Hello and welcome to session 2 of Conscious Living Collective.
My name is Tomek and I welcome you here.
I'll let you settle in,
Give you a minute or two to say your hellos.
And I'm very happy to see you right here.
Hello Deb!
Finally,
Since the last session when I couldn't see your comments and I couldn't interact with you,
This is a welcome change.
So,
Hello and tell me if you're here for the first time.
I'm always curious to know.
And I'll introduce our Conscious Living Collective in a second.
I can already see from their faces Sharon,
Caroline,
Deb,
Vee,
Frank,
Lisa,
Nola,
Another Sharon,
Or Diane.
All my good friends.
And actually this is a very,
Very,
Very welcome presence of yours because on popular request,
I will be repeating the session on fear.
It seems like the one that is very needed.
But for those of you who are here joining us for the first time,
Let me introduce you to the concept of Conscious Living Collective.
In a sense,
It is self-explanatory.
But I want to put forth the intention behind our weekly sessions.
First of all,
We'll be meeting weekly at this time of the day.
And the objective of it will be to collectively face some of the challenges that are there in our lives and challenges that possibly limit our point of view and limit us in our understanding and fulfillment living.
So we are amongst friends and also good to see you.
Frank and Christine,
So good to see you.
Happy New Year to all of you.
And Diane,
I will be starting this session with a wonderful and vulnerable piece of writing delivered to us by one of my generous patrons,
Deb,
Who's here as well.
And I want to share that with you because our last session,
Although I couldn't see your comments,
It still have inspired,
To my wonderful surprise,
A great conversation on our patron inner circle,
And I'm very grateful for it.
And as a fruit of this conversation,
I want to share with you this little excerpt from Deb's writing that is,
As I said,
Very vulnerable and very wonderful.
Deb called it fear,
Friend and foe.
Paralyzed with fear is a common phrase.
Sometimes being paralyzed with fear might be helpful.
However,
There are other times when being paralyzed with fear could deter.
It could keep us from moving forward.
Have you ever thought about how fear has helped you or how it has hindered you?
When I was younger,
Fear befriended me as children and youth.
We tend to live in the cocoon of our family unit.
We assume that our family life mirrors all families.
We do not have the ability or means or of comparison to know differently.
I certainly didn't have the life experience or knowledge to understand that my father's sternness was emotionally,
Verbally and physically abusive,
Or that my mother's emotional distance and willingness to align with my father's parenting were equally damaging.
I thought everyone lived with the same rules and suffered the consequences of a leather belt with disappointing their parents,
When disappointing their parents.
In my ignorance,
Fear intuitively came alongside me and protected me.
Fear of my parents wrath taught me to walk on eggshells and follow all rules unquestioningly.
I questioningly.
Fear knew that keeping me quiet and never speaking up kept me safe in my teen years.
It somehow knew what I didn't understand until a few decades into my adulthood.
Fear knew that my parents were alcoholics,
Abusive and erratic.
Fear was my protector throughout those tumultuous years,
Never leaving me aside.
But after leaving home,
Fear hampered me in my adult years.
It continued trying to protect me by keeping me from speaking up on my behalf.
For decades,
It has reminded me that I am not good enough,
Not worthy and a failure.
So I shouldn't have tried pursue my dream or goals.
My old friend had learned the lessons my parents taught well.
And I listened as it continued to wrap me in the blanket of protection.
Neither of us that those early childhood lessons were true.
Neither of us knew that those early childhood lessons weren't true.
Only now do I understand after many years that fear unintentionally become my foe,
Holding me back from living the life I wanted to live and becoming the person I wanted to be.
It's time for me to thank my old friend for helping me survive and become strong enough to step out of a step out of its protective mantle,
To venture forward on my own.
Was how how has fear served you?
That asks at the end of this of this wonderful writing that thank you so much for sharing it.
I think it's a wonderful perspective of how we experience fear.
And I can only speak for myself that this is very much my childhood story.
And I think the most valuable perspective in this writing is that fear is not necessarily a bad thing.
There are circumstances,
As Deb says,
That fear works as a protector,
Helping us to stay safe and embraces us in a cocoon.
However,
When the time comes and always this time comes,
We have to step out of it.
So I want to ask you or maybe Deb wants to ask you and I'm asking that I'm asking that on her behalf.
How does fear affect you?
How does that how does your fear serve you?
I have I see quite a few comments here.
Beautiful.
I can see that so many of you,
My patrons already commented on that very topic in on the on the patron website.
But I want you to just come forward right here and see how does it make you feel to be part of this conscious living collective,
Knowing that fear,
It's part of our existence.
And it serves a valid purpose.
It goes without saying that we want at some point,
We want to step out of fear and step in our true power.
But how can we do it?
What are your experiences of stepping into the fear and then consciously stepping out of the fear into the life that you know now?
Caroline says your words left me numb the first time I read them,
Deb,
And I applaud your strength in sharing this with your friends here in the circle and life.
And I think this is one of the most wonderful things that sharing those things,
Sharing those fearful experiences of sharing what we are afraid of.
It is is liberating because fear the way I perceive it,
It's simply a force of nature or a form of energy that can be used to either destroy or to transform and move forward.
And it's entirely up to us how to do it,
How to move and step out of fear into its energy that then carries us forward,
Recognize consciously whether fear serves us or the fear that we experience deter us from our purpose.
Chris says this is such an insightful and vulnerable letter.
It touched me deeply.
Thank you for sharing that and Tomac.
Yeah,
That's that's exactly that's exactly why that was my intention behind reading it,
That I deeply and truly believe that this piece of writing and this experience that Deb had in her childhood and continue throughout her adulthood has a power of transforming.
It certainly transformed her.
And my question is,
Maybe when you resonate with it on some level,
Perhaps it has a power of transforming you or giving you courage to move forward.
And I say courage because courage is opposite to fear.
Many may think that opposite to fear is maybe happiness.
But the truth is that in my vocabulary,
The opposite to fear is courage,
Because courage is that attitude that allows us to step out of a certain situation,
Fearful situations,
And align with our values.
In spite of the fact that fear is still not there,
It's not about removing fear or dispelling fear,
It's doing things in spite of feeling a certain way.
And the transformation that happens alongside is undeniable.
And I hope that this Conscious Living Collective project here will allow you to bring forth all the challenges that you experience.
Because one thing I've learned through all the live sessions on Run Here on Insight Timer and working with my clients and leading and facilitating various groups is that experiencing those things and sharing those things that challenge us has the power of liberate us from the bondage of many different harmful emotions like fear,
Unworthiness,
Sadness,
Maybe doubt,
Maybe shame.
All those emotions,
When you look at them from the perspective of meditation,
Are just emotions,
They carry certain energy that can be utilized for our benefit.
But to do so,
It is much easier to face them collectively.
Maybe to recognize,
First of all,
That we are not the only one who experienced those things.
But everybody,
Every single person on this planet,
Without a doubt,
From a beggar to a president of the United States,
Experiences those emotions because we are,
By definition,
Emotional beings.
And if I learn anything through my life,
My meditation practice,
Is that emotions is the carryway for everything that we do and carries the motivation to move forward and can lead us into undiscovered spaces where we can be truly ourselves.
Thank you,
Caroline,
For your kind support and donations.
Haresh says,
I have kept quiet to be safe as well,
And if I talked back,
I was manipulated through guilt.
You should touch me deeper place,
Your share touched a much deeper place in me.
Thank you,
Haresh,
For sharing that.
This is a wonderful perspective on it,
That shame is a tool for fear.
As a matter of fact,
The way I feel throughout this very difficult times of pandemic is that so many of us were pushed into fear,
But by all the information that we hear from around us.
We made to believe that people,
For instance,
Who are unvaccinated,
Our enemies,
The virus itself was taken completely out of the picture.
People who potentially contributed to spreading the virus were completely taken out of the picture.
And we were left to ourselves to win the battle between us and the virus.
And we started blaming the wrong people.
We started experiencing that separation,
That fear that puts us in the corner and say,
OK,
What is wrong with me?
I cannot go out.
I feel isolated.
I feel alone.
And if there is a one effect that fear has on many people is the sense of being alone,
Feeling separate from the rest of the community,
From the rest of the world.
Somehow being afraid,
As Haresh said,
Being ashamed of who we are,
What we believe in.
Thinking perhaps,
Well,
I should be doing that for the good of others and completely forget about ourselves.
Being manipulated into feeling in a certain way.
But the purpose of this conscious living collective,
Its exact opposite is to empower you personally and as a collective to be truly yourself and speak out the truth about how you feel.
And truly be yourself.
Recognizing that you are indeed an emotional feeling that at times feels fear,
Feels shame,
Feels doubt,
Feels not worthy.
But this is nothing to do with others.
This is our role to bring forward all those emotions and empower ourselves,
Work through them,
Transform the energy of all these low vibrations,
Emotions into something that serves us as Deb did learn the lesson.
There is a time and place for every single emotion,
Including fear.
And there's a time and place as we mature to come back to those dark places and transform them with our awareness,
With our new understanding,
With a new gained wisdom.
And face them together as a collective,
As a conscious living collective.
And perhaps we have to make those mistakes.
We may we have to make so many of those mistakes.
We have to hurt so many times before we understand that something no longer serves us.
This is a lesson that nobody can teach you.
This is the lesson that you have to learn on your own through your own personal experience and quite frankly,
Suffering.
Because if I found one thing that is the most powerful teacher in my life is my own suffering.
My suffering always brings me back to what is happening.
It is not like the fluffy,
Nice thoughts that come through one ear and come out on the other on the other side.
Being in fear,
Being in that space of unworthiness,
Being in that suffering that always brings me to the present moment and makes me question what is happening right now.
And thanks to you partially being with me here,
I feel more encouraged to speak my truth and invite you to do so,
To be honest about how you feel and understand that it is all right to feel that fear,
To be afraid.
And when we come together,
Perhaps only perhaps we can face those challenges with more courage,
More open heart,
Knowing that you are not on your own with this.
You're not the only one who experiences that.
Caroline says,
Sadly,
The persons of whom we are afraid is often the one who ensures we remain isolated.
It takes tremendous courage to step through that fear and out into the light.
Very true,
Caroline.
Thank you very much for sharing that.
Sue says,
My daughter was diagnosed with cancer when she was one year old.
I have never been more afraid in my life.
Fortunately,
She recovered and is 16 years old now.
In a way,
It made me more courageous now because nothing can be more scary to me than that.
So grateful that my daughter as well.
Such a wonderful testimony,
Sue.
Thank you so much.
I absolutely love that perspective.
I do not wish anyone to go through the same thing as Sue did,
But I love this story because it puts similarly to what Deb said,
Fear in a very different perspective.
Every single time we face our fears,
We feel empowered.
We feel more ourselves and more encouraged to do other things.
And as in Sue Kay's,
She feels that nothing can be as scary and perhaps that helps it to move forward with all other stuff that do not seem as scary as a cancer diagnosis of her little daughter.
This is absolutely wonderful.
Thank you very much,
Guys,
For sharing all your thoughts and being here with me.
Again,
The name of this group is Conscious Living Collective,
And the nature of the collective is that we are here together.
So I want to encourage you today to spread the news about this space only once a week and on my YouTube channel and on through other channels that we gather and we can be together for this short period of time and feel ourselves,
Feel that we belong.
And I believe this is on a larger scale.
This is the way to move forward.
OK,
So I think this is a good time to actually put all of ourselves into the space of meditation.
Our Conscious Collective meetings will always contain some of the conversation as we headed now and some of the meditation,
Because meditation space is the space in which we can we can observe ourselves,
The transformation.
When the rabbit hits the road and we can feel encouraged to bring forth all those emotions that perhaps we've been pushing into the dark corner at the same time,
Making them putting us down.
This is the time and this is the space where you can truly and openly feel whatever you feel and see how this energy empowers you to do more of you being yourself.
Diane says,
And the more that we step into the fear,
The stronger we can feel.
I think we are all much more than we ever give,
Ever give ourselves credit for.
That's very true,
Diane.
And Diane,
I know I know Diane's story and her struggle,
Her challenges in her life,
Not all of them,
But some of them.
And I know how Diane stepped into her fear and went against,
Quote unquote,
The current to come on the other side.
And this has been a transformative experience.
So thank you very much,
Diane,
For sharing that.
OK,
For those of you who joined us a bit later in the session,
You're always welcome to visit my YouTube channel when I publish most of those recordings of live sessions and other things as well.
And I hope you find it beneficial for those of you who wish to receive notifications about upcoming events.
You're always welcome to go to my Insight Timer profile and follow me there and turn on those notifications.
I know that Insight Timer,
The app evolves all the time and sometimes we lose some of that content and those notifications.
Only recently Insight Timer released a completely new version of its app.
And I know every time we experience something new,
It may feel a bit overwhelming.
So please go to my profile and follow me and turn on notifications.
Beautiful.
And I want to thank you so much for all of you who supported me throughout this life by giving your donations.
I appreciate them very much.
And they serve to continue,
Help me to continue spreading the good news,
Continue with Conscious Living Collective,
Publishing my meditations and hopefully running a workshop this year.
So if you have any questions,
Please direct them to my circle where the conversation continues.
And now I want you,
I invite you to join us into a meditation.
In which we present ourselves the way we are breathing,
Bringing forth all our fears,
All the emotions to be transformed.
To serve us well.
So as always,
Begin by making yourself at ease.
Make sure that you sit comfortably with your feet on the floor,
Centered and grounded.
Your back straight,
But not rigid.
Simply allowing the continuous flow of your breath.
And begin by recognizing that you are not alone.
That there are so many of us from around the world sitting right here.
Sharing consciousness.
Sharing conscious living.
And recognize yourself as a part of this collective.
And with that in mind,
Allow your eyes to close.
And bring forth all the emotions,
All the fears,
All the situations from the past.
That were fearful.
That forced you to be afraid.
And perhaps now it's a good time,
Supported by the collective,
To once again face those emotions,
Those fears,
Those situations from the past.
And understand that they no longer have power over you.
But you are in charge.
You are transformed.
And feel free to connect with your breath.
And every time when you feel that you are ready to transform or let go of one of those fears,
Just take one deep breath through your nose.
And let it out through your mouth.
As the fear being let go through the bottom of your feet.
The wave of your exhale.
Letting go of all that emotional tension that has been holding you back.
And now being transformed into vibrant,
Empowering energy and vitality that returns to you again through your nostrils.
And into your body.
Into every cell of your being.
And you may feel a wave of emotions,
Sensations,
Calming,
Passing through you.
As you allow all those known and unknown emotions pass through you.
Encouraged by the power of the collective.
Encouraged by the presence of so many who experience various fears.
And me by your side,
Holding the space as always.
And every time you let go,
Check in and see how you feel.
Perhaps there is a lightness within your body.
Perhaps there's a sense of release.
And it may take a few times to completely let go.
Or perhaps it may take a few sessions of this practice to fully let go.
But your transformation starts right now.
And it happens gradually,
Step by step in this very moment.
And this transformation is also more powerful because it is supported by this collective.
One of my favorite affirmations is very apt in this very moment.
You are loved.
You are worthy.
You are enough.
Regardless of how you feel,
Regardless of the circumstances,
Regardless of the past situations.
Regardless of how you felt.
You're moving forward.
You're moving on slowly,
Slowly,
Gently.
One breath at a time.
And you may find thoughts coming.
Some of them overwhelming.
And this is absolutely normal.
We are after all human beings,
Emotional beings,
Capable of experiencing all sorts of emotions.
Not only the positive,
But perhaps most importantly the one that we consider negative.
And then transforming them into something that is of benefit to us.
Learning the emotional lessons.
And once again,
Perhaps during this process you feel lightness in your body.
A release,
A relief.
Something being transformed for you personally,
But also for all of us collectively.
And part of this thinking process,
Compulsive mind,
It is the needs and wants.
The needs of the ego.
The belief,
Limiting belief systems that we experienced and we learned throughout our life.
And they come to the surface in the form of thoughts,
Fears.
Now we know we are not our thoughts,
We are not our emotions.
These are simple energies that come towards us.
And by the power of awareness,
The power of presence,
We can transform them.
Letting them pass the way they are.
And now to conclude this short meditation.
I invite you once again to tune in into your body.
And experience how you feel.
Experience the sense of being from the level of your physical body.
Is there a softness?
Is there hardness?
Cold,
Hot sensations,
Tingling,
Heaviness,
Lightness.
Whatever that is,
Please do understand that transformation that happens is very real.
It has happened through the power of this collective and the power of your presence contributing to this collective.
And give yourself thanks for the effort that you made to stay present,
To be aware.
Give yourself thanks for being part of this group,
Being part of this transformation.
And take one deep cleansing breath in through your nose.
And out through your mouth.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and welcome back.
Thank you so much for this meditation.
Thank you very much for your presence and all your comments that you so kindly put into the comment section.
I'm very happy to be here with you and I hope that you enjoyed our second session of Conscious Living Collective.
I will set another session for the same time next week.
And in the meantime,
Please feel free to join our circle when the conversation continues.
Feel free to send messages to me privately if you wish,
If you have something to share,
If you experience something of value.
And I want to thank you for all your generous support through your donations,
Through your comments,
Through listening to my meditations.
It is very much appreciated.
For those of you who joined later,
You will have a chance to listen to this session later on Insight Timer when I publish it here in an audio version of it.
Or you can view it on my YouTube channel also later when I upload the video there.
For those of you who like working with me,
You have now opportunity to join my mentoring program through Insight Timer,
Where I give my skills and my experience to you in a transformative way.
As you can see in the bottom of the page,
I am a transformational coach,
Which means that I work with you in order to transform all those energies,
All those experiences that you had to serve you.
And fear is certainly one of them.
So this is one of the ways you can work with me one on one.
Thank you so much.
So for now,
Once again,
I want to thank you for your presence and for being with me.
And I look forward to our next session next week when once again,
We come together to explore another topic.
This time overthinking and what our thoughts have to do with our well-being and how to transform them collectively together.
For now,
I wish you a pleasant day,
Wonderful evening,
Restful night,
Wherever you are.
And until next time,
Thank you so much.
Bye bye.
