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The Mirror: How Identity (Ego) Inhibits True Presence

The 2nd Greatest Challenge in Personal Transformation 

and Designing Lasting Change (2/3)

June 23, 2022

I mentioned yesterday there are 3 core problems with personal mind body transformation and designing lasting change... problems that all of us face, whether or not we're aware of them. Problems that Weightlessness specifically addresses with precision and speed.

Yesterday I shared the first core problem - The Mind-Body Problem of the Rope... watch here.

If the Rope Problem could be summarized as the body problem, or rather, the role that unconscious triggers play in stealing us away from the moment, then today's problem could be considered the mind problem. It deals with the pitfalls of ego and identity when connecting with the present.

I'm breaking these up into a short series of 3 without heading into the solutions just yet, because they really are that important. And grasping their essence in a deep way is half the answer.

Problem Number Two: The Mirror

The MIRROR, my dear listener, is, well, you.

Every day you and I look in the mirror. And what do we see?

If we’re relatively clean and seeing clearly, we see a version of us that has come to be, in part through genetic dictation, and in part through the choices we make on the daily - the foods we eat, the stress we carry, the fatigue or sharpness we’ve designed, so on and so forth.

The mirror problem is simple - daily experience is dominated by your reflection. Over your lifetime, starting from a very young age, you’ve generated and practiced thought and movement patterns that have helped you navigate your world, for better or worse.

As you matured, your worldview, with all it’s metaphysical, ethical, and abstract ideals, evolved. So much so that you can rarely have a taste of desert at a restaurant without judging its quality, or comparing it to other deserts of that kind, or other deserts of any kind. You don’t actually taste IT. You judge it.

Rather than your experience reflecting what IS - a fundamentally novel moment in life that will never be repeated and that could be savored - you live it against your memory, your values, and your desires.

You taste YOU, not it.

This might seem unnecessarily abstract, but I promise you, it’s not. And its at the crux of personal change and the key to unlocking our second gate. So conditioned is your mind-body that 90% of your day is automated, running practiced algorithms in a brain wave frequency of Beta, literally called the Default Mode Network.

Default.

It’s not called the conscious mode network.

We’re drifting in automation a large portion of the time. This is a particularly useful mode of operating when performing routine tasks with little variance, because it streamlines the process and demands less energy of us.

But for matters of life, love, art, and creation of any kind - work that requires insight, perspective, and heart, it’s a disaster. This can range from impulsively grabbing for your phone before realizing there was no conscious decision to do so, to brash and aggressive reactions to a partner or colleague’s statement, when no ill intent was present, to road rage when you’re cut off by another 'automated' driver.

Growth, is about the novel, the new. It’s about change.

The mirror… doesn’t change. It blocks you from seeing the present by reflecting the past.

Without destroying the mirror, for at least a few moments, how can you see clearly enough, feel deeply enough, and care enough to choose better ways of being in the now?

Proceed to The Strawberry: The Problem of Mind-Body Integration and Conscious Choice

Watch the Complete Strawberry Webinar (It's FREE... and awesome!).And be weightless!

Tom

The Weightlessness Process.