Wherever You Go, There You Are

Another way to look at this is that we could be running from something rather than toward something. We just think the pursuit of happiness is what we are after. It is the surface goal. But underlying that goal is that we are running from someplace we don’t like so we can get to someplace we do like. We believe we will feel better in that other place. This is probably true except for one fact, wherever we go, there we are. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we take ourselves with us. We take all our beliefs, pain, fears, and anxieties with us. People leave relationships, enter new ones and find themselves in the same situation. Different day; same stuff. There is no place to go to be free. Wherever you go, there you are. Is the pursuit of happiness an illusion?

The answer to those questions lies in understanding what it is we are running from. We are running from a trinity of feelings known simply as fear, anger and grief. Because they are buried so deep in our subconscious, many of us don’t even know we have them. They have long been forgotten and we like to keep it that way. Sedation of feelings through alcohol, drugs, smoking, excessive eating is designed to numb our feelings. Whether you believe it or not, these energies run your life.

You don’t need to believe in the law of gravity or even to see it for it to work. It treats everyone the same. But if you don’t respect it, you might get hurt if you fall. The same is true with suppressed and repressed emotions. You can believe in them or not, but they are part of the human condition. They run your life and mine whether we believe it or not, like it or not.

This trinity of feelings tempers every belief we have and action we take. Michael Brown, creator of The Presence Process, calls these our negative emotional charge. It is the reason we are quick to anger or yell at our spouse or kids when we don’t really mean to. We often notice this after the event when we reflect, “Who was that angry person? I didn’t mean to say that.” Recognition is the first step to becoming free. We begin to learn we are responsible for our own experience.

When we identify with events that happen to us, we admit we have no power. We become victims of the world. We become reactive beings trying to fix things that happened to us, run from events that may happen to us, control this or that, manipulate what we can, or try to get this or that because we believe it will make us happy. It’s exhausting.

Underlying all of this is the trinity of fear, anger, and grief that taints our beliefs and perceptions of the world, including the good moments. Do you ever find yourself getting close to your spouse and all of a sudden you do something that sabotages it? You say you want connection but you sabotage it. The question is why? It is those buried feelings that cause us to fear, act angrily, and sabotage our success.

Recognizing that our perceptions of the world are tainted by buried feelings, gives us hope. We only need to correct our perceptions and interpretations of what happened. Since interpretations are manufactured from past circumstances and future projections, they are energies (feelings) stuck in the past or future. They are frozen in time.

Free the energy, free your life. Then the quality and types of life experiences will change. There is little hope to change your experience when there is an underlying negative emotional charge that taints everything. By engaging in a relationship with our shared Presence, the Observer, we unlock that which we have been seeking. Presence knows everything that ever happened during our entire life.

The reason this works is that Presence takes us into the present moment and out of the past and future. We can now integrate the emotions that unconsciously control, manipulate and taint our lives.

Presence knows no order of difficulty. Presence will bring into our life experience exactly those circumstances that will trigger us into awareness of that which is keeping us from our wholeness (holiness). It is these charged emotions that require integration. They have been separated from our emotional body and are outwardly reflected as separation in all our relationships, thinking and doing. It will give us the experience we need to restore present moment awareness, but we must surrender to it.

Working with hundreds of people, it is clear this is the hardest aspect. We say we want to move forward, we are seekers of happiness, yet we are resistant to surrendering. It is essential we let go of our story. This is our ultimate challenge. I have seen it over and over and even within myself. The desire to be right is a strong desire. It overrides everything. Even when we know it is happening, it is still hard to let go. We need a tool, something to tap into the Power of Presence.

This tool would be conscious connected breathing. There is nothing that can put you into the present moment as quickly and powerfully as conscious connected breathing. When a part of your consciousness focuses on your breath, some aspect has to remain in the present. This simple task allows you to access the suppressed and repressed emotional content that has been frozen in time for so long. At long last, you will be free. And that will make all the difference in the world.

Dave Krajovic, MBA, CPA, NCTMB

Dave Krajovic, MBA, CPA, NCTMB is a Master Breather, Certified Breath Facilitator, Senior Trainer for the Transformational Breath Foundation and co-founder of the Global Breath Institute. As an international speaker and trainer he has helped thousands restore well-being, renew their passion for life and connect to Presence through Transformational Breathing Breathwork. He is currently facilitating a number of conscious breathing events: The Personal Transformation Seminar, The Presence Process and The Shadow Breath. You can contact him at 734-416-5200 or dave@GlobaBreathInstitute.com. www.globalbreathinstitute.com