Changeable Podcast

It seems that of our learning, understanding, talking, expressing and sharing are for one thing, and one thing only: to help relax into this. Not to help relax into some abstract emotion or to make things easier “someday”. And definitely not to have an insight or see something new. It's all so that we can melt into, The post EP359:  The biggest irony appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This episode is a portion of a recent community guest speaker call with Chris Niebauer. Chris came back to the community to discuss what I love to talk about – imagination versus reality. Chris talked about the complete made-up-ness of words. Words, especially ones like ownership and success, are massive abstractions that are not here in The post EP358: Abstractions and Reality with Chris Niebauer appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Notice that the more attention is in abstraction, the harder things feel. More abstract, more problems. Really, all problems are abstractions. You can't find a problem outside of abstraction.Me-and-my-life is the ultimate abstraction. When we live with attention there, as we so often do, life feels extremely hard. Even when it's good, it's not that The post EP357: More abstract, more suffering appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, we'll look at breaking down experience – seeing beyond abstract words, descriptions and meaning to touch into what's really going on…or something closer to it, anyway.  I use the example of the feeling of needing to get up and do something productive. What is this experience? What's it made of? What's actually The post EP356: Breaking down the experience of needing to be productive appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Today's episode offers a challenge: let everything be exactly what it is.  This is how life gets really simple. It's what we're all looking for, except we often have no idea this is what we're looking for. We think we're looking for something different. Better. Improved. So we live in abstracted ideas of how that might The post EP355:  A challenge: Let everything be exactly what it is.  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This episode shares a guided meditation I created for the Resting in Restlessness course.  The guidance will help you feel into sensations and sound. I recommend using this guidance as a starting off point, then exploring silently on your own. The post EP354: Guided Meditation: Feeling What Is appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Marie experiences extreme reactions to certain noises, sometimes referred to as misofonia. This makes life very hard in many ways, especially at work and in close relationships. If this is neurologically-based sensitivity, can Marie's experience of it change? Absolutely. Everything is made worse by our resistance and suppression. I'll share how Marie can be in these experiences The post EP353: I experience extreme reactions to certain noises (misofonia). Is there anything I can do about this? Responding to listener's question.  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this conversation with Piers Thurston, Piers shares how everything is a mirror.  As he explains, this is particularly seen in other people and in our wants and desires. What we see as others is an opportunity to look at how the idea of me is showing up. Same with what we want – looking The post EP352: All of life is a mirror with Piers Thurston appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

What is this feeling we call restlessness?  It feels like something is off. There's an agitation or irritation interpreted as something that can't be felt; something needs to be different. . That's part of it, and most of us live with that feeling much of the time. But then there is the movement away from that The post EP351: Resting in Restlessness appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I'd been wanting to create an episode that I was tentatively calling “They aren't your thoughts – Revisited”.  Then, a series of questions along the lines of “How do I stop thinking about this?” started popping up, which led me to write something about that, which led to this episode. They aren't your thoughts. You aren't The post EP350: How do I stop thinking about this? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

We can all tell our story and it can feel helpful to do so at times. We feel seen and heard, our experience recognized by another person as valid and real-to-us.  But what seems even more helpful is sharing what's beneath the story. Going to the simplest, most immediate thing. Something more like how it The post EP349: Where does it hurt? Asking the simplest, most direct question appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This week's episode speaks to a listener's questions about self-compassion and surrender. Jay says they have a block to self-compassion. They want to know how one can access this self-love without talking yourself into it. There are so many threads in this question that lead to an exploration of feeling, expectations, blocks, what surrender is, the The post EP348: I can't surrender or feel self-compassion. Responding to a listener's questions. appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

There's a progression that seems to happen.You might say it's from gross to subtle.  Where attention shifts from being absorbed in abstractions, thoughts, representations, and relationships…to attention moving to much more subtle energies like sensations, sensory input, and maybe something like intuition or perception.Identity is viewed in these different ways. From gross thought and beliefs The post EP347: Unraveling ego at the feeling level appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This week's episode is a portion of a Community call with guest speaker Shenan Charania. This was one of my all-time favorite guest speaker calls and several in our community said the same.Shenan and I talk about silence, presence, regret, thought, and much more. Shenan shares his past as a gang member and his experiences The post EP346: Extremely This with Shenan Charania appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In my recent silent retreat we explored the fact that nothing was happening.  All retreatants had to do was show up when the gong chimed and be quiet. Literally nothing else. Their entire day from 10am to 10pm was scheduled for them. Meals were prepared and served. Life for 6 days was unbelievably simple. And so The post EP345: Willfulness and positionality dissolve into silence appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I talk about how I work with common phobias.  First we look at what you're really afraid of – It's what you think (literally), not the thing you think you're afraid of (flying, spiders, vomit, germs, etc.) Then, we look at the feeling aspect of the fear. The combination of imagination + feeling is The post EP344: Phobias – What are you really afraid of? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Following has been an important pointer for me over the years.  Following, or yielding to what's already here, looking toward what wants to happen, absorbing, immersing, disintegrating, or melting into what is, being overwhelmed…these all have the flavor of following.And sometimes there's a flavor of leading. Not following what the world says in terms of The post EP343: Following and leading are the same thing appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I address a series of questions sent in by a listener. Hannah says she has performed horribly in past work environments and that's not a thought, it's a reality. Isn't it that reality that's causing her depression?She also gets that the past is over, but it still happened and it was still The post EP342: Being a failure, forgiving yourself, and the reality of the past: Questions from a listener appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Those thoughts that aren't yours…yes, that's all of them…you don't have to pick them up.  If you don't want them and you didn't order them, you don't have to take delivery of them. Let it be this simple. The thoughts that want to make it more complicated than this also don't need to be taken delivery of. ***Beginning The post EP341: Don't take delivery appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Peace is not in something else. It's not in adding more or changing what's here.It's actually here, in this, now. How can that be when what's here now is difficult and unwanted? I'll talk about the difference between an abstraction (e.g., I'm going through a divorce, my country is at war, I have cancer) – there's The post EP340: How do I find peace in reality? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, we explore the desire for more of a specific feeling, particularly joy. It seems obvious, doesn't it? Of course you want more joy. Of course more joy is available. Perhaps joy is even our “default state”. We obviously want to experience more of it!As innocent and obvious as this may seem, perhaps The post EP339: Is more joy available? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I walk through a practice in unbound consciousness I learned from Angelo Dilullo's book, Awake: It's your turn. This is something I've been practicing for a few years, and it's my primary practice on silent retreat.This practice allows you to “get underneath” experience – to see from beyond the confines of content The post EP338: A practice in unbound consciousness appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In my recent week in silence I saw two things more clearly and simply than I ever had. One, there is nothing to work out. The movements of life around the deep, still, silence that is always there are just movements. There is nothing in those movements that requires anything.And two, those movements in consciousness The post EP337: Nothing to work out   appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, I give an overview of the way I see and work with anxiety. I recorded this episode for people who are brand new to this way of viewing anxiety. I have been deeply impacted by this understanding myself and have seen the way it resonates as truth for so many.At the beginning The post EP336: The Anxiety Episode appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

You know what hurts? Bracing yourself. Holding yourself apart from what's here. Not that you can, but believing you can and tightening and resisting life as if it's going to slam into you.Bracing yourself for impact hurts.You know what doesn't hurt so much? Being overwhelmed. Letting life overwhelm “you”. Seeing that what is arising is already The post EP335: Be overwhelmed  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Lisa Natoli was our November guest speaker in The Community. This week's podcast is a portion of our call.  I felt a huge resonance with what Lisa shares because things look exactly the same to me (although we may point in different ways) – she points to being in/as what is, as it is, welcoming The post EP334: Welcoming What Arises with Lisa Natoli appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Being in silence is not about suppressing anything.  It's also not about creating anything, such as an environment of peace or thoughtlessness or anything like that. It's the exact opposite, actually. It's about leaving everything alone to simply be exactly what it is.“What it is” is constantly changing. It is totally unknowable. It's far too fluid The post EP333: Noise is silence shouting appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

What is meant by “no self”?  We use the personal pronoun “I” all the time. I am typing (or reading) these words, I am feeling anxious, I am ready for winter.   To what does that “I” refer? Can you identify or locate it in direct experience? In this episode, we'll see the difference between direct experience and The post EP332: No-Self in Direct Experience appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In looking for the doer, I often hear something like: “Who is doing all of this if there is no me and no doer?” Does there have to be a who? Or is that who question just a remnant of the me-and-my-life perspective? Maybe there is no Who anywhere? It's similar to Why questions. Does there The post EP331: Who and Why are only words appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In Episode 224, I talked about a man who had been everywhere and tried everything looking for freedom, except one thing – being in What Is. One hundred and six episodes later, this still feels like perhaps the only thing to see. In this episode, I share several examples of the same – people suffering and The post EP330: The way out is right under your nose: Part 2 appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I want to invite you to join me for a brand new 4-week course called No-Self Realization: A Thorough Search in Direct Experience for the Separate Self.  What exactly are we referring to when we say “I”? What exactly does that pronoun point to? Is there an entity there, separate from life? Where? As Adyashanti says, The post Special Announcement: Join me for a new course: No-Self Realization: A Thorough Search in Direct Experience for the Separate Self appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Are trust and wisdom needed? Who needs them? Seriously, look. Can you find the entity here who needs to trust or align with wisdom in order to be okay? Where is that entity? Is there anything here lacking wisdom? Where? Really look in immediate experience and see if you can find it.Is there something here to The post EP329: Who needs trust? Who needs wisdom? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I revisit the topic of morning anxiety. I experience strong physical energy in the morning at times as well. I actually enjoy it. The strong sensations serve as a way to let attention go straight into What Is. I use this early morning time to explore the sense fields, including watching thought arise The post EP328: Morning anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This episode was Inspired by a question from a listener about how doubt seems to be behind her continued OCD behaviors. Her take was that she needs more trust in wisdom and less doubt for her rituals to finally come to an end.  I give another take and explore doubt in a bigger sense. What The post EP327: Doubt  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Today's episode is the opening of another The Little School of Big Change call from the recent 6- week course.  You are what's here.When pain is here, you are pain. When anxiety is here, you are arising as anxiety. When joy is here, what you are is joy.Pain, anxiety, joy, and any other fleeting sensation The post EP326: Nothing happens to you  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This saying is very common.  Stay in the conversation and things will begin to land more deeply. Although this seems true at a certain level, it also invites you to fall into the common traps of “waiting, “someday” and “becoming”, which are all thoughts.What can you do beyond simply staying in the conversation? We'll explore that The post EP325: When “staying in the conversation” is not enough appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Life is constantly letting go. You don't let go. You are let go. Who-you-take-yourself-to-be arises and dissolves as experience in each and every moment.Today's episode is a portion of a recent call with the LSBC 6-week course where we explore the effortless, always letting go nature of life. ***Join me for a 6-day silent retreat in The post EP324: Always letting go  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

It's not uncommon that someone might argue, “You say self is a thought, but no-self is also a thought, isn't it?” Or, “Isn't nonduality another belief?” Everything is a thought or belief when it's a thought or belief. So yes, no-self can be a belief exactly like self can be a belief.But what's between self and The post EP323: Everything is a thought…except what's not  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Initially, noise, movement and visual appearances are primary. They are what's happening, after all! They are the entirety of experience. They are where attention flows. It takes a lot of energy to be absorbed in all of that moving, changing chaos, but we rarely notice. Eventually, the foreground might move to the background and the background The post EP322: The silence, the stillness and the void at the center of everything appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Thought creates a sense of continuity. It creates a sense of you living your life with your past and your future. All of that – you, your life, your past, your future – only exist in and as thought. This process will happen. But what I discuss in today's episode is the thought that says it's The post EP321: Responsibility (It's okay to not carry things through time) appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Many questions are seeking conceptual answers. The answers to those questions tend to keep the questioner in ideas and concepts. Those are common and innocent, but generally unhelpful.We'll explore some of the most common unhelpful questions and see what makes them unhelpful, and then look at some helpful questions – which point beyond the conceptual – The post EP320:  Helpful and unhelpful questions appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Let's have a serious talk. Thoughts are not true. Honestly, how in the world could they be? How could a formless blip of energy with some untouchable, vague images or memories or words, know about ‘you' or the future?Thought is what creates the imaginary idea of a future. There isn't a future known by thought.It The post EP319: Stop believing thoughts (and there are no “intrusive” ones) appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode, we explore two definitions of the word fix. There is to fix, as in to correct. We try to correct or fix a problem, or ourselves, or the way life appears to be unfolding. The other is to fix something into place, as in to solidify. Identities, opinions, and problems appear more or The post EP318: Nothing is ever fixed appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In this episode I respond to a question I received from someone who experiences depersonalization and derealization. Specifically, the questioner shared that they don't believe this is a thinking disorder and do I agree? This sent me on a bit of a nice rant

I so often hear people feeling they are making things worse. They say things like, “I'm resisting, which is making these feelings worse” or “This anxiety is making my physical pain worse”.But what if “I'm making it worse” is just a thought?Can one thought really make another thought or sensation worse? Does it have that The post EP316: You're not making it worse appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In today's episode, I share an example of someone who experiences “health anxiety” to show how experience is “all conditioning” (EP310) and also how there is no conditioning (EP311).    We explore the related idea that there is something other than what is right here, right now. This is another paradox. I feels like things The post EP315: No secret rooms appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Ana wrote to me saying that she began having social anxiety two years ago. She said she's ashamed because she wishes she was strong enough to let this go. She went on to talk about how things are for her, but that first statement alone reveals a lot. She's ashamed of something that has nothing The post EP314: Social anxiety, physical reactions, and knowing better: Questions from a listener appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Today's episode is a conversation with Sarie Taylor and her Worldwide Wellbeing Community. When the mind is trying to hold onto some shred of perceived control, it often says something like “we have no control over what shows up, but we do have some control over what we do with it/pay attention to”.  But that's still The post EP313: No choice – Not even in what is given attention appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

In episode 306, Bill Giruzzi shared his experience and the insights he had during a period of extreme anxiety and suicidal depression. In today's episode, his wife Lisa shares the incredible insights she had during that same time.  In so many profound ways, Lisa deeply realized that nothing in life is really up to her. When The post EP312: It's Not Up to Me with Lisa Giruzzi appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Last week's episode was called It's All Conditioning. And, also, there is no conditioning. Conditioning is an idea that depends on time. It exists only in thought, which means it has no lasting, real existence. It's an appearance, albeit a persistent, very real-feeling one. Conditioning exists in duality, as a label for a fleeting experience. The unconditioned The post EP311: There is no conditioning  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

All experience, in a sense, is conditioned. It's all learned. And it can't be anything other than what it is.  It's not your conditioning. The you with a life and problems and a past and future IS conditioned thought. It can't have conditioning or be conditioned. It is a conditioned thought. There is a sense of The post EP310: It's all conditioning (and it can't be any other way) appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.