September 5, 2025 • 20 mins
Many times we decide to do something new only to be met with an infinite amount of excuses and hesitation that only convinces us to procrastinate that thing, whatever it may be. This is called resistance and that kind of internal resistance is sent to us by our ego, which is trying to preserve and protect. How many times have we all not done something we wanted to do because we were afraid or failure, embarrassment, rejection, etc.? This meditation .hopes to remind the meditator that our fear is merely a compass pointing us in the direction we need to go to transcend ourselves. The answer is not to go around but to go through. One breath at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to mindful meditations with calm the bleep down. Hi,
I'm your guide Michael Beckermeier. And today we are going
to stare our fear in the face. Let's get started.
As always, we have a mindfulness quote to help us
(00:29):
head into our meditation with some intent. And today our
quote comes from Pima Chodron and it reads, fear is
a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. This
quote reminded me of the book The War of Art,
(00:50):
which is a book written by Stephen Pressfield about writers
and creative people and the resistance we are getting from
the universe whenever we say I'm going to write this script,
I'm going to write this book, and it comes from
our ego trying to protect us from fear of failure,
trying not to get ourselves hurt or crushed, or our dreams,
(01:14):
hopes and dreams dashed. But as a meditator, when I
read that book, I got a lot more out of
it because the essence of the book is anytime you
say you're going to do something, the universe instantaneously starts
conspiring against you in a way to send you resistance
(01:36):
specifically designed to stop you from doing that. Thing, because
our ego is trying to preserve itself, is trying to
protect itself. And anytime we say we're going to put
ourselves out there, Hey, I'm going to lose ten pounds. Oh,
but I'm going to start on Monday because I'm about
to eat that cheeseburger. I'm going to work on a project. Oh,
(01:57):
but there's a million things I need to do first.
To do all those things and not get to my
project anything like that. Anytime you say I'm going to
go ask that person out, what happens? You start to
get all the butterflies and the tingling sensations and you're
in that sick feeling sort of in your gut. Hey,
I'm gonna get I might get rejected, So maybe don't
(02:19):
do that. I'm gonna talk to her tomorrow. I'll talk
to her, I'll give her a call, I'll text her.
Anytime you go out for a job, you start to
get those butterflies, those nerves, and it's your ego sort
of sending you a hint. Hey, maybe you don't need
to do this. Things are fine the way they are
if you just stay here in this little box that
we've painted you into, in your little section of the
(02:42):
corner over there, everything will be fine. What's so wrong
with the way things already are? Essentially, and it's new things.
It's trying new things or taking a step out of
your comfort zone for some reason or other. But the
other side of that, in the book The War of
(03:03):
Art by Stephen Pressfield, the other side of that is
if you are getting resistance from something like you say,
I'm going to run a marathon or I'm going to
lose five pounds anything. If you start to get resistance
from that thing just from announcing that thing to yourself,
(03:24):
that resistance that you're getting is almost like a compass
that's saying to you, hey, this is exactly the direction
you need to go in because of the amount of
resistance you're getting pushback from it, if that makes sense. So,
if you've always wanted to start your own business, and
(03:48):
very conveniently you come up with all the reasons you
can't and shouldn't. By the way, starting a business is
risky because if you quit your job and go start
a business, where's your income going to come from. They're
very legitimate concerns, but mostly what happens is you're getting
(04:09):
butterflies and excuses. They start coming in the form of excuses. Well,
maybe not this year. Next year will be better because
we'll have this, this and this in and line and
blah blah blah, and we we explain and excuse ourselves
all the way out of doing it. Well, maybe not now,
maybe in six months maybe the next thing. You know,
(04:31):
five years have gone by and you you've still been
saying to yourself someday. I'm not telling you to go
quit your job and start a business. What I'm saying
is the things that we get that come directly to
us when we say we're going to do a thing
is resistance, and it comes and it shows up in
(04:51):
a form of excuses and fear. And the only way
to really end it and to push past it is
to be basically stare it in the face and play
a game of chicken and outlast your excuses and outlast
your fear. This, of course, is very hard. You have
(05:15):
to stare it in the face and not back down,
or that thing will continue to control you for the
rest of your life. You might fail, you might have disappointments,
but you now know that I won the game of
chicken with my fear, and how that ties back into
(05:37):
the quote is fear is a natural reaction to moving
closer to the truth. So you could say moving closer
to your true self. When you're peeling back the layers
and getting closer to your true self, that gets uncomfortable
because you're very, very vulnerable. Anytime you start talking about
your feelings or emotions in front of people, you start
(05:59):
to feel vulnerable. And that feeling of vulnerability is kind
of like fear. And it's because you're getting closer and
closer to the truth. Even all the way down to
having a difficult conversation with someone, the closer to truthful
honesty you get with that person, the harder it is
to address the thing, whatever it is. I could go
(06:21):
on and on about that, and I already have. So
we're going to meditate, and this is what we're going
to meditate on today. I would like you to find
yourself in a comfortable spot. You can either sit down
or lie down. You can start to lengthen your breath
and scan your body, relax any tension from head to toe.
Let's take a long, slow, deep breath in together an out.
(06:52):
Let's do more time. That felt good. Let's breathe it
and out. Start to feel yourself getting heavier and heavier
with each exhale, Feel the gravity pulling you down into
your cushion or your seat, and feel yourself getting heavier
(07:14):
with each exhale. As you exhale longer and longer with
each inhale, feel yourself getting more and more relaxed. Start
trying to move closer to losing track of time and space.
(07:37):
You're just pure consciousness in this moment, just aware of
your own awareness, the feeling of the breath coming into
your lungs and out again. Hopefully this meditation can serve
(08:06):
as a reminder that our fear is not something to
run away from, it's something to run towards, because that
fear is a sign that the thing, whatever it is,
(08:28):
is our path towards transcending our own selves. So if
there's something that we're afraid of, that fear in a
way could very easily start to define us, and that's
who we are. So we're continuing our breath, breathing in,
(08:51):
feeling the breath, feel feeling the breath fill our lungs,
hal exhale, and as you continue this practice, you may
(09:14):
notice at some point your mind has wandered and when
you notice your mind has wondered, and it will and
hopefully you do notice that it has wondered. When you
do notice, just no judgment, no reaction, no concern, frustration,
(09:36):
Just bring it back to your breath and continue breathing in,
filling your lungs with breath an out. And the recognizing
of the wondering mind is the mindfulness is the meditation.
And we do this cycle over and over.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Before again us must instant us, one must us in
(17:33):
as music.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Okay, wherever you are in space and time, it is
time to come back to your body. Let's take another long, slow,
deep breath in together and out and give ourselves just
a few more moments still at the stillness and the quiet,
and settle in for just a few moments longer as
(18:57):
we continue on three. And just remember that if you
start to think of your fear as a compass and
not something to go around or run away from, but
something to run towards, so you can transcend yourself. If
(19:20):
we could get better at that, I think we'd all
live happier, fuller lives. And with that thought, when you're ready,
you can open your eyes and go about your day,
be well, and have fun. That's it for this time
(20:01):
on Calm to bleep Down. If you like this meditation,
please feel free to send us an email, post a comment,
hit us up on Instagram or TikTok, where we're posting
a lot these days. We'd love to hear from you
once again. I'm Michael BECAMEAIA reminding you to please calm
the bleep down. We'll see you again soon. Thank you
for meditating with us. Be well, have fun, and no
(20:24):
mistake
Welcome to mindful meditations with calm the bleep down. Hi,
I'm your guide Michael Beckermeier. And today we are going
to stare our fear in the face. Let's get started.
As always, we have a mindfulness quote to help us
(00:29):
head into our meditation with some intent. And today our
quote comes from Pima Chodron and it reads, fear is
a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. This
quote reminded me of the book The War of Art,
(00:50):
which is a book written by Stephen Pressfield about writers
and creative people and the resistance we are getting from
the universe whenever we say I'm going to write this script,
I'm going to write this book, and it comes from
our ego trying to protect us from fear of failure,
trying not to get ourselves hurt or crushed, or our dreams,
(01:14):
hopes and dreams dashed. But as a meditator, when I
read that book, I got a lot more out of
it because the essence of the book is anytime you
say you're going to do something, the universe instantaneously starts
conspiring against you in a way to send you resistance
(01:36):
specifically designed to stop you from doing that. Thing, because
our ego is trying to preserve itself, is trying to
protect itself. And anytime we say we're going to put
ourselves out there, Hey, I'm going to lose ten pounds. Oh,
but I'm going to start on Monday because I'm about
to eat that cheeseburger. I'm going to work on a project. Oh,
(01:57):
but there's a million things I need to do first.
To do all those things and not get to my
project anything like that. Anytime you say I'm going to
go ask that person out, what happens? You start to
get all the butterflies and the tingling sensations and you're
in that sick feeling sort of in your gut. Hey,
I'm gonna get I might get rejected, So maybe don't
(02:19):
do that. I'm gonna talk to her tomorrow. I'll talk
to her, I'll give her a call, I'll text her.
Anytime you go out for a job, you start to
get those butterflies, those nerves, and it's your ego sort
of sending you a hint. Hey, maybe you don't need
to do this. Things are fine the way they are
if you just stay here in this little box that
we've painted you into, in your little section of the
(02:42):
corner over there, everything will be fine. What's so wrong
with the way things already are? Essentially, and it's new things.
It's trying new things or taking a step out of
your comfort zone for some reason or other. But the
other side of that, in the book The War of
(03:03):
Art by Stephen Pressfield, the other side of that is
if you are getting resistance from something like you say,
I'm going to run a marathon or I'm going to
lose five pounds anything. If you start to get resistance
from that thing just from announcing that thing to yourself,
(03:24):
that resistance that you're getting is almost like a compass
that's saying to you, hey, this is exactly the direction
you need to go in because of the amount of
resistance you're getting pushback from it, if that makes sense. So,
if you've always wanted to start your own business, and
(03:48):
very conveniently you come up with all the reasons you
can't and shouldn't. By the way, starting a business is
risky because if you quit your job and go start
a business, where's your income going to come from. They're
very legitimate concerns, but mostly what happens is you're getting
(04:09):
butterflies and excuses. They start coming in the form of excuses. Well,
maybe not this year. Next year will be better because
we'll have this, this and this in and line and
blah blah blah, and we we explain and excuse ourselves
all the way out of doing it. Well, maybe not now,
maybe in six months maybe the next thing. You know,
(04:31):
five years have gone by and you you've still been
saying to yourself someday. I'm not telling you to go
quit your job and start a business. What I'm saying
is the things that we get that come directly to
us when we say we're going to do a thing
is resistance, and it comes and it shows up in
(04:51):
a form of excuses and fear. And the only way
to really end it and to push past it is
to be basically stare it in the face and play
a game of chicken and outlast your excuses and outlast
your fear. This, of course, is very hard. You have
(05:15):
to stare it in the face and not back down,
or that thing will continue to control you for the
rest of your life. You might fail, you might have disappointments,
but you now know that I won the game of
chicken with my fear, and how that ties back into
(05:37):
the quote is fear is a natural reaction to moving
closer to the truth. So you could say moving closer
to your true self. When you're peeling back the layers
and getting closer to your true self, that gets uncomfortable
because you're very, very vulnerable. Anytime you start talking about
your feelings or emotions in front of people, you start
(05:59):
to feel vulnerable. And that feeling of vulnerability is kind
of like fear. And it's because you're getting closer and
closer to the truth. Even all the way down to
having a difficult conversation with someone, the closer to truthful
honesty you get with that person, the harder it is
to address the thing, whatever it is. I could go
(06:21):
on and on about that, and I already have. So
we're going to meditate, and this is what we're going
to meditate on today. I would like you to find
yourself in a comfortable spot. You can either sit down
or lie down. You can start to lengthen your breath
and scan your body, relax any tension from head to toe.
Let's take a long, slow, deep breath in together an out.
(06:52):
Let's do more time. That felt good. Let's breathe it
and out. Start to feel yourself getting heavier and heavier
with each exhale, Feel the gravity pulling you down into
your cushion or your seat, and feel yourself getting heavier
(07:14):
with each exhale. As you exhale longer and longer with
each inhale, feel yourself getting more and more relaxed. Start
trying to move closer to losing track of time and space.
(07:37):
You're just pure consciousness in this moment, just aware of
your own awareness, the feeling of the breath coming into
your lungs and out again. Hopefully this meditation can serve
(08:06):
as a reminder that our fear is not something to
run away from, it's something to run towards, because that
fear is a sign that the thing, whatever it is,
(08:28):
is our path towards transcending our own selves. So if
there's something that we're afraid of, that fear in a
way could very easily start to define us, and that's
who we are. So we're continuing our breath, breathing in,
(08:51):
feeling the breath, feel feeling the breath fill our lungs,
hal exhale, and as you continue this practice, you may
(09:14):
notice at some point your mind has wandered and when
you notice your mind has wondered, and it will and
hopefully you do notice that it has wondered. When you
do notice, just no judgment, no reaction, no concern, frustration,
(09:36):
Just bring it back to your breath and continue breathing in,
filling your lungs with breath an out. And the recognizing
of the wondering mind is the mindfulness is the meditation.
And we do this cycle over and over.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Before again us must instant us, one must us in
(17:33):
as music.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Okay, wherever you are in space and time, it is
time to come back to your body. Let's take another long, slow,
deep breath in together and out and give ourselves just
a few more moments still at the stillness and the quiet,
and settle in for just a few moments longer as
(18:57):
we continue on three. And just remember that if you
start to think of your fear as a compass and
not something to go around or run away from, but
something to run towards, so you can transcend yourself. If
(19:20):
we could get better at that, I think we'd all
live happier, fuller lives. And with that thought, when you're ready,
you can open your eyes and go about your day,
be well, and have fun. That's it for this time
(20:01):
on Calm to bleep Down. If you like this meditation,
please feel free to send us an email, post a comment,
hit us up on Instagram or TikTok, where we're posting
a lot these days. We'd love to hear from you
once again. I'm Michael BECAMEAIA reminding you to please calm
the bleep down. We'll see you again soon. Thank you
for meditating with us. Be well, have fun, and no
(20:24):
mistake
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