This path is so simple.

Why does it often feel so hard? 

Why does it sometimes feel like a total grind?

Maybe you’ve learned to watch your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations, but yet, these old responses still happen. You feel strangely powerless over them. 

Are you doing this wrong?

Nope. 

You are coming into recognition of how out of control you are. 

It’s ironic, I know. You thought you were in control of your life, making decisions correctly, and perceiving reality clearly. Now, you find out that you’re in this total whirlwind of emotions, thoughts, and sensations that seem to do themselves regardless of what you now know. And they make constant fantasies that have nothing to do with what is really going on in your life.

And it’s a total grind.

The spiritual path isn’t a bypass of anything. The things we practice are the things that self-perpetuate. Stopping this self-perpetuating shit-show is no simple task, and yet it is simple. Keep surrendering. Allow the old processes to run out of energy.

Along the way, you’re going to find out that you’re more than a little committed to these old processing even though you also can now watch them. So I’m not just talking about waiting around and hoping things will go away. There is work to be done to identify and detach from the ego stories even as you feel like you’re being grinded away into oblivion.

If this topic sounds of interest to you, be sure to sign up to my newsletter if you already aren’t on it. I’ll announce this class in my newsletter along with other classes.

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The Ego Grind and Other Ego Crises Class Description

The ego is in crisis A LOT.

This is because you have beliefs about life that have nothing to do with life. They are illusions. When life seemingly goes along with your illusion, you are temporarily content. Then life goes a different way, and you are upset. 

Furthermore, sometimes people are in so much delusion that life isn’t going according to their fantasy even though they think it is. In these moments, the truth is particularly jarring.

“What do you mean my marriage is falling apart and s/he’s been cheating on me for years?!!!!!!!!?” (Yes, that’s the correct number and ratio of exclamation marks and question marks).

Moments like that and others can throw people into a state of crisis. Or rather, the ego puts itself into a state of crisis because it’s forced to reckon with its misjudgments. For most people, they muddle through or make new illusions and false beliefs to hide from their misjudgments. But if you’re reading this, things probably went beyond that.

You realized that your ego, attachments, and beliefs are the problem. That led to a very different type of crisis.

Realizing that your internal space is the problem and not the external events is a big shift in understanding. Congratulations if you’ve realized this! Now the unlearning and inner work begins, and so too, the ego grind is beginning.

And the ego grind isn’t a one time thing.

Wherever you are most attached, you’re likely to feel the most sense of internal friction–one part of you going in one direction and another pulling in another direction. The more attached and aware of it, the more nasty the grind feels.

But there is a way out. That path is continuing to come back to awareness. Awareness is not in conflict with the grind. It is where you will need to return again and again to let the attachments run out of energy and find out what is on the other side of the grind and crisis you once experienced.

You can learn more about this topic on these links

Enduring the Ego Grind

How the Ego Protects Its Many Stories (And Why This is a Big Problem)

How to Deal with an Existential Crisis

Why You Want to Come

All my classes are meant to inspire you towards realizing spiritual freedom. In addition, you want to come to this class to learn:

• what the ego grind is,
• how to be with an ego crisis,
• how to move through difficulties to be transformed by them,
• how to continue practice observing the ego rather than identifying with it when it feels the strongest and most convincing,
• why these moments of ego grind and crisis are not signs of failure, and more.

I’m happy to answer your questions as well.

Specifics of the Online Class

Here are some of the specifics of how the class would work.

• Meet on a Monday at 10:30 AM Pacific Time or 5:30 PM Pacific Time (sometimes Tuesday evenings as well)
• Have a class of around 10 people
• Meet online via Google Hangouts (this online video chat service is free)
• Meet for 1 hour and 1/2
• Most of the class will be a lecture style
• There will be around 1/2 hr for people’s questions

The suggested donation is 50 USD for those who can afford it. For everyone else, it is whatever fits your budget. Please don’t donate until after we spoken together and you’ve gone through the enrollment process. Signing up for my newsletter is NOT the enrollment process. That comes later.

If you have questions about this class, I’m happy to answer them. 

Once again, if you’re interested and aren’t on my free newsletter, you can sign up below. I’ll send out a specific newsletter when I’m ready to enroll people in the class.

In love and kindness,

Jim Tolles

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