Expectation

[Korpo]

This is hardly new - at all. But the more I expect of a practice, the more I want something out of a practice, the more I am focussed on a result, achieving a state or getting anywhere at all, the less result I get. Oppose this with sleep, where a lot of my experiences happen. Detached from control, expectation and resulting strain, things happen by themselves.

Be it meditation, trance practice, anything - the more I expect to come of it, the less happens. But if I do it just for curiosity's sake, fun, or without expecting really anything to come of it, "unexpected" things can happen. A lot of things happen to me, but they are outside of direct ego control. Just reviewing the nightly experiences of the last years has filled me with a lot of enthusiasm, and also increased my appreciation for dreams, dream recall and spontaneous experiences.

If I go to energy work and I want something to happen really hard, it also gets hard and strained effort, harder and harder. Willing a muscle to relax is almost a paradox in itself. Yes, the energy can be modified, but the harder I set my mind on the result, the harder it is to get there. It gets a fight of the conscious vs. the body and subconscious, where will tries to accomplish things alone, resulting in strain and mental tiredness. At the same time I am sure that my body and subconscious contain great potentials that remain untapped because they do not lend themselves to coercion.

Maybe, just maybe, if awareness observes the processes that are not really its own, the energy of awareness itself brings them to finish. Energies dissolve and finish. Maybe this works better if awareness "lends itself" to the processes by observing them instead of trying to will and control them. Maybe the processes themselves know their own balances and just need "attention". Just speculating.

Everything seems to have its own balance, and maybe "borrowing" awareness makes it aware of that and brings it back to that. Weird concept, but I think it has promise. ;)

Reviewing my past efforts at out-of-body adventures and other similar pursuits, I can only say that expectations of what should happen, how it should happen and what is important and what not, has turned out to be extremely limiting, but hard to overcome. :?

Oliver

[Mishell]

This is hardly new - at all. But the more I expect of a practice, the more I want something out of a practice, the more I am focussed on a result, achieving a state or getting anywhere at all, the less result I get.

This is simple law of attraction. When you are in expectation, you are focusing on lack. Lack is what you bring to yourself. Expectation says "I don't have it now, but I will in the future." That keeps your desired outcome in the future.

[Korpo]

So, the experiences I have is what I naturally attract, while when having expectations I block these out?

Oliver

[Mishell]

yup

[Fish]

What a pain :lol: I've found the same in my experiences as well Korpo. Frustrating sometimes! We try too hard at results apparently.. what do you find as the best thing to focus on Mishell?

[CFTraveler]

I'm not Mishell, but I'll say it: Believing that the outcome is a present thing. Behaving as it is already so. A fact.
That's why affirmations only work if you state them as if they are already true and present.

[Mishell]

You beat me to it CF. That's what I wanted to say about affirmations.

[Palehorse Redivivus]

Thanks for posting this; I need to figure a way to pound it through my own skull. :P With other people I'm about as "live and let live" as it gets, but with myself I'm notorious for being extremely iron-fisted controlling. Its been useful up to a point under certain circumstances, but I've spent a while trying to figure out how to choose not to be that way, because of course, for a lot of meta practices it's just not gonna work. It almost seems like a paradox of sorts because it's like "alright, gotta be able to let go. How do I do that? I know! I'll force myself to let go! Oh wait, I'm being controlling again, aren't I. Dammit." :P

I've noticed the same though, the rare times when I'm able to go into an experience not really trying or expecting anything specific, nifty things happen. Then when I try to duplicate it, it never happens again. *shakes fist* This has been particularly apparent with things like LDing and APing... after not thinking about either for a while, on impulse I'll ask for a lucid dream, and have one that night. So I'll get excited, thinking "wow, that was so easy," and then try to have one the next night; no go. Or I'll start thinking it'd be good to get into AP training again, and have a spontaneous near-exit within a night or two, followed by a long dry spell.

"Do or do not. There is no try." My god, Yoda was right! :shock: :lol:

It's amusing and frustrating that a certain state can be simultaneously so simple and yet so elusive, I tells ye...

[sdbl731]

Thanks for posting this; I need to figure a way to pound it through my own skull. :P With other people I'm about as "live and let live" as it gets, but with myself I'm notorious for being extremely iron-fisted controlling. Its been useful up to a point under certain circumstances, but I've spent a while trying to figure out how to choose not to be that way, because of course, for a lot of meta practices it's just not gonna work. It almost seems like a paradox of sorts because it's like "alright, gotta be able to let go. How do I do that? I know! I'll force myself to let go! Oh wait, I'm being controlling again, aren't I. Dammit." :P
Sounds a lot like me :D I've still got a lot of work left to do about that...

Andy

[Korpo]

Sounds a lot like me :D I've still got a lot of work left to do about that...

No, you haven't. Get it? ;)

Oliver

[Wolf_Thor]

I know exactly what you're talking about Korpo. And judging from some of the replies, it's a fairly common experience. There must be some kind of mechanism that locks you into your body when your conscious mind is fully awake. Leading to the need of a trance or semi-sleep state in order to exit. It's my assumption that enlightenment is a result of somehow overcoming this "lock" mechanism.
I'm convinced that the key to overcoming this is the breath. The problem is physiological, not just mental. Mental blocks play a role, yes, but it goes deeper than that.

Recently I've had some success feeling my energy body loosening up from my physical body. And it's all because of the breath. It's really hard to describe. But you need to find a way to take full, deep breaths without causing any strain or tension in the physical. As soon as you feel greater tension, you're headed in the wrong direction. It seems like on every breath, the tension has to be released. This is especially true for the 3rd eye area. There seems to be an almost impenetrable tension/block there.

A trick I've been using recently: Imagine the air to be like an ocean. Think of the air you breath as a thick substance, and really feel it inside of your nostrils as you inhale. Fully inhale! Inhale all of that "liquid" as deeply as you can. Pull it down into your body. Use your diaphragm (do a google search to find out exactly where the diaphragm is). And as you are inhaling, as best as you can, release the tension in your body, on every breath.Then exhale as fully as you can, and once again, release the physical tension. With time, you'll feel a circulation of energy moving through your body. And you'll feel your energy body loosening up.

[Fish]

I'm not Mishell, but I'll say it: Believing that the outcome is a present thing. Behaving as it is already so. A fact.
That's why affirmations only work if you state them as if they are already true and present.

Great this explains a lot in few words I like that thank you CF! Makes a ton of sense.

I can relate to the controlling thing completely too Palehorse! Sounds like a lot of us have the same hangups with this.

Repition of the "how-to-dos" don't hurt one bit either! :)

[sdbl731]

Sounds a lot like me :D I've still got a lot of work left to do about that...

No, you haven't. Get it? ;)

Oliver
I get it... ;)


This is hardly new - at all. But the more I expect of a practice, the more I want something out of a practice, the more I am focussed on a result, achieving a state or getting anywhere at all, the less result I get.

This is simple law of attraction. When you are in expectation, you are focusing on lack. Lack is what you bring to yourself. Expectation says "I don't have it now, but I will in the future." That keeps your desired outcome in the future.

Believing that the outcome is a present thing. Behaving as it is already so. A fact.
That's why affirmations only work if you state them as if they are already true and present.
Looks like everyone is on the same page here, which is excellent... :D

Andy