Awareness That Heals Robert J Strock

Today, we are going to discover an easy way to see self-rejection
Normally, the most subtle and often unconscious reactions can become layered within other challenging feelings. Think for a moment, of all your difficult feelings. Which one do you like the least? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to learn how to discover and overcome self-rejection and to be guided to care for yourself during the times these feelings arise?
Using simple questioning to determine if you like how you are feeling, it is possible to learn what times you are in self-rejection and act to awaken your inner wisdom to guide you intelligently and intentionally toward a caring and sensible response. Acknowledging self-rejection is important because it sidetracks us and makes us either suppress or get caught up in secondary feelings that frequently leave us agitated or depressed. This guided meditation will allow you to become more aware of your self-rejection and help you learn how to observe it. When the layer of self-rejection can be rooted out, it is possible to allow the challenge to lead you to your core need and on a path toward greater fulfillment and self-acceptance.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.
 

On this week's episode of Awareness that Heals, we will look at how to best deal with the challenging emotions that show up most frequently and also investigate our attitude toward those feelings. The goal is for you to expand your ability to care for yourself through self-compassion. There are two key aspects to be aware of. The first is becoming aware of the hard feeling or challenge that you experience most. The second is the self-judgment that arises in the form of feeling inadequate. Use the tools and resources offered at AwarenessThatHeals.org to effect a fundamental shift that will allow you to say “yes” to self-acceptance, and “no” to self-rejection. This act of self-compassion can bring a monumental change and will expand your ability to care for yourself during difficult challenges.
The more you are attentive to your feelings with awareness, the more you are able to create thoughts, actions, and attitudes that will change the quality of your life. Notice during the discussion and meditation the feelings that make you uncomfortable and what seems impossible to overcome. Notice how it's almost automatic that you judge yourself for having these emotions, usually outside of your awareness. Find a comfortable and quiet place to meditate and bring awareness to these places inside. This will allow you to pivot from being caught in self-judgment to increased self-care and compassion that will inevitably bring greater peace and caring into the world as well.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.

During times of intense emotions, it is frequently not easy to change our feelings, but with dedication, we can learn to identify them and respond with empathy and wisdom.
By acknowledging and clearly seeing our emotions—without allowing them to take control—we can develop greater self-compassion. Our feelings are just one part of ourselves, and there is another inner voice that is often referred to as inner guidance, friendly mind, or wisdom. We can realize our potential when we access this inner voice during emotional challenges, rather than reacting with a sense of dread, failure, or fear. This is the beginning of learning how to follow our wisdom.
As a psychotherapist with over 45 years of experience, Robert has observed that many of us have become addicted to our emotions. To help lessen this habituation, he will be guiding you through a meditation that focuses on the challenging emotions that are most present for you right now. By acknowledging these emotions and seeking out our most lucid and compassionate thoughts that are rooted in wisdom, we can learn to care for ourselves and open our hearts and minds to others. This is not a traditional therapeutic approach, but rather a strategy for finding the part of ourselves that naturally cares deeply. Whether it is fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, or impatience, any difficult emotion can serve as a starting point for directing our guidance toward self-care and greater compassion toward others.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.

In this episode, Robert and Dave discuss how to trust wise thoughts when you’re suffering. They emphasize the importance of not distancing or judging our feelings but rather accessing our inner wisdom to guide us. This involves being able to operate at two levels simultaneously: respecting our challenging feelings while finding a place inside of us that wants to care. By doing this, we can stay open to our feelings and allow them to guide us toward our most supportive thoughts.
The guided meditation that follows allows you to go inward and be your own example of facing challenging feelings and finding your inner supportive voice. Through this process, you can cultivate the conditions in which you trust your most wise and supportive thoughts.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.

In continuation of our guided meditation series, Robert offers a practice on self-compassion, which is the missing ingredient to lasting change. This guided meditation also includes a discussion surrounding its purpose and how it can be directly helpful to you, no matter what challenge you might be facing right now. Intellectual awareness of our emotions is crucial, but even that is not enough to make substantial change. Accessing the desire to care for ourselves is often the final and missing ingredient to finding and nurturing our thoughts, and integrating our heart and mind during these challenging times. Without an organic longing to care for ourselves, we cannot move in a healing direction in a sustainable and persistent way.
Inspire your path to healing, rather than getting sidetracked by suppressing, judging, misunderstanding, or misinterpreting what challenges you emotionally. Although through time your challenges will change, the process of identifying, finding a place that wants to care, and then actually being able to care for yourself is the combination that leads to the real goldmine. Guided meditation is for many people the best way to gain benefits in response to personal challenges. As you invest in bringing your own experience to this guided meditation, you will give yourself the best chance to change long-standing patterns from suffering towards a state of well-being, peace, and healing. Find a comfortable, quiet space, and let Robert's voice guide you.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.

Robert continues with the second installment of the Guided Meditation series where he emphasizes the importance of becoming aware of difficult emotions. This episode takes this awareness and clarifies how to integrate it with our heart and self-caring. Robert and Dave invite listeners to focus on practice. This immersive next step puts us in a position to start moving toward well-being and not getting sidetracked by suppressing, judging, misunderstanding, or misrepresenting our challenging feelings. 
The personal application of these Guided Meditations is essential if we want to integrate the principles in the book Awareness That Heals—wisdom that all of us need to deal with life’s challenges—and suggestions from the prior podcasts to gain tangible results. Robert encourages you to get comfortable and allow yourself to go where his guidance leads you into your own unique experience. Become the observer of your inner world. Use the Introspective Guides list if needed. Repetition of these Guided Meditations is key until you feel real movement. It is not inherent in us to appreciate feelings we don’t like. Whether it’s anger, anxiety, grief, or emptiness—whatever this appreciation of awareness reveals—it is a major step toward personally evolving, which will allow us to learn to honor and guide what we feel inside and let that spread out into the world.
• The Introspective Guides: download your copy here.
• Watch the video of this episode: on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcription & listen to this episode: at Awareness That Heals.