Welcome back to QuietMind, Fearless and Free. I'm Leah, and today we're diving deeper than ever, into inner clarity, the art of truly seeing what you believe and how those beliefs shape your experience. We'll explore how to discern the difference between the programmed mind, sometimes called the ego, and the quiet wisdom of your true self, the you beyond the fear based stories, this episode will not only offer powerful examples and insights, but also guide you through practical steps to recognize when old patterns are running the show, and how to gently Step aside to find real peace and clarity to finally be the one that you have been waiting for so at quiet mind, collective part of what this is all about is how to be our own safe environment, our own place, to land, to process the big emotions and ride the ways of life. So take a deep breath, settle in, and let's begin.
The programmed mind can feel like a boulder rolling downhill, heavy, fast, unstoppable. You can't fight it. It has momentum, force and a really familiar pull. But when wisdom is guiding, it feels more like an open sky, spacious, calm, allowing. But you might wonder why anyone would ever choose the boulder over the sky, and the truth is, the boulder feels familiar. It's the thing we know, even if it's the thing we don't like. We often choose what we know, even if it brings pain or struggle the sky, on the other hand, invites an unknown, a blank space that can only be filled by greater wisdom and a quiet mind. It can't be filled by the conditioned mind. So it brings a degree of uncertainty. This unknowing feels uncomfortable, even a little scary. Either way, there's fear following the boulder or following the sky, but the fear that you feel with the Boulder is the fear that you've always felt, and it doesn't bring any different results. It's always going to be the same thing.
Whereas with the sky, there's the possibility where the mind is not in control, and true wisdom from your true self can arise naturally, something miraculous can even happen. So this is a fear that moves you forward and guides you into an experience beyond what your conditioning can imagine. So the key to stepping aside from the Boulder is not to. Exist or fight. Imagine what it's like to fight with a boulder. I mean, you might be able to stop it for a little while, but feel how exhausting that is. And think about that in your life when you have fought with your mind, how just going over that same story over and over your body, which we've talked about before, is a barometer. It feels tired, it feels tense, and eventually you're going to get run over. You're never going to be the positive star of the story in the program to mind when it's run by very old, sometimes unconscious, negative beliefs. It's always out to fulfill those. So it's better to remember that the boulder isn't you.
So in past episodes, we've talked about working a little bit with this mind, so understanding the stories, the coats we wear. That was episode two. Episode Three was those protective parts that come out. So there are some things that you can do within that boulder to really understand it. Ultimately, we want to get to the point where we can imagine watching that boulder roll by understanding what it is, that it isn't us, and we stand on the side, observing it, not jumping into its path, not engaging it, but instead simply watching it's a powerful image, not turning your back to the mind, not acting like it's not happening, but instead becoming the observer, the quiet witness. In practice, this might mean a meditation practice, but in the moment, it can mean things like pausing in a moment of stress, taking a breath, allowing your thoughts to pass without holding on to them.
Asking yourself, is this thought really true? Would it be true for anybody else? The choice is not to control the mind, but to become the quiet observer of it. Eckhart Tolle and the power of now says that most of our suffering comes from identifying with the mind. When we step back and become the watcher, the power of those thoughts begin to dissolve in real life, this means being an observer of our life through mindfulness and pausing before reacting. It's about noticing the story playing out in your mind and remembering that it is just a story. It's not the truth of who you are even Jesus spoke to this truth with the simple yet profound statement, Be still and know that I am God. Psalms, 4610, this isn't just about physical stillness, but about surrendering control, stepping aside from the momentum of the program mind and allowing true wisdom to emerge from the quiet, it's an invitation to be still enough to hear the quiet whisper of truth beneath the noise of the Mind. So let's look at it another way. Imagine you find yourself in a room. So go ahead and if it's comfortable to you, and you're in a place where you can do so, close your eyes. The air is heavy and still in this room, it's pressing against your skin with a damp, cold weight,
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there's a tightness in your chest, a sense of isolation, as if the walls themselves are closing in. The walls are built from your beliefs, brick by brick, each belief solidified by past experiences and reinforced over time, the bricks are held together by a mortar of fear, making the walls feel M penetrable. This window in the room. Are your stories, and there may be multiples, and each window is clouded. It's dirty, it's warped by all the narratives your mind has created. They filter the light, casting shadows that distort your perception of reality. You look through these windows and see a world reflecting back to you your own beliefs. So stories like, I'm not good enough, I don't matter. I'll never be safe. You can see somebody walking by, and if you have those kinds of beliefs, you're going to see something about them that maybe scares you or makes you feel inferior. This is you filtering the world through your beliefs and then your stories. So this door to this room is made of these stories as well. But unlike the windows, the door represents the possibility of freedom. However, fear has latched it shut. You push against it, it won't budge. It feels as if leaving this room, this trap of your own making, is impossible. Have you ever felt that way think about in your life?
Are there things that just feel like they will not get better and that you're unhappy about? These are the things we're talking about, because the mind, you know, sometimes can be used in service to us. It's just generally we are in service to the mind. And this is where we're wanting to make that distinction and move away from the mind so that it can still schedule your appointments. It can still do things that are helpful, but we are not being controlled by it. It does not drive our bus. So back to the analogy of the room leaving the room feels impossible. What if, instead of pushing against that door, you began to study the room itself. So this is where we begin, then to be that observer. You might notice in a quiet moment of insight that the walls aren't solid. They only appear to be there's there's a saying written the way out of the trap is to study the trap itself. Learn how it is built. You do this by taking the thing apart piece by piece. The trap can't trap you if it has been taken to pieces. The result is freedom. I remember a time in my own life when I felt trapped by my stories. It still happens often that boulder comes down, and I'll try to stand in front of it until it's excruciating, and then I'll remember, Oh, wait, I just got lost in my stories again, in my program mine, and then I'm able to move aside. This is very human. It comes and goes. We're not ever saying you're always going to stand by the side and be this perfect observer or witness. No, that's not the human life. The human life is simply knowing how to ride the waves.
When you fall off that surfboard, you just get back on it as quickly as you can knowing the next wave is going to come. It's not about not having waves in our lives. It's simply about how do we meet that? Do we meet it with resistance? Do we just fully immerse ourselves and get lost in the water every time that we fall off, or do we just simply get back on? Observe those waves, watch how they're coming, and ride as best as we can. So times in my life there were, there were many that I felt, you know, I can't do it. I'm not good enough. Things will never get better, and I would just push against the same door with my own programmed mind telling me the thoughts to to think, which then just fueled more of the same kinds of stories, scenarios, outcomes, relationships, everything. And so it wasn't it wasn't working. But when I pause and I get curious about the walls in my room, about the stories that coat those windows, then I began to see the cracks, it's not the room that needs to change, it's my perception of it. Once I see that the walls are not solid, the trap loses its power, and you can walk right through it into the openness beyond. The room was never real.
The stories were shadows on the wall projected by the fear in my mind, and when the light of awareness shined upon them, they began to dissolve, and then I could connect again with that open sky. So let's imagine the real life situation. Maybe it. Situation at work where your boss says, I need this done by 5pm and it's a big project that realistically requires another day, the conditioned mind might immediately jump to conclusions, depending, again, on your history and how you're meeting that moment, it's going to be something like That's unfair. I don't matter. I'm failing. I need to prove myself. And then, as we've talked about those protector parts, they may come rushing in. So we're going to maybe have a feeling there may be anxiety, there could be self doubt, there could be defensiveness. And our protectors may say, well, then you need to start doing something like overworking, or you need to go talk to your your co worker and and complain. Or you need to withdraw, isolate. You need to quit. So these are all those protector parts that come in, okay, but what if you paused, what
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if you took a deep breath, you stepped back and observed the thoughts without attaching to them. You might recognize these responses as simply echoes of old stories, perhaps from past experiences where you felt you needed to earn your worth in this space, a quiet greater wisdom might suggest, what if this was just a simple request? What if I could go and talk to this person and I could say that's really not possible. I have 24 hours of work yet that needs to be done, what if I approach this with calm and clarity and gave myself the advice that I would give someone that I love, instead of going into believing that this is something about Me, so instead of reacting from a place of fear, we can ask clarifying questions. We could prioritize our tasks with a sense of ease. There's multiple options that can appear when we quiet our minds. Take that breath, step back and then look again at the situation without making assumptions through our filter. So in real life, when this happens, journaling would be something that is helpful to some people, but at least a mental check in reflecting on these experiences, noticing the assumptions that you make, the behaviors that followed, and whether you ended up with the same familiar feelings. So think about a time in the past where something like this occurred to you, and you pretty, pretty much, knew you were reacting from something from the past, because it's something that you have felt time and time again you never again are going to be the star of the story.
When it's the conditioned mind, it always sets you up. It'll tell you you need to act in this way, but then it will beat you up for acting that way, because in that loop, if, let's say, the belief that's encoded as I'm not good enough. No matter what you do, you will end up feeling like you are not good enough if you listen to the conditioned mind for your source of guidance. So think about this situation where you feel like you were reactive. It felt very familiar to you, and then just stay with that for a moment. Remember that you know this has happened many, many times in the past. If you want to really reflect on it, you can even trace it back and think of when did I first feel this way? And that may give you some indication of times as as a child, that you locked in this pattern. Now imagine with that same situation that you take that deep breath and you say, what if I was to not know what was best or right in this situation? What if I let go of assumptions as simply saw the situation as it is, stepped back from it, observed all my thoughts, quieted them, and then looked again,
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looked again with wisdom. From that quiet mind, is there anything that I'm missing here? Is there any other new possibilities, any other insights that might occur to me? Does it feel like not pushing the same old story onto this situation could bring a softening a space or something new? Could arise like it's so hard to think that maybe we really don't know what's going on, but it is in our best interest to sometimes say I don't know. I don't know what's going on with someone else. I don't know exactly what my own conditioned mind is doing, but I want to be quiet. I want to give some space, and I want to see if a new thought arises, or a new behavior that I could follow arises that might lead me into some kind of different and new and better experience. So inner clarity is about staying in that observer seat. It's recognizing when the programmed mind is running and choosing not to jump in front of the boulder. It's understanding that the trap of our mind is only a trap if we refuse to look at how it's built. I invite you to welcome the unknown with curiosity. Set an intention each morning, perhaps by taking a mindful breath or placing a hand on your heart.
And your intention can be to observe your thoughts with curiosity, remembering you are the stillness behind them, the calm presence that observes without judgment. I hope today's episode has offered you new tools, fresh insights and a renewed sense of peace. Thank you for joining me on this journey, I look forward to our next time together. In the meantime, take care and remember you are more than your stories. You are the awareness behind them, and you have everything you need to be fearless and free. Thank you for spending this time with me. If today's episode resonated with you, I invite you to explore more at quiet mind collective.com where you'll find meditations, courses and other resources to support your journey. You can also connect with me on Instagram at quiet mind collective with Leah for daily insights and community. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love for you to follow the podcast on Apple or Spotify, and if you feel inspired, leave a quick rating and review. It really helps others find this message, and of course, share this with anyone who could use a little more peace in their life. This journey isn't about fixing ourselves. It's about remembering who we are beneath the noise of the mind, and when we quiet the mind and open the heart, we realize we already had everything we needed to be fearless and free. You.
