It’s here, folks, A Clean Mind 3.0. Woohoo!! This represents the third iteration (I think) of this wild adventure that began in 2011. I think we’re really onto something now, and it’s faster and more powerful than anything I ever could’ve imagined. Like its predecessor, it’s a 24/7 approach, it’s incredibly simple, and it’s very far-reaching, extending to every aspect of your life, every aspect of this interesting human experience that we’re all having. But this new version is waaaay more powerful. And I’m sooooo psyched! This literally represents a new way for a new day, a new time, a new age. This is big, and it’s important. And it’s here. Shall we begin? YES. And sorry for the delay in getting this out, but I’ve never been so busy. I’ve even done some weekend sessions. I know, knock you down with a feather. Honestly I’m bored a lot on weekends, anyway, and it really is rewarding to help people. This level of work is unsustainable for me, but it feels like the phase I need to be in now. Anyway, here we go…
I talked a little bit about this in the preview that I recently wrote. And I told you how it’s all about self-love. But on steroids! Healthy steroids, that is… You see, recently I finally “got it” that when we’re triggered in any way (angry, scared, sad, anxious, stressed, confused, etc.), what’s really showing up is an old, innocent, wounded part of us. And it needs love. And we give it love on the spot with a deep breath into the heart. Putting a hand on the heart can make it more powerful, too. But the point is, an innocent part of ourselves is showing up and saying, “I need your love.” So we give it. Done. And then we deal with the situation at hand. When you get the hang of it, that breath feels like a freaking fire extinguisher of awesomeness and safety and okayness. It just feels amazing. And again, then we deal with the situation at hand, whatever the trigger was. And this is our practice, 24/7.
Let’s talk for a moment about the generalized history of every human to see if we really do have these old hurt parts that need some attention. Let’s see, how does it all begin? So we’re in this awesome warm fluid and all of our needs are taken care of. We don’t even have to worry about eating or going to the bathroom. We have shelter. All is well. And then what happens? Wham! We get pulled out of the womb and slapped on the ass. Time to learn how to breathe, little buddy! “This sucks! It’s cold out here! And what’s up with this breathing stuff?? Oh, and what are those… scissors? Wait, you’re walking towards me with scissors?? But you wouldn’t possibly use them to cut my body, no way. Wait, you’re still getting closer… What’s that look on your face? You’re opening the scissors now… You’re really going to touch me with those things? You’re going to actually cut me?? Noooo!!!” And there goes the umbilical chord. Oh, and we’re still no longer in that awesome warm home, and we’re still trying to figure out how to breathe. And if that’s not enough, many young boys get… circumcised. “NOOOO!!!”
So there we go, folks, there’s your first trauma, your first wound. Then they stack up after that, big and small. It doesn’t have to be something major like abuse, war, or a major car accident. When somebody says something mean to you in third grade, for instance, it’s very traumatic for that little kid. When your parents tell you you can’t have that piece of candy at the grocery store and you freak out, it’s very traumatic for that little kid. You get the idea. These are the wounds of our heart, big and small. And now we’re decades older and we all have our own unique collection of these old hurts, these old wounds. Any version of us that didn’t get the attention that it wanted back then is still in there, waiting for it. Needing it. Literally! So the intelligent, connected universe brings us the exact situations we need that will trigger those old wounds, so that they’ll show up to finally get what they’ve wanted and needed all this time – your love. And as YOU give it, with that breath to the heart, those old wounds melt and are finally healed and integrated. As your heart gets healed in this way, you start to become whole again. And you feel better and better. You feel stronger, more secure, and even smarter. Because you’re loving yourself back into wholeness. This stuff works, y’all. It really does.
Let’s take a quick look at that “intelligence of the universe” that we mentioned above. It’s the same intelligence that knows how to turn a tiny acorn into a massive 300-year-old oak tree, supporting all kinds of other life like resurrection ferns and squirrels and birds. There’s a super amazing song called Resurrection Fern by Iron & Wine, by the way. Back to the story… It’s the same intelligence that keeps the cells in your body from getting into a traffic jam. And do you know how many cells are estimated to be in the human body? Have you ever really thought about this? Thirty-seven trillion. Thirty-seven trillion. Trillion! What?? That’s insane. We could go on and on, looking at the structures of things big and small, from a cell or an atom to a galaxy and a universe. You can see how the Golden Mean shows up everywhere, and that comes from a simple sequence of numbers called Fibonacci Numbers that even a child could understand. And it’s all over nature, this same magical number. Regardless of your views, there’s an intelligence that can’t be denied. And this intelligence knows you. And it knows your heart. And it knows your wounds. And it knows that you’re ready to heal them. Right there on the spot when you’re triggered and an old part of you shows up needing love. This stuff works.
Now let’s take a look at the overall idea of self-love, because I’ve written about that a bunch on this blog, especially in this self-love summary post from February 2016. And I’ve had quite the journey in that department. You see, I realized that I was really tough on myself just about four years ago. I stopped the inner yelling a long, long time ago, but there was just this subtle inner critic that couldn’t really be 100% pleased. You see, I’m a Virgo with two math degrees, so I can be a bit critical. Understatement… And that makes it really tough to have an overall, automatic, total self-love! Because it’s like this huge, over-arching thing of do I love my whole self? All of it? For a critical person, flaws will instantly pop up, things you don’t like about yourself. Things you’re critical of. And if it’s not 100% then it doesn’t feel like total self-love. So “loving myself” in totality was just too much to ask.
But it did start to shift the more I took a deeper look. I started to see that Earth is tough! It’s a really, really difficult place for everyone, to some degree. So I started to respect that and have more compassion for myself and others. Still, though, I wasn’t totally there. And then the teacher Matt Kahn that I’ve mentioned before totally peeled me open. I was listening to the audio tracks from his Feel Good Now retreat, which I recommend that you consider buying here. One of my friends says to watch out, though! It turned her life upside down, but she’s so cleared out now from her most major life issue, something really old. In a matter of a few days. It’s been a major clearing, a major shift. And now she’ll live and integrate this huge shift. But she said there should be a warning label on it. I said, “I tried to tell you it’s powerful…” And she said, “I know, but I just didn’t believe it was that powerful!”
Anyway, there’s a track on there called Showing Innocence Respect. And I truly “got it” that there’s this core innocence inside of each of us that is good and that wants to show up as a really good person. It’s had a tough time in this weird earth place that can be super harsh. And it’s been shut down. But it’s still there, and all it needs is some loving attention. So that’s what shows up when life triggers us, that wounded innocence. And as we love it on the spot, without even a single thought, but with a breath, it gets healed. And we feel stronger and better than we ever could’ve imagined. So cool.
But it gets even cooler, because do you know what happens next? The universe responds. We’ve finally shown up to be the one that loves ourself back to wholeness, and we’re the only one that can do it. But the ability to do this, the strength to do it, is built-in. And the more we’re loving ourselves, the more the universe seems to show up to reflect that. And things shift. The shifts that you were struggling with for so long start to happen naturally and effortlessly. It’s like the emergency brake was on the whole time, and you finally noticed it and released it. And the car goes faster and smoother and feels so much better. Relationships might shift, finances might shift, your job might shift, physical health might shift. Just be committed to this one thing – loving any part of you that shows up in any moment that needs it – and the rest will take care of itself. Because you are finally dealing with the cause, and all the rest are effects. So cool!
So there we go, folks. I know it might sound a bit weird now. Thanks for your patience, because this is new and I’m getting better at communicating it. But rest assured, there will be plenty of future writings that will go into more specific detail about what this looks like in the moment. But the essence is that I get triggered and I instantly breathe a breath of love and assurance into my heart to melt the one inside that’s triggered, the part of me that’s telling me that it needs it. And that little guy in there goes sort of like, “Ahhhh…” in a very relaxed, soothing way. Rather than the freaking out he was doing just a few seconds prior. And then I respond to the situation at hand. Wash, rinse, repeat. And the hand on the heart is pretty damn powerful – feel the warmth, especially as you put your breath there. Happy practicing, and I’ll be back with more later. Because now we’re at A Clean Mind 3.0. And it only gets better and better from here. Enjoy!