Tuesday, January 17, 2006 (Private/Phone)

Participants: Mary (Michael) and Frank (Ulra)

(Elias’ arrival time is 18 seconds.)

ELIAS: Good morning.

FRANK: Ah, good morning. Can’t tell you how happy I am to talk with you again.

ELIAS: And how shall we proceed?

FRANK: As usual, plenty to talk about here.

ELIAS: (Laughs)

FRANK: Let me start with a minor thing here. I seem to have lost my baseball glove, and I need to decipher what that means.

ELIAS: And what have you assessed?

FRANK: Looking at it intellectually—I don’t know that this is an impression, but it just sort of flashed in my mind—either maybe I don’t really want to play, but that just seems like it’s not the case. I feel like I do want to play. Or also it’s, oh, I don’t know, some sort of message or symbolism about going in a new direction, because that actually is something that I’ve had for forty years, and goofy as it sounds, I was sort of attached to it.

ELIAS: I am understanding. I may express to you it is not quite as black and white as not wanting to play any longer, but more associated with indecision and allowing yourself temporarily to disengage from certain activities to allow yourself more focus in other directions.

FRANK: Okay. Now, when I become more decisive, will it appear again or is it gone for good?

ELIAS: It is quite likely that it shall reappear.

FRANK: Okay. Does it have something to do with sort of throwing out the old and bringing in the new and reexamining things?

ELIAS: Yes, partially. This is in actuality occurring with many, many, many individuals recently and in this time framework, for individuals are shifting in somewhat of a different manner and are generating somewhat of an expression of confusion in attempting to juggle, so to speak, the old with the new.

FRANK: Okay. Let’s talk about my main reason for wanting to talk to you today. I’ll tell you since our last conversation, for me things have just gotten, I guess I would say, very difficult at work with my new business. There’s been a lot of pressure. I’m doing a lot of things I haven’t had to do in the past. A lot of things aren’t going very well, particularly with computer systems and things like that. And particularly starting next month, we’re coming to a point in time where we need to make a transition from what we were using previously to this new product, and we’re having a great deal of difficulty with it. So, it’s consuming almost all of my energy and attention, and I’m not too pleased with the way things are right now. I’m not sure what kind of question that is, but…

ELIAS: Be more specific in what you are engaging that is generating this discomfort.

FRANK: Well, I guess to be much more specific, I’ve got a great deal of fear about a couple of things. Number one, that we will not be able to provide services to our customers, and number two, that…

ELIAS: And what would prevent you from accomplishing that?

FRANK: That we don’t have the systems in place in order to do the work. It has to do with computer systems and things like that.

ELIAS: Very well. And the second?

FRANK: The second thing, really, is just financially that I may run out of money before I’m able to make this thing successful.

ELIAS: Therefore, what are you doing?

FRANK: What am I doing? Well, on the first part, we’re doing everything we can to try to be ready. I mean to a large extent this is objectively out of my hands and in the hands more of other people. In the extent that it’s in my hands, I’m doing what I can. As far as the second part, I don’t know that I’ve gotten to a point where it’s really crucial yet, but I’m sort of watching things and getting ready to start battening down the hatches, so to speak, financially.

ELIAS: But you are also projecting considerably. You are projecting your attention futurely and anticipating, and you are incorporating a significant amount of time engaging that action, which is contributing to the fear, for you are anticipating and speculating in association with future, rather than genuinely focusing yourself now.

FRANK: Uh-huh. Okay.

ELIAS: This is significant, my friend, for this is what generates much of your pressure and anxiety, for rather than focusing your attention now in what you are doing now, you are focusing your attention upon future and anticipating. This is also involving an action that I have been discussing with many other individuals recently, for in generating this action, what you are doing is partially moving into a new expression and new directions, but partially you are continuing with old familiar expressions and directions, and opposing yourself, for you want to be moving in new directions, but you are opposing familiar expressions. And in that, you generate this in-between state, so to speak, in which you are not actually accomplishing the new, but you are not allowing for the old either, which creates quite an unsettling situation. And in that, the key is being aware of what you are doing now in the moment and allowing yourself to genuinely focus yourself and generate a balance. Rather than projecting futurely or pastly, allowing yourself to acknowledge what you perceive as old directions and allowing yourself to incorporate aspects of that that allow for your preferences, but also being open to new expressions and moving in the expression of paying attention to the process, rather than projecting your attention to the goal or the outcome.

The reason that this many generate some element of frustration at times is that your identification of source of value is held in the outcome. Therefore, you are shifting from the direction of expressing value in the goal to expressing value in the process. And in this, the value shifts from a product to being, for the value is now being shifted from outside of you to you yourself.

FRANK: Okay.

ELIAS: That you ARE the business, and in that, if you are the business, it is not functioning efficiently if you are not focusing yourself in what you are doing now. In similar manner, in terms that may be more objective and physical that you shall understand, how well will a computer function if it is not functioning in the present? In your terms, it cannot function, for that is its function, to be in the present. Its function is to do in relation to what is occurring now. It does not project in anticipation or speculation of future, it merely responds to what is being inputted presently.

Rather than viewing outside of yourself and attaching the association of the business being the computer, it is a matter of shifting your attention and your association that the business is you. You incorporate tools that allow you to function in a more efficient manner, but the business is actually you. Therefore, in like manner to the computer, it is important for you to be focusing and balancing in what you are doing now, generating a focused awareness of what you are interacting with in this day, and to be noticing the time frameworks in which you are projecting and are not paying attention in this day, for that also generates a contribution to your frustration and to your experience of feeling pressured.

You are not appreciating what you are engaging now, and what you are doing now. Even in time frameworks in which you allow yourself to disengage from the business temporarily in one particular day, you are not actually disengaging; you are continuing to project, which distracts your attention from being focused and present and appreciating whatever you are doing now in the day.

That also diminishes your time. For rather than engaging your time efficiently in being present and focused in what you are doing now, you are engaging that present time not being present and anticipating and projecting futurely.

FRANK: Okay, and that makes sense. I understand that, other than the obvious question, which we always ask, how do you do it? So, is what you’re saying, this projecting that I’m doing, for example, a direct cause of this problem with this computer system, is that kind of what you’re saying?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Okay, so I just need to stop doing that.

ELIAS: Correct.

FRANK: And presumably this can all change very quickly.

ELIAS: Yes. That is dependent upon you and whether you allow yourself to genuinely refocus yourself and genuinely be present and aware in each day, rather than continuing to incorporate significant time frameworks in which you are not paying attention to what is occurring now, and therefore, what is occurring now is being neglected.

FRANK: Okay, so really what you’re saying is quit worrying about the future.

ELIAS: Yes. That shall also allow you to relax, for you are incorporating such an extent of tension that you are affecting of your physical body consciousness.

FRANK: Right. Yeah, my back is sore, and I’m not sleeping, and there’s just all sorts of things like that going on.

ELIAS: Correct. And that is directly associated with this tremendous tension and forcing of your energy in this projecting and anticipation.

FRANK: Okay. And I guess I need to go back, because I’ve been here before, where I wasn’t worried about the future. I’m not sure what caused me to go in this mode all of a sudden, but other than just that general advice, which I know is good advice, but unfortunately I need to keep hearing it from you…

ELIAS: (Laughs)

FRANK: (Laughs with Elias) That’s good. You got me to laugh. You’ve accomplished goal number one. Other than that, just try and catch myself when I’m doing it. You know, it’s hard to say just, okay, I’m going to stop worrying. I mean, it kind of is what it is. Do you have any…?

ELIAS: It incorporates practice, my friend. You have generated this action and created a pattern. Therefore, it shall incorporate practice at noticing and intentionally stopping in the moments that you do notice that you are projecting, and readjusting yourself and pulling your attention back into the now, and allowing yourself momentarily to breathe, which I am aware that that may appear to be quite a simple statement, but in actuality if you are paying attention to your actual breathing, you shall notice that it is also reflecting this tension.

FRANK: It’s shallow.

ELIAS: Yes. If you allow yourself to stop momentarily, breathe, which shall automatically begin allowing yourself to relax, readjust your attention and focus upon what is occurring now. And do not generate frustration in addition to frustration, for that may be expressed quite easily at this point, that you may notice you may incorporate allowing yourself to breathe and readjusting your focusing, and within several minutes you may notice that you are once again projecting, and it may be easily expressed to be adding frustration to the frustration that you are already experiencing.

FRANK: I understand what you’re saying.

ELIAS: Therefore, rather than expressing in that direction, allow yourself merely to acknowledge, very well, you are noticing again. This is another practice, and in that, within the initial time framework of beginning this action, you may view yourself to be engaging this practice quite frequently. But it shall become less and less frequent as you become more and more aware.

FRANK: Okay.

ELIAS: In this, your difficulties or your challenges with your equipment are not efficiently being addressed to or solved, so to speak, if you are not paying attention to them efficiently and focusedly now.

FRANK: Okay. Well, actually I think I’m going to try to reschedule our next meeting for pretty soon, so that we can check back in on that.

ELIAS: Very well.

FRANK: This is really important. Okay. Would meditating be helpful?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Because I do breathe when I do that, don’t I?

ELIAS: Yes. Visualizations are also helpful.

FRANK: I tried that the other night and it seemed to help, in terms of sleeping. I mean, I visualized things running smoothly. Is that what you’re talking about?

ELIAS: Rather than visualizing in that manner, allow yourself to engage more imaginatively. Generate a visualization that is not associated with your business, for that shall allow you to relax more fully. For in generating visualizations concerning the business, you continue to incorporate some tension.

FRANK: Okay. That makes sense. So, I assume that’s why—I mean, I was going to ask you about my sleeping problems, my sore back—but I’m just figuring that that’s all pretty much wrapped up together.

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Do you agree with that?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Okay. Another question, I don’t think this is a crystal ball question, but maybe it is. Is my ex-partner ill in some way?

ELIAS: Somewhat.

FRANK: Okay, because I had somewhat of a premonition months ago that something was going on, and now we’re hearing certain things that seem very odd, that make it seem like maybe he’s got some serious illness or something that’s causing him to sort of back away from things, which actually to me is maybe kind of an explanation of what happened between us. Am I on the right track with that?

ELIAS: Partially. Yes.

FRANK: Okay. Next, again another sort of frustration in the business here is that we have an employee that we hired several months ago, whom we brought her in at a relatively high salary and have, I guess, significant expectations for her to be productive and do her job and all that. I also, at the time, had some concerns about this person from a personality perspective, and now we’re having problems with her in terms of personality, and she, in fact, has turned out to not be very productive. So, actually today I was planning to have a conversation with her about some of these issues, and I was wondering if you can just shed light on the situation and the best way to approach her.

ELIAS: First of all, what I shall express to you is to genuinely be listening to your intuition, for you were not listening previously.

FRANK: You mean about this person?

ELIAS: Yes. You noticed certain impressions associated with your intuition, but you ignored them.

FRANK: Yeah, out of a sense of kind of—I hate to use the word desperation—but it was really kind of like that.

ELIAS: Which is also pushing your energy once again and not listening to yourself.

FRANK: Yeah, and I knew I wasn’t listening to myself.

ELIAS: I am aware.

FRANK: So that’s good. That’s a little bit of a step forward.

ELIAS: (Laughs) In this, it is important that you be listening to your intuition and to your impressions, and not ignoring them and not pushing your energy in association with anxiety or fear, but reminding yourself that it is not necessary to be expressing urgency and that it is more important for you to be trusting yourself rather than generating extremes in urgency.

FRANK: Yeah, looking backward, I couldn’t agree more.

ELIAS: Now, as to the present and interacting with this individual, once again I also suggest that you genuinely listen to yourself in this situation also. Listen to your impressions and to your intuition, and do not let fear override that or anxiety to override that, and genuinely pay attention to what you want.

FRANK: Now, it’s not quite so clear for me, but I think that in this situation what I want is for this person’s behavior to change. My fear is that I’m under such pressure with regard to lack of staff that I’m afraid that—let’s just use the word “get tough”—if I get tough with this person about it, that they might walk out or whatever, and I think what you’re saying is I shouldn’t be afraid of that, I should just express to her here’s how I feel about the situation and here’s how I want it to change, and not worry about what’s going to happen as a result of that.

ELIAS: Yes. If you are projecting that fear and anticipation, where is your concentration?

FRANK: Right. I understand.

ELIAS: And in this, it is more a matter of acknowledging yourself and expressing in a manner of confidence in your own direction. But also remember to be incorporating an energy of cooperation, not an energy of opposition. For if you are projecting an energy of opposing, you shall also reflect that, and that shall block your ability to accomplish what you want.

FRANK: Okay, well, actually that brings up a really good point, I think, that I wanted to ask you about also, and I think that these things are related. One of the things that I wanted to ask you about today has to do with how I deal with conflict, which as we have discussed, I prefer to avoid conflict. And I think because of that, what I very often have to do in a situation like this where conflict is inherent, or at least appears like it’s going to be inherent, is I need to—or I do—generate this opposition because it somehow gives me the strength to get over this desire to not have conflict. Does that make sense, what I just said to you?

ELIAS: Yes, I am understanding.

FRANK: Is that correct?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: So, one of the questions I was going to ask you today is how can I be better at dealing with conflict? Because I seem to go into one of two modes, either I get into this mode where I guess what’s called opposition [or] I get very…I don’t know quite how to put it, but not necessarily easy to deal with…or I go in the other direction where I kind of cave in too easily, and I don’t really analyze situations well and don’t always speak up for what I want. It seems like I either get really tough or I get really soft, and I don’t think either one of those is a good way to operate.

ELIAS: I would be in agreement. In this, a significant factor lies in your projecting your attention to the other individual and anticipating their response, and speculating in relation to their perception of you, and prior to the interaction you are already expressing an opposing energy. You are opposing yourself in not allowing yourself the freedom to express yourself, and questioning yourself of whether you can efficiently be expressing in relation to another individual, and rather than paying attention to you and your direction, your attention moves more to the other individual, which generates this doubt of whether you shall actually accomplish what you want, for now your attention is projected to the other individual and you are speculating. You are also already anticipating and generating an expectation of conflict. Either direction, avoiding or expressing in an aggressive manner, is opposing. Avoidance is…

FRANK: In one case, I oppose the other person; in the other, I oppose myself.

ELIAS: Correct. Doubting yourself generates an energy of opposition, also. As you are already aware, expectations are always an energy of opposition. In this, once again, it is important for you to not merely be paying attention to yourself in the now, but to be recognizing what type of energy you are expressing and to be noticing your own action of anticipation, which triggers this automatic fear. Recognize, also, that acquiescing and compromising is another form of opposing.

FRANK: It is?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: How?

ELIAS: If you are moving in the direction of compromise, you are generating expectations, for compromise includes attachments of expectations. You shall offer in one manner and you expect the other individual to offer in compliance. Compliance is another form of opposition, for that also generates expectations. Acquiescing is a denial of yourself and that is another form of opposition. There are many, many, many forms of opposition, my friend, and each one creates an obstacle and generates the reflection of opposition. Defensiveness is another form of opposition, which you may be expressing within yourself or you may be projecting expectation of another individual, and they shall reflect that opposition with the opposition of defense.

FRANK: Okay, so let’s come back to a couple things. Number one, just generally speaking, when I’m in some situation like this, I just need to really kind of not be concerned about what the other person wants or thinks or whatever and just think about what I want.

ELIAS: Somewhat, but also not forcing energy and not projecting an energy of opposition to them, either, but creating an energy of cooperation, but continuing to move in your direction, and, in a manner of speaking in your terms, honoring your own expression. Remember, the business is you. All of these other factors are extensions of you. They are your tools that you have chosen to facilitate your expression of you as the business. Therefore, in wanting to accomplish effectively with the business, it is reasonable to not be opposing you as being the business, therefore, also not opposing any of the tools that you incorporate to facilitate the business.

FRANK: Okay. I think I see what you’re saying.

ELIAS: In a manner of speaking once again, you do not engage confrontation with the computer as one of your tools. I am understanding that you view the computer differently than an individual, for an individual incorporates personality. But if you are allowing yourself to view the other individual in a similar manner as the computer, that this is another extension of you as one of your tools that you have chosen to facilitate your business. You are not necessarily engaging confrontation with the other individual, you are expressing information.

FRANK: Okay, I understand that. It’s all kind of in the energy I project and my attitude and that.

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Okay. Well, this would be a good chance for me to practice.

ELIAS: Yes, but remember to pay attention to your impressions and your intuition.

FRANK: Okay. Now, you saying that right now, is there something that I’m missing?

ELIAS: I’m expressing that to you for there is a strong potential that in your interaction with this individual you shall be presenting impressions to yourself, and in that, listen to them, rather than ignoring them or overriding them.

FRANK: Okay. Listen to them and, I guess you’re saying, act on them.

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Okay, just as a hypothetical here, all right? Let’s say I’m in this meeting with this person and the impression I get is that this person is flat out not going to change. I’m not saying this is what’s going to happen, I’m just saying hypothetically this person is not going to change, they’re going to be the way they are, and they don’t give a damn, and nothing’s going to change—so let’s say that’s my impression.

ELIAS: Very well.

FRANK: Then, is that I act on that to say, well, it’s not going to work out for you to be here or you need to change or…is that the sort of thing you’re saying, that if I get this impression that no matter what I do, things will not change, that then I act on it right then and there or…?

ELIAS: Yes, for in this, what are you actually weighing in the balance?

FRANK: Well, again, it’s right back to what you discussed much earlier today, which is, at this point there’s fear, concern, whatever, that I don’t have enough people as it is, and even though this person is not up to where I need them to be, I’m so short of people that I’m afraid to be without them.

ELIAS: I am understanding. But if the mechanism is not moving efficiently now, what are you creating? This is the point, my friend.

FRANK: More inefficiency.

ELIAS: Correct, and this is the point.

FRANK: Well, what if I were to decide, okay, I will take this action with this person in three months when I feel more ready to do it?

ELIAS: That is also your choice.

FRANK: Okay, but I mean…that’s an effective choice?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: All right. I understand what you’re saying, because that’s exactly what I’m operating from right now. It’s I’m not happy with what’s going on, but I’m letting it go on because I’m afraid of what happens if I try to…

ELIAS: Correct. You are allowing the fear to override your own judgment and your own direction, and that is creating inefficiency. You are not allowing yourself to actually and genuinely trust yourself and your own effectiveness, for you are allowing the fear to override.

FRANK: Yeah. Okay. I see. I’ve got to get away from the thing of fearing anything, in some sense. And again this has been a lot of what we’ve talked of over the years. In many ways I think I’m a lot less fearful about things than I was in the past. I mean somewhere deep down now, I always kind of feel like I can always make this work, and it’s up to me, and I can do it, and I’ll do it, which is different than I think I was four or five years ago.

ELIAS: Yes, and I would be in agreement.

FRANK: Yeah, but still this is still popping up, so I think it’s more of a surface thing than a deep-seated thing, and in the past it was more deep-seated.

ELIAS: Yes, I would be in agreement, but occasionally you do slip once again into this doubt.

FRANK: Yeah, that’s right, and I’ve got to get past this. Okay, well, like we said, this will be a good chance to deal with the conflict issue and the intuition. And I understand what you’re saying, and we’ll see how it goes.

ELIAS: (Laughs) And so we shall. And also remind yourself, for this is quite real, that in your own moments of doubt or uncertainty or hesitation, my energy is present with you. That may be somewhat helpful to you at times in a recognition that whatever you are engaging, you are not singularly alone.

FRANK: Yeah, I have tried to communicate with you some since our last conversation, but…

ELIAS: I am aware—much more so than you are aware of my energy.

FRANK: I know that, and that’s one of the things maybe we’ll talk about a little later, how I can be more aware of that. Well, tell me now, how can I be more aware of it?

ELIAS: In being more present in the now, that shall be considerably helpful in not continuously distracting yourself with anticipation of future. Allowing yourself to relax shall be helpful also. It is difficult to be recognizing of other energies if you are incorporating such tension, for that creates a shielding and in that, you do not allow penetration. And perhaps also in engaging your visualizations, you shall generate more of an openness to be aware of my presence.

FRANK: Okay. Visualizations like what you talked about earlier?

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: Okay. Well, we’re going to talk again soon, so maybe that will be more of a topic of our next encounter.

ELIAS: Very well.

FRANK: Okay, a couple of other things. Since I last talked to you, I had an incident with a workman in the house here that came in and did some work very poorly, and actually damaged something. And so, I stopped payment on the check to this guy and talked to him the next day, and it ends up being…let’s just say there’s a lot of opposition there.

ELIAS: (Laughs) Presenting yourself with considerable imagery of opposition recently, have you not?

FRANK: Yeah. Well, I can see how I’ve been projecting that. Anyway, then I had somebody else come in and fix the thing, and a few days ago, another person from this original company called to say, how are we going to deal with this? Actually, I don’t think I was very much in opposition at that point. I said, here’s my position, and I had pictures of the damage that was done, and I sent those and sent the receipt from the second service provider. So, kind of what all happened—I guess the first part, I was just reflecting the opposition that sort of permeates my being right now...

ELIAS: (Laughs)

FRANK: You know—that was how I created it.

ELIAS: Yes.

FRANK: And then the second part where it seems—I don’t know what happened—but it seems like it’s been sort of dealt with. I think that I was more cooperative about it, but I don’t know.

ELIAS: I would be in agreement.

FRANK: Okay. So, I guess that was sort of a little clue about what I’m supposed to be doing here.

ELIAS: (Laughs) At the least, you are offering yourself some hints of examples of altering your energy.

FRANK: Well, I guess we’re getting a little short on time here, but last time we talked, you said I had a probable self, that I’d spun off a probable self like probably in August or something like that, that had decided to continue in business with my ex-partner, and it’s been pretty intriguing to me, that whole notion, and this concept—or at least one thing I’ve wondered about—communication between probable selves. I guess it’s going on subconsciously, but is there any value in it happening consciously, objectively? Can I do that?

ELIAS: You can, and the value in that would be dependent upon you and what you want to accomplish. In this, you can interact with a probable self through meditation or visualizations or even within dream state. And in that, you may generate the action merely in curiosity or you may choose to engage interaction with a probable self to offer yourself information and different scenarios, for the probable self is generating different choices, which may be choices that you do not wish to incorporate, but at times, viewing the other choices and what they are manifesting may offer you clues of information concerning different scenarios and what choices may be more efficient for you in association with your preferences. For you are already moving in the direction of your own preferences, and obviously the probable self is generating different choices that may not necessarily be your preferences, but at times, viewing what are not your preferences in different choices offers you clues to become more clear in relation to what your preferences are.

FRANK: Okay, well let’s talk about that probable self then. Since it’s fairly recent, what are the different choices? Is there more cooperation? More of tendency toward cooperation versus opposition?

ELIAS: Not necessarily. Surfacely it may appear in that manner, but in actuality it is not actually an expression of cooperation. There is more of an expression of compromising and acquiescing in the choices of the probable self, which generates less conflict surfacely, but…

FRANK: Yeah, I got it.

ELIAS: …is also generating an inner opposition.

FRANK: Right. Well, tell him I said hi next time you talk to him.

ELIAS: (Laughs with Frank) Very well.

FRANK: Well, I guess that’s about all I have for today. As usual, you always make me feel better.

ELIAS: Very well. I may express to you in association with that comment, obviously my mission has been accomplished. (Laughs)

FRANK: Congratulations.

ELIAS: I shall be anticipating our next meeting, my dear friend.

FRANK: Same here. Hopefully real soon.

ELIAS: And I shall be reminding you to be incorporating SOME playfulness, not such strict seriousness. (Laughs)

FRANK: Okay.

ELIAS: Very well. I shall be continuing to offer my energy to you, whether you are paying attention or not.

FRANK: Say, can I ask you one more thing?

ELIAS: You may.

FRANK: Is my partner disengaging? Former partner.

ELIAS: No. Not yet.

FRANK: Okay. All right, well, thank you and I look forward to talking to you again soon.

ELIAS: Very well. In great appreciation and friendship, au revoir.

FRANK: Thank you.

Elias departs after 1 hour, 6 minutes.

© 2006 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved

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Copyright 2006 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved.