The Octopus Technique
Hello there.
Chances are, if you're watching this video
that by now you have a defined sense of self,
you have a developed ego.
You have a sense of yourself as separate,
you define yourself according to your beliefs,
your past experiences, your likes and your dislikes.
This is a good thing, to develop a healthy sense of ego.
However, it does cut you off from the rest of the world.
It means that you see the rest of the world
through your filters.
It means you begin projecting on to them.
This identity has become so solid
that it becomes like an egocentric bubble.
when we are practicing empathy,
instead of stepping out of our perspective and into their shoes,
we take our perspective into their shoes.
So, even though that may allow us to see solutions
that the other person doesn't see, necessarily,
we don't accurately see or feel them.
In order to exit the egocentric bubble,
to completely enter the perspective of another person,
I want to teach you an exercise;
I call it "The Octopus Technique".
We, as physical beings
are extensions of source consciousness,
of that which we call God.
The best way to conceptualize of this mentally
is to imagine that source or God,
which is ultimately infinite potential energy,
is like the head of an octopus,
and every being in existence
is like a leg of that octopus
extending down into the third dimension.
So this means Teal is a leg of the octopus,
you are a leg of the octopus.
For this exercise, you're going to use this symbolic image
to get into someone else's perspective.
To do this exercise,
I want you to close your eyes just as you would in a basic meditation.
I want you to watch your breath as it comes and goes.
You're gonna feel your thoughts bouncing around and kind of racing.
I want you to just allow your thoughts to do that.
After a while, you'll feel your thoughts slow down.
And when you feel ready,
I want you to imagine, visualize, sense or feel
your consciousness withdrawing back up the leg of the octopus,
that is your leg of the octopus.
Back into the head of the octopus,
which is source.
As you do this,
imagine leaving your identity in this life, behind.
See yourself leaving the story of your life,
the people in it,
your beliefs,
Your likes and dislikes,
your past experiences.
Feel yourself leaving them all behind.
Feel yourself stripping free of them,
so as to return to source.
Feel what that spacious potential energy feels like.
That source consciousness of potential energy
Is just like a blank slate.
So, as you just left behind
all of the things you associate with yourself in your life,
you are back in that pure potential energy
as nothing more than an observer or a perceiver.
From that space,
I want you to imagine looking around
and finding a leg of that octopus
that belongs to someone
whose perspective you want to go into.
You can think of that person beforehand, if you want to.
Say, I have a brother...
If I want to go into my brother's perspective,
sitting there in source consciousness,
I want to imagine or sense or feel myself
finding the leg of that octopus head
that extends down to his perspective.
Then what I'm going to do, is to consciously take my consciousness,
my attention, my focus, my perception
down the leg of that octopus and into his perspective.
I want to imagine opening my eyes as him,
smelling as him,
tasting as him,
feeling the emotions that they're experiencing.
How does it feel to be in their body?
What are you thinking in their body?
See if you can feel their past experiences
and how those experiences are shaping their current perspective
and the body that they live in.
If you are wanting to understand exactly how they experience
a specific situation that they might be going through,
then I want you to imagine
being them and reliving
or living currently through that experience.
How is the way that they experience it,
different than the way that you used to experience it
back when you were you?
I want you to immerse yourself in their perspective
as deeply as you possibly can.
You can spend as much time with this as you want to,
You can live as them for as long as you want
The point is, I want you to get as much comprehension
about this other person,
about the way that they experience life,
as you possibly can.
It's highly likely that you will experience emotional reactions
as a result of experiencing the perspective
of the person who you've just gone into.
I need you to allow yourself to surrender
to those emotional experiences.
If tears come to your eyes, let yourself cry.
You're going to be in a state of complete allowing of their perspective.
Be them until you feel a sense
of emotional, mental and physical comprehension.
And then when you are ready,
I want you to imagine retracting back up that leg of the octopus,
back to the head of the octopus which is source consciousness, once again.
Except for instead of letting go of that experience that you just had,
you're going to take it with you.
So I want you to imagine once you're in source consciousness,
bringing that comprehension of the other person's perspective,
back down the leg of the octopus
that is truly yours, in this life
and back into your identity in this life
with the comprehension of that other person's perspective.
And slowly, I want you to acclimatize
to the room that you're sitting in.
You can again watch your breath,
you can listen for the sounds in the room,
and when you're ready, I want you to open your eyes.
All you need to know about the other person
and about what to do relative to them,
will be revealed as a result of doing this exercise.
Your awareness will multiply
and your perspective on so many things, will change.
So be brave enough to leave yourself behind.
The more often that you do this exercise
the better you will get it dis-identifying
with your own temporal identity,
and then identifying with someone else's perspective.
And then, eventually,
this may not just be a visualization,
it may in fact,
become a full out-of-body experience.
Have a good week.
Subtitles by: Tanya Duarte www.tanyaduarte.com