January 14, 2025 • 24 mins
The greatest decision we can ever make is to feel our feelings fully, even in times of heartbreak and pain. This fundamental choice between emotional avoidance and courageous feeling determines whether we merely exist or truly come alive.
• Heartbreak stories teach us that feeling pain is part of being fully alive
• We often avoid uncomfortable feelings through distractions like food, shopping, or alcohol
• True aliveness requires vulnerability and willingness to feel everything
• Mark Nepo's metaphor of the dried sponge containing a fish represents our dormant potential
• What lies asleep within you that needs to be awakened?
• The mind we discover within us governs everything - we are both the problem and solution
• Fear gets its power when we refuse to look at what scares us
• Being spontaneous rather than planning every moment creates authentic joy
• Coming alive means living "out loud" with all the risks and rewards that entails
Are you ready to make the greatest decision possible - to feel what there is to feel while knowing you're perfect underneath it all? This is what Coming Alive in 2025 is all about.
You can reach Dr. James at https://www.jamesmellon.org/
Check out Dr. James Mellon's book, The 5 Questions, here on Amazon.
Learn more about Global Truth Center at https://www.globaltruthcenter.org
You can watch Dr. James' live weekly messages on Sunday at 10a PT at https://www.globaltruthcenter.org/sunday-livestream
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. James Mellon (00:00):
The title of my talk today is the Greatest
Decision I'll Ever Make.
You all saw that.
Anybody that reads the, anybodythat bothers to read the
e-blasts when they come out youprobably saw the title of the
talk and you might have thought,wondered what that decision is.
What was that?
What's the what's that?
The greatest decision I'll evermake.
It could have said the greatestdecision I ever made as well,
(00:23):
but for you, I want it to be thegreatest decision I'll ever
make and I'm going to ask you toconsider that as we go through.
So I wanted to start thismorning off by talking about the
first time I had my heartbroken.
Can anyone relate?
Do you all remember the firsttime you had your heart broken I
(00:44):
mean really broken, tiffany?
No, you never had.
Yeah, okay, good, happy to hearit.
So I was 20 at the time and Ihad fallen in love for the first
time and I was deeply, deeplyin love.
And this person was perhaps notas deeply in love with me as I
(01:10):
thought, because, after a verytumultuous relationship in the
beginning, it ended abruptly andit ended with me being in
abject pain and despair.
I really could not even thinkabout anything and I was a young
actor in New York.
(01:30):
I lived in this studioapartment on 51st Street and 8th
with a bed and a table.
I was a young actor, juststarting my career, but I had
moved there because I had fallenin love.
My career.
But I had moved there because Ihad fallen in love.
I jump-started my careerbecause I fell in love with
someone and turned my lifearound to follow that heart
(01:52):
dream and I followed him and Ilived there, but I had my own
apartment.
Well, I was devastated.
My heart broke into a billionpieces.
I'd never felt that before.
I'd felt lost.
I'd lost my mother just twoyears prior to that and that was
painful.
But this was a different kindof heartbreak.
(02:12):
This was a.
I put myself out there andsomeone just crushed all of the
love I threw out there.
It was a.
It was a hard thing toexperience.
As someone who was young andvery impressionistic and really
believed that love was somethingthat lasts forever.
I believed that when you fellin love, that was it.
(02:36):
You fell in love and happily,ever after.
That was what my thoughts wereat the time, at 20 years old,
and so I was so, so depressedand I called the person that was
my mentor.
Then my aunt, who was reallylike my mother, and she said
this to me.
I wrote it down so I could bereally clear.
She said Jimmy, I was Jimmy.
(02:57):
Then I went from Jimmy to Jimto James.
Will thinks I should go back toJimmy, but I'm not.
My aunt said you're going tohave your heart broken a million
times, and that's the good news.
The bad news would be if youdidn't let it happen, because
you'd never find what you werelooking for.
(03:18):
So my aunt told me that and Iwas pissed off that.
She told me that, as we all are, when an adult tells you this
is how it is and it's like no,I'm pissed and I'm really hurt.
But in that moment I did make adecision.
(03:41):
I did make a decision.
I remember sitting there onWest 51st Street and just
sitting there saying, okay, I'mreally, really, really in pain.
But that doesn't mean loveisn't good.
It doesn't mean that I won'thave a second shot.
The problem was I took a second, third, fourth shot with the
(04:02):
same person and it was reallynot a good idea was I took a
second, third, fourth shot withthe same person and it was
really not a good idea.
The greatest decision I'll evermake.
The one I made was the decisionto feel my feelings.
That was the greatest decisionI have ever made and I continue
(04:22):
to make, because there's just somany opportunities for us to
walk away from our feelings, tocrush our feelings, to ignore
our feelings, to eat through ourfeelings, to drink through our
feelings, to shop through ourfeelings, All the many things
(04:42):
that stop us from feeling whatthere is to feel.
And that's the whole idea thisyear of come alive, be willing
to come alive.
Your heart being broken is partof life.
It shows up that way andthere's a lot of feeling.
Are you ready and willing tofeel what you're feeling and
(05:05):
still know that you're perfect?
See, that's the rub.
We think we're not perfect andI remember back then thinking
that you know this persondoesn't love me anymore.
It must be me.
There's something wrong with me.
I guess I'm not worthy of thisperson's love.
I guess there's someone betterout there for this person.
All of that kind of logicalthinking.
(05:27):
When you really know who youare, when you're really clear in
this philosophy about who youare, then you don't compromise,
you don't give up on things, youdon't run away from what's
going on.
Even right now, as everything'sgoing on in our city, our state,
(05:50):
here, it could be very easy touse these fires and the things
that we're all experiencing asan excuse to throw away who we
are and to become the victims ofwhat's going on and to see
people I love what Eric saidabout that about his little
puppy to see people as victims.
I can't see people as victims.
(06:12):
I see people going throughchallenging times, but I'm not
going to label you a victim Ifyou lose your house and all of
your, all of your memories andall of your things and you're
still here alive.
I'm not going to see you as avictim.
I will see you as someone who'sgoing through a very
challenging time and I will askyou to feel that challenging
time.
Get whatever help you need,have us all.
(06:33):
Be a part of the lovingexperience, but feel what you're
feeling, because these feelingsare what makes us alive.
You know, when Bobby gets to theend of the show and he's doing
this, somebody makes you feelthis way, someone who makes you
feel that you know someone, who,who, who ruins your sleep and
and you know all the negativethings.
(06:54):
Do all of you have negativethings you could say about your
partner, possibly your husbandor your wife, things that really
annoy you about them.
Anybody Kevin could give you alist things that really annoy
you about them.
Anybody, kevin could give you alist.
Right, I know you didn't raiseyour hand.
You're being really good, yeah,but yeah, all of those things.
(07:19):
But here's the thing Are westill in it?
Are we still willing to be init, to feel what we feel and
know what there is to know inany given situation?
So that's the greatest decisionI'll ever make and that's the
decision I'm asking us all tomake this year in this theme of
come alive, to really feel whatwe're feeling, to speak our
truth.
Now, that doesn't mean we getto be rude or indignant.
(07:42):
You know, if you ever hearyourself saying you made me,
you've missed the point.
If you're saying you made mefeel like this, you've missed
the point.
No one makes you feel anything.
You choose to react to what'sgoing on.
The feelings I'm talking aboutis not the feelings that Eric
makes me feel, because hedoesn't make me feel any
feelings.
I choose the feelings I havebased on our interactions.
(08:05):
So this year of coming alive isare you willing to throw all
your doors open, be asvulnerable as possible, feel
what there is to feel and knowthat you're perfect underneath
it all.
Know that you get to thendecide.
So, mark Nepo many of you knowwho Mark Nepo is.
(08:32):
This is the Book of Awakening.
This was his big book thatbrought him onto the scene.
I read one of his readings.
I'm reading him every day andeverybody in advanced
consciousness should be readinghim every day.
I know you are Doug, are you?
Yes, okay, good, reading himevery day, and everybody in
advanced consciousness should bereading him every day.
I know you are Doug, are you?
Yes, okay, good.
I advise you all to get thisbook.
(08:53):
It's every day.
There's just something to readand read it.
It's an amazing, but Oprahcalls him one of the top 10
wisest metaphysicians on theplanet alive today.
So I want to read this for youon the planet alive today.
So I want to read this for you.
(09:14):
It starts off this is fromJanuary 4th.
It starts off between peace andjoy.
It's called that space betweenpeace and joy, and he gives a
little quote from James Taylorfirst.
He says we could never haveguessed we were already blessed
where we are.
We could never have guessed wewere already blessed where we
are.
And then he says this remindsme of a woman who found a folded
sponge, all dried andcompressed and tucked inside the
(09:39):
hardened fold was a messageshe'd been seeking.
She carried the hardened spongeto the sea and up to her waist
in the deep.
She watched it unfold and cometo life in the water.
Magically, the secret of lifebecame visible in the bubbles
being released from the spongeand, to her amazement, a small
fish trapped in sleep in thehardened sponge came alive and
(10:04):
swam out to sea.
From that day on, no matterwhere she went, she felt that
little fish swimming in the deep.
And this, the swimming of thelittle fish that had for so long
been asleep, gave hersatisfaction.
That was somewhere betweenpeace and joy.
(10:24):
Whatever our path, the color ofgrain of our days, whatever
riddles we must solve to stayalive, the secret of life
somehow always has to do withthe awakening and feeling of
what has been asleep.
Like the sponge, our veryhearts beg to unfold in the
(10:46):
waters of our experience and,like the little fish, the soul
is a tiny thing that brings uspeace and joy when we let it
swim, but everything remainshard and compressed and
ineligible until, like thiswoman, waist deep in the ocean,
(11:08):
we take our sleeping heart intoour hands and plunge it tenderly
into the life we are living.
Isn't that beautiful A lot tothink about.
So the question I have for youis this what is lying asleep
(11:32):
inside of you that needs to bereleased, that needs to come
alive?
What's going on in your lifeand I would dare say you
probably know the answer to it,as I asked it.
It's probably very clear whatneeds to be set free inside of
(11:54):
you, what needs to have life putback into it?
All you are is asleep.
You're not gone, you're justasleep.
Your dreams, your aspirations,your desires, perhaps they're
just asleep.
You're just asleep.
Your dreams, your aspirations,your desires, perhaps they're
just asleep.
They're trapped in thatdried-out sponge, but protected
because they can never bedestroyed.
(12:15):
But it takes you to reinvest,to reignite, to put life back
into what is yours to put lifeback into.
So that question what is it?
What comes up for you when Iask you that question?
Does something come up rightaway?
(12:40):
In the first few weeks ofJanuary, a lot of religious
science teachers do the firstfour chapters, which I am not
doing this year because it waswritten in 1926.
I find other things to talkabout in 2025.
But I do have two quotes fromthat first chapter that I want
to add to what we're talkingabout today.
(13:02):
Why did I grab this?
You'll do it.
Could you give me the nextslide, swan we're talking about
today?
Why did I grab this?
You'll do it?
Could you give me the nextslide, swan?
So this is Ernest Holmes and thething itself.
The mind which we discoverwithin us is the mind that
governs everything.
This is the thing itself and weshould recognize its simplicity
.
And then he spends 400 pagessimplifying it.
Simplifying it.
(13:32):
But the reason I pulled thisone out today is because the
mind which we discover within usis the mind that governs
everything.
The mind that governseverything is like that sponge,
that infinite sea of pureprotective covering that each
one of us has as our guidingforce, and we are that little
fish and we have to be willingto come alive.
(13:53):
We have to be willing to takerisks and to go out and say our
truth and then live from thattruth.
This is the thing itself.
That's what God is right.
Truth, this is the thing itself.
That's what God is right, andwe should recognize its
simplicity.
It really is simple.
(14:15):
If God is everything and Ilearned that in St Bernard's
Catholic grade school who is God?
God is everything.
That was the answer.
The nuns were right and I don'tsay that often right.
And like where is God?
God is everywhere.
The nuns were right and I don'tsay that often.
Right, the nuns were right.
The catholic church, theBaltimore catechism, was right.
(14:38):
God is everywhere.
God is everything, and PeggyLorbeck is everywhere because
she's right there.
You're part of that.
You're part of everywhere andpart of everything.
Every single one of us is partof everywhere, part of
everything.
We are the sponge and we arethe fish and we are the energy
(14:58):
that takes the sponge, puts itinto the wellspring of our
emotional power and allows thatfish to come back to life.
We're all of it.
So don't think you're just thislittle fish Waiting for
somebody to come along and freeyou.
It's never going to happen,because you have to do it.
(15:19):
And don't think you're thiscaught up sponge that can never
be unraveled, because that's nottrue either, unless you choose
that for yourself.
So the mind which we discoverwithin us is the mind that
governs everything, your mind,the thing you have right there
between your shoulders, on yourhead.
(15:40):
We identify it as the brainusing the mind, but that mind
that the brain uses is capableof anything and everything to
the degree that you allow it tocome out, to the degree that you
allow it to come out, that youcome alive, to who you are, what
you are and what you want.
(16:00):
And that's one of the biggerproblems Getting truthful with
ourselves on what we want.
And I know I'm speaking to alot of people who are in this
teaching and have worked reallyhard to create the lives they
want.
I'm one of them, but does thatmean that there's not perhaps
(16:21):
some shadow somewhere in mybeing that I haven't really
looked at yet?
That would open up a whole newdimension for me.
Open up a whole new dimensionfor me.
Probably, probably.
And I have another Mark Neporeading for you, because this
(16:42):
one just happened to be today,january 12th.
Oh wait, before I do this, Ihave one more slide.
Give me the next slide.
Individuality must bespontaneous.
It can never be automatic.
So the idea of coming alivecannot be something that you
(17:10):
decide and, pragmatically, I'lldo this, this, this and this.
I'm suggesting that we spendthe year tapping in to what
wants to move through us and befreaking spontaneous day in and
day out.
What wants to know me?
What wants to animate me?
What wants to feel good here?
(17:31):
What is fun to do today?
Not what I decided last weekwas fun.
Kevin called me on somethingyesterday.
He said you know, you make allthese plans and when it's time
for the plans, you have thisfeeling of like drudgery, like,
oh, I planned this and he's soright and so I got to get better
about that.
I'm making.
I'm making no more plans.
Um, I'm just going to do whatcomes up.
(17:53):
No kidding, I will get betterat that.
But our job is to can we havefun spontaneously, as opposed to
planning for fun?
How about just having funwherever you are, whatever
you're doing, no matter what?
That was part of Bod's a coupledays ago.
So here's what he wrote thismorning.
(18:15):
It's called Seeing into Darknessand the quote is by Lao Tzu.
Seeing into darkness is clarity.
This is called practicingeternity.
He says fear gets its powerfrom our not looking at either
the fear or what we're afraid of.
Remember the attic, the closetdoor behind which something
(18:36):
terrifying waited, and thelonger we didn't look, the
harder it was to open the door.
As a boy, this obsessed meuntil I would avoid that part of
the house completely.
But finally, when no one washome, I felt compelled to face
the unknown.
I stood before the attic doorfor the longest time, my heart
(18:56):
pounding.
It took all my small inner boystrength to open it.
I waited at the threshold andnothing happened.
I inched my way in and stood inthe dark even longer until my
breathing slowed and, to mysurprise, my eyes grew
accustomed to the dark Prettysoon.
(19:18):
I was able to explore the oldmusty boxes and found pictures
of my grandfather, my father'sfather, the only one in my
family that I am like.
Seeing those pictures opened meto aspects of my spirit, it
seems.
Whatever the door, whatever ourfear, be it love or truth, or
(19:40):
even the prospect of death, weall have this choice again and
again avoiding that part of ourhouse or opening the door and
finding out more about ourselvesby waiting until what is dark
becomes seeable.
Isn't that beautiful?
That's how I got to wake upthis morning reading that so
(20:05):
allowing what is dark to becomeseeable.
And what he's talking about hereis the boogeyman.
How many of you grew up withthe boogeyman?
Remember the boogeyman.
Maybe they didn't do that inBulgaria, but they didn't do
that.
No, he's from Bulgaria, she'sfrom Ukraine.
Yes, yes, so the boogeyman Ican remember.
(20:28):
On 7127 Charles Street,northeast Philadelphia, a bunch
of row homes laying in my bed,my brothers next to me, my other
brothers on yeah, my onebrother's next to me, the other
brother's in another bed on theother side of the room, and I am
laying there staring at thedoor because I fully believed in
the boogeyman and I couldn'tget up to turn the light on
(20:51):
because I'd convinced myself.
Because I was raised by apolice officer who would often
tell us the gory details of whatwas going on in downtown
Philadelphia Wise parenting tip,the gory details of what was
going on in downtownPhiladelphia, wise parenting tip
.
I knew that if I went to turnthe light on, my hand would be
stabbed by the boogeyman.
So I was laying in bed, scaredto death, and if I talk to my
(21:14):
brother they'd be like oh, go tosleep.
You know, you're such a sissy.
Thus I wrote a whole showcalled Sissy Boy.
Thus I wrote a whole showcalled Sissy Boy, the boogeyman.
The reason why often we don'tcome alive is because we're
afraid of what's there, what'sunder there.
We're afraid of what's theretoo, but I think, for me right
(21:37):
now I just want to focus on,we're afraid of what's inside of
us, and so we create thesewonderful shells around our
lives to give us beautiful,seemingly beautiful lives.
But that thing that's underthere that we never get to is
actually the key to the mostalive living you'll ever have.
Jim Lockhart would talk aboutthe shadow, you know.
(21:59):
But there is stuff inside ofeach one of us that we're afraid
of, and the more we've, themore we are afraid of looking at
it.
The scarier it gets, truly thescarier it gets.
I don't know when I gave up thewhole idea of the boogeyman.
I probably, as I got older Igrew out of it.
But preparing this today, Ithought but I might have just
(22:23):
traded those boogeymen in forother boogeymen and pushed them
way down and became the herothat conquered them.
But they're still there,whatever they are.
You know, when you look at thatscene we did for you in the
beginning with Bobby, he comesto the end of the show, that
last high note that he sings,you know being alive.
(22:47):
He is begging the universe findme someone to love, find me
someone to wake me up in themiddle of the night.
Find me somebody to care aboutme.
Find me somebody even to breakmy heart.
Give me the opportunity to liveout loud Everything that comes
with it.
And that's why that number bythe end of that number, you know
(23:07):
, the audience just jumps to itsfeet because that last you know
, being alive.
Being alive.
Make me alive, make me confused, mock me with praise.
You know, let me be used.
Vary my days.
Let me not be so boring witheverything I've prepared for my
life.
Vary my days.
Let me not be so boring witheverything I've prepared for my
life.
Vary my days.
Show me the spontaneity,because alone is alone, not
(23:30):
alive.
You have an entire universe outhere for you to live in, for
you to create in, for you to bea part of.
That's what Come Alive in 2025is all about for me.
So you all ready to do that,namaste.
The title of my talk today is the Greatest
Decision I'll Ever Make.
You all saw that.
Anybody that reads the, anybodythat bothers to read the
e-blasts when they come out youprobably saw the title of the
talk and you might have thought,wondered what that decision is.
What was that?
What's the what's that?
The greatest decision I'll evermake.
It could have said the greatestdecision I ever made as well,
(00:23):
but for you, I want it to be thegreatest decision I'll ever
make and I'm going to ask you toconsider that as we go through.
So I wanted to start thismorning off by talking about the
first time I had my heartbroken.
Can anyone relate?
Do you all remember the firsttime you had your heart broken I
(00:44):
mean really broken, tiffany?
No, you never had.
Yeah, okay, good, happy to hearit.
So I was 20 at the time and Ihad fallen in love for the first
time and I was deeply, deeplyin love.
And this person was perhaps notas deeply in love with me as I
(01:10):
thought, because, after a verytumultuous relationship in the
beginning, it ended abruptly andit ended with me being in
abject pain and despair.
I really could not even thinkabout anything and I was a young
actor in New York.
(01:30):
I lived in this studioapartment on 51st Street and 8th
with a bed and a table.
I was a young actor, juststarting my career, but I had
moved there because I had fallenin love.
My career.
But I had moved there because Ihad fallen in love.
I jump-started my careerbecause I fell in love with
someone and turned my lifearound to follow that heart
(01:52):
dream and I followed him and Ilived there, but I had my own
apartment.
Well, I was devastated.
My heart broke into a billionpieces.
I'd never felt that before.
I'd felt lost.
I'd lost my mother just twoyears prior to that and that was
painful.
But this was a different kindof heartbreak.
(02:12):
This was a.
I put myself out there andsomeone just crushed all of the
love I threw out there.
It was a.
It was a hard thing toexperience.
As someone who was young andvery impressionistic and really
believed that love was somethingthat lasts forever.
I believed that when you fellin love, that was it.
(02:36):
You fell in love and happily,ever after.
That was what my thoughts wereat the time, at 20 years old,
and so I was so, so depressedand I called the person that was
my mentor.
Then my aunt, who was reallylike my mother, and she said
this to me.
I wrote it down so I could bereally clear.
She said Jimmy, I was Jimmy.
(02:57):
Then I went from Jimmy to Jimto James.
Will thinks I should go back toJimmy, but I'm not.
My aunt said you're going tohave your heart broken a million
times, and that's the good news.
The bad news would be if youdidn't let it happen, because
you'd never find what you werelooking for.
(03:18):
So my aunt told me that and Iwas pissed off that.
She told me that, as we all are, when an adult tells you this
is how it is and it's like no,I'm pissed and I'm really hurt.
But in that moment I did make adecision.
(03:41):
I did make a decision.
I remember sitting there onWest 51st Street and just
sitting there saying, okay, I'mreally, really, really in pain.
But that doesn't mean loveisn't good.
It doesn't mean that I won'thave a second shot.
The problem was I took a second, third, fourth shot with the
(04:02):
same person and it was reallynot a good idea was I took a
second, third, fourth shot withthe same person and it was
really not a good idea.
The greatest decision I'll evermake.
The one I made was the decisionto feel my feelings.
That was the greatest decisionI have ever made and I continue
(04:22):
to make, because there's just somany opportunities for us to
walk away from our feelings, tocrush our feelings, to ignore
our feelings, to eat through ourfeelings, to drink through our
feelings, to shop through ourfeelings, All the many things
(04:42):
that stop us from feeling whatthere is to feel.
And that's the whole idea thisyear of come alive, be willing
to come alive.
Your heart being broken is partof life.
It shows up that way andthere's a lot of feeling.
Are you ready and willing tofeel what you're feeling and
(05:05):
still know that you're perfect?
See, that's the rub.
We think we're not perfect andI remember back then thinking
that you know this persondoesn't love me anymore.
It must be me.
There's something wrong with me.
I guess I'm not worthy of thisperson's love.
I guess there's someone betterout there for this person.
All of that kind of logicalthinking.
(05:27):
When you really know who youare, when you're really clear in
this philosophy about who youare, then you don't compromise,
you don't give up on things, youdon't run away from what's
going on.
Even right now, as everything'sgoing on in our city, our state,
(05:50):
here, it could be very easy touse these fires and the things
that we're all experiencing asan excuse to throw away who we
are and to become the victims ofwhat's going on and to see
people I love what Eric saidabout that about his little
puppy to see people as victims.
I can't see people as victims.
(06:12):
I see people going throughchallenging times, but I'm not
going to label you a victim Ifyou lose your house and all of
your, all of your memories andall of your things and you're
still here alive.
I'm not going to see you as avictim.
I will see you as someone who'sgoing through a very
challenging time and I will askyou to feel that challenging
time.
Get whatever help you need,have us all.
(06:33):
Be a part of the lovingexperience, but feel what you're
feeling, because these feelingsare what makes us alive.
You know, when Bobby gets to theend of the show and he's doing
this, somebody makes you feelthis way, someone who makes you
feel that you know someone, who,who, who ruins your sleep and
and you know all the negativethings.
(06:54):
Do all of you have negativethings you could say about your
partner, possibly your husbandor your wife, things that really
annoy you about them.
Anybody Kevin could give you alist things that really annoy
you about them.
Anybody, kevin could give you alist.
Right, I know you didn't raiseyour hand.
You're being really good, yeah,but yeah, all of those things.
(07:19):
But here's the thing Are westill in it?
Are we still willing to be init, to feel what we feel and
know what there is to know inany given situation?
So that's the greatest decisionI'll ever make and that's the
decision I'm asking us all tomake this year in this theme of
come alive, to really feel whatwe're feeling, to speak our
truth.
Now, that doesn't mean we getto be rude or indignant.
(07:42):
You know, if you ever hearyourself saying you made me,
you've missed the point.
If you're saying you made mefeel like this, you've missed
the point.
No one makes you feel anything.
You choose to react to what'sgoing on.
The feelings I'm talking aboutis not the feelings that Eric
makes me feel, because hedoesn't make me feel any
feelings.
I choose the feelings I havebased on our interactions.
(08:05):
So this year of coming alive isare you willing to throw all
your doors open, be asvulnerable as possible, feel
what there is to feel and knowthat you're perfect underneath
it all.
Know that you get to thendecide.
So, mark Nepo many of you knowwho Mark Nepo is.
(08:32):
This is the Book of Awakening.
This was his big book thatbrought him onto the scene.
I read one of his readings.
I'm reading him every day andeverybody in advanced
consciousness should be readinghim every day.
I know you are Doug, are you?
Yes, okay, good, reading himevery day, and everybody in
advanced consciousness should bereading him every day.
I know you are Doug, are you?
Yes, okay, good.
I advise you all to get thisbook.
(08:53):
It's every day.
There's just something to readand read it.
It's an amazing, but Oprahcalls him one of the top 10
wisest metaphysicians on theplanet alive today.
So I want to read this for youon the planet alive today.
So I want to read this for you.
(09:14):
It starts off this is fromJanuary 4th.
It starts off between peace andjoy.
It's called that space betweenpeace and joy, and he gives a
little quote from James Taylorfirst.
He says we could never haveguessed we were already blessed
where we are.
We could never have guessed wewere already blessed where we
are.
And then he says this remindsme of a woman who found a folded
sponge, all dried andcompressed and tucked inside the
(09:39):
hardened fold was a messageshe'd been seeking.
She carried the hardened spongeto the sea and up to her waist
in the deep.
She watched it unfold and cometo life in the water.
Magically, the secret of lifebecame visible in the bubbles
being released from the spongeand, to her amazement, a small
fish trapped in sleep in thehardened sponge came alive and
(10:04):
swam out to sea.
From that day on, no matterwhere she went, she felt that
little fish swimming in the deep.
And this, the swimming of thelittle fish that had for so long
been asleep, gave hersatisfaction.
That was somewhere betweenpeace and joy.
(10:24):
Whatever our path, the color ofgrain of our days, whatever
riddles we must solve to stayalive, the secret of life
somehow always has to do withthe awakening and feeling of
what has been asleep.
Like the sponge, our veryhearts beg to unfold in the
(10:46):
waters of our experience and,like the little fish, the soul
is a tiny thing that brings uspeace and joy when we let it
swim, but everything remainshard and compressed and
ineligible until, like thiswoman, waist deep in the ocean,
(11:08):
we take our sleeping heart intoour hands and plunge it tenderly
into the life we are living.
Isn't that beautiful A lot tothink about.
So the question I have for youis this what is lying asleep
(11:32):
inside of you that needs to bereleased, that needs to come
alive?
What's going on in your lifeand I would dare say you
probably know the answer to it,as I asked it.
It's probably very clear whatneeds to be set free inside of
(11:54):
you, what needs to have life putback into it?
All you are is asleep.
You're not gone, you're justasleep.
Your dreams, your aspirations,your desires, perhaps they're
just asleep.
You're just asleep.
Your dreams, your aspirations,your desires, perhaps they're
just asleep.
They're trapped in thatdried-out sponge, but protected
because they can never bedestroyed.
(12:15):
But it takes you to reinvest,to reignite, to put life back
into what is yours to put lifeback into.
So that question what is it?
What comes up for you when Iask you that question?
Does something come up rightaway?
(12:40):
In the first few weeks ofJanuary, a lot of religious
science teachers do the firstfour chapters, which I am not
doing this year because it waswritten in 1926.
I find other things to talkabout in 2025.
But I do have two quotes fromthat first chapter that I want
to add to what we're talkingabout today.
(13:02):
Why did I grab this?
You'll do it.
Could you give me the nextslide, swan we're talking about
today?
Why did I grab this?
You'll do it?
Could you give me the nextslide, swan?
So this is Ernest Holmes and thething itself.
The mind which we discoverwithin us is the mind that
governs everything.
This is the thing itself and weshould recognize its simplicity
.
And then he spends 400 pagessimplifying it.
Simplifying it.
(13:32):
But the reason I pulled thisone out today is because the
mind which we discover within usis the mind that governs
everything.
The mind that governseverything is like that sponge,
that infinite sea of pureprotective covering that each
one of us has as our guidingforce, and we are that little
fish and we have to be willingto come alive.
(13:53):
We have to be willing to takerisks and to go out and say our
truth and then live from thattruth.
This is the thing itself.
That's what God is right.
Truth, this is the thing itself.
That's what God is right, andwe should recognize its
simplicity.
It really is simple.
(14:15):
If God is everything and Ilearned that in St Bernard's
Catholic grade school who is God?
God is everything.
That was the answer.
The nuns were right and I don'tsay that often right.
And like where is God?
God is everywhere.
The nuns were right and I don'tsay that often.
Right, the nuns were right.
The catholic church, theBaltimore catechism, was right.
(14:38):
God is everywhere.
God is everything, and PeggyLorbeck is everywhere because
she's right there.
You're part of that.
You're part of everywhere andpart of everything.
Every single one of us is partof everywhere, part of
everything.
We are the sponge and we arethe fish and we are the energy
(14:58):
that takes the sponge, puts itinto the wellspring of our
emotional power and allows thatfish to come back to life.
We're all of it.
So don't think you're just thislittle fish Waiting for
somebody to come along and freeyou.
It's never going to happen,because you have to do it.
(15:19):
And don't think you're thiscaught up sponge that can never
be unraveled, because that's nottrue either, unless you choose
that for yourself.
So the mind which we discoverwithin us is the mind that
governs everything, your mind,the thing you have right there
between your shoulders, on yourhead.
(15:40):
We identify it as the brainusing the mind, but that mind
that the brain uses is capableof anything and everything to
the degree that you allow it tocome out, to the degree that you
allow it to come out, that youcome alive, to who you are, what
you are and what you want.
(16:00):
And that's one of the biggerproblems Getting truthful with
ourselves on what we want.
And I know I'm speaking to alot of people who are in this
teaching and have worked reallyhard to create the lives they
want.
I'm one of them, but does thatmean that there's not perhaps
(16:21):
some shadow somewhere in mybeing that I haven't really
looked at yet?
That would open up a whole newdimension for me.
Open up a whole new dimensionfor me.
Probably, probably.
And I have another Mark Neporeading for you, because this
(16:42):
one just happened to be today,january 12th.
Oh wait, before I do this, Ihave one more slide.
Give me the next slide.
Individuality must bespontaneous.
It can never be automatic.
So the idea of coming alivecannot be something that you
(17:10):
decide and, pragmatically, I'lldo this, this, this and this.
I'm suggesting that we spendthe year tapping in to what
wants to move through us and befreaking spontaneous day in and
day out.
What wants to know me?
What wants to animate me?
What wants to feel good here?
(17:31):
What is fun to do today?
Not what I decided last weekwas fun.
Kevin called me on somethingyesterday.
He said you know, you make allthese plans and when it's time
for the plans, you have thisfeeling of like drudgery, like,
oh, I planned this and he's soright and so I got to get better
about that.
I'm making.
I'm making no more plans.
Um, I'm just going to do whatcomes up.
(17:53):
No kidding, I will get betterat that.
But our job is to can we havefun spontaneously, as opposed to
planning for fun?
How about just having funwherever you are, whatever
you're doing, no matter what?
That was part of Bod's a coupledays ago.
So here's what he wrote thismorning.
(18:15):
It's called Seeing into Darknessand the quote is by Lao Tzu.
Seeing into darkness is clarity.
This is called practicingeternity.
He says fear gets its powerfrom our not looking at either
the fear or what we're afraid of.
Remember the attic, the closetdoor behind which something
(18:36):
terrifying waited, and thelonger we didn't look, the
harder it was to open the door.
As a boy, this obsessed meuntil I would avoid that part of
the house completely.
But finally, when no one washome, I felt compelled to face
the unknown.
I stood before the attic doorfor the longest time, my heart
(18:56):
pounding.
It took all my small inner boystrength to open it.
I waited at the threshold andnothing happened.
I inched my way in and stood inthe dark even longer until my
breathing slowed and, to mysurprise, my eyes grew
accustomed to the dark Prettysoon.
(19:18):
I was able to explore the oldmusty boxes and found pictures
of my grandfather, my father'sfather, the only one in my
family that I am like.
Seeing those pictures opened meto aspects of my spirit, it
seems.
Whatever the door, whatever ourfear, be it love or truth, or
(19:40):
even the prospect of death, weall have this choice again and
again avoiding that part of ourhouse or opening the door and
finding out more about ourselvesby waiting until what is dark
becomes seeable.
Isn't that beautiful?
That's how I got to wake upthis morning reading that so
(20:05):
allowing what is dark to becomeseeable.
And what he's talking about hereis the boogeyman.
How many of you grew up withthe boogeyman?
Remember the boogeyman.
Maybe they didn't do that inBulgaria, but they didn't do
that.
No, he's from Bulgaria, she'sfrom Ukraine.
Yes, yes, so the boogeyman Ican remember.
(20:28):
On 7127 Charles Street,northeast Philadelphia, a bunch
of row homes laying in my bed,my brothers next to me, my other
brothers on yeah, my onebrother's next to me, the other
brother's in another bed on theother side of the room, and I am
laying there staring at thedoor because I fully believed in
the boogeyman and I couldn'tget up to turn the light on
(20:51):
because I'd convinced myself.
Because I was raised by apolice officer who would often
tell us the gory details of whatwas going on in downtown
Philadelphia Wise parenting tip,the gory details of what was
going on in downtownPhiladelphia, wise parenting tip
.
I knew that if I went to turnthe light on, my hand would be
stabbed by the boogeyman.
So I was laying in bed, scaredto death, and if I talk to my
(21:14):
brother they'd be like oh, go tosleep.
You know, you're such a sissy.
Thus I wrote a whole showcalled Sissy Boy.
Thus I wrote a whole showcalled Sissy Boy, the boogeyman.
The reason why often we don'tcome alive is because we're
afraid of what's there, what'sunder there.
We're afraid of what's theretoo, but I think, for me right
(21:37):
now I just want to focus on,we're afraid of what's inside of
us, and so we create thesewonderful shells around our
lives to give us beautiful,seemingly beautiful lives.
But that thing that's underthere that we never get to is
actually the key to the mostalive living you'll ever have.
Jim Lockhart would talk aboutthe shadow, you know.
(21:59):
But there is stuff inside ofeach one of us that we're afraid
of, and the more we've, themore we are afraid of looking at
it.
The scarier it gets, truly thescarier it gets.
I don't know when I gave up thewhole idea of the boogeyman.
I probably, as I got older Igrew out of it.
But preparing this today, Ithought but I might have just
(22:23):
traded those boogeymen in forother boogeymen and pushed them
way down and became the herothat conquered them.
But they're still there,whatever they are.
You know, when you look at thatscene we did for you in the
beginning with Bobby, he comesto the end of the show, that
last high note that he sings,you know being alive.
(22:47):
He is begging the universe findme someone to love, find me
someone to wake me up in themiddle of the night.
Find me somebody to care aboutme.
Find me somebody even to breakmy heart.
Give me the opportunity to liveout loud Everything that comes
with it.
And that's why that number bythe end of that number, you know
(23:07):
, the audience just jumps to itsfeet because that last you know
, being alive.
Being alive.
Make me alive, make me confused, mock me with praise.
You know, let me be used.
Vary my days.
Let me not be so boring witheverything I've prepared for my
life.
Vary my days.
Let me not be so boring witheverything I've prepared for my
life.
Vary my days.
Show me the spontaneity,because alone is alone, not
(23:30):
alive.
You have an entire universe outhere for you to live in, for
you to create in, for you to bea part of.
That's what Come Alive in 2025is all about for me.
So you all ready to do that,namaste.
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