This is a message about “change” received during a channeling session last week. The spirit guide sharing this possesses rich experience in Earthly life, making the message quite grounded. They also offered a New Year’s message, hoping it brings you inspiration and strength.
The Essence of Change: Withdrawing Your Gaze from Projection
On the Definition of “Change”
The word “change” holds vastly different meanings for different people at different stages of life. For those pursuing spiritual growth or inner exploration, the crossroads of change lies here: Is it about changing the external world, or changing the inner self?
Usually, the growth we speak of refers to the latter—changing oneself.
This means that when you encounter any situation, the first step is not to deal with the external, but to withdraw your attention from the outside and become aware of your inner world: Be aware of what your “projection” onto external things truly is.
What is “Projection”? Taking a Dish as an Example
So-called “projection” does not refer to the objective facts you see.
For example: You go to a restaurant you’ve never visited before and order a dish. You take a bite and find it extremely bitter, or the taste makes you very uncomfortable. You might define it as “a terrible dish.”
At this moment, if you turn your attention back inward, you will discover:
- The Factual Level: The taste of the dish (bitter, spicy, salty, etc.) is an objectively existing sensory experience; it is a physical sensation that language cannot precisely describe.
- The Projection Level: “Terrible” is a label your mind attaches to it; it is a judgment.
What you need to be aware of is: Taste is taste, judgment is judgment.
Once you become aware of this, on some level, you drop the judgment. You will realize that the dish isn’t inherently “terrible.” The “discomfort” you feel doesn’t come from the taste of the dish, but from the label “terrible” that you attached to it.
When you let go of this label, you will no longer feel resistance toward the dish. You may still find it bitter, but you won’t think it is “terrible” anymore. And regarding this sensation of bitterness, you can choose other attitudes: curiosity, acceptance, or even enjoyment.
Or, you can choose not to give it any label and simply experience its taste.
The Brain’s Inertia and the Repetition of Fate
Scenes in life work the same way. Good and bad are often just your judgments, not attributes of the scenes themselves.
Our brains are actually not that industrious; they dislike re-analyzing everything every time. Instead, they rely heavily on inertia. When you see things that you “can’t stand,” it is often not your current rationality analyzing the situation, but solidified patterns formed from your past experiences at work.
This “conditioned reflex” is the most energy-efficient way for the brain. Consequently, those things you can’t stand keep appearing, and your inertial reactions are constantly reinforced. These projections merge bit by bit until one day you are startled: “Why is my life full of stress, conflict, and dissatisfaction? Why are these things I don’t want always forced upon me?”
Pain is Actually a Blessing
In reality, these scenes that constantly repeat and force you to face them are essentially a blessing.
They are the manifestations of your past projections. If these scenes appeared only once, you would never have the chance to correct them. Precisely because they repeat constantly, you have the opportunity to practice awareness and stop projecting.
So-called change happens the moment you become aware of the inertia.
When you no longer judge that dish as “terrible,” it no longer constitutes harm to you; when you no longer project that a certain drink is “unhealthy,” it no longer triggers your anxiety. All the constraints upon you stem from self-projection. When you detect these projections bit by bit and stop these inertias, you can see the environment and yourself as they truly are.
Only then will you realize: How could a plate of food possibly pose a threat to you? What makes you fearful is often not the thing itself, but the story of victimization woven by your mind.
Stop projecting, and you gain freedom; you can then truly change your life.
Q&A Session: How to Handle Fear?
Question
I want to ask, regarding the things we usually worry about, are afraid of, or fear the most, does it mean we shouldn’t focus on them too much? Should we divert our attention? Because it’s impossible not to think about them at all. Or should we think about the matter with a different mindset?
Answer
It is not about “thinking,” but about observing.
What is important is not to think “Why do I feel fear?” or “Where does the fear come from?” nor is it “How should I solve it?”
Instead, go and observe the feeling of fear itself.
When you feel fear, try doing this:
- Locate it: Look at where this fear is emanating from in your body. The chest? The stomach?
- Visualize it: Does it have a shape? What are its texture and sensation?
- Pure Observation: You only need to look at it.
When you “see” your fear, it is equivalent to illuminating it with the light of your consciousness.
- It might exist for a few more seconds and then dissipate.
- Or, as you look at it, you might find it’s not that scary, perhaps even a little cute. It is just a ball of energy, a small ball of energy created from your past unconscious archives.
Even if that ball of energy remains in your chest, as long as you gaze at it quietly, it is no longer a monster baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, but just a child needing to be seen.
When you are no longer driven by it, no longer rushing to escape, you take back the reins of your life. This is the power of “observation.”
Follow-up Question
Understood. So, just observe it, feel where that fear is in the body, and then just let it stay there? If I observe it long enough, it will slowly disappear, is that right?
Answer
Yes. Use your bodily senses to feel it.
In this process, your brain only needs to play the role of a “recorder,” but it does not need to analyze. Because the mind can only process data from the past and cannot touch the experience of the present moment.
A Message for the New Year
Do not trace the source of pain, and do not deduce the future. When you feel uneasy, stop and look at this reaction.
When the light of your consciousness illuminates it, it is no longer a pitch-black fog.
In the new year, I bless you to illuminate your inner self more often. No matter how big or small external changes may seem, please view them as a blessing—through them, you can quickly see yourself, and see the truth.