Hi Joshua,

I’d love some clarification here:

1.Tolle talks about being present in each moment as an ongoing meditation. For example you are doing the dishes and you feel the suds, the water, the cloth as you clean the dishes. To focus on whatever it is that you are doing in the moment, to reduce the momentum of thoughts. Is this helpful guidance in my day to day life? If so, how?

2. There is the concept of being the witness of thoughts, of pain in body etc. Taking yourself out of the suffering and watching it. It seems to be helpful, can you expand on this idea?

3. I’m often compulsive about food, tv, books etc. Is it because I’m so tired of that feeling, sometimes I can get around it for awhile, but it comes back. Also, I will sit in an uncomfortable position instead of moving when I’m compulsive. Or not got to the bathroom when I need to. That feeling to do something like eat or play a computer game or whatever is so strong. What can I do about that?

4. Are all of us empathic in this bootcamp? Sometimes I feel someone else’s energy so strongly that I feel I have to leave a situation, is that ok? How does this serve me? What can I tell myself when I’m in this situation?

Love,
Tina

Dear Tina,

We will propose an answer to all of your questions with one statement: There is only the moment and nothing else. Time is an illusion. In the moment you are either feeling good or bad. If you are feeling good and receive inspiration to take some action, that action will always be for your direct benefit in some way. If you choose not to act (always due to fear, even if the fear is subtle), then you miss the enhancement offered by the action. Therefore, we would agree that being present in the moment and focusing on how you feel in the moment is beneficial. Yes, you can reduce the momentum of thought in order to receive inspiration and thus the inspired thoughts and ideas are always beneficial.

If you are feeling bad, you receive the urge to change the conditions. If you act on those urges, you do yourself no direct benefit. However, there is always an indirect benefit that is derived from any and all action. Often, the urges taken to change conditions produce strong desires and then you are led off in a new direction. The idea of ongoing meditation while focusing on something in the moment could be very beneficial if you are in a lower emotional state since it would reduce or block the urges from streaming in. Meditation in any situation might be helpful, but is not necessary. What is more beneficial is the conscious decision to perceive the conditions in an empowering and enlightening way. Your work is to change your perception in order to see all conditions as right and good for you personally.

Pain and suffering are based on your perception of reality. For instance, if you are happy and in good spirits and you stub your toe, you are likely to laugh at it and dismiss the pain. The pain goes away quickly due to your higher emotional state of being. The pain is not needed. However, when you are perceiving that there is some wrong and you are in a state of fear (negative emotion), any little pain becomes more pronounced. Your negative perspective intensifies the pain so that you notice your emotional state. This is part of your guidance system. You could detach yourself from the pain by being an observer rather than a victim and so this naturally reduces the pain. You could move one step further and see yourself as the creator of your reality and see the pain as actually beneficial. In this heightened state of awareness your perception changes and the pain is lessened.

You are not compulsive about anything. You feel negative emotion and you receive urges to change the conditions. Food, music, TV, etc. are all ways to change your emotional state. They are not bad or wrong, they are simply your way of changing your current emotional state in order to reduce (or alter) your pain. The idea that you are compulsive is another way of describing your habit or propensity to change the conditions by the same actions. Those actions are not wrong or bad, they are simply your default mechanism for changing your current emotional state. They could work if you saw them as right and good. Your judgment of these actions is what makes them wrong for you. We would suggest a guided meditation, journalling, or lists of appreciation and gratitude as more empowering ways to change your emotional state of being.

All humans are empaths existing on a spectrum from dormant to engaged. Those who are attracted to the information and ideas contained in the bootcamp are more sensitive, but not necessarily more empathetic. That really has very little to do with it. They do have something in common, especially those who are the first to participate in this bootcamp. That will be revealed to you and the others later as you finish the bootcamp. However, you are all in the family of teachers and this information is on your soul’s path. You all intended to find and be interested in this information. You are all a vibrational match to the information. However, just as you have different eye and hair color, you exist in different states of spiritual growth and you come with unique talents and attributes.

With our love,
We are Joshua