Finding Balance; The Power of Gratitude
Topics:
“Finding Balance”
“Keeping Bones and Muscles Warm”
“Diversity of Activity”
“Listen to Your Own Advice”
“Asking for Help”
“The Power of Gratitude”
Friday, November 25, 2022 (Private/Phone)
Participants: Mary (Michael) and Bill (Zit)
ELIAS: Good morning!
BILL: Well good morning, Elias. I’m really quite grateful to be talking with you this morning.
ELIAS: Ah. And how shall we proceed?
BILL: And so now I would like to address what’s been going on with me, particularly for the last nine or ten weeks – and this occurred almost overnight. Before this, I was playing golf and loving it and really pretty mobile on my legs. And I spent one week before this happened, I played two rounds of golf during that week, went to the driving range twice, and was out cutting wood. So I was pretty busy that week, and my first thought of course was this meant that I overdid it.
And so my hip, my right hip, really turned me into what we’d call a cripple. I mean I have trouble getting around, even with the walker. And so I say, well what is this showing me? What am I showing myself by creating this? And my first thought was well, it’s slowing down my movement. Maybe I need to slow down. But I thought well, I really have slowed down. I mean, there was a time in my life where if I had a project, I wouldn’t stop. Let’s say it was a one-day long project. I wouldn’t stop until that baby was done, no matter how I felt. But over the last few years, you know what? I’d work as long as I felt comfortable. If I was getting tired, I would stop. And I did that even more when I retired, because I had all the time in the world now to do it. But so I considered, you know, my movement, and that was the statement that I made, okay? The pain is there just so often, it’s just crazy, and yet nothing changed. The statement was, “Slow down.” Well my god, I mean, it’s not only slowed me down but it has eliminated so many things I love to do.
And just this morning, what popped into my mind was the Buddhist walking meditation. And in their walking meditation, they shift their attention completely to their steps, every bit of how to walk. And of course, what I learned from you is that when you concentrate on something that has become automatic, it becomes more difficult. And so I said to myself well, this might be telling me that I need to get more present, not only in a practice but in everyday movements, which I don’t tend to do. I just sort of go and do my stuff and don’t really think about what I’m doing. I spent a couple of mornings telling myself out loud everything I did: “In this moment, I’m doing this. In this moment, I’m doing that,” and then didn’t really sort of connect it to paying attention to the rest of my life (Elias laughs) rather than the walking.
And so it occurred to me that what I’ve created in my hip has more to do with paying attention than it does my actual movement. And I’m wondering if you could address to me what this is all about, because it seems a little better this morning since I got that intuition than it has. I mean I’m moving a little bit more easily, and I know I have a very strong belief in one thing following another. I also believe that if I was really, really good at this stuff I could stop it right away if I understood the why behind it, which may be the statement. And I wonder if you could address that to me in some… Because it’s wearing me out, Elias. I mean I’m just not used to sitting around. And it’s a Catch-22. I mean if I sit too long, god it takes me like fifteen or twenty minutes just to get to move. And if I’m on my feet too long, then it starts to hurt more. So I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t. And so I’m sort of stuck, except for this intuition I had this morning. So I’m going to allow you to maybe address this for me and maybe steer me in the right direction in terms of taking care of this.
ELIAS: I’d say that you’re definitely in the correct direction and that that was a statement of intuition. And I would say that it’s a matter of balance. That’s what you’re telling yourself and you’re looking at it, understandably because this is what most of you do, from that automatic negative direction: I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: Rather than this is a communication about balance, about not too much in one direction, not too much in the other direction.
BILL: Yeah, that’s—
ELIAS: And in that also, it’s a matter of being creative and moving your attention in other directions, not only what is familiar to you. You are accustomed to moving in certain directions, doing certain activities, moving in certain directions and in that, this is a matter of widening that.
BILL: In things—
ELIAS: Becoming—
BILL: In things that I do?
ELIAS: — more, yes, becoming more present and more aware of you in being present and experimenting with different activities and in different directions. And in that, looking at different expressions from the perspective of investigating actions that are more in harmony with that balance of not too much time in one direction, not too much time in another direction, but moving more in an expression of balance, therefore actions and activities that you can engage in shorter time frameworks.
BILL: Well you know—
ELIAS: Also—
BILL: Yeah? Go ahead.
ELIAS: — expressing in relation to your body consciousness, paying attention to that and paying attention to keeping it warm while you are awake and objectively engaging. Therefore—
BILL: Keeping it warm?
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: You mean in terms of temperature?
ELIAS: Yes. Keeping your muscles and your bones warm. You know what I am expressing, because you’ve been a runner.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: And therefore you know what it means to have your muscles and your bones be warm. And when they’re not, it incorporates more time for you to express that limberness and that movement. And what I would say is that’s an important factor of keeping your body, in relation to your muscles and your bones, warm.
BILL: Ah! Well that’s interesting because I got from my niece what’s called an infrared heating pad, which I used a couple times because I don’t like being cool. I think partially that has to do with the medication I’m on for the cancer but it goes deeper and I enjoy using it, but I didn’t keep it up. I think I’ve become impatient and if I don’t notice like a real quick fix then I say well this doesn’t work. And that may—
ELIAS: Correct.
BILL: — have been a pattern all my life.
ELIAS: I would agree. And—
BILL: Yeah. Quick fixes. We love quick fixes.
ELIAS: And I would say to you that this is definitely correct and important.
BILL: Yeah, that’s another thing, the importance. And you know I’ve been paying more and more attention to what you say about importance. And what is interesting to me is going back, and Sharon Mendenhall does a lot of posting and she posts some really great stuff and in listening to your earlier sessions again, they make more sense to me now than they did before. So what is important seems to me pretty critical.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: And I like what you’re saying about the heat, and I’m going to be using that pad more regularly. And what I noticed is on the hip that’s involved, which is my right him, I don’t feel the warmth. Like if I have the heating pad where it’s going to be on both hips, I can feel it on my left hip but I don’t feel the warmth on my right hip. I wonder… I found that odd, but didn’t address that any further. Could you comment on that for me?
ELIAS: I would say that you’re not necessarily feeling it as much because it’s moving in a different direction. As you know, as you’re aware, if you’re applying heat to something it’s moving through layers of tissue.
BILL: Correct. Yes.
ELIAS: First it moves through the surface layers of tissue and then it begins to penetrate into further layers of the muscle tissue.
Now; in that, if your muscles in certain parts of your body are damaged or are less receptive because they’re dysfunctioning or damaged, in that you won’t necessarily feel it as much as you do in relation to other muscles that ARE receptive.
Now; in that, it doesn’t mean that it’s not having an effect and it doesn’t mean that it’s pointless and you shouldn’t do it, most definitely to the contrary. It’s even more so important because it will require more time for those muscles to actually warm.
BILL: Well that makes sense. It does make sense.
ELIAS: They’re not holding, they’re not holding the heat. That’s the reason you feel that it’s not working or that it’s not warming those particular muscles on that side. It’s not that. It’s that they’re not holding the heat.
BILL: Okay.
ELIAS: And therefore it’s important to keep doing it.
Now; what I would also say is, do you incorporate an exercise bicycle?
BILL: I did, but when I retired and had all the, dealing with all the cancer, I gave it to my sister. So they have it over at their house. Are you suggesting I try an exercise bike?
ELIAS: I am. And what I would say is to place the bike on its easiest setting.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: You don’t want to move in a direction of pushing or—
BILL: Yeah, well that’s what I used to do.
ELIAS: I know. (Bill laughs) And you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to move in a direction of pushing or working at pedaling.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: All you want to do is move in a direction in which you are moving your legs and your hips consistently, but that you’re not bothersome to them, you’re not straining. You’re simply moving. That’s all.
BILL: Okay.
ELIAS: Because in that, what you’re doing is you’re generating also natural heat to those areas of your body.
BILL: Yeah, that makes sense.
ELIAS: As you would when you were running. You naturally generate heat to your legs but other parts of your body also, but your legs are naturally generating that heat.
Now; I would also say to you, because of that any dysfunction with your hip or injury with your hip will – or your knees, any of your joint areas, your ankles – will actually at this point lose heat more quickly because you WERE a runner.
BILL: Yeah. So I return—
ELIAS: And in that, your body—
BILL: — to normal more quickly.
ELIAS: — is accustomed, your body is accustomed to certain movements and changing that and moving in different directions is something that actually, in a manner of speaking, takes a toll.
Now; it’s good if you are at least walking, but I would also say that moving in the direction of the exercise bicycle will be helpful.
BILL: That makes great sense to me, because it takes a lot of weight off the hips.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: I found that walking with a walker takes a lot of the pain away because what I’m doing is I’m putting a lot of the weight on my shoulders.
ELIAS: Correct. But I would say that that can be problematic also eventually.
BILL: Yeah. I get it, because my legs are getting really weak.
ELIAS: And not only that, but you also will eventually begin generating discomfort with your shoulders and your neck.
BILL: I’ve already noticed that.
ELIAS: Ah.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: And—
BILL: But that’s something I did not observe, because you’re getting sore from putting too much weight on them.
ELIAS: Yes. Yes.
BILL: Yeah. So I’ll be more aware of that. The other thing—
ELIAS: Or I would say that yes, the bicycle will help in all of those directions.
BILL: Ah. Yeah, that does make sense. Yeah. I’ll address that for sure. And let me get back a little bit to being a little bit more diverse in what I enjoy doing. Number one is I took up golf and I really loved it, and I love the challenge of learning it again. I knew it some but I never had lessons. And as soon as I really got involved in doing it and I enjoyed it so much is when my hip started bothering me. The other thing is I also started getting involved in gardening and building rich soils, and even that has let up. I go out and do that now, but everything, everything I do where I have to move has just exacerbated. And I think that may be because I didn’t quite get what, why I created it. And that’s the main reason I wanted to speak with you, so that I could understand it better, and balance makes sense to me. And I was wondering if the golf and the gardening and soils and working with wood too, I enjoy, is sort of like what you’re talking about in diversifying?
ELIAS: Yes. But also balancing that, meaning if you are golfing that you’re not moving in a direction of golfing all day.
BILL: Yeah. I get it. I get that.
ELIAS: And—
BILL: I was starting to do that.
ELIAS: — for gardening, that you are not doing that all day.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: That whatever you’re doing, that you don’t move in a direction of only one thing at a time, and therefore allow yourself to balance.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: Diversify and balance. Don’t move in directions of pushing or extremes.
BILL: All right. Yeah.
ELIAS: This is also, let me say, an excellent example of what I have expressed about following good feelings is not good either, that it leads you in a direction of excess and that leads you in a direction of being uncomfortable, and it leads to other things that are not comfortable. Therefore I would say that especially in relation to physical manifestations, it’s important that you are paying attention to your body, and let me say paying attention to your body doesn’t mean pay attention to it when it’s screaming at you.
BILL: (Laughs) Yeah. Well I was really good at not doing that.
ELIAS: It’s a matter of paying attention before it’s screaming at you.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: It’s a matter of stopping and balancing, because you know that subsequent to a certain amount of time this is going to lead you in a direction that’s going to be significantly uncomfortable.
BILL: Yeah. That’s interesting, because the hip is forcing me to do that. (Elias laughs) It’s absolutely impossible for me to push any further. And you know, it gets to the point where I still, I’m so used to really pushing my body to the edge from all those years of running and racing and racing well, that I really ignored my body. And you know, even when I do go out now and do those things, even though I can only do them for a short time, I still do them until I can’t do it anymore.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: You know what I’m saying? So I’m pushing—
ELIAS: Yes. And that is the point.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: That is the point. It is a matter of changing those familiar behaviors and moving more in the direction of new behaviors in relation to balance.
BILL: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s… This has been really, really helpful to me. And you know, I love sharing your information with other people, and that’s the main drive for me in writing my books, especially the last one where it’s entitled Pushing Against the Tide.
ELIAS: Ah.
BILL: And what has occurred to me, I remember a football coach for the University of Connecticut, and he had never played the game but he was a really good coach. And so it occurred to me that I think I share your information pretty easily now, because I’ve been involved with it for so long, and I seem to be able to help people who I engage that are interested enough in hearing what I say. But it’s like that coach. He’s a really good coach because he eventually coached in the NFL, but he couldn’t play his own game. And so I’m thinking to myself, you know you’re good at maybe sharing the information but you’re shitty at fucking applying it to your own life. (Elias laughs) Does that seem accurate to you?
ELIAS: But that doesn’t mean that you have to continue. That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to be good at it. It simply means to listen to your own advice.
BILL: Yeah. And you know when I came to this information, I was already about forty years into my life. And so I had habituated behaviors which were so automatic it never occurred to me. And so in paying attention and getting into balance and listening to our conversation here I think is going to be really, really helpful to me. And—
ELIAS: I agree.
BILL: You know it’s… I mean every night I talk… Well I say good night, I say good night to you and Seth and tell you I love you and appreciate everything you’ve done. And it’s very meaningful to me to do that. And knowing too that I’ve drawn this to myself, so I’m responsible for having you in my life.
ELIAS: Most definitely.
BILL: And (sighs) it makes me feel really good and I don’t miss a night in thanking you.
ELIAS: (Laughs) And I would say that I would remind you that the one expression that is more powerful than even love is gratitude.
BILL: Yeah. Yeah. It feels good to be grateful.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: Or that I have.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: And it’s so different. And it occurred to me while I’m having this conversation with you that one evening… I had a molar pulled, early on in the cancer, on my right side. It’s interesting that so much is happening on the right side. And I noticed that the molar in the same place on the bottom jaw was becoming loose. And I was really freaked out because I have to chew on my left side because I don’t have that molar. They just pulled it. And so I mean I was really desperate. It’s like you know you reach the end of the rope before you reach out and ask help. And I know that in my life I’ve been very reluctant of asking for help.
And so I addressed the prayer to… I refer to All That Is as ATI. It seems more personal to me. And I asked them, I said I know you’re All That Is. I know that everything derives from you and I know that I’m creating this myself, but I’m going to ask you for help. I just really need this tooth not to be removed. And I really was at the end of my rope, and by the next morning, the tooth seemed healed. It wasn’t loose anymore. It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t sensitive to temperature. And you know it’s part of this creating your own reality for me, and I can only speak for me, almost resulted in me asking less for help. (Elias laughs) because if I’m doing it, then how is anyone else going to help me? So I went to the big guy and literally the next day, that by the time I woke up in the morning, that tooth was literally well again. And I’m wondering if you could comment on that asking for help and the immediacy of the help being so beneficial, whether that – and I really trusted that ATI could do anything, which is also myself because I’m part of it. And if you could comment on that a little bit, on asking for help and the power of allowance of the help and the trust it takes?
ELIAS: Oh it does. And in that, I would say that first of all, as I’ve expressed to other individuals, you’re never alone. Therefore if you ask for help, what you’re doing is you’re allowing yourself to receive. And when you ask for help, it’s immediately acknowledged. Therefore it doesn’t matter how you do it or in what direction you do it. What matters is that you’re being genuine, that you’re not bargaining. You’re being genuine in being open to receive.
BILL: Yeah, that makes sense, because I wasn’t bargaining. You know how people pray: “God, if you do this I won’t—”
ELIAS: Right.
BILL: — “eat another hamburger in my whole life.” (Laughs) That’s a bargain. “You do this for me—"
ELIAS: (Inaudible)
BILL: — “and I won’t eat a hamburger.” I mean, no, it wasn’t that. It was trust that it could fully happen, and I was in full gratitude mode for everything. And it was just so amazing to me, and the next morning that issue with that tooth was gone.
ELIAS: Yes. Because when you are being genuine and you are allowing yourself to be open to receiving and you ask for help, you’re not discounting yourself at all. You’re simply acknowledging that you don’t necessarily objectively know what choice to make to address to something, and therefore you’re simply asking for additional energy and aid. And when you do that, it is as I expressed, immediately addressed and responded to.
I would say that it’s actually not what you would term to be God or the universe, it’s actually your energy and in combination with the most predominant energies around you, which some people are terming to be their guides but it matters not. You always have essences around you that are tremendously familiar to you and in that, they are always, always with you and ready to be expressing energy to help you. They’re always supportive, but they can be more interactive if you are allowing them to be so. And when you reach out in that manner and you are asking for help and you’re being genuine, then that is responded to immediately. And whatever it is that you are requiring, it will be addressed to.
BILL: Yeah. That’s really, really great. And I know one of the mottos of our culture is: “It is better to give than receive.”
ELIAS: And I would say that that is actually incorrect.
BILL: Yeah, I—
ELIAS: And I –
BILL: I have a great sense that yeah, it is incorrect.
ELIAS: I—
BILL: And it keeps us from receiving.
ELIAS: — would say that they are equally important.
BILL: Yeah. Well it’s like a bargain.
ELIAS: Because—
BILL: It’s like when you pray, you know: “Dear God, if you just do this, I swear I’ll be a better person” bla-bla-bla-bla-bla.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: Well that’s a bargain.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: So the giving oftentimes is a bargain because you know, like for some people it’s a religious motto, it’s my ticket to heaven.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: You know what I mean? (Elias chuckles) So they don’t feel like they’re, if they ask for something, it’s being selfish. And laying in the back of that is: “It is better to give than it is to receive.”
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: And then there’s the one about “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom.” (Elias chuckles) And you know (chuckles) it just blows my mind and it never made great sense to me until I met up with you and Seth. And putting it all into practice takes practice.
ELIAS: Yes, it does.
BILL: And attention. God, it’s amazing how much we’re all on auto-pilot.
And while we have time, I want to ask you one more question and this happened to me when I was on vacation in Black Island, with four other couples who were – a rented place. And I wasn’t sleeping well and I was up, always before everyone else. And I’d hook up, meditation and I’d go through that. It was about four-thirty in the morning and I hear this little tap on the window. No one else is up. It’s just me. I’m in the middle of the meditation. And so I look up and I see this little head at our door in the living room. And so I get up, and it’s this young woman, probably early twenties. She looked like a little female waif, little t-shirt on. And she says, “Could you unlock this door?” I said, “Well, I’m sorry but this door is permanently locked. It doesn’t open.” She says, “Well, I’m staying here.” I says, “Well no, you’re not. I’ve been here now almost a week and we’ve rented this place, and I’ve never seen you in my life before.” So it occurred that she says, “Well, is this where the wedding party is staying?” I says, “No, that may be the next building over,” and she said, “Okay.”
And it almost seemed to me like a dream. And that’s what, I think it was Finou or somebody asked you if you had created that, and you had said no. But it was so meaningful to me regarding female, the feminine energy, intuition, which is, I understand is something we’re moving into with the shift. And she was young and sort of waif-like. And we had another door that I could have let her in, but she wasn’t staying here. She was just sort of lost. And I interpreted it as a dream in that, even though it was in the, our objective reality, seemed so real. And I was wondering if that was suggesting that I am moving towards the feminine energy, but it’s still undeveloped yet?
ELIAS: Correct. I would say congratulations.
BILL: Ah, thanks.
ELIAS: I would say that that is excellent, that you have interpreted that and very well.
BILL: So I need to sort of grow her a bit, huh?
ELIAS: I would agree.
BILL: Yeah. (Laughs)
ELIAS: I would say plump her up some. (Laughs)
BILL: Yep. Yeah. (Elias laughs) That’s the way I looked at it. And you know, it wasn’t I was beating up on myself: “You should have let her in,” bla-bla-bla, because it almost seemed so unreal and I was presenting myself with some tremendous information there, which I’ve held on to. And maybe that’s why I’m getting these intuitions more and more now and they’ll just sort of pop in, like this morning, you know, the Buddhist meditation on walking—
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: — which changes your walking from being automatic into being aware, and it makes it more difficult. So—
ELIAS: And in that, moving you more into that expression of balance.
BILL: Yeah. Oh god, yeah. I mean I was so, so unbalanced before what I call my metamorphoses, which began god, like thirty years ago now, and it’s been such a blessing for me. Putting it into practice has been a little bit more difficult because it’s so automatic, you know, I don’t even notice—
ELIAS: THAT is the point. That is a very significant point, my friend, is that yes, with many, many, many expressions for most of you, they are so automatic that you DON’T notice. You don’t even realize that you’re doing something.
BILL: Ah, you’re right. Especially thinking. (Elias laughs) What chatterbox minds we have, that just think and think and think.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: While all along it’s screaming, “Hey! Get your attention off of me because you’re not offering me any information.”
ELIAS: Correct. Correct.
BILL: And so I do share that kind of thinking, but like I said with that football coach, I may be a good coach but I need to (laughs) practice what I preach, so to speak.
ELIAS: I would say that it’s simply a matter of paying more attention, my friend. Being more present.
BILL: Yep.
ELIAS: (Inaudible) you.
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: It’s very easy to recognize what other people are doing or not doing. It’s more challenging to be present with yourself and notice what you’re doing and not doing.
BILL: Oh, absolutely. I mean I notice that even in memes people put on Facebook and stuff, how it misses the point. And so I’m good at noticing exactly what you said, how other people are, what they’re doing, and yet not noticing my own life as much. But this—
ELIAS: But I would say you are moving much more in a direction of recognizing that and noticing. And you do pay attention to physical expressions and therefore you’ve created physical expressions that will gain your attention. And they do. And in that, I would say that that’s very efficient for you—
BILL: Yeah.
ELIAS: — in relation to what you want to present to yourself. Therefore continue to pay attention to what you’re doing physically and keep that word “balance” in the forefront of your attention. Make that supremely important.
BILL: Will do. Will do. As they say in the army, “Will do, Sarge!” (Elias laughs) And I want to thank you so much. This has been invaluable to me today, Elias, and I knew it would be. And I’m grateful to myself for reaching out for your help and—
ELIAS: Excellent. Congratulations that you are expressing that with yourself. I’m tremendously, tremendously acknowledging of that. That is ultimately important, that you credit yourself with what you’re doing.
BILL: Yep. I agree. (Elias laughs) And I thank you. I thank you. Oh! Before I let you go—
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: What you had mentioned to me about the heat and the bike.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: I was wondering if that might be helpful to Mary. You know she’s ripped a muscle with the fall, with her little dog. I’m wondering if that heat thing and the bicycle thing—
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: — might be helpful to her too.
ELIAS: Yes.
BILL: Or if you’ve told her that.
ELIAS: Yes. It would be.
BILL: Okay. Well, I’ll pass that on to her then.
ELIAS: Very well.
BILL: And I’m going to say good-bye for now. I love you and appreciate everything you’ve done for me all these years, Elias.
ELIAS: And I would express tremendous, tremendous love to you, my friend. And I shall continue to be supportive and encouraging to you as long as you continue in physical reality. (Chuckles)
BILL: Well, thank you. Thank you. And maybe I’ll talk to you again.
ELIAS: Very well, my dear friend. And you may offer my greetings to your daughter.
BILL: Oh, I will. Thank you. And thank you for answering her question.
ELIAS: You are—
BILL: So for now, see you later.
ELIAS: (Laughs) Very well. Until our next meeting, in dear friendship as always, au revoir.
BILL: Au revoir. Bye bye, Elias.
(Elias departs after 50 minutes)
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