Week 4 - Conscious Living - Beware Of Thinking You Got This

All right, here we are again. It's been another week. What are we on? Well, we're on week four, I believe, which is conscious living. I passed out for a second. Conscious living. And the theme today is, you don't got it. You're in danger when you think you've got it. Like, I got this, right? In 12 step recovery, we say that the. The gravestones of thousands of alcoholics. The epitaph is I got this. And so it's like, there's different layers to that, right? I mean, I. I think about, like, whether it's I got this or I got it figured out, it's when we get to the point where we don't think we need help, when we're not open to help, or when we just think we have all the answers or that we have to have all the answers.

And so, Blake, before getting into, like, recovery or any kind of personal growth journey, it's just defensiveness and it's shame and it's just reactivity, and it's like, I don't need anything. I've got this. I can figure it out. And those are the guys, like, if you go to a detox, those are the guys who are orange and the women who are orange because they're drinking so much alcohol and killing their body, and their body is shutting down. And they are the first to tell you how they're going to figure this out.

They got this. They can figure that out. So. So there's like, the depths of insanity when it comes to, like, I got this. But then there's just like. Then there's just like, the subtleties of it, right? And even for those of us who find ourselves as, like, supposed thought leaders or experts or anything like that, the danger, right, is when we begin to buy our own. And I'm sorry, but, like, that's just, like, the truth of it. Like, I have always tried to protect myself from thinking that I've got it figured out.

And even though I have tried to very consciously not fall into that space, it's amazing how many times I have. How many times I have been unable, Unwilling to look at certain areas of my life, and as a result, not willing to tell the truth about them. And then, as a result, not willing to change, and as a result, suffering the consequences from that lack of change. And at the heart of it was this idea of, well, you know, I got this. And the way that it shows up when you get a little bit more sophisticated, it's not just that I got this.

It's. It's oh, everything is great. Everything is wonderful. Oh, my relationship is wonderful. My recovery is wonderful. Oh, this and this and this. And then you begin to tell yourself that over and over and over. And you begin to miss some of the other stuff, like what we like to call the shadow side of this stuff, right? The shadow side of. Of this work. You know, I was talking with a good friend yesterday. We were having lunch, and he and I love to laugh with each other and at each other because we're both, like, really smart, and we're very intense, you know, like, we're really, I don't know, charismatic or whatever it is.

Like, we've got just very lively personalities. And we are so full of s*** sometimes. We are so full of s***. And we convince ourselves we're not. And part of how we do that is by processing. Oh, we process this, and I'm feeling this and all of this sort of stuff. And. And it's just a way of avoiding. Isn't it interesting how Processing sometimes and thinking that I'm. I'm a conscious person and I'm living a very conscious life and a very emotional person, and it's just avoidance. It's just avoidance of real intimacy.

It's just one more defense that we create in our lives. It's crazy. And the way that that continues is from the place of, well, I got this, right? The way it continues is like, well, I'm a. I'm a. I'm a published person, or I have a. I have a thriving therapy practice, or I have this or I have that. And. And we tell ourselves stories about how far we've come and how. Where we are, and there's some truth to that. Like, we've come a long way, but once we lose the opportunity or the ability to look at our own behavior or to look at, like, everything, you know, that's the.

That's the challenge, right? I mean, like, that's the key for us. And it's. It's interesting, right, because again, like, it goes from being, like, not subtle at all. You know, you look at some people and you're just like, oh, my gosh, like, you could really benefit from some help. If you would just be willing to not only ask for help, but accept some help, things could be so much better. But then it shifts to a completely different place, right? It's shifts to a completely different place, and then it becomes more subtle.

And the subtleties for me are just kind of wanting to be. Wanting to be better, wanting to, you know, wanting things to not be Sorry. We've got. Got a dog. We got, you know, we got life happening in the. In the background here, but that's it, you know, like, that's the. That's the thing, you know, it's like noticing the areas where we have to grow. Be willing to be honest about those, Be willing to get support with those. And to know that you're never done. Like, that's the thing for me, right? There is no.

Like, we're never done. Like, we're always gonna need help. We're always gonna need feedback. We're always gonna need people to support us. And it doesn't matter how much you know, and it doesn't matter how many views you have, and it doesn't matter how many books you've written. You know, the scariest and the most dangerous thing is the expert who has lost the ability and to also learn and grow. And so this conscious living, right, Conscious living, for me, it's about trying to stay humble, and which is very challenging.

It's about humility. But conscious living is about acknowledging how imperfect it all is, right? There's no need to be an expert. In fact, I think in true conscious living, there are no experts because. Because everything is constantly unfolding. And that's the gift, right? That's the real gift that we have when we practice this. Let go of the ego and the Persona of being an expert or being a person who has things figured out, or the person with this much recovery or this much time on personal growth and be like, what am I doing well, and where can I improve?

We all have that opportunity. We all will always have an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to improve and to look at our imperfections. And so I try to constantly, just regularly remind myself, I don't have anything. I ain't got nothing other than an opportunity each day to practice this stuff as best I can. So that's conscious living for Saturday. Thanks everybody who joined and wishing you a wonderful Saturday, a wonderful weekend, and we'll see you next week.