SRS Session 24 | True Curiosity

In session 24 we explore the opportunities for personal expansion that arise as we recognize and let go of our need to be right. This meditation includes a guided visualization. The Spiritual Recalibration Series is designed to help you expand your awareness into a new, more open, curious and expansive way of being in daily life. This impactful series comprises 33 sessions, each with a short topic (the recalibration) followed by guided meditation. Meditations include affirmations, visualizations, and brief periods of quiet, musical stillness.

Transcript

Okay, Welcome back to the Spiritual Recalibration Series. Thank you for embarking on this series and opening yourself to a new way of being. My name is David, And this is Session 24, True Curiosity. Find a comfortable seat in a space where you can allow yourself 20 minutes or so, Undistracted, To focus just on you. A quick reminder, To get the most out of this series, Please be sure you've listened to the Welcome Session, Session Zero. Here we go. About being right, Which is, Oh boy, Does it feel wonderful to be right. So I probably, On these calls, Maybe mentioned soccer a little bit too often, Whether it's soccer for my two daughters who play or the, Right now it's the European Championships that are happening. But we did, We kind of did a March Madness, Sweet 16 style bracket for them in my house, And we filled them out. And I got, I forget which game it was, I think it was one, I think it was a game that Italy was playing in, I forget, But I got, I chose the winner and the score. So I got big points for that. I got the score exactly, It was like two to one, Man, That felt good to be right. So the thing about being right is that it feels really good. So we can really always want to be right, We kind of want that feeling of being right. And that can, It seems, Stymie our learning a bit, Or stymie our curiosity. Like if you look at, So the thing that really came to me yesterday, I remember I was driving in the car, Driving around locally, And I was thinking about how much energy it takes to be right. Like that's great, You know, I picked the score of the game and the winner, Super. But most really when we, When there's an energy drain, We're trying to be right about something that's charged. And so just like look at a political debate was the example that came up and how much energy is spent proving a point. So typically when we're right, Someone else is wrong, Right? So even in my soccer example, Everybody who didn't choose us where they were all wrong, And I was right, Right, Yay, I was right. And the political candidate, It just, If we just sit back and observe it, It just, It takes so much energy to be right and prove you're right and want to be right and need to be right. And so if we look at like our judgments of other people, You know, The beliefs that we hold strong to, Whether they're political beliefs or other sorts of positions about whether or not your kid should have gotten that grade or gotten a better grade or should go out with that person or any number of a thousand things that happened over the course of a day or a week. So when we are kind of hung up on being right, Which is a very natural way of being in the world, It's normal. We're not curious. So I was working through recently, It was, That's a commitment to in the 15 commitments of the conscious leadership group, Which I've mentioned to you guys before. And that is learning through curiosity. And so when we're so in that, But in that commitment, The thing that was sticking out to me was the energy, The energy, The energy drain, How much energy we use that could otherwise be repurposed to learning. So it comes into how curious or how committed we are to, To self-awareness, To learning what we're here to learn. So those wonder questions that we asked a few moments ago are about curiosity, Thinking about the kind of life you want to live and how you want to be in the world with yourself and with your loved ones and with your community and the people around you and asking those wonder questions. The other thing that came up to me for me when I was thinking about this is, Okay, So if I'm committed to self-awareness, Right. And I'm committed to learning and all these things are, All these things are true. And so now I know that I'm supposed to ask questions that start with, I wonder, Okay. So I do that. Now my, What I'm really curious about is how to access that five-year-old curiosity, How to really, How to, What that space is from where you can ask a question like, I wonder how kind I can be to myself today, How you can ask that without attachment to figuring out the answer. Because the definition of a wonder question is that childlike curiosity, Where you're just curious, You're just openly curious, Not attached to there being an answer. It's about asking the question. So that's what I'm curious about today is accessing, I wonder how I can access that space from where true wonder comes from, As opposed to trying to figure it out. And the other thing I think that came up as I was thinking about this, And this is the last thing is about, I think these days I actually prefer being wrong. I don't know. I have to be completely honest with myself. I still really enjoy being right. But you know, When I'm wrong, It's like, Oh, There's, There's the, There's the opportunity. How was I wrong about that? What can I learn from that? That that can be exhilarating in a completely different way from that kind of ego confirming place of having been right. I was, I've mentioned Reverend Richard Rohr to you sometimes, And maybe I've even mentioned this before, But I remember him saying something, I think it was in a book actually, Where, So you need, So you need a certain amount of success in your life, You know, Into your twenties to kind of, This is what I heard him say anyway, What I got from it. You need a certain, You know, You have some success in life and some stuff happens where you in like into your twenties. And then by the time you hit age 30, And I think it's, I think that's the age you said around a 30, Pretty much 30. And after everything you learn is from failure, He was talking about, You know, The, The path of self of personal growth. So I guess it's good when you're wrong. All right. So if this whole thing that we're up to here is about learning from every opportunity, And let's do a short, Let's do a short meditation here, A short visual visualization with this kind of theme. So if you would, If you're sitting in a chair, Make sure your feet are flat on the floor. Sit nice and upright, Draw your shoulder blades together gently. So you have a nice upright spine, Gentle, Gently with yourself, Tuck your chin slightly. Just so your neck is nice and long. Close the eyes gently, If that's comfortable for you. Allow the breath to flow naturally in and out through the nose and begin to notice the breath for just a few moments here. See if you can feel the spot in your nostrils where the air is passing. Sometimes just the outer edges of the nostrils is the easiest place to feel it at first, Or maybe you can feel it even higher. It's great if it's right there at the edge of the nostrils, But maybe see also how high up in the nostrils you can notice the breath. Relax your jaw, Allow your tongue to fall away from the roof of your mouth. Then soften your eyes behind your eyelids. Notice your thinking, Celebrate that you noticed. Come back to your breath, Letting your attention be focused on your breath. Coming back to it over and over again. Good. Take an intentional inhale through the nose and a gentle exhale through the mouth. You don't have to watch your breath anymore. With eyes gently closed, Allow yourself to be walking. A short visualization here, Where you're walking outside, Pick the place that's a favorite spot for you to walk outside. Allow yourself to be there now, Walking slowly. If you don't have a favorite place to walk outside, Imagine one, Whether it's near the ocean or a lake or a mountain stream, In the woods or a path in a meadow. Somewhere near nature or in nature, Where you can walk. Allow yourself to hear the sounds around you, Hear the rustling of the leaves, The sound of your feet on the path you're walking, The sound of animals, Whether it's birds or chipmunk. Every sound that you hear, Know that it is for you, Specifically designed for you to hear, Given to you as a gift. This moment now, As you're walking, Each sound is for you. Everything that you see is for you, The sky, The clouds, Specifically given to you to see. Every tree, Every flower, Every rock, And every blade of grass, For you. Everything you can smell, The scent of the fresh water, The flower fragrance in the air, The scent of nature, For you. Every breeze that you feel on your skin, The sun you feel on your face, Specifically given to you on this walk. And now you can let this visualization of this walk go, But for just another moment or two, Allow yourself to stay in this space of everything around you being for you, Given to you from a place of love. Good. Now, Take a normal breath in and out. Prepare to come back to the space where you are. And when you're ready, You can flutter open your eyelids or stay like this for as long as you like.