Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness with William Cooper, Master of Theology, Licensed Professional Counselor

 William Cooper explains his “60-second rule,” a strategy for building consistent habits by making the minimum commitment so small that it avoids feelings of resistance or discomfort. Drawing on principles from behavioral psychology, he argues that negative reinforcement causes people to abandon activities like exercise, meditation, or yoga. So, eliminate negative reinforcement, while keeping the experience positive encourages long-term consistency. He shares how committing to just 60 seconds of daily exercise helped him develop a decades-long habit, often leading him to do more once he got started. He recommends choosing a minimum that feels easy even on the hardest days.  Consis...

In her review of our last podcast, "167 - Why Do People See The World So Differently?" Catrin writes, "Thank you William, for this helpful and clarifying talk.  However, what to do then? I mean, to change to a more harmonious and sustainable living on this planet, I think especially now on the environment and all the wars and conflicts, we really need to find ways to work together, not against one another. There is only one planet, as we know, and I think the planet Earth will survive, but probably not the civilization, if it continues like now. I h...

William Cooper reflects on the surprise and division surrounding recent U.S. presidential elections and uses them to explore why people can hold such different views despite living in the same society. He introduces psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of six stages of moral development, which range from avoiding punishment and pursuing self-interest to following universal ethical principles. Cooper explains that people progress through these stages sequentially and can generally understand lower stages they have passed through, but struggle to comprehend perspectives more than one stage above their own. He argues that this framework helps reduce judgment of others, ex...

Many of you are familiar with the ancient Hawaiian practice for healing, Ho'oponopono.  The literal translation of Ho'oponopono is "to correct a mistake" or ""make it right".  This simple, heart based practice releases negative emotions and negative karmic patterns.  Experientially, it opens us up.. Simply repeat silently, "I am sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you."  Since this is an intuitive practice there is nothing to "figure out". Let your heart be your guide.  It can be directed to somebody, to oneself, or repeated like a mantra as many times as feels right during the day. Experiment and "...

This podcast offers encouragement when so many of us have and are experiencing the heart break of losing those close to us.  One listener has shared how difficult it was for her when her mother passed. Recently her heart broke when her 24 year old step daughter also passed. She reached out with a beautiful request, "Please speak more about what happens after we die, based on what you gathered in your spiritual and psychotherapy practices."   

This recording of a live Q & A has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

These podcasts are meant to sup...

Listener comments and questions made this truly a Magical Q&A! We discussed the power and art of Flow as the key to Awakening, Enjoying the Journey, Hurry Sickness, Nature of "Evil", Experiencing Love, Death, Stuck in the Story, Are we the sky or the clouds...or both?, Grieving, being pulled into emotions, the wisdom of going slow....baby steps, melting troubles, etc.

This recording of a live Q & A has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are...

This second meditation for rapid stress relief and deep relaxation also helped my mother dramatically. It can be helpful for all kinds of stress and tension. Sometimes life can be so intense. We just need to rest our nervous system and "Get out of the pounding surf". Awakening is a process, and today resting is what you may need. Listening to yourself when it is time to rest is being "Aware". This guided meditation has no intro and goes directly into relaxation, so please be resting comfortably in a safe place and not driving or active in any way...

Take refuge in the Buddha, your inner Self.  Stop, Breathe, Reflect (Be Aware of what is going on inside and out), and Choose to respond.  Choose to Flow rather than react.  The flight, fright, or freeze Limbic (reptilian) part of our brain only knows to protect us. It knows speed not Happiness.  When we are caught in reactivity we are in our reptilian brain, reacting rather than responding.  As an alternative to jumping into our reptilian brain, consider this simple  practice.  Stop, Breathe, Reflect, Choose.  It only takes seconds to remain resting in Refuge as the Buddha and/or Christ t...

Sometimes life can be so intense.  We just need to rest our nervous system and "Get out of the pounding surf".  Awakening is a process and today resting is what you may need.  Listening to yourself when it is time to rest is being "Aware".  My mother asked me to make this guided meditation when she was under a lot of stress and her blood pressure was very high.  Though everyone is different, this meditation helped dramatically and I want to share it with you.  It can be helpful for all kinds of stress and tension.  This guided meditation has no...

If the first step in Purifying the mind is enjoying Beauty, the second step in Awakening is to let everything else go until all that remains inside is Beauty. Please enjoy this brief and simple reminder. If you are new to these podcasts, it could be helpful to know that the previous podcasts offer practical "How To" open up and let go into Awakening.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful over...

In this Q & A we looked at Awakening in terms of Knowing vs believing and faith in context of the 23rd Psalm. How do we develop the deep trust experience by the lamb for the "Shepherd"? Then, we discussed the inner movements of Awakening based on one listener's practice of the "Awakening Meditation" and her unexpected experience in a crystal shop. Also, the experience of another listener with the surfacing of implicit foreboding holiday feelings and, happily, with Yogananda's reenergization exercises. Etc..

This recording of a live Q & A has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.<...

Awakening is about flow.  Flow of love, peace, happiness, ease, relaxation, joy, etc.  Awakening is about being who you truly are.  Tension is about blocking your self from who you are.  Cut off from your Flow of Happiness and Peace you experience Anger, Hurt, unfulfillment, Fear, Anxiety, etc.  Flow responds and dances with life.  Contraction and tension react against life because it all hurts.  In this simple practice we say yes to any love, peace, happiness, ease, relaxation, joy, etc. we feel inside so it can grow.....and we look at how to let everything else go.  In your inner ga...

In this Q & A we enjoyed a great discussion about the direct experience of Light streaming from our body, the Happiness & Power flowing through us, the creative and destructive power of stories, how to not be attached to stories, how to withdraw our senses, how to navigate negative energy coming from others, do we lose ourselves when we dissolve into Light?, giving burdens to our higher power, is it good to listen to the news in these dark times?, anxiety attachment, the direct experience of the world strobing in and out of existence, awakening, etc.

This recording...

This is a very personal story about when I felt so alone.  Depressed and anxious I felt so unloved.  Abandoned by the universe and all in it.  It was around 1978, and I had just escaped from a Christian cult.  I was enrolled in a 4-year Master of Theology program looking for answers.  I was, also, taking refuge.  My life was upside down.  Perhaps you have felt despair, anxiety and depression.  Maybe you feel despair now.  If so, I offer you what I found then.  As I sat still, suddenly, in my despair, I saw that I felt so intensely bad becaus...

In this Q & A we noted that 11/21 is United Nations World Peace Day celebrated all over the world. When we are at peace within we see and experience peace all around us.  Gandi wrote that "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change." Peace within flows into the world. How did Jesus and Buddha feel? One listener asked about her procrastination, another about my experience after my guru said I should go out on my own.  We talked about channeling Angels and other High Beings.  Also about my core feeling that keeping awakening as one...

The practice of Awakening is that of saying Yes to your Self and letting everything else go.  When you experience the qualities of your Being, i.e., Love, Peace, Joy, Fulfillment, Happiness, etc. for any reason during your day, say Yes and let Your energy flow.  When anything other than these qualities of your Being comes up, let them go.  Let them expend their energy, unwind, start to release, look around and notice all is well now, soak up this direct experience of safety and wellness, melt, and then affirm your truth in the moment....what you are truly fee...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

Wonderful discussions on Awakening and various traditions as all describing the Infinite as expressing through us, how neurobiology is affected by the path of growth and awakening, neurons that fire together wire together and when they don't they don't. the brain can always heal and change. One was concerned with living in an unkind world controlled by separation, astrological cycles affecting culture, awakening, healing, and miracles, why do people of light suffer with disease, how the rational mind can...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

Because much of these podcasts follow the jnana path of clarity, they are most powerful when listened to in sequence.  However, in this discussion we started with the path of devotion and one of prayer.  We discussed that Ramana felt that Jnana (clarity) and Devotion were two equally important paths with each eventually turning into the other. Bhagavan felt the easiest path was one of prayer.  Let the Divine figure it out for you.  Later we discussed where and how...

In this Q & A, questions and discussion covered how to experience a glimpse of awakening now for encouragement, How to remain in our core Being in difficult circumstances, How to be in touch with our guru nature and let problems go from there, Cycles and Awakening, Our Inner Light, Accension and Awakening, etc.

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

We discuss how to identify your core essence, engage with stillness, and embrace the simplicity of being happy while letting go of life's troubles. 

Enjoying who you truly are involves peeling back layers of distractions to reveal the light within. Discovering the light within that shines like the sun—unclouded and constant. By connecting with the lives of enlightened beings like Ramana Maharshi and Buddha, we unravel the essence of our pure selves through chakras, love, silence, and...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. 

This episode dives into the core concepts of humility and awakening, contrasting true humility with false pride. We, also, explore the balance between Bhakti and Jnana yoga. We discuss letting go, self-awareness, and embracing both the light and shadow within ourselves as we navigate our unique spiritual journeys. 
• Examining humility in the context of spiritual awakening 
• Distinguishing false pride from authentic humility 
• Sharing personal experiences to open the hearts of others 
• Bhakti yoga and Jnana yoga as pathw...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. 

Great discussion in this Q & A. Topics included 3 doable practices when days are busy, an 84 yr old remarked how for the first time she has felt helped significantly and attributed it to these podcasts, non-attachment, letting go, relationship vs single, achievement vs stillness, value of chaos in the world, our problems are our radiance, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I h...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

Discovering the essence of being in the world but not of it permeates our exploration of spiritual awakening. We discuss how we create internal obstacles that block our joy, why letting go is essential, and practical steps to reconnect with our fundamental state of happiness. 

• Exploring the meaning behind "Be in the World but Not of It" 
• The analogy of consciousness as a sunbeam 
• Understanding how we block our own happiness and well-being 
• Key methods for...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. Topics discussed include: The Light of Holy Days represent your Light, seeing and dissolving assumptions, use of visualization to dissolve blocks, we exist on many levels, Is it possible to be addicted to spirituality, I love my life and it's issues, how to experience self acceptance, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful over the last 50...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. Topics discussed include: Kindness and self care, Hurry Sickness, triggered by family, gratitude journaling, Lack of trust is directly proportional to separation from Self, Awareness of Awareness, loneliness and codependency, teaching children self trust vs wisdom in a dangerous world, letting go, is productivity easier when we are anxious?, etc

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. Topics discussed include: Giving yourself grace, how to let distress melt out of us, how not to freeze problems within us, Experiencing who we are - Awareness of Awareness, Unforgiveness, healing our core wounds, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful over the last 50 years on my path of awakening. I feel these podcasts are most...

Part 2 is a deeper examination of the issues we discussed in part 1.
Your Being is pure Radiant Light just as powerful as any guru.  Why doesn't it feel that way?  Most of us have taken a vast portion of our light and siphoned it off by creating repressed problems, attitudes, and delusions.  We are Awareness and all Awareness is love, peace, and joy.  Just as we can freeze life giving water into a destructive shape such as a frozen ice knife, we can freeze Awareness into problems.  How?  We focus our destructive attitudes into free flowing Awareness and freeze...

Your Being is pure Radiant Light just as powerful as any guru.  Why doesn't it feel that way?  Most of us have taken a vast portion of our light and siphoned it off by creating repressed problems, attitudes, and delusions.  We are Awareness and all Awareness is love, peace, and joy.  Just as we can freeze life giving water into a destructive shape such as a frozen ice knife, we can freeze Awareness into problems.  How?  We focus our destructive attitudes into free flowing Awareness and freeze it into an thought emotion object that hurts us and others.  Ice unf...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. 
Lately many have been experiencing distress both inside and outside.  Current events have been difficult for many. Much of the discussion in this Q & A centered around living in awareness with these many levels of distress. Topics included, "Starting by getting out of the pounding surf." Also, do I cause my own problems by bringing my perspective to what would be a happy event inside and out?  Do awakened people always know they are awake?  Ways to comfort another, How to b...

So many of us are experiencing lots of inner and outer stress.  This is a brief, effective, and easy guided meditation for relaxation and to release stress.  Since it could be dangerous when coupled with other activities, please do not listen to this guided meditation when you are driving or doing any other activity.  This meditation is done when sitting or lying down when you are ready to completely focus and let go so that you can deeply release. 

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a comp...

We have all experienced intensity.  Unfortunately, often times it is because of layers of stress, problems, and difficulties.  Yet it is that same intensity that is the intensity of Love, Peace, and Joy in Awakening....in experiencing our true Selves.  There is only one intensity.  Consciousness is like life giving water. It can be frozen into sharp edges such as an ice knife that can hurt.  When it melts back into the healing flow of water it gives life.  Likewise, Intensity without the attitude is Awakened Radiance flowing with its qualities of peace, love, joy and happiness.  The overwhelming intensi...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness. We discussed that in the Awakening process there is only flow and tension. To the degree I am tense in any way I am blocking my innate and eternal Light which is flow.  Light, flow, and tension.  I described my process here and more deeply in all of these podcasts.  Since each podcast builds on those before, it is most powerful to start at 1 and work forward. Another asked if dissolving pain in meditation might reveal deeper pain.  Jesus appearing to me. ...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.  In this lively exchange, we discussed some of the hows in experiencing our Selves as Light.  At some point we let go deeply and flow happens.  We discuss some hows of letting go.  We also discuss forgiveness, how to help our children spiritually in todays world, releasing deep anger, can we feel malevolent beings in other realms and what to do, experiencing our Selves as the Infinite, etc.  
Though I am a psychotherapist and these podcasts are offered to be spiri...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.  By way of encouragement I shared with the group how I am experiencing my Self as LIght these days.  Also discussed how relaxation and tension apply to the process of Awakening and how to release blocks.  Participants asked how to release childhood trauma, how to respond rather than react, How to open one's heart to love again, ideas on how to work with a chronic illness, The Growth Formula, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.  We discussed how relaxation and tension apply to the process of Awakening and how to release blocks.  A participant asked for perspective on experiencing herself as "nothing".  Others asked about negative thoughts in meditation, can we be dealing with feelings we have absorbed from others rather than created ourselves, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful ove...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.  Participants heartfelt questions and experiences guided our discussion.  We discuss how to release our blocks and let them melt, stopping hurting ourselves, the importance of "getting out of the pounding surf" as a basic step in our path of awakening, some grief is from biological separation as well as past and present obstacles.  Another noticed that he absorbed depression sitting next to a depressed man, etc.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that mig...

To a seeker, Ramana said, "Before you ask out 'your life', find out who 'You' are."  Good advice.  In this podcast we place our attention on what we are.  What is always here and remains when everything goes?  We place our attention on Awareness or our "Buddha nature".  It is like a rainbow and is experienced beyond creation as a full nothing and, in creation, as Light, Love, Peace, Happiness, Joy, etc.  We place our attention on Awareness so that we can experience our Selves rather than just understand our Selves.  We talk about why some experience them Selves as Peac...

There can be no ultimate joy living a life that is false and deluded.  Therefore, let's see clearly what we are not.  Knowing what we are not, we can, also, more easily experience what we are.  Let's let go of what we are not and enjoy the radiant Peace, Love and Joy of who we are.  From contemplation number 2 on my website, www.williamecooper.wordpress.com

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most help...

This is a recording of a Live Q & A which has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.  We discuss that so many are suffering these days, how to melt the obstacles that block our happiness, daily consistency in taking baby steps, the fear of death, past lives, and that it's ok to modify spiritual practices.

These podcasts are meant to supplement your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. They are a compilation of what I have found to be the most helpful over the last 50 years on my path of awakening. I feel these p...

Meditation, exercise, nutrition, yoga, psychotherapy, energy work, philosophy, etc all can be important in our awakening process.  Yet seeing clearly can melt the delusions that may be causing much of our problems.  When I see that the deadly cobra in my room is actually only a rope all of my issues regarding that "deadly" event melt away quickly.  No psychotropic drugs or psychotherapy needed for my previous dread and anxiety.  No meditation, no philosophy, nothing is needed.  All done.  While all of the above can be vital at different times, "To See Is To Be Free." From my contemplation number...