EP357: More abstract, more suffering

In this episode I share an exchange between myself and a member of our community around her experience of anxiety.  I am pointing to What Is before summary thoughts like “I keep feeling anxiety” or “I am afraid something is wrong”. Those summary thoughts are fine – they are powerless – but they are getting all The post EP368: Feeling your way through anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Some thoughts, like “no matter what”, “ too late now”, “this always happens”, “I knew it”, somehow feel more true than others, don’t they? Thoughts like these have a scent of finality and certainty. They seem unquestionable. They don’t appear as thought most of the time. They appear as a description of the-way-it-is. But they are The post EP367:  “No matter what” is a powerless thought  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, Lisa Natoli and I talk about identity. She shares her experience coming to identify with the simple aliveness that’s always here. We discuss the role of being in what is and exploring that in helping her see through identity with the Lisa character.  If you’d like to see more about Lisa and The post EP366: Identity with Lisa Natoli appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

When one is experiencing health anxiety, for example, and they are often sure that “this time is different”.  They are sure they are unwell, running to doctors, trying to solve health problems that don’t actually exist. It’s very simple and extremely helpful to assume the issue is anxiety first. After all, when the thinking and The post EP365: Anxiety First appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Beliefs, including spiritual beliefs, are helpful to a point. Then they become decidedly unhelpful.What happens at that point? You look beyond belief.We’ll look at what it means to go beyond belief and how that’s very different from continually clinging to “better” beliefs.***The (now) annual Summer Book Club is back! Beginning in late July, I’ll be leading The post EP364: Beyond belief appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

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The title of this week’s episode is also the title of a book by Sailor Bob Adamson. This is the book we’ll be exploring in the Summer Book Club. In this episode, I share some quotes from the book that have stood out in my initial reading. As the author says, this book “is not about The post EP362: What’s wrong with right now?: If you don’t think about it appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Let’s talk about the experience we call anticipation. It seems like we’re looking ahead to something that’s almost certain to happen. And it seems like it’s very likely to happen the way we’re imagining it. The way it’s likely to go feels like sound logic – of course it might not happen that way, but The post EP361: Anticipation is Imagination appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Shortly after I recorded last week’s episode, The Biggest Irony, someone shared an experience on one of our forums that perfectly illustrated what I was trying to express. Today’s episode shares that illustration and expands on the idea that all of our teachings, pointers and understandings have a singular benefit – presence in and as The post EP360: The Biggest Irony – Part 2 appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

It seems that of our learning, understanding, talking, expressing and sharing are for one thing, and one thing only: to help relax into this. Not to help relax into some abstract emotion or to make things easier “someday”. And definitely not to have an insight or see something new. It’s all so that we can melt into, The post EP359:  The biggest irony appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.