Awake Life with Brian Marc Zimberg Brian Marc Zimberg

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Hi everyone, it’s Brian Marc Zimberg, author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of Access Points, The Modern Life Meditation Plan.
In today's episode of Awake Life I want to talk to you about something that you probably have come across in your spiritual journey or, if you're on a self-help journey and that is this notion, this practice, this idea of gratitude. Odds are, on your journey you've learned about gratitude, that it's good to be grateful, that you can maybe have a gratitude journal, we talked about back in the 80s it was a big deal. We know to be grateful brings joy, brings connection, brings some kind of healing even. So, we've learned these things. But, what I’d like to ask you right now is to kind of just drop all your ideas of gratitude and everything you've learned in the past about that. What I mean by that is, just listen with fresh new ears so that - my goal for this video for you is for you to be able to grasp, utilizing gratitude in a deeper and more profound way that can really create a lasting transformation in your life.
Everything we do here on Awake Life is to really wipe away the dust, the misconceptions, the myths that keep us from experiencing directly our infinite divine nature, that which is already whole and complete. To point you in the direction of recognizing that meditation and the infinite peace of who you are, what I like to say lately the nectar of your own Divine Self, Oneself is available right here and right now.
And as I talk about in Access Points, as we learn to shift our attention out of our mind and let our attention rest in being itself we recognize that, just like in the center of the hurricane, in the center of the storm there's complete stillness, that the truth of who we are, our True-OneSelf is already still whole and complete and actually the ground that holds everything. Gratitude is a doorway right directly to the connection of your own Divine Self.
I want to take a look at gratitude on multiple levels today. First of all, we need to kind of have a conversation about the ego. We don't need to go into an entire ego conversation and explain what the ego is right now, we do that in some other videos and that could take a little while.
Let's just talk about the ego being the mental mind structure, I like to call it in Access Points, the survival animal that keeps your attention stuck in your mind and it's constantly on the look for survival. It's protecting you, of course, it's protecting your physical body and it also protects your identity of being someone and something separate. It's maintaining its identity in your mind but I'd love for us to take a look at and to understand is that the ego is constantly in fear and operating from a place of lack, it's constantly in need. We talked about that one of the main patterns that keeps us stuck in our mind is that the mind is constantly, either creating a problem or solving a problem. The ego is creating a problem every moment or solving a problem every moment. The ego is constantly judging the moment, finding and looking for imperfection. Again, it's looking for imperfection in problems because it needs to protect itself so it's already assuming that something's going to be wrong, it's constantly in neurosis. In that neurosis the ego is in a lack mentality. The ego is in need, it needs something to be different, it needs something to be better, it needs to make sure it is okay and in that lack mentality we have fear, we have unworthiness, deep shame because there's a sense of lack, there's a deep sense of lack that is running the operation.
Gratitude is like magic in this notion because gratitude, in the moment you're grateful, in the moment you're grateful there is no need, there is no lack, there is actually complete contentment. To have no need means that for that moment you are free, you’re abundant, you’

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Hi, welcome everyone. It's Brian Marc Zimberg, number one best-selling author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of “Access Points - The Modern-Life Meditation Plan”. In today's video, I want to take a look at a spiritual concept that is often misunderstood and gets in our way to our real personal transformation and spiritual evolution and that's this idea of our Higher Self. So often our Higher Self is what people think of is something that's our better self, our soul self and the issue with that is I really think it's time for us to reframe that and take a look at what is our True-OneSelf. In this video I want you to have a palpable shift in this understanding.
Often our misconceptions and our ideas of our Higher Self get in the way of our own growth. So, the idea your Higher Self is this separation right away, you see, it's this idea of higher and lower. Right? There's this Higher Self that is the better you and there's this Lower Self which is the not good you, or that more human you, and there's the Higher Self which is the so you. So, what that does right away is it says that there's this better you over here and lesser you over here. This idea of higher and lower automatically has this existing and focused our intention stuck in this world of separation.
Now, if you listen to some of my other stuff you know that when we are in our mind we're automatically in separation. When we're existing in separation, we are in the fear of survival. When we're separate, we are something that can be destroyed.  So existing in separation with this idea of Higher Self is already putting ourselves into an identified fearful representation of who we are as supposed to being in alignment with our True-OneSelf. 
Now, what is our True One-self? Our True-OneSelf is that which is already whole. That which is One with everything. You've had that experience out in nature. Remember a moment in nature, we looked out at some beautiful Vista, some an inspiring scene, some beautiful sunset or sunrise. For me, it’s coming around that PCH highway and you see this awe. You know, just these moments we have and in that moment you're one with everything. You're there. You're not there. Everything's okay. Everything's whole. That moment of Oneness is here right now. It's actually here in every moment. And the only reason we think that nature can only be experienced out in nature is because we identify that experience as something outside of ourselves. Or, if we're on a spiritual journey maybe you have epiphanies or realizations and in those moments you have glimpses into that Oneness and that experience. The truth is that moment is here right now. So we need to learn how can we align ourselves with our True-OneSelf, that which is already whole.
The truth is you are already One. You are already whole. You're already connected with everything in this moment. And there's only our tension stuck in our minds, in our individual perspective, in the world of separation, that keeps us in a struggle. That keeps us suffering. That doesn't allow us to be at peace. When we align with our True-OneSelf we start to have clarity. And that clarity, the choices that we make in life, every little moment we're making these choices, and when they're made in alignment with Oneness…Right? Oneness first. God first. Oneness first. Our attention is with Oneness first, not in the world of separation, but in the beautiful endless soul that you are, that is one now. When our attention is there, our choices and our alignment rise from there.  And in that, we start to live life in a fluid flow, or incongruent with what is already whole and at peace.
When we're in this idea of Higher Self, we have this judgment mind, you see. Again, Higher Self is based on this idea better. So, my Higher Self is more godlike, my Higher-self really takes on the role of our self-conscious

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Welcome everyone. It’s Brian Marc Zimberg, number one best-selling author of “Stop Smile Breathe Be” and creator of Access Points - The Modern-Life Meditation Plan”. Welcome to episode one of “Awake Life”. In today's video, we're going to take a look at the Big “E” word in spirituality, and that's “Enlightenment”. What is it really? Why are you interested in enlightenment? In fact, why is it important for you to be interested, if you're not interested in enlightenment. Odds are, if you're watching this video right now, you're already on a self-help journey of wanting to be better and improve yourself. And then you’ve probably gotten to a point where that was exhausting, and you're on the spiritual journey, where you want more peace and more happiness in your life.
 
So this show is called Awake Life and we're going to explore what is it to “awaken”, and what is it to live an “awake life”. So many of you probably have already gotten to the point, or maybe you're at the point right now, where “you think you’ve had enough of this life, then hang on, (singing) because everybody hurts” - excuse my bad voice - but you know that's the truth of it, you know? Life can be a grind, life can be a struggle, and odds are to get to the place of awakening, spiritual awakening, or interest in enlightenment, you first usually come to a place where you're ready to just give up.
 
You know, Buddha said “life is suffering” because basically, all our desires lead to a temporary fulfillment. So let's look at the context of your modern day life, because I'm really interested in the practical understanding of what is in enlightenment in a modern context? You see we live in a modern world, I mean, if you are desiring enlightenment because you want to run off and be a guru, and live off, and be a monk in a mountain somewhere? Because you can do that, right? But no. Odds are you have a life, you have a family, you're in the context of this world.
 
So Buddha said that desire leads us to things that are “temporary fulfillment”. So if we look at that in the context of our modern life, we achieve things. We’re told our whole life we can go get something and achieve it. So we learn how to be achievers, and when we achieve something, how does it feel? Think of something you've achieved in your life. It's temporary. We have a temporary moment of achievement and it feels good, and we can be excited, exhilarated, and other people around us can be excited for us, but it slowly fades away. Right? The fulfillment, that happiness, fades away. When you have a relationship and you get “love love love love love” and all the sudden you're whole, and you’re complete by another, it tends to… fade away.
 
We can learn the skill of relation and sustaining this love, but understand that everything you grasp in the outer world... fades away. That happiness doesn't last. You buy a nice car that you want so bad and it makes you feel great in the beginning, right? It’s like when you buy a cellphone, you take care of it good, and it becomes, whatever it gets chipped and it’s like OK… who cares? Because it gives us this temporary fulfillment, and we realize that that gives us temporary happiness. And at some point, that material, you know, illusion, becomes not enough. And we get to this point where we have this disillusionment, right? We either start feeling frustrated, or we realize there's something more to life. We feel this sense of pain, or meaninglessness, or what the hell is the point of all this already?  And a warning along the journey, you should know, if you're in that space right now, is that there's this existential funk that can happen there. You know this, what's the point?  And it's, I feel like giving up. I want to quit.
 
And when it goes even deeper, that's really where depression and e

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Hi! I am Brian Marc Zimberg, author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan, where we show you how to shift your attention out of your mind, and connect  to the most profound inner peace of meditation, and from there awakening even deeper into your True-OneSelf,Living a life of greater joy, happiness and true self expression where you become a contribution into the world. So, welcome!
I always say I’m so glad for you to be here, because the truth is I’m here for the same reason that you are here. In today’s episode, I wanna take a look at something, a problem, that we all have to deal with and that’s...problems. Let’s take a look at problems together. What would it be for you to finally be free of all problems? Now, I’m not talking ridiculous here and I’m not saying that all problems will magically disappear. What I’m saying is, it’s possible for you to be free of problems.
Now, in Access Points, we take a look at the operating system of the mind. We take a look at the mind like it’s a computer on your head, and we say one of the main functions of this operating system is to create a problem and to solve a problem. In fact, what I’m saying to you is, your mind is always doing one or the other. It’s always creating a problem or solving a problem. So, no matter how big or how small the problem is in your life, your mind will either be fixated on creating one or solving one, and then creating another one, all to maintain its identity of being somebody and something separate. We also talk about in Access Points that  your identity, your attention’s  stuck  in your mind, being identified with your thoughts, your body, and your mind is what creates all suffering in life. Now, the truth of the matter is, when it comes to problems, we spend so much time worrying and fearful about the problem itself. We are stuck in a  problem. We have an issue going on in our lives. Right? Perhaps we don’t have money to pay our bills, or we are having issues with our loved ones, a partner, or our children are having issues at school, or I’m having a problem with my job. All different  things that we can relate to. Problems, big ones, small ones, come up  all the time. We have massive world  problems that deep within us that we’d all like to deal with. You know sometimes somebody will say to you, ‘’You think you have problems? Watch this video on this poor person who lost their leg and they learn to walk’’. You know, we are blown away by that, and maybe for a moment, we reconnect to how grateful and lucky we are, but it doesn't really change anything because we’re  in our heads, we’re  the centerpiece of our movie, and our problems are real to us.
The truth of the matter is, when you take a look at a problem, a problem is either going to be solved eventually or it’s gonna be a non-problem. It’s gonna dissipate  and go away and all the worrying, all the stress and chasing around and trying to figure out things and fixing, all the stress and anxiety in the background of  our minds about a problem ends up being a non issue. We spend so much time in the drama of our problem; we have a problem, what we gonna do about our problem, discussing with other people, stress, emotion, fear, worry, anxiety, because our circumstances, we are choosing to relate to them as a problem. All this  drama at the end, if the problem just goes away, we just wasted a lot of time, energy, emotion and stress on something that wasn’t even real because it went away. Or even eventually if we accept the fact that a solution will show itself, good or bad. If you are getting evicted from your home, it sucks! You can do everything you need to do, but eventually when the eviction is happening and at that moment you are being evicted and then what comes next will come next. No m

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Hi! I am Brian Marc Zimberg, author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan, where we show you how to shift your attention out of your mind, connecting to the most profound inner peace of meditation, thus realizing your True- OneSelf, and then living a life of greater joy, happiness and true self expression where we all become contributions to the world.
In today's video, I want to talk about self love.  
You've heard the concept of self love. You know, basically the more that we learn to accept ourselves and love ourselves and have appreciation for ourselves, all things can stem from there. We've heard of the idea that we can't really love someone else until you love yourself. And I'm sure you've had some realizations in the things you've read or done. You've had some epiphanies, you've opened some doorways into accepting and embracing and loving yourself. And that may have lasted for awhile, and for often for many people, it fades away. And when it fades away, we're back in our mind and the battle and the struggle of life with unworthiness, fear, anger, a deep self-loathing and hatred that happens for some people even.
So, let's finally take a look at what self love really is. There's so many misunderstandings and misconceptions about self love. What self love really is, is learning to embrace and accept every single aspect of you. When we learn to embrace and accept all aspects of ourselves, we receive love innately. You see, so often self love is you trying to love yourself. The separate mind concept recipe loving yourself. You have to try to love yourself.
Now, if you have a child, you don't try to love your child. You have an innate love for your child, right? You can't help it. When you see a beautiful sunset and you're blown away by it, you don't try to love that sunset. You have an innate love for that sunset. True self love is having an innate love for yourself. And when you learn to open and embrace all aspects of yourself, then there's a flowering of innate self love that just overflows within you. You don't have to attempt to try to love yourself. So, instead of you trying to love a part of yourself, from within you is a full opening, acceptance and embrace of love. You get the difference? There is an innate love emanating from you for yourself that has compassion, that has acceptance, that has love. And when we allow true self love, we connect to the Divine within ourselves.
When you connect to the Divine within yourself, in that space, you start to really come to the core of self love, this deep appreciation and compassion that allows you to move into any aspect of yourself without getting lost in the judgemental mind that beats ourselves up, that creates a separate. You see, real suffering is when we are identified with our mind. When our attention is stuck in our mind in the beliefs, in the comments, and making too much meaning out of the emotions that we have. It is in those moments that we find that we have to try to love ourselves, that we are in the suffering, struggle and battle of life. Therefore, we have to apply a way to love ourselves. Because "Oh my God, I am being so hard on myself. I need to learn to love myself." And what we are really doing is we're not having a space of total love and acceptance. When we have a space of total love and acceptance of who we are, we can have a natural fluidity of allowing certain things to rise and fall, see good and bad fall, and rise and fall. Comments and ideas about ourselves can rise and fall. Sadness, anger can rise and fall. Judgement can rise and fall when we have space for it. If we don't have space for it, we are battling against it.
The truth is that all suffering and struggle in life comes from us being identified with our mind. When we are in our thoughts, when we are identified with our mind, we be

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Hi! My name is Brian Marc Zimberg, and I’m author of Stop, Smile, Breathe, Be and creator of Access Points, the Modern Life Meditation Plan where we show you how to shift your attention out of the mind, connecting to the most profound peace of meditation. And in that, awakening deeper into your True-OneSelf, from there living a life of greater joy, happiness, and true self-expression. Even more so, being a contribution as that in the world.
In today's video, we're going to take a look at what the root cause of suffering is. What's the root cause of all the struggle in your life? I mean, wouldn't it be great to finally be free of all the worry, fear, doubt, shame? Wouldn't it be great to finally be free of suffering and struggling for life?
So, what we want to take a look at is what is the core, you know. So many times, you've probably done things to try to get over suffering and stop struggling in life. So, if we go to the root of it, we should be able to free you. Free yourself in a new way. And that's really what I, what I want for you. What you want for yourself. And I am here for that for you. 
So, the root cause of suffering, if we take a look, is identification with our mind equals separation. You see the minute we believe our mind, we believe ourselves to be a separate entity. And when we're coming from our mind as a separate entity, that separation equals suffering. Why? Well, let's take a look at this. Right?
When we're a separate individual, we need to do what? What is the main program of a separate individual? It’s to survive.  To survive, it has to protect itself to make sure it's safe, to make sure it's okay. The number one program is always to protect itself to make sure that everything it does is okay.  That it’s always safe. It's always on alert. It's always on a lookout for danger. So it makes sense that fear would run this survival animal, in Access Points, I like to call it the operating system. It’s like the operating system of the mind. Picture it like, you know, like a little Apple computer we put on your mind, and this operating system has some main functionalities. And its first primary objective is protect the body. And as we know in many spiritual circles though, the body-mind, the ego is what it's called. Right? This ego believes itself to be separate. It's self-serving and a lot of circles they think you want to get rid of it. We'll have that conversation another time, but it's not worth trying to get rid of your own mind. Because the only thing it wants to get rid of the mind is actually the mind.
So the root cause of all suffering is separation, is the belief that you are separate. When you are separate, you can be destroyed. And fear is a necessity. If we didn't have fear...imagine that you are in the ocean, there's a shark that starts eating you. You know when you're having your little spiritual..."We are all one. I'm one with everything. Oh hi, Mr. Shark." As he is eating your leg. "Oh you're eating my thigh. Hi, Mr. Shark." Right? The shark eats you alive. But everything is good and happy. There is no fear. So it's not about getting rid of fear. It's not that fear is wrong. It's a function of this operating system.  But when we believe our emotions and our thoughts to be reality, to be true, to be who we are, that we believe ourselves to be a separate concept, a separate thing that stands alone. And the truth is, you know, right? We're all one. You see that thought in itself, although it's nice, isn't going to do it for you.
What I want for this show, for you, always is for you to look at deeper: What is the truth of who you are at the deepest level, what we call your True-Oneself. That's who you really are. When you dawn on that, when you awaken to that, when your intention shifts out of the trance of your mind and to that oneness.
It just never ends. The beauty of who you real