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BREAK OUT OF THE PRISON

OF YOUR LIMITING
THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS

Li ve f rom t he endl ess Source t hat
makes everyt hi ng possi bl e
by
L EO HAWK I NS

You are about to read an adaptation of Chapter Six from my book Break
Out of Your Mind! Obviously, there is a lot of material in the previous
five chapters that led to this one. And Chapters 7-10 also contain life-
transforming information.

My hope however, is you will find this material useful and interesting
even without the other chapters. I chose this chapter because it directly
addresses the topic of transcending your mind, which is the essence of
true and permanent transformation.

If you want to read the entire book you can order via my website at
http://www.globalalchemy.com/order.html

I am always interested to hear of your experiences after trying the
practical inquiries and applying the principles I write about. So feel free
to drop me an email via the website at:
http://www.globalalchemy.com/contact.html

Also, if you would like to discover for yourself the reality my words point
to, through individual consultancy sessions or group workshops, please
email me via the website, or phone me on +44 (0) 117 968 3130.

I wish for you the abundant love of the Divine Now,


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Yo ur Mi nd i s Your Servant

Acceptance is the hallmark of intelligent interdependence that opens you to creative
possibilities, increases your choice of behaviour, and leads to an awareness of the
peaceful stillness of Being. Acceptance is also the Heart of non-violence, towards yourself
and others. When you grant others their freedom to be as they are, you automatically
grant yourself the same freedom.

On the other hand, taking a position of judging situations or people as inherently good or
bad is the primary source of suffering. When you take a position of judging what should or
should not be happening you are resisting what is. As what you resist persists, the more you
judge yourself and others, the more you perpetuate that which you are judging. Fromthis, can you
begin to see that your own judgements are the source of your suffering?

Have you noticed yourself repeating the same tired stories about the failings of others, society, the
government, yourself, and God over and over? This is your judgemental mind. You inherited
from your parents and society a host of judgements and beliefs about how life should or should
not be, about what others should or should not do. You have judgements about politics,
economics, sex, relationships, money, food, and religion. When you indulge your judgemental
mind, it comes to think of itself as an all-powerful emperor - with you as its servant. Some
emperors are relatively benign, but others are tyrants.
If you identify with your judgements your behaviour will show a lack of gratitude. You
may feel bitter at how life has treated you. You will feel separate from other people and
from the rest of life on our planet. Living in non-relationship, you will tend to take an
independent stance against the world, against what is. You will not be happy.
Judgement is the opposite of happiness, of true aliveness. The biblical story of Adam
and Eve refers to this. When they chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil in other words the fruit of judgement that action barred them from eating the
fruit of the tree of life. Only through renouncing judgement and accepting this moment as
it is, can you return, wiser, to the Garden of Eden, which is the ever-present Divine Now.
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RESISTING WHAT IS
Judgements
I am good I am bad
You are good You are bad
I should I should not
You should You should not

Beliefs
If I analyse and understand my problems I can get rid of them
(Judgement: I should not have this problem)
I must suppress my emotions
(Judgement: My emotions are bad)
I need to change or fix myself
(Judgement: I am not perfect as I am)
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Judging violence is violence
Whenever you do not accept what is, you commit an act of mental violence. All judgement of
yourself is violence towards yourself. All judgement of others is violence towards them, even if you
never speak your judgements. Thoughts are objects in your mind thought-forms and they have
the power to affect your emotional and bodily health, and your relationships. A violent thought is just
as much a violent act as a physical assault.

There must be an end to violence within the mind of every individual before there can be an end
to violence in the world. But judging violence as wrong is not the answer; it is just more
judgement more violence.
Some people who take a position against violence feel afraid of violence. If this resonates with you,
notice that to feel frightened of something you must give the object of your fear your attention. As
what you give attention to grows and manifests in the world, your fear itself brings about the
feared situation you wanted to avoid.

The secret of inner non-violence is to not judge your judgements. In other words, dont resist the
resistance. You must accept your experience totally. Even 99.9% is not enough for your life to
completely transform. Having said that, any steps you take towards acceptance will lead you in
the direction of freedom. Its a matter of how long you are willing to suffer. The truth is, you
could be free right Now.
Thinking makes it so
Shakespeares famous line from Hamlet: There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it
so is an expression of profound wisdom. Actions in themselves are neither good nor bad, they
simply are what they are. It is only the human mind that ascribes meaning to otherwise neutral
actions.

In other words, your mind makes up stories about what should or should not be. In the theatre of
mind, the false egoic I, always believes it is right. Believing itself right, your I takes up a
position that it defends at all costs against the threat it perceives from the apparently separate
I of other people. The more it can wage war the more your illusory false identity, or ego, feels
strengthened, more in control, and more secure.
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Judgement is behind the complaining so prevalent in our culture. When you complain about what
is, in your imagination you put yourself above and separate fromwhatever, or whomever, you are
complaining about. Then you probably feel a bit better about yourself for a short while. If these words
touch something in you, notice the effect of your complaining on your relationship with life. Notice
the effect of your judgemental thoughts on how you feel. Is your experience of life one of vibrant
aliveness, or something else?

Of course, if you receive poor service, or a product you buy does not work properly, it is important to
take appropriate action. I amnot proposing you become adoormat. On the contrary, when you stop
complaining, you will have much more power to stand up for yourself.
Freedom from tyranny
The way to freedomfrom the tyrannical rule of your mind is to look at the truth of your judgements
and cherished beliefs. What is a belief? Look carefully and you will see it is nothing but a thought.
What is a judgement? Again, observe carefully and you will see that all your judgements are
nothing but patterns of thought.

When you shine the light of truth into your beliefs and judgements, many of which have lain
in darkness for eons, they simply and effortlessly dissolve. The light of truth sets your mind
free to serve you and create a life of abundance.

The famous psychologist Carl Jung called the morass of human pain the shadow, or the dark
side of personality. Much of this pain stems from childhood, hence the many therapeutic
approaches that delve into the past in an attempt to remove the cause of the pain.

However there is no need to look at your past, as whatever happened back then is available to
you through your experience in the present moment. When your past happened it was Now and
you feel the effects of the past Now. This present moment is the doorway through which you
can walk free of your shadow, free of your past.

Many people do their best to avoid looking at their shadow. Does it seemtoo unbearable to feel and
acknowledge it as a part of who you are? Fortunately, wherever there is a shadow there must be a
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light to cast the shadow. What you focus your attention on grows, so if you focus on your shadow
side, the pain will become worse. Instead, let your shadow be as it is completely accept it and
turn your attention around 180 degrees and focus on the source of the light, which is always
Now, and see what happens.

Freedom does not come from working on your story, or in other words your opinion of what is.
You can work on your story for the rest of your life and never taste true freedom. You can only
be free by transcending your mind-created story your false sense of identity and living in the
reality that is the authentic You.
Clearing limiting beliefs and judgements
There are many techniques on offer designed to help you change your limiting beliefs and
destructive judgements. Unfortunately, most of themoriginate fromthe mind, are done by the
mind, and therefore are only another thief pretending to be a policeman drama.

What often happens is that the new beliefs these techniques help you create will tend to wear off
after a few days, weeks, or months. Occasionally this patch-up work can last for a few years
before you find yourself back where you started.

Techniques are unnecessary when you connect with the transformative power of the present
moment. Your mind naturally and spontaneously transforms simply through contact with inner
stillness, which is the Heart of who you are. Your egoic I cannot survive the present moment,
as it depends on the notion of psychological time past and future for its illusory existence.
This core shift of perception is often called a change of Heart, although it is closer to the truth
to say that your Heart changes your mind.
Transcending your thoughts
Although simple, the process of allowing your Heart the Divine Now - to spontaneously
transform your mind may not seem easy at first. But when you allow your thoughts to be as
they are, and dont feed them with your attention, they will drop away effortlessly.

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We could compare this to gardening. If you were to entirely deprive the weeds of water and light
they could not grow. Similarly, when you water and feed the flowers you love they will blossom.
When you stop encouraging the weeds and instead nourish the flowers, your mind will become a
beautiful inner garden.

The transformation I speak of is not one that can be understood by an unenlightened
mind. What is required is the transcendence of all intention and desire to transform the
mind. Then your mind transforms like a mirage that never really existed.

Follow these seven steps into the present moment:
1 Tell the truth about completely acknowledge - the limiting beliefs and judgements
you are holding. Notice they are only thoughts. You do not have to decide whether each thought
is of itself true, which can only be a relative and subjective truth anyway. Just acknowledge the
objective facts of the existence and nature of your thoughts.

2 Notice what happens when you identify with these thoughts. Reflect on the cost in
your relationships, work, health, sexuality, energy levels, and how you feel in general. Notice how
holding on to a point of view of being right creates a sense of separation fromothers, even from
those you love. Notice how you limit yourself whenever you identify with your thoughts and,
effectively, become the slave of your mind.
3 As best you can, let your whole experience be exactly the way it is by inquiring:
i) Is it possible to let this be?
ii) Do I really choose to let it be?
iii) When?

4 Welcome and allow any memories, associated emotions, and bodily feeling sensations that
naturally arise into awareness. Allow whatever wants to come to come, whatever wants to stay to
stay, and whatever wants to go to go.

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Allow whatever wants to arise in the stillness of the present moment, including insights, emotional
release, and integration. Simply notice all this with interested curiosity. You may notice how
being aware of your thoughts and their effects brings about a greater spaciousness. This opens
up the possibility for your mind to spontaneously transform.
5 Inquire, Who is awareof all experience?
I AM (the silent stillness itself not the thought I or me)

6 Take response-ability for what you give your attention to. You are free to continue to
feed your judgements or to rest attention in I AM which is the present moment. If you choose I AM
savour this deeply. Drink in the deep peace and nourishment that is thealiveness of Now. Allow your
beliefs and judgements, which you once held to beso important, to drop away as you begin to see them
for the insubstantial phantoms they truly are.

7 You may find it helpful to scale theremaining power of your thoughts, where 0 means
you are free and 100 means your mind is in command, controlling you. Like recovering froman
illness, enjoy feeling the temperature drop each time you choose to focus your attention into the
aliveness of this present moment.
Repeat this simple sequence several times until the old thought patterns no longer control your
behaviour. There is no need to create alternative positive beliefs to replace the old negative ones. If a
new belief arises naturally, thats fine. But notice you dont need to believeyou exist, as you already do
exist. Similarly, you dont need to believe you can take action before you takeaction. You simply act.
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The Truth is ...
You are not your judgements, beliefs, or story
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Of course, after you act your mind may create a belief a story about how you now have the
ability to take action. Notice the story comes after the event. Notice also that you only need to
create a belief about how you can do something if, deep down, you believe you cant. It is
much simpler to dissolve the need for both the positive and negative by living in the awareness
of Now.

A new openness to the possibilities inherent in the present moment arises naturally when you
free yourself from falsely believing yourself to be your mind. Your mind will then present you with
unlimited creative possibilities for alternative actions, doors will open for you, and new
relationships will bloom. You will have become alive.
Your mind will thank you
It is extraordinarily stressful for your mind to keep up the pretence that it is master of the universe,
or even master of that infinitesimally small part of the universe that is your human life. When you
abdicate your rightful position of sovereign power by identifying with your mind and its
programmed patterns of thought, your mind will take you wherever it wants to go. You will
have no say in your destiny.
The primary directive of the fictitious sense of I is its own survival. But it has no conscious
intelligence, only automated programs installed in the past that attempt to simulate
consciousness. Because of this lack of conscious intelligence, the mind does not have the ability
to make response-able choices.

It doesnt need to be this way. Interestingly, because the mind knows it is living a lie that it is
not really master of the universe it is thankful when exposed to the truth and can get back to doing
what it does well serving You.

Most of us have told lies at some time during our lives. Have you noticed how stressful it is to
maintain a veil of deceit? And, after the initial shock of being found out, have you noticed the relief
that comes fromnot having to lie any more? This is why telling the truth is so important. The truth
exposes the lie you have been telling yourself and allows you to assume your natural
sovereignty over the mind.

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The word identification means to make the same as, so when you identify with your thoughts
you effectively make yourself into a programmed machine. And a machine has no ability to
consciously choose its destiny. Whatever your mind is programmed to manifest, will manifest.
Regardless of whatever you, when identified with mind, try to make happen or make not happen,
whatever the program dictates will happen, will happen. Only when you tell yourself the truth,
and become conscious as the silent stillness of Being, can you take control of your mind and choose
your destiny.
F.E.A.R.
You cannot be afraid of the unknown, although many people believe they are. If you
inspect any fear you will see it comes from thinking about the future. And with close
inspection you will see that every future thought is based on what happened previously.
What is truly unknown is what will arise in this present moment, which is impossible
to think about. Because it is impossible to think about the Now, it is impossible to feel
frightened of it. Only your negative expectations thoughts of an unknown future can
frighten you, not the reality of Now.
Fear is the primal negative emotion that underpins all others. Of course the fear that
stops you walking in front of a bus is healthy. A similar fear got your ancestors to run
away from sabre-toothed tigers. This fear is essential for your physical survival. But the
fear that stops you living your dreams and going for what you really want has no real
value. It serves only to help your negative self-image survive.
You can interpret the physiological symptoms of fear in different ways. In other words you
can choose the meaning you make from them the mental story you tell yourself. When
experiencing the emotion labelled fear, your heartbeat may increase, your palms become
sweaty, your stomach may do somersaults, your breathing may become more intense,
and so on.
Interestingly, these symptoms are almost the same whether you feel frightened or excited, and
you are free to make whatever meaning you choose out of them. The actions you take, and
the degree of confidence you feel, depends on what you choose to focus your attention on.

Right now, think of a situation you will have to face and that you feel a degree of apprehension
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about. Experiment by exploring your responses to three interpretations of the word F.E.A.R.
Notice how the meaning you give your attention to spontaneously changes your perception of the
future.
1 False Evidence Appearing Real
2 Feeling Excited And Ready
3 F**k Everything And Run!
Now notice what happens when your attention is in the present moment. Is there any fear? If your
attention is truly focused in the present, your answer will be No. There is no problem, limitation,
or lack in the Now, but only in your thoughts of an imagined future.

It follows that if you allowed your attention to rest in the present moment, fear could no longer
torment or control you. You may, of course continue to feel it on occasion. The difference will be that
you will not panic when challenges arise but will easily handle themwith a calmconfidence.
How to transform negative situations
What you give your attention to grows and will inevitably manifest in your life. Notice that
when you allow your mind to entertain fearful thoughts it creates images of that which you are
afraid of. For instance, suppose you are running a business and your main client suddenly pulls
out, leaving you with a huge cash-flow deficit.

Your minds knee-jerk reaction will probably be to generate thoughts of impending financial
ruin. This leads to feelings of increasing panic as the mental images of the disastrous possibilities
facing you grow stronger and stronger.

This reaction may spur you to take action, and because you are taking action you may tell yourself
the fear is useful. But you are likely to feel stressed, anxious, and increasingly desperate as you
try to persuade new clients to sign up for your services. Your energy will communicate itself to
potential clients, leading them to doubt the wisdom of employing you. Soon, your business folds.
Your fearful mind has created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The alternative is to take command of your mind and make it your servant. First run through the
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processes of transcending your thoughts and emotions until you feel free of your negative beliefs
and judgements. Make sure you accept full response-ability for the thoughts you give your
attention to.

Now, fromthe relaxed and confident spaciousness of the present moment, you could choose to
imagine an abundance of new clients beating a path to your office door. You could imagine your
bank account being replenished by the cash your new clients willingly hand over to you. And you
could see yourself enjoying a new phase of profitability in your business.
Your relaxed confidence will naturally impact positively on your potential clients,
leading them to feel confident in their decision to employ you. And as you sign up new
clients, in turn you feel more confident and so a positive spiral of increasing success
ensues.
Inquiring from Being
Note: If you try to accept what is in order to get rid of your limiting thoughts and emotions, you
will fall into the thief pretending to be a policeman trap. Only 100% unconditional acceptance,
without regard for whether your thoughts transform or not, will allow you to break out of your
mind.
Inquiry 1 Notice your limiting beliefs and judgements. Become aware of the ways in
which your uncontrolled mind has been running your life. Ask yourself, What effect are these
thoughts having on my relationships, prosperity, confidence, and self-esteem and what is this
costing me? Ask yourself, Do I absolutely know these thoughts are true?
Inquiry 2 Clear your limiting beliefs and judgements. Schedule some time to take
yourself through the process of transcending your thoughts. Better still, get a willing friend or
colleague to act as a guide. Having someone else read out the steps will free you to focus your
attention more easily.
Inquiry 3 F.E.A.R. Notice when you have allowed fearful thoughts to take charge of your
life. Ask yourself, What has been the effect on my relationships, prosperity, confidence, and self-
esteem? Then go through the process of transcending your thoughts and see what happens.

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A note from Leo

I hope you enjoyed reading this adaptation of Chapter Six from my book Break Out of
Your Mind.


To find out what you missed in the previous five chapters, and discover what
happens next in Chapters 7-10, you can order the 162-page paperback from:

http://www.globalalchemy.com/order.html


Or you can read Chapter Nine Live an Abundant Life by downloading
from the website at http://www.globalalchemy.com/freeservices/sample.html


Whether you order or not, I wish for you great abundance, happiness, and the peace of
this Divine Present Moment.