Clarity

Getting clarity in our decisions, our priorities, and our focus on day to day situations is something we all strive for. In this episode, Glenn discusses how to gain clarity on subjects you find yourself having a hard time with.

Transcript

Welcome to Life, Lessons, And Laughter with your host Glenn Ambrose. Hello, Welcome to the show. And I'm your host, Peter, Paul, And Mary. Wow. What? No one is gonna. . . Do you know who that is? Yeah, I know who Peter, Paul, And Mary are. Oh, Good. Yeah. Um. . . I bet we get a 50-50 on that. 50% no and 50% don't. They say, Uh. . . Oh, Man. Did they say Puff the Magic Dragon? No. I don't know, Man. Peter, Paul, And Mary. I know that they sang a great version of 500 Miles. This is a weird start to the show, Isn't it? It's such a weird start to the show. We should really get some clarity on what this episode's about. Yeah, So today we're talking about clarity while Ben. . . You know damn well Ben's gonna be looking up Peter, Paul, And Mary and what they sing. I'm not doing that. Yeah, You are. No, I'm not. So we are talking about clarity. So we live in a very unconscious world. And even those people who have gained high levels of consciousness, We're constantly gaining clarity on different things. And that's what bringing consciousness into things does, Is it gives us clarity. So have you gained clarity yet, Ben? On what they sing? Yeah, I mean I should just have gone to Spotify. I don't know why. I was just looking for the. . . Why am I looking up their Wikipedia page? Anyway, Yeah, No, I've gained clarity. They sing Leave It On A Jet Plane, Puff the Magic Dragon, Puff the Magic Dragon. Yes, Bam. I am the master and the ruler of the universe. Or something like that. If I had a hammer blowing in the wind 500 miles, Those are the top five songs. Okay, I'm done. So we gained clarity on this question out there. And that's what we need to do. We need to look into things to gain some clarity. So how do we do that? Can you tell me? Maybe. Well, A lot of times we need to give things space and stillness. This is how we gain clarity. It's kind of like the analogy of muddy water. You got muddy water, You just got to let it sit. I'm in such a sing-songy mood now. I want to sing Big River. Now, I'm thinking of, I'm from Massachusetts, So I'm thinking of dirty water. Love that dirty water. But anyway, Yeah, So it's about letting the water sit. That's an old spiritual analogy. Letting the water sit in stillness, And then it becomes uncloudy once everything settles. And that's what we have to do in a lot of areas. And we can even use that as a mental technique when we're trying to gain clarity on something. If we just sit in stillness and kind of picture our thoughts kind of settling down and just resting, And kind of settling down to the bottom of the river, And just all of a sudden the clarity rising to the top, And we can actually see what we're looking for. Ooh. Ooh, Sounds good. I like it. I like it a lot. So how do you do that practically? Well, Really. In a practical situation? Well, No, What's funny is like there's certain things, Actually kind of a lot of things like this. And spiritually speaking, It's basically exactly what I just said. You just let. . . Like you just literally sit there and you're just kind of, This thoughts going on and you're trying to figure things out. So you stop trying to figure it out and you just rest. And you can even. . . Some people are very visual, So if you are, You can kind of allow yourself to picture the thoughts falling down to the ground. And then looking in the space that's above that with clarity for your answer. And if people are very visual, They might even see a word or an answer there or a sign or something like that. But it's like it reminds me of. . . We have to experiment because we're all different. Sometimes we hear things. Sometimes we see things. Sometimes an idea comes to us and we don't know how. And sometimes it feels like it's a different voice. Sometimes it feels like it's our voice. It's different for everybody and it can be different in different circumstances. But we need to play around with this type of stuff and experiment with it and see what works for us. But at the end of the day, It's literally just like what I said. And what it reminds me of is. . . Eckhart Tolle was talking about letting go of your problems. And he's like, Well, What do you do to put something behind you? He's like, Well, You just put it down. It's like picture yourself like walking with a suitcase. And somebody said, Hey, You need to leave that suitcase behind. Well, What would you do? You'd lower your hand so the bottom of the suitcase touches the ground. You would open your hand up and then you would walk forward. So literally do that. And when he first said that, I heard that a lot of years ago. And I was like, Huh? You can't talk about spiritual stuff in like realistic terms. And then I tried it and I was like, Oh, My God, It worked. You just left your suitcase at the airport? Kind of. I just left my problems behind me. I just let go of them. I just stopped. Like it takes energy to hold on to things. So if you consciously make an effort to let go and then move forward, You can just let go and move forward. Sometimes sometimes it's not that easy. Sometimes it is. You know, But but the fact that there's any type of spiritual truth in that blew my mind. I was like, Oh, My God. So like so that's why I experiment with stuff. You know, I don't. We have to make sure we don't tell or allow our logical brain to tell us what's possible and what's not possible. You know, So so that's we have to stay open minded and experiment with this stuff. If you're looking for clarity, Understand that it comes in stillness. It comes in quiet. You know, So so look there. And most times things need space. And like one one thing that I've had people do in the past is like with problems to learn that that what's going on in front of you is not always what it seems. And it's not always as important as it seems like write down all the things that are bothering you on a piece of paper and fold it up, Put it in an envelope, Seal it, Put the date on it, And then put the date like two weeks later and stick it on the fridge. And then two weeks later when that date pops up, Open it up and look at all the things that were bothering you. And probably 75 percent of the things that were bothering you had worked themselves out without really any effort on your part. They just life just moved on and they're not an issue anymore. Then the other 25 percent, Some of the stuff you need to put effort towards to work through some of the stuff, A solution that you weren't expecting. Showed up and it happened. And I was like, Wow, That OK, I didn't see that coming. You know, But most of the stuff we, You know, That we stress out over and have fear over just works itself out. And so giving things time and space, If there's I always I've always said this, If if there's a if if you have a problem, That's a real problem. You know, Like a real issue that that needs effort to solve and all that stuff. Ninety percent of the time, It doesn't have to be solved right at that exact moment. It's a big issue. This is a big life thing. Just put it down and walk away for a little while. If it's a real issue, It's not going to go anywhere. Don't worry. It'll be there when you come back for it. It's not going to run away. And if it did, Then that's wonderful because it wasn't a real problem. You know, But just put it down for a little bit and walk away. It's OK. You can put things on the back burner and not let them eat you up inside for a while and then go back to it and see if you've gained any clarity. You know, Gained any insight about the issue. A lot of times this is, You know, Time can be a huge benefit with these things. E-mailing somebody, You know, I mean, And that's what's cool about this is this is nothing new. This has worked forever. You know, People how many times have we heard in the last, You know, Well, Forever. But even but recently you hear, You know, Don't email somebody when you're upset. You can type it out, Save it as a draft, Look at it the next day. Don't text angry. Don't call somebody when you're in all in the middle of the heated response mode. You know, All this stuff, It's just it's because time and space gives us clarity. So if we can just relax away from the problem a little bit and give it a little bit of space, What happens is what clarity is, Is like, You know, I was talking about the cloudiness settling down at the bottom. And then you have clarity. Well, That cloudiness is generally emotion. That's what clouds our vision. That's what we makes it difficult for us to see. So if we give it a little time and space, All our emotion just kind of settles down, Relaxes a little bit. And then we can look at it more clearly. True that. Yeah. I would say that if it wasn't on a stand and, You know, My equipment, I would say that you could just drop the mic right now. Boom. Yeah, I don't want you to because I don't want to replace it. Right. Yeah, I won't drop out. I'll just kind of pretend to drop it. There you go. OK, Right. Boom, Boom, Boom. This was my mic drop. All right. Next time you have a mic drop moment, Let me know that you're going to have it and I'll go get one of the less nice mics out of my car. Yeah, You know, This is spontaneous. I have no idea. I have no idea. What's the idea? I have no idea what's coming. So I love the pond analogy, You know, The water. I imagine the pond. I don't know if you. Yeah, I do, Too. Somebody check the tape. I don't know if he actually said pond or not. But I love that analogy that if you just let it go, You know, That reminds me a lot of meditation. Right. You know, Like meditation is kind of the act of trying to get yourself still. You're right. Like your mind still. And then it's also something that, You know, Like writers, If you're having writers block, You know, Like the best advice is stop. Stop writing. Go do something else. Go for a walk. Take a shower. Right. Play a game. Something like that. And, You know, When you're not thinking, When you're not actively trying to sort through the mess, When you finally get still, Something will come to you. Right. Yeah, It's and it's it is that clarity and clarity and cloudiness. It's the you know, That when when you're trying too hard, Like if everything in spirituality is about openness, Allowing it's natural, Just it doesn't everything that that works against us is constricting and closing and trying. Like if if if I think like, OK, I'm going to try really hard. The first thing that happens is like my like I tighten up like am I really try at this? You know, Like that's the opposite of opening. I'm going to really constrict on this. Like, OK, How is that going to benefit you? Well, What if you relaxed and you opened? Oh, Oh, OK, That's peaceful. OK, I can think clear. I'm calmer. That's you know, So so that's that's another way to look at the confusion and clarity. Confusion is constricted and trying and effort. And what do I do? And I have to fix it. And this is wrong and it shouldn't be this way. And all those energies are all wrapped up in it. You know, But if you're thinking about clarity, Just, You know, Clarity is relaxing and it's open and it's allowing. And it's it's, You know, Non stressful. It's so those those are the energies that we want to, You know, We want to be aware of and then consciously choose what we're trying to get at. That's I think that that's the biggest problem with clarity is everybody's always trying to get it. You know, Like and you just shot yourself in the foot right there. I'm going to try to be clear. Oh, No. Well, That ain't going to happen, You know, Because because you're trying, Which is constricting to get something that's open and allowing. So you're you know, You're contradicting yourself with the two energies right there. Yeah. So you allow yourself to be clear. You don't try to be clear. Right. And that's the second mic drop of the podcast. I've got the mic. I think you should have. I think I'm going to simulate a mic. If I do another one, I'm simulating. All right. You know what? I got to find something heavy that I can drop. The mic you have is indestructible. Just let me know and I'll mute it for a second. Just don't do it with that one on the table. Well, You know, And I like along these lines, I see I see this with a lot of the arguing that's going on in the world, You know, With, Of course, A lot of the politics and stuff. Like people running around saying things and they don't even like it does. It literally doesn't make sense, But they don't slow down enough because they're just trying to prove a point. So they're not really worried about if it makes sense. It just doesn't make a good sound bite. And if it does, It catches on. And like lots of people run around saying it. And I think that that that podcast we did on millennials is a good example. You know, Everybody's running around saying like, Oh, These millennials that, You know, They come into the workforce and they're not they're not responsible in the workforce. It's like, Well, So like, Are they running the workforce? Are they the bosses? No, They're just entering it. So if they're just entering it, Why are you concerned about what they want to do and what they don't want to do? It's your job to teach them what the workforce looks like. You know, Like my generation, You know, I'm almost 50. So it's like my generation are the people who are complaining the most about the millennials not wanting to take responsibility or be accountable for their actions. And yet we are the ones that are supposed to be holding them accountable. So why are you blaming? You know, That's that's like me being a parent. And when my son's six years old, Me going, Oh, I can't believe I have to tell him the same thing 20 times. Well, Don't like set consequences. And I mean, Don't get me wrong. I've done that. I've done that multiple times in my life where my son was getting on my nerves and he, You know, He wasn't doing what I thought he should be doing and all this stuff. And I'd get all upset. All my attention was on him. And I'd be irritated with him. And then all of a sudden, I'd have to stop myself and go, OK, Glenn, Who's running the household? Your son or you? You're like, Well, I am. OK, Then why is what's going on in the household his responsibility? Why is it up to him? Why is he controlling it? Like, Well, He shouldn't be right. OK, So whose fault is that? The person in charge. OK, So that's me. So the reason that my son isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing is because I'm not being a good leader. I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing to make sure he does what he does. You know, So that's the same mentality that we have in our workforce right now. As people are running around going, Oh, These kids don't take, You know, They don't know what responsibility is. Of course they don't. They're just entering the workforce. Where were they supposed to learn it? Like, You know, I mean, Don't get me wrong. I understand that we can learn some stuff growing up. I tried to teach my son growing up responsibility little by little. I understand that that's in a perfect world. But I'm talking if I run a business, If I'm a boss, I do run my business. And if anybody comes to work for me and doesn't do what they're supposed to do, Then I don't continue working with them. You know, I'll make it clear what their expectations are. I will have discussions with them to if they're not doing what they're supposed to. But eventually, If they don't do what they're supposed to, Then they're fired and I'll go get somebody that will. This isn't rocket science. And I'm still here, Folks. Yeah. So it's just we just have to do we just have to hold people accountable and make it clear what our expectations are and then, You know, Set up a system in place. So if they go, You know, Well, If you do this, This is what's going to happen. I know it's difficult to set consequences for. In a workforce. So what I'm seeing now, Like what I'm recommending in a workforce is is just set meetings up with formal warnings where they know, Like, You know, Whatever you want as a business, You know, Like maybe three. You get three formal warnings and then you're fired, You know, And then have a formal meeting with them each time they get one of these warnings and sit down and go, OK, This is what you didn't accomplish. How can we help you accomplish this? That's the twist. Like generations before just used to be like, Do this or else. Well, The generations have changed a little bit. So a better approach with this generation is is going, OK, We'd like to keep you. We'd like to have you work out and stay here. And you're not doing what we need you to do for our business. So how can we help you? What clarity do you need? So that you can actually perform your job duties because you do understand that, You know, If you don't perform your job duties, You wouldn't we wouldn't be able to allow you to keep working here. So, You know, What clarity do you need and try to help them accomplish that. But if you keep trying to help them to the best of your company's ability after three times of warning them and trying to help them that either they're just too irresponsible for the job or that job isn't right for them. It doesn't matter what it is. It just shouldn't be there. Right. So you're what you're saying is when you're in this situation, You need the expectations to be clear. You need the consequences to be clear. Right. You need the communication to be clear. Right. And just help them as much as possible. But at the end of the day, If they don't do it, It's your responsibility to your business and to yourself and to your sanity to fire them. Yeah, Absolutely. So this is but so that's the big picture. But people instead of slowing down and getting the clarity and going, Wait a minute, I'm in control. If I'm in control, I should be changing the way I'm doing things because the way I'm doing things isn't working. You can't have the you know, The the kids running the house. You can't have the employees running the company. That's why you have managers. That's why you have a CEO. You have higher ups. So they're supposed to be running things. If you're letting the people, You know, Just entering the workforce run your business, You've got a flawed business model. You know, So stop. But it's so easy to blame other people. And it's so cliche just to go, Oh, This generation's horrible. Yeah. Wait a minute. Slow down and think about what you're saying. You're blaming you're blaming people who for doing things, But they're not in control of what's being done. You know, So that's just one example that, You know, And of course, We've got, I don't know, 16 billion examples in politics of the same thing. People just say stuff and they don't slow down and it becomes catchphrases. And they don't slow down enough to gain clarity on what they're actually what the problem is, Let alone what the solution might be. They don't most people don't even understand what the problem is. You know, So they're just busy arguing, Trying to prove their point. So I think if you know, This is why consciousness and clarity is going to benefit our society so much. Instead of running around spitting out cute little sound bites while we actually slow down, Gain clarity on what the problem is, Which is like this just brought me back to that other podcast we did with the three steps to solving any problem. Yeah, We have a ton of great stuff in the archives. Yeah, We do. Go through it. Check it out. But so it's you know, The three steps is find out what the gain clarity on what the problem is, Then find out what the solution is, And then implement that solution. It's three very basic steps, But we don't slow down enough to do that. So, And again, It's all based around gaining clarity. So, So as we gain clarity, It's just another way of saying that we're living consciously or we're bringing mindfulness into our lives and our society, Which is exactly what we need to be doing. So, You know, When you're thinking about clarity, It's very interactive with a lot of things. It's very realistic and it, You know, It's very useful in our daily lives. That's why mindfulness is getting so popular. That's why there's so much talk about consciousness is because we need it. So, So if we're sitting there, You know, Gaining clarity, Bringing more consciousness into the world, Then, You know, That that's really going to enlighten us into a way of doing things that are a lot more effective. That's awesome. That's it. That's, That's the whole, That's the whole boodle. Oh, I was gonna say that. Yeah, Where'd it go? Spoiler alert for those of you who are listening to these shows in order. The energy level. I don't know what the difference was between the last episode that we recorded, Which was like, Which was, What was the name of it? I have it written down here. Filling the hole. Filling the hole. The energy level between the two of us between filling the hole and clarity jumped like 15%. And I don't know why. I think it usually does. It does. It does. The second one we record. Yeah. So it always goes up. All right, Man. All right. So go out there, Gain some clarity. Meditation is a great tool. Just be be still, Give some things some space, Some time, Whatever you need to. And just, You know, Become more conscious. It's gonna your your life's gonna expand dramatically when when you're living on purpose. So and you can't do that if you don't have the clarity. So thanks for listening. And we'll talk to you soon. Hey, Guys, This is Ben. Check out Glenn's new book, Down to Earth, The Spiritual Beings Guide to a Happy Human Experience. It's now available for preorder at GlennAmbrose. Com.

Reviews

I learned some helpful things about clarity- thanks 🙏 trivia… Peter Paul and Mary’s #1 song Leaving on a Jet Plane was written by John Denver (boom, Mike drop 😆) love your podcasts

I definitely enjoy your talks as I am guided to them through my intuition. It definitely helps me to take a pause and savor the moment as I gain clarity on different aspects of my life. Thank you for this wonderful primer on clarity. 🥰💫💥💥

Very good introduction on clarity .Thank you Glenn.

Such a down-to-earth instruction, but FULL of Wisdom❣️
Thanks for another great talk, Glenn, to add to my “Learning Library”. 😊
After 62 years of this Journey”, I can attest to the Truth and Wisdom of what you are sharing.
With Grandchildren, from 6-14 years, I’ll be sharing with them these easy-going “Life Lessons” via your Podcast.
(You know it always sound better coming from someone other than your parents. 😄 (or Grandparents, as may be the case. 😉)
🙏🏻💕

Yes, it was weird....and I do know who Peter, Paul and Mary are! (Giggle 😁) Enlightening conversion, BTW