Just know that people aren't gonna want to hang out with you. Going back to this point that I really wanted to talk about that you had brought up, which is it is more simple than we make it. We have made it more complicated than it is.

Erin Mac We are our own worst enemies. There's another colloquialism in a generational pattern, but we choose to keep being our own worst enemy. Rather than exercising, like you said, that notion of agency, that ability to rationally, logically, and with feeling in an authentic manner, connect with ourselves, acknowledge where our present state is at, and then act with an awareness toward everything else around us.

Jeffrey Besecker Yeah, I mean, in my estimation, if you can begin to understand what your emotions are and recognize that they are yours and not anybody else's and you are not a victim to anybody or anything, then it makes it completely simple all of a sudden, right? Because then it's like, oh, it's not them, it's me, right? So now you know who the target is, it's you. And then, and you know where the work is, right? Because every time you have a low level experience, that's where the work is. That's where your work is, which is individual to each of us based on our history and what we decided about that history. Then it becomes very simple. And then the last piece I would say, or the piece that's brought me the most inner peace is this idea of separateness, right? So when I can create space in between the, reaction or the wanting a reaction or the emotion or whatever and I can step back and be the observer versus think that I am the emotion. I think most people think they are their personality and their emotion and their past stuff. But I truly believe we are a greater, deeper essence of all of the wonderful things. Kindness and love and peace and all of that is there in every single person. And I do mean every person. It presents itself differently, of course. And sometimes the presentation can be dramatic, you know, and there certainly are cases of mental illness where it's right there in the forefront. You can see that. But I see, when I see mentally ill people having like a break, you know, like the other day or yesterday, in fact, we were driving and there was a woman yelling on the side of the road and you could see that she was having a moment, a challenge. that's not any different than this BS that's going on in our brain. It's just that she doesn't have the filter anymore, right? And there might be some context missing, but the reality is this voice in our head that is telling us all mostly the bad stuff about ourselves is not any different than that woman on the side of the road. I mean, I see her and I say, wow, how freeing in some ways that must be to be able to just say out loud all of this nonsense that's going on in my head. And that's For me, what I want people to know the most is that you can create still and calmness within and no longer be beholden to that voice because that voice is not who you are. That is not the essence of you. That is not the deepest part of you. and that's just a function of environment and exposure and you know all the things like you said the sayings and Noah you're seeking for if you feel like there's something beyond that experience there is and it's beautiful. and it's wonderful and it's calm and it has peace and peace of mind and all of those things and that's really to me the most important thing because we have no guarantee this is it this moment right here and if i had to die right now i'd be psyched because i got to tell people what i know is the truth and that's the thing is like living in purpose, on purpose all the time. And that's telling your truth. This is my truth. And you giving me this platform to share it and us having this conversation is a beautiful thing. And these are the moments that I try to create every single day because this is why I'm here. And this is what brings joy and cultivates it.

Erin Mac Speaking to that notion of connecting with those emotions, those feelings, I just had a great idea pop in my head as you spoke that. It's like the cartoons, the old cartoons. I don't know how they are so much because my kids are all grown, but the old cartoons where you'd see somebody and they'd get the light bulb that would pop on. They had a great thought, you know, boom, boom, that light bulb pops on. Those emotions are meant to be like that light bulb. They're meant to pop up there and say, hey, there's something going on here. Hey, there's a thought here. Hey, there's an experience we have to interact with. So often what we do is we get in that cycle where we feel like we have to leave that damn light on and the light burns out. The light burns out because we aren't allowing that light to illuminate the point we're supposed to connect with. It's like when you go in a room at night, you know, we're taught that to conserve energy, we go in a room, we flip the switch. We see what we have to see. But when we leave, we turn that energy switch off so we save it for the next time. It's like that light bulb and leaving the switch on all the time. We're constantly illuminating that thought, that feeling, that state of being. What often happens is that ball burns out and we're thrust back into that darkness within us, those dark corners, those dark emotions. We don't deal with the feelings. We don't create a healthy connection. We don't learn to move in a more essential way. function like you mentioned.

Jeffrey Besecker I think, you know, again, I hate to say it, but it's not our fault, right? We aren't taught these things. We're not taught how to calm ourselves down when things go not well. We're not taught how to, you know, turn a bad day around, right? We're just like, oh, I'm having a bad day. Like, why is that acceptable? No. This is a day. It matters. Every moment matters. If this moment is the only moment, then it matters and all of that matters. I mean, there's definitely consciousness is happening. I mean, things like the pandemic, like this is happening on purpose. This is a beautiful thing. This politics, all this stuff that's going on in this world right now is all for our benefit. It is all absolutely working out perfectly. And yet, We are so conditioned to believe that, oh, I'm going to label things good and bad, right? And then I'm going to say, I'm having a good or a bad day. This is good or bad. And so we go through and we're rating all these things all day long, every day. And the reality is, is they're all good. Everything is absolutely perfect and in divine order at all times. Does that mean that it's all laid out for you and there's a path that absolutely, you know, you go on and you end up at this end thing? Yeah, the end thing is evolutionary consciousness and everybody's on their way there, it's just we're on different paths. I mean, in terms of, you know, experience and exposure and all those things. and we don't have this exposure. Like this is why it's so important to me to explain this to as many people as who will listen and are ready to hear because, and not everybody's ready, as you know, to hear these things, right? Because they are still stuck in those dark corners, right? And that's okay too. And I'm okay with that as long as they're okay with that. I'm also okay with a lot of things that most people aren't okay with. I'm choosing my path, you're choosing yours, there's nothing wrong with yours and there's nothing wrong with mine. They're just different. They're all headed to the same place though, and that's the thing. It's like, we're headed to the same place. So if you are open enough to hearing what we're talking about here, then why not do the work now? Why wait? You know, why put it off another day? Why bury it in alcohol and drugs and, you know, that dark place? I mean, because that's an addiction too. That dark place is an addiction. It's just that we don't have an AA or a support group for that, really. You know, we have psychologists and things like that, and I love psychologists and psychiatrists, and they definitely have a place in this world. And the practice of telling that story over and over again to get through it, I do not believe is the answer. That's why when I work with people and I say, what's your story? Then I tell them they can't tell it anymore. Not only can they not verbally tell it to anybody, they can't tell it in their mind, they can't relate to it anymore, and they can't try and create relationships around it. Like when you meet somebody and they say, oh, I was abused and I was good. Me too. It's disconnecting from that story so that you can move past that story because it isn't you. It's not the essence of you. But getting back to it, there are sources if you are seeking to understand some of these things, but it's still not quite the norm. It's getting there.

Erin Mac Do we perpetuate that pattern by saying it's not the norm? Do we find a million and one other ways to disconnect rather than opening the door and saying, but we accept and open this new reality?

Jeffrey Besecker And just keep seeking is all I would say. Just if, if you're here, you're seeking, keep seeking. There is something out there for you, even if it's not me, even if it's not Jeffrey, even if it's not, you know, a book that somebody recommends, just keep seeking. It's there for you, that person, that information, that whatever, like keep seeking because joy is our birthright and it is the state of being that we are mostly supposed to be in.

Erin Mac that awareness moves us into the alignment with our essence. Well, thank you for sharing this today. This has been such a fun conversation. You got me all pumped up today. And that was great. You opened my eyes to a lot of new things. And I thank you for that.

Jeffrey Besecker Oh, my gosh. Thank you. You did as well. And I got excited. I love to get excited. I get like, oh, I jumped out of my chair.

Erin Mac I'm glad I could share that today. So thank you so much, Erin. I appreciate you so much.

Jeffrey Besecker And thank you for having a platform in which to have these conversations. It's so important. And I don't know if you get acknowledged for that, but it really is important. I'm grateful.

Erin Mac Well, namaste. The light in me acknowledges the light in you.

Jeffrey Besecker Namaste.

Erin Mac As thinking, feeling, and loving human beings, we're all on that journey to discover the light inside. Yet at times, patterns, habits, and other various forms of conditioning can lead us to believe subconscious scripts that guide us to write a different story. One that can cloud our vision and distort our perspective. Forming healthier perspectives is a framework based on calling together a unified front of not only our collectively embodied resources, but the inherent resources of a unified field of collective consciousness. You know the saying, everything is better together. So let no thing pull us apart or drag us under. If you found value and meaning in today's show, please share this message with a friend or loved one. And as always, we're grateful for you, our valued listening community. Today, we also take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate our dedicated production community here at The Light Inside. Week in and week out, they tirelessly work within the scenes to continue bringing you the quality content and messaging that you truly deserve. So, from myself and the entire listening community at The Light Inside, a heartfelt thank you. This has been The Light Inside. I'm Jeffrey Biesecker.