I Have A Program We all have many programs. A program is a set of instructions or reactions we follow in response to an external event. For example if some one ask you a question and you know the answer to it most people's program may be to give the answer they know. However, if some one ask you a question and you do not know the answer to it then what would you do? For some people it may be to say they don't know the answer. For others it may be to repeat something that they have heard other people say even though they may not agree with the response nor know whether it's true or not. Yet other people may decide to call on someone else to find out what the appropriate answer may be. Any of these response may be appropriate in some occasions and inappropriate in other occasions. A response becomes a program when we habitually use the same response for all occasions because of some emotional trigger or believes. For example if we have an emotional trigger or some believe that we must always behave like we know it all then we will always have to have an answer to every question posed to us even though we may have no clue about the question. Some times it's really not appropriate to fudge an answer when we don't know. The fallout from just one such inappropriate answer may not be high, but the price of a life time of inappropriate answers is a different matter. We adopt programs most fervently when we were very young because that's when we are most open and likely to have new and unexpected experiences. We respond to the experiences with the range of a 3 year old give or take a few years. At that age, we simply don't have the abilities that we will grow into one day. That means that a lot of our programmed responses or programs are set when we have a rather limited range of response. As we grow, if we are not in the habit of reviewing and adapting our programmed responses continually, we will be forever limited by the box that was setup when we were 3 years old. For example, I had a fear of cockroaches. When I was an infant roaches seem pretty big and it's quite appropriate for a baby to scream at the top of their lungs so mom can come to the rescue. Now that I am much much taller, screaming at the top of my lungs at the sight of a cockroach may not be the most effective response especially when I don't live with my mom.
Why do we want to get rid of programs? Programs are not inherently good nor bad. We use programs because most programs come in the guise that it is something that we have tried in the past and it had kept us safe or at least can keep things predictable and manageable. For example the primary school I went to have uniforms. I did not appreciate the expediency of uniforms until I went to a secondary school that has no uniform. Figuring out what to wear to school each morning was not as enjoyable as I imagined it would be when I had to wear a uniform to school every day. Programs keep things routine and predictable. If those were the only criteria in living a fulfilling life there would be no need to release programs. The very characteristics that make programs desirable are the same things that render them disastrous when it comes to growing our consciousness. We can not discover who we truly are unless we stay connected to our true selves in every moment of now. It is not an aspiration for the lazy or faint of heart. To recover our infinite creative potential programs must go. Live each moment with the curiosity of a 3 year old while maintaining your responsive capability as a unique embodiment of the creative source.
There are many ways to let go of our programs. More will be revealed in the coming weeks. For now I just want to mention one method to start off with. The most powerful step you can take towards letting go of a program is to recognize it. Some programs are so ingrained into our being that we don't even recognize that they are only programs, they are only one way of handling or looking at a situation, they are only one choice out of an infinite variety of choices. When you find yourself going in circles around a particular circumstance, for example if you have had 10 employers and every boss you have ever worked for were jerks, the odds are pretty good that you have some programs towards authority. My suggestion is to write down your relationship stories with all your bosses or at least 3 to 4 of your bosses. Write down what happened, what internal dialogue you had or were still having, how did you respond and how did they respond etc.... Do a mind dump with as much details as you can come up with. After you are done, leave the written account for a few days or as many days as you need to be detached from the affects of the stories. When you few calm ready look at your written account with the intention to pick out any patterns, trigger words etc.... Look for the underlying program(s) that you use to transform the person you see at the office to your jerk of a boss in your mind. When you have identified the programs you use, you can start to dismantle the programs or believes one at a time. Programs often congregate as a group. A single program perpetuating a circumstance is an anomaly. A program needs other programs to support and hold it in place. What you are trying to do is take the programs one at a time and start to poke holes in each of them. Be creative to find alternative ways to respond and re-interpret the validity of your internal dialogue, judgements or conclusions. At the heart of a program is a lie. The lie is that this is the only way to assess the situation. The truth is there are many ways, you have simply made a choice to preclude all other alternatives. Let go of your previous choice and allow the other alternatives to reveal themselves.
Download Meditation (Duration 13:51) -
Description :
Our meditation tonight focus on connecting to our true self to assist us in letting go of what does not serve us any more.