Please tell me coffee is still okay

Otherwise, if every generation had to start from scratch, humanity would not be where it is today. Q: What is due to the teacher? A: Nothing at all. The listener's interest is more than sufficient. The catch is that most people or places that loan money expect you to pay it back. They are placing you under contract to be a responsible adult who will succeed and repay your debts. If you are not quite sure that you want to sign up and be accountable, then yes, money may continue to be a problem. The key here is your attitude. If you are willing to go after your goal by tackling the complications and problems that arise in its pursuit, then you will probably be willing to pursue the funding for it as well. Borrowing money and having a debt to pay back are not such bad things. Every time you go into debt for your dream, you are committing to succeed. You are saying that you see yourself in the future as able to pay the money back. It can be motivating to put yourself on the hook a little with some official debt. Going into debt for something that is going to increase your earning power later on is a good investment. For instance, when an opportunity arises, ask yourself if it clearly resonates with your big-picture goals. If it does, you'll know to explore it; When you say no, be polite but firm. Here are some examples of how to kindly but effectively decline: Thank you for asking, but I'm unavailable for X. I appreciate you thinking of me, but I can't commit to Y.

Z is my priority, and I feel like X and Y conflict with Z. Thank you, but I have to decline. Where do you want to spend your energy? What might be an example of a good opportunity (one that aligns with your priorities)? The only obligation you should accept is the obligation to your own self to institute the wisdoms that were learned and to practice them in order to transcend the ego. Respect the teacher, but save reverence only for God. Q: How would one characterize or term the teaching and pathway that you represent? A: It is the way of the mystic and represents devotional nonduality. Q: May we use that term to denote these teachings? A: Yes, that would be correct. It is the way of radical truth. Q: Are great leaps in consciousness possible? A: Great leaps in consciousness result from surrendering yourself to God. This is seen in our society in people who have hit bottom. Lack of Sympathy If you decide to complicate your life in order to become who you were meant to be, will your family and friends give you empathy and encouragement? Or will they think you have gotten yourself into that mess in the first place and therefore are undeserving of sympathetic help? You may have found that if you are a helpless victim, others will rush in to assist. But if you have chosen to complicate your life for the purpose of personal growth, you may fear they won't see your need for help as legitimate. This is a good time to sort out who your real friends are.

Anyone who is not willing to encourage you to grow and achieve those things you need to be fulfilled is not on your side, no matter how willing they are to help out when you are in trouble. When you are perceived as helplessly victimized by external troubles, these false helpers offer you sympathy to bring you closer together to them and the group. However, when you are picking problems to solve in the service of creating a more fulfilling life for yourself, they might not offer help, because they may resent your springing free of the group in order to achieve on your own. The people who are truly on your side will help you succeed even if it means you may take off and not come back. How will you know when to say no? How will you steer clear of distractions or conflicting opportunities? Eliminate the unnecessary Being productive does not mean doing everything--it means doing the right things that bring you closer to your big-picture wants, needs, and goals. Un-busy yourself by recognizing which tasks are unnecessary, or which may be more appropriate for someone else to handle. This way, you can invest more of your time into doing what's really important. Create a specific plan for time-sucking tasks that have little ROI (return on investment). Here are a few examples: Deal with lurking to-do list tasks: for each item, decide to do it, delegate it, or delete it. Block social media sites during work hours or work offline. Willfulness/Pride is surrendered and transformation occurs. From the pits of hell, paradoxically, heaven is close by. We see this in so-called conversions, where a convict is transformed into a peaceful, loving, and almost saintly person. Prisoners frequently go through major realizations and become transformed into the opposite of their former selves. These sudden revelations also occur concomitant with near-death experiences. Thus, many levels of consciousness can be suddenly transcended.

These are often preceded by long periods of inner agony. A true conversion is corroborated by a major jump in the calibrated level of consciousness. When spiritually oriented people are exposed to the information provided here, they show a measurable elevation of consciousness. After each lecture on this material, the calibrated consciousness level of the audience generally shows an increase, on average, of between 10 and 40 points for the group as a whole. Many families pride themselves on always being there for each other, which basically means that when someone is having problems, the family will do whatever they can to help out. It seems that often this guarantee of being there is very contingent on the problems being beyond the person's control, something that the person has been saddled with through no choice of her own. But when a family member chooses new complications in her life in order to become more truly who she is, her family may get quite judgmental about this and actually withhold support. That's when you get to see the real terms of the family contract, the fine print enforcing mutual dependency. There are other people willing to really be there for your self-initiated growth struggles: sign on with them instead. Sharon Picks Some New Problems Sharon already had her hands full. With three school-age children and a husband frequently out of town, she was used to holding down the fort on her own. Her work as a high school guidance counselor was busy but routine, and she was beginning to feel stifled by the same old problems day in and day out. There seemed no time for anything creative or exciting and the next twenty years were looking like more of the same. Check email once in the morning, after lunch, and near the end of your workday . MINDFUL TIPS: Set boundaries and deadlines to prevent (or at least combat) procrastination. Reward yourself after you've done X amount of work, rather than after X amount of time. Tidy your desk and organize physical and digital folders. Ask others to hold you accountable.

How did you eliminate unnecessary distractions? How did the steps you took today increase your mental and physical space? How can this exercise help you in other areas of your life? Seek guidance This may vary individually from a low of four points to as high as hundreds of points. Within the group, there is great variation due to karmic ripeness. Given that most people only advance about five points during a lifetime, these numbers are significant. Q: What is an advanced seeker? A: The more advanced seeker has heard that there is no out there or in here and thus takes responsibility for all that happens. There is the dawning awareness that all that seems to occur really represents what is being held in what was previously considered within. Thus, the proclivity to project is undone. The innocent victim positionality, with all its spurious innocence, is unmasked. Adversity is thus seen to be the result of what had been previously denied and repressed into the unconscious. By looking within, you find the source of adversity, such that it can be addressed. Maybe it was turning forty, maybe it was seeing her youngest step on the bus for junior high. But Sharon felt something changing inside her, something beyond her conscious intention and certainly beyond her busy schedule. Sharon began to feel she would curl up and die if she had to spend the rest of her life being the same person she was right now. When her fear of change was outweighed by her restlessness, she was ready to tackle new problems. For years Sharon had observed the high levels of frustration and burnout among her professional peers. She became inspired to provide burnout prevention training to guidance counselors statewide.