Today’s episode is the opening of another The Little School of Big Change call from the recent 6- week course. 

You are what’s here.

When pain is here, you are pain. When anxiety is here, you are arising as anxiety. When joy is here, what you are is joy.

Pain, anxiety, joy, and any other fleeting sensation doesn’t happen to you. You’re not a victim of what’s arising. When we believe we are, we tense and tighten and resist and try to self-protect. 

There is no you in that sense to whom stuff happens. Believing there is, is the source of much suffering.

*** 

Join me for a live, free, 2-hour class: The Silence at the Heart of Everything: Rediscovering What Never Changes on November 12th

In the class I’ll talk about the silence and stillness at the center of all things as well as several common benefits of prolonged time in silence. 

I’ll also tell you a bit about my upcoming Silent Retreat and answer your questions. Then we’ll have a quick break and an optional 30 minute guided-meditation-turned-silent-sitting together to give you a tiny taste of what’s possible. 

Register for the live class at dramyjohnson.com/silenceclass

The post EP326: Nothing happens to you  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This saying is very common. 

Stay in the conversation and things will begin to land more deeply. 

Although this seems true at a certain level, it also invites you to fall into the common traps of “waiting, “someday” and “becoming”, which are all thoughts.

What can you do beyond simply staying in the conversation? We’ll explore that in this episode. 

***

Join me for a live, free, 2-hour class: The Silence at the Heart of Everything: Rediscovering What Never Changes on November 12th.

In the class I’ll talk about the silence and stillness at the center of all things as well as several common benefits of prolonged time in silence. 

I’ll also tell you a bit about my upcoming Silent Retreat and answer your questions. Then we’ll have a quick break and an optional 30 minute guided-meditation-turned-silent-sitting together to give you a tiny taste of what’s possible. 

Register for the live class at dramyjohnson.com/silenceclass

The post EP325: When “staying in the conversation” is not enough appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Life is constantly letting go.

You don’t let go. You are let go. Who-you-take-yourself-to-be arises and dissolves as experience in each and every moment.

Today’s episode is a portion of a recent call with the LSBC 6-week course where we explore the effortless, always letting go nature of life. 

***

Join me for a 6-day silent retreat in beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The retreat will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being.

You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning.

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are.

See more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat

The post EP324: Always letting go  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

It’s not uncommon that someone might argue, “You say self is a thought, but no-self is also a thought, isn’t it?”

Or, “Isn’t nonduality another belief?” 

Everything is a thought or belief when it’s a thought or belief. So yes, no-self can be a belief exactly like self can be a belief.

But what’s between self and no-self? What’s here that’s not a thought or belief? 

That’s where these words attempt to point and it’s really all that matters. 

I also discuss how I used to talk about paradigm shifts and sea changes, but how it doesn’t look that way anymore. What I’m pointing to now is not a paradigm at all. It’s what’s before paradigms.

***

Join me for a 7-day silent retreat in beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The retreat will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. 

You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning. 

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. 

See more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat

The post EP323: Everything is a thought…except what’s not  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Initially, noise, movement and visual appearances are primary. They are what’s happening, after all! They are the entirety of experience. They are where attention flows. It takes a lot of energy to be absorbed in all of that moving, changing chaos, but we rarely notice. 

Eventually, the foreground might move to the background and the background to the foreground. Silence, stillness, and an emptiness that is the essence of everything becomes apparent.

This becomes apparent in prolonged silence. It can become apparent in other ways, I’m sure. 

In this episode, I share how this foreground/background shift has happened and point you to listen for the silence and sense the stillness at the center of everything.

If you would like to plug into this deep, still, silence with me for a week, please check out the retreat here. It will be a very profound experience of what never changes, no matter what comes and goes throughout the week. dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP322: The silence, the stillness and the void at the center of everything appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Thought creates a sense of continuity.

It creates a sense of you living your life with your past and your future. All of that – you, your life, your past, your future – only exist in and as thought. 

This process will happen. But what I discuss in today’s episode is the thought that says it’s irresponsible to not pay attention to that. 

We discuss the sense (which is only a thought) that it is responsible or safe or necessary to revisit things, to attend to that sense of continuity that’s being created in thought. 

I’ll share three specific examples of how this sense of responsibility seems to keep us attending to thought when that is actually the complete opposite of what we’re looking for. 

***

Join me for a 6-day silent retreat in beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The retreat will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. 

You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning. 

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. 

See more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP321: Responsibility (It’s okay to not carry things through time) appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Many questions are seeking conceptual answers. The answers to those questions tend to keep the questioner in ideas and concepts. 

Those are common and innocent, but generally unhelpful.

We’ll explore some of the most common unhelpful questions and see what makes them unhelpful, and then look at some helpful questions – which point beyond the conceptual – that we can ask instead.

***

Join me for a 6-day silent retreat in beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The retreat will provide a supportive space for you to steep in your essential being. 

You’ll immerse in what’s always here, unchanging, beyond the pull of thoughts, feelings and identities, in the absence of everyday distractions and conditioning. 

This retreat was designed for those who feel called by the still, unchanging silence that is your true nature.  Prolonged silence with others is a very powerful way to rediscover and devote to the truth of who you are. 

See more at dramyjohnson.com/silentretreat 

The post EP320:  Helpful and unhelpful questions appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Let’s have a serious talk.

Thoughts are not true. Honestly, how in the world could they be? How could a formless blip of energy with some untouchable, vague images or memories or words, know about ‘you’ or the future?

Thought is what creates the imaginary idea of a future. There isn’t a future known by thought.

It doesn’t take much looking to really see that thought can’t possibly be true. It contradicts itself all the time. It repeats itself over a lifetime is essentially a reflection or echo of other thoughts and sensory impressions.

Just look, along with me in this episode, at the logic. It’s very, very clear when you begin to look.

I share a portion of an email from a woman who has “intrusive thoughts” about hurting herself as a way to explore how thought can’t possibly be true. And I challenge you to debate both sides of the coin and see for yourself.  

***

Would you like to be part of a supportive, loving community of like-minded people exploring the big questions in life?

Would you like a place you can turn for personal support on anything you’re struggling with at any time from several certified Change Coaches?   

It’s a place to see how the things like anxiety, doubt, habits, insecurities–are actually incredible gifts. They are there to help you wake up. 

To join The Community, please go to dramyjohnson.com/thecommunity

The post EP319: Stop believing thoughts (and there are no “intrusive” ones) appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, we explore two definitions of the word fix.

There is to fix, as in to correct. We try to correct or fix a problem, or ourselves, or the way life appears to be unfolding. 

The other is to fix something into place, as in to solidify. Identities, opinions, and problems appear more or less fixed. When they appear very fixed, we often say we feel stuck. 

Thought is a constant fixer but ironically, it has no ability to actually fix anything. Nothing is fixed, ever; not in terms of correcting the flow of life or in terms of holding anything in place. The sense that anything is ever fixed is simply a thought believed. 

***

This is your last chance to join what may be the last ever LSBC class. 

You’ll get lifetime access to the full curriculum of video lessons, interviews, and animations, 6 live coaching calls with me, and access to our private forum for the 6 weeks.

If you’ve been wanting to do the live version of this course with my support, or you know someone who has, this is the time to do it! 

Go to www.thelittleschoolofbigchange.com to register.  

The post EP318: Nothing is ever fixed appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I respond to a question I received from someone who experiences depersonalization and derealization.

Specifically, the questioner shared that they don’t believe this is a thinking disorder and do I agree? 

This sent me on a bit of a nice rant  

I do agree. No thinking is “disordered” in the same way that no feeling is “bad”. The very common and innocent question reflects our cultural conditioning that sees so much experience as a problem to fix. That conditioning IS the problem, not the thoughts or feelings arising. 

This episode is not really about DPDR, so please check it out even if you aren’t sure what that is! 

***

Beginning September 5th, I will be leading a very small group through The LSBC course.

You may know that I don’t lead this course anymore but because there were a number of people on the waitlist, I thought I would lead a small group through the curriculum this fall. You’ll get lifetime access to the full curriculum of video lessons, interviews, and animations, 6 live coaching calls with me, and access to our private forum for the 6 weeks.

If you’ve been wanting to do the live version of this course with my support, or you know someone who has, this is the time to do it! 

Go to https://dramyjohnson.com/events/fall-school-registration-page/ to register.

The post EP317: Are there thinking disorders? Is depersonalization one, or is it a “real feeling”?  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I so often hear people feeling they are making things worse. They say things like, “I’m resisting, which is making these feelings worse” or “This anxiety is making my physical pain worse”.But what if “I’m making it worse” is just a thought?Can one thought really make another thought or sensation worse? Does it have that

The post EP316: You’re not making it worse appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.