Awareness and Consciousness

#88 Taking Care of Anxiety Jul 31, 2024

I guide a man through his fear of losing money. This one-on-one session demonstrates some of the techniques for isolating emotion within a narrative story, gaining a conscious observer perspective, and beginning to change one’s anxiety. You can learn and practice the skills to do this yourself through the Self Mastery Course and Recapitulation Course. You might notice that I often respond by reflecting back...

#87 Changing Beliefs Mar 13, 2024

Changing Beliefs using the Self Mastery Course from PathwayToHappiness.com is explained by Gary van Warmerdam. I outline the beliefs at the root of negative thoughts and emotional reactions affecting behavior. Then I outline how the Self Mastery practices guide you to develop the skills needed to do an inventory of your beliefs and dissolve them.

#86 Beliefs and Attention Dec 17, 2023

When you use your attention to control your beliefs, you can identify the assumptions you live by, and consciously choose another thought, interpretation, belief, or behavior about what is happening. There is a lot of great advice about not letting others bother you, or "don't take anything personally." What needs to be known to follow this advice is that you need control over your attention to follow it.

#85 Beliefs are the Key to Change Nov 30, 2023

Changing beliefs will allow you to change your narrative story and emotions. Beliefs are also the foundation for how economic, political, monetary, and social systems work. If you want to understand any one of those aspects, you will need to understand how beliefs work because that is the basis.

84 Divided Will and Consciousness Sep 20, 2023

Your Will and Consciousness was divided early in your life during emotional events and repetition. This creates a fragmented mind. Recover those separate parts to feel whole and live in integrity.

#83 How To Change a Belief Aug 30, 2023

In this session, I guide Greg, a Self Mastery subscriber, through changing a belief. The narrative of the belief is "I'm not ready." However, the roots of that narrative story are based in the emotional experiences of a young child who was pushed to do things before he was ready. The belief is actually an energetic memory formed in the mind of a young child, with emotion, perspective, fear, several stories, and a need for protection.

#82 Journey of the Soul from Fear to Love Aug 29, 2023

We knew how to be happy as children. It was natural for us. We learned to be stressed, judgmental, fearful, and in our head disconnected from the world and others through repetition. To break that partner requires a conscious intent for change. And it can be done. If I can do it, then you can do it.

#81 Spiritual Power Journey Teotihuacan Mexico Aug 08, 2023

This Spiritual Power Journey is intently created so that you experience unconditional love and acceptance for yourself. That experience might come to you in a ceremony, a breathwork process, a meditation, a conversation with others, or while laughing and singing together.

#80 What Are We? – An Exploration in Self Awareness Jul 28, 2023

As humans we are: Spiritual, Physical Body, Consciousness, Mind, Gender Energy, Emotions and a Soul. Getting all of those energy aspects working together can be quite a process

#79 Why you don’t see reality Jun 09, 2023

You don't see reality. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, it does not make a sound. Even if someone is there, it still doesn't make a sound. You are the one that creates sound, and the visual images of what you see. Listen and find out why.

#78 Your Attention is a Force Jan 04, 2023

Your attention is not just your focus, but a force with which to steer your life, thoughts, emotions, and personal change.

#77 Relationship Connection the Secret Ingredient Jan 06, 2022

I got listened to and understood in a way that I felt important and valued. What I didn't know was that this wasn't an accident. The person listening to me was doing some very conscious and skillful things in their listening to help me have that experience.

#76 Relationship Connection is Possible Dec 28, 2021

we have these strategies of giving a good impression and hiding the stuff we fear they will judge us for. And so our relationship is made "comfortable" in that space of keeping up a false impression and hiding our negative feelings and thoughts. However, it's not comfortable long-term living in these masks and false versions of our self. Certainly not with our intimate partner. We can't keep the facade on all the time. It's exhausting. It's going to break down.

#75 Relationship Connection – The Struggle Dec 17, 2021

I gathered all sorts of habits and false beliefs in my childhood that later led to disconnection, disappointment, frustration, and heartbreak in a relationship. One example was from the fairy tales and movies growing up. They painted a picture of "happily ever after" into my brain. Once you meet the right person, it goes seamlessly to "happily" ever after." But, unfortunately, those stories planted a false paradigm that set me up for disappointment later. I got into this "inner work" because I was struggling and unhappy in my relationships. I think a lot of people do. Even if their relationships are "good," they may not feel good in them. Sometimes a "great relationship" brings up our inner fears, insecurities, jealousy, and other sabotaging emotions and behaviors.

From Misery to Happiness Nov 05, 2021

Daniel's journey from misery to happiness took a lot of work. There were many ingredients essential to making his transformation happen and he shares it here in this interview with him.

Why am I Unhappy Aug 19, 2021

The narrative story in our mind is what produces those negative thoughts, self-judgments, and emotions. It arises from the core beliefs we acquired earlier in life, and that can be re-programmed with awareness.

#72 Conscious Dreaming May 03, 2021

The mind is dreaming all the time. It is dreaming when you are awake, and when you are asleep. The consciousness process involves waking up from these dreams that run through your head. Most often they appear as narrative stories. What will change your life is when you take charge of the dreams in your mind during the day instead of allowing them to dream you.

#71 The Dream of Maya Mar 16, 2021

I've been doing a digital detox. I gave up news and social media for lent. I wanted to pull my attention out of the habitual cycle of opinions, fears, needing to be informed, emotions, and addictive social media scrolls. I wanted to clean up and clear space in my mind. In the process, I had this dream last week. It represents part of the Deam of Maya, or illusions we live in. If you want to be happy and fulfilled, you will need to move your attention out of such stories.

#70 Mastering the Mental Game Feb 25, 2021

Pauline Victoria was born without arms or legs, Despite this physical challenge, she has done what many would think impossible. I wanted to know how she did things like drive, swim, and scuba dive. She said it was how she played the mental game to overcome her physical challenges. In this interview, I got to explore how Pauline masters her mental game. The mental game includes desire, faith, presence, surrender, and calming your nervous system with control over your attention.

#69 Self Awareness – Why do people believe crazy lies, conspiracy theories, and illusions? Dec 08, 2020

Figuring out the truth isn't straightforward. Consider this; the mind is the mechanism that we use to discern the truth. However, this is the same mind that generates stories, false narratives, daydreams, and fictional realities in our heads. These two uses of the mind are contradictory. It's no wonder people are having difficulty seeing the difference between truth and a made-up story.

#68 Voices in your Head Oct 26, 2020

The voices in your head are normal. They are the patterns of thoughts arising from unconscious beliefs. They can be funny, frightening, random or chaotic, and possibly cause deep suffering.

#67 Consciousness and moving Beyond the Mind Aug 31, 2020

Eva Beronius and Gary van Warmerdam explore moving from identifying with the mind to realizing our Self as Consciousness.

#66 Trauma symptoms and treatments Aug 25, 2020

Trauma is often the cause of anxiety, depression, ADHD, anger, harsh self judgment, suicidal thoughts, and other mood disorders. It is much more common than you think. You don't just get PTSD from wartime combat. Your brain and nervous system can be altered from sexual assault, abuse, bullying, emotionally abusive parents, even if they never hit you, surgery, or a car accident.

#65 Beliefs I’m Broken and Unlovable that Produce Shame Jul 28, 2020

To change a belief sometimes it helps to understand where and how it came to be. When you understand why and how you started to believe your thoughts about being wrong, bad, unlovable, or broken, you have new perspective on those ideas. You can understand their time and place from who you are today, instead of who you were when those beliefs may have helped. You can also see why it is not true today, or not true before that moment you began believing in your false ego identity as who you were.

#63 Overcoming Trauma and Living Happy Jul 21, 2020

My interview with Anna and her journey out of trauma reactions using the skills and perspectives she learned in the Self Mastery practices. Combining them with EMDR treatments and other modalities to go from anxiety, depression, anger and suicidal thoughts, to Living Happy.

#62 Overwhelmed with Emotions – Why am I so Angry? Jun 16, 2020

Where do you start making changes when you are overwhelmed with emotions? Understanding the deep sources of emotions help us move into compassion, and decrease the impact of the Inner Judge. Beginning steps include acknowledging where you are, accepting it, and then finding one small change to get you started.

#61-Fear Virus – Live Self Mastery Get Together Mar 23, 2020

There is a fear virus going through people's minds and emotions at the same time there is a biological Corona virus infecting people's physical bodies. The spread of fear is a lot faster and more widespread. There are things you can do to protect yourself, and improve your emotional state.

#60 Emotional Wounds and Relationship Baggage Feb 24, 2020

Emotional wounds show up as our "baggage" in relationships. They are our unhealed emotions and beliefs from past experiences and affect our current relationships. Physical wounds can be seen but emotional wounds are invisible. They are experienced as emotional reactions, negative thoughts, and sabotaging behaviors. Understand them and you will be more compassionate to yourself and others.

#59 Self Mastery Interview with Eva Nov 12, 2019

Interview with Eva, a Self Mastery Course subscriber who worked her way out of panic attacks, anxiety, depression, and career burnout to build a completely different life. Letting go of fears and eventually feeling joy and love was a surprise change, until it became the new normal.

#58: How to Relax Nov 05, 2019

This podcast will guide you through a breathing practice using specific techniques to relax your nervous system and brain. There are reasons that breathing techniques can help you relax. Breathing. When done properly it bypasses your intellect and directs your nervous system to switch off the tension and hyper-vigilance. This is something that you can’t do by thinking better thoughts or trying to be positive.

#57: Critical voice in your head Nov 06, 2018

The critical voice in your head telling you whether you are succeeding or failing at things is actually pretty stupid. It sounds smart, acts confident, and pretends to be an expert. However, it hasn't actually done any of the things it is criticizing you about.

#56: Social anxiety from unconscious beliefs Aug 23, 2018

A man shares what he discovers as the source of his social anxiety that began when he was in 3rd grade. In this podcast I describe a process to dig into the layers of your unconscious beliefs, and release the emotional beliefs trapped there.

#55: Origin of ego and false beliefs of identity Nov 12, 2016

What are the false beliefs that form our Ego? Where do our false beliefs come from? When did we begin to get these false beliefs o our identity and lose touch with our authentic self?

#54: How do you recognize the truth? Nov 07, 2016

From a consciousness perspective, even statements that are factual are still not the Truth. Words are what we use to describe a thing, or facts. But words are not the thing itself.

#53: Why lie to your self? Oct 30, 2016

Lying to your self can cause a response in the reasoning part of your brain that makes you feel good. Sometimes people confuse this good feeling with being right, or feeling that they have just agreed with an explanation that is truthful.

#52: Self loathing Aug 03, 2016

Self loathing is a strong hatred towards oneself. You will also find with it a lot of internal thoughts of criticism and self judgment. Underneath that there will be a layer of beliefs relating to worthlessness.

#51: Unconscious beliefs Jul 20, 2016

Unconscious beliefs are agreements we have in our mind that we have no awareness we are holding. In spite of not having any intellectual knowledge of our own beliefs, they can still cause us to have emotional reactions and sabotaging behaviors.

#50: Personal power and responsibility Jun 12, 2016

When you take responsibility for your life, you also accept a power over it. Taking responsibility for the good stuff is easy, it is the not so good stuff that feels uncomfortable. But this is what you want the power to change.

#49: Anxiety – understanding it differently Feb 23, 2016

Attempts to overcoming or at least reduce anxiety tend to fail. Perhaps our efforts fail because we are applying the wrong understanding, and therefore the wrong model for changing it.

#48: Becoming the observer – mindfulness practice Jan 07, 2016

When we act in the way of a neutral observer we notice different things. We notice when thoughts are arising from parts of our ego and the emotions they produce. We can also notice the idealized version in the background of our mind being used as comparison.

#47: Reality, projections and illusions Dec 10, 2015

Once you realize that the mind that is distorting things is at the beginning of our perception and interpretation of events, you become aware that perceiving reality is much more difficult.

#46: Affirmations can backfire Nov 16, 2015

Sometimes people get poor results with affirmations. When they say positive things about themselves the dialogue of thoughts in their head pushes back with harsh negative comments.

#45: The Hero’s journey Apr 26, 2013

The hero's journey is the classic tale often told through movies and stories going back to The Odyssey by Homer and many modern versions. It's appeal is that it represents our journey to create peace and happiness within our self and our own mind.

#44: Persistence and resistance May 21, 2012

What does resistance look like and how do you navigate around it to make changes in your self? Jamie is one of the most persistent people at doing personal change work that I know. She also resists change, happiness and unconditional love more than just about anyone I know.

#43: Overcoming insecurity and develop confidence Apr 19, 2012

Attempts to develop confidence often fail because they revolve around projecting a positive self image or achieving success. Unfortunately these two things don't eliminate other beliefs causing feelings of insecurity.

#42: Stop beating your self up Feb 19, 2012

To effectively change the thoughts and beliefs we beat our self up with it is important to look at the problem differently. That's what I do in this episode on what specifically happens when you are "beating yourself up".

#41: Meditation for beginners Jan 09, 2012

This simple meditation lets anyone begin to enter into a state of mindfulness using a very common sense practical approach. What our mind construes as a deeply mystical thing like meditation doesn't have to be so esoteric.

#40: Self awareness and mindfulness Dec 12, 2011

Understanding how your mind creates emotional reactions is key to making personal change. This understanding of the mind is done through mindfulness, also know as Self Awareness.

#39: What is a belief? Nov 14, 2011

A belief begins as a conceptual idea in our mind. Then our imagination turns it into something like a dream, or virtual reality. A belief, particularly a false belief, has the capacity to create an illusion in our imagination that seems like reality.

#38: Self Mastery Course results interview May 17, 2011

David served in the Army and National Guard. After responding to the World Trade Center and Afghanistan he came home and discovered that his emotional reactions were out of control and inappropriate. In this interview he shares how the Self Mastery course has helped him.

#37: Confusion about love, compassion, hope, integrity and loyalty Apr 14, 2011

Even the basic building blocks of language such as words can be distorted and made confusing by how the mind alters their meaning when we are not aware.

#36: Anger management Mar 22, 2011

I don't think we should just manage our anger. I believe in eliminating anger. Trying to control triggers, circumstances, and other people so we don't become angry is too much work.

#35: Sexual performance anxiety Feb 03, 2011

At the core of sexual performance anxiety are fear of failure, rejection from our partner and self rejection. These expressions take place in our mind and affect our emotions.

#34: Spiritual journey interview Aug 25, 2010

Carolyn comes to a seven day intensive and discovers what it is like to shed fear based self judgments from her childhood and embrace the experience of unconditional love. It's no longer an intellectual idea that she reads about in books. It is a tangible way of living life that is now a very real possibility for her life.

#33: Inception and the life of an idea in the mind Aug 03, 2010

Careful observation reveals that ideas, thoughts, and beliefs behave as if they are alive in the mind. When ideas grow and link together with other ideas they become big stories and can have multiple points of view and tangents.

#32: The most important thing for your happiness Jun 23, 2010

Sometimes it helps to take a step back and have a sense of humor about the process of overcoming fears, identifying and changing core beliefs.

#31: Miguel Ruiz and The Fifth Agreement May 12, 2010

An interview with Miguel Ruiz about his book that is written with his son Jose Ruiz. We also talk about how the belief system creates a virtual reality, how we distort love, how to use doubt to question your beliefs and other things.

#30: Overcoming anger using the Self Mastery program Mar 26, 2010

I interviewed Joe who used the Self Mastery course to overcome his anger and anxiety reactions. He’s started to be aware that some of his emotional reactions are completely gone.

#29: Faith: the power behind your beliefs Feb 17, 2010

Faith is more than a set of beliefs there is no evidence for or a doctrine of religious beliefs. Faith is a force. It is an aspect of your personal will power that you can use in various ways.

#28: Conscious awakening Jan 21, 2010

Waking up to the unconscious beliefs in your mind is an uncomfortable and disconcerting realization. In this episode I outline what is happening so you can keep the process in a larger perspective.

#27: Reasoning your way out of fear Jul 17, 2009

Applying reasoning skills to overcoming fears is an uphill battle. That's because the emotions we feel push us against accepting truthful reasoning. That's because our fictional, or false beliefs often make us feel better emotionally.

#26: Overcoming fear of what others think of you Jun 15, 2009

There is a structure of beliefs that support the fear of what others think of you. When you dismantle these beliefs, your fear dissipates, as well as the internal dialog that it drives. In this podcast I guide you through some of the resistance you will probably find when you attempt to overcome your fears.

#25: Overcoming controlling behavior of jealousy and anger Apr 06, 2009

David started the Self Mastery Course because of emotions and behaviors for jealousy, anger and controlling in relationships. It was difficult to see himself having this problem because David's belief system masked and justified his behavior as "helping people". In his mind he was serving and helping people.

#24: Fear and origins of the financial crisis Feb 19, 2009

I cover how to use awareness to break free of fearful resistance to taking action. Jut for fun I also get into understanding origins of the financial crisis. The problem with bubbles, financial, romantic, or otherwise, is that they originate in the mind as illusions.

#23: Dealing with financial fears Jan 22, 2009

Dealing with and overcoming financial fears isn't a one step process. Those fears can be intertwined with real survival needs for the body like food, shelter, and providing for your children. Financial fears can also be from projected scenarios in the imagination that have nothing to do with reality.

#22: Change your life – interview with Holly Dec 12, 2008

In this interview I follow up with Holly who I interviewed in early 2007. She has continued to practice the exercises in the Self Mastery Course 1 and added the practices from the Self Mastery Course 2. The result is that she has transformed her emotions from fear to love.

#21: Fear Doctrine: The creation of anger and agression Oct 29, 2008

Fear is at the core of anger and aggression. Yet we become so busy with the strategy of control and the act of aggression we rarely see the cause. We can see the emotional dynamic at work whether we look at our internal thoughts, relationships or the macro relationships of countries.

#20: The value of a spiritual teacher or mentor Jul 25, 2008

If the emotional quality of your life and relationships were solely dependent on how smart you were then you wouldn't need a teacher. But that isn't the case. A book can't teach or model for you self acceptance, respect, love or gratitude.

#19: Understanding the spiritual journey Jun 26, 2008

All self help, personal development, growth, and self awareness work is part of the Spiritual Journey. That's because Spirit means Life. The mystery of the Spiritual Journey is that it happens within the realm of your perceptions, mind, emotions, and consciousness.

#18: Changing habits and overcoming addictions May 17, 2008

People attempt to change a habit or addiction by going cold turkey. This often raises the expectation too high and can set a person up for failure if they don’t yet have a lot of personal power or discipline. The result is failing and self judgment.

#17: Self Judgment Apr 07, 2008

Self Judgment is the most common type of abuse. It’s self abuse. No one is more critical of you than the voice in your head. If anyone else talked to you the way the Judge in your mind spoke to you, you would fight back or walk away from them.

#16: Faith and personal power Jan 24, 2008

Faith is a force. It is part of your life force. When you express your faith you are expressing part of your personal power. If you are seeking to develop more personal power, one of the fastest ways is to recover your faith from all the beliefs in your mind you have invested it in.

#15: Finding your self Aug 20, 2007

Finding your self or figuring out who you are is one of those eternal questions. We often struggle with it as teenagers, then again in our thirties, or during a mid life crisis. The struggle to know thy Self is as old as spiritual traditions that attempted to answer the question.

#14: Free will Jul 01, 2007

Do you have free will? Is there even such a thing as free will? It is true that we are to some degree products of our environment. Our minds get filled with ideas, beliefs and emotional patterns as we grow up.

#13: How to tell if a relationship will work Apr 11, 2007

There are specific indicators to tell if your relationship will run into trouble down the road. The signs aren’t found in how much love, romance or physical attraction there is. Two people can have great chemistry but still not be compatible.

#12: Don’t take anything personally Feb 23, 2007

In the book, The Four Agreements, Miguel Ruiz outlines a code of conduct for creating love and happiness in your life. One of his Four Agreements is “Don’t Take Anything Personally". In this episode I describe some of the hidden assumptions that cause us to take things personally.

#11: The ego mind and consciousness Jan 28, 2007

Understanding the ego mind and consciousness means becoming aware of the way our mind dreams. The ego mind has more than just thoughts and beliefs; it has emotions, memories, visual images and a life of its own. When we believe what our imagination dreams we can get lost in a world of illusions.

#10: Can you change your life Jan 01, 2007

I often get asked if people can really change their life. They want to known if they can overcome fears, stop the judgments, and quiet the voice in their head. The answer is yes. However, when people ask, they usually ask with such fear and doubt that almost no amount of words will suffice. Perhaps this interview will help overcome some of those doubts.

#09: Fear of love and happiness Dec 01, 2006

It might be hard to believe that we fear love and happiness, but it is a real dynamic that happens in the mind. It is easier to understand if we consider the mind to be a living being with many different aspects. We are essentially killing off false self images of our personality.

#08: Fear and overcoming fear Nov 15, 2006

Fear is that emotional force that drives us in a direction away from joy, happiness, and love. Fear can paralyze us to the point that we feel helpless and suffocated. Often fear appears irrational, but it only looks this way at the surface.

#07: Identify and change core beliefs Oct 31, 2006

What are core beliefs and how do you identify them? That’s what many people are realizing they need to do to change their emotional reactions. The problem is where do you look to find core beliefs?

#06: Love relationships part II Oct 11, 2006

Our body has physical desires, our emotions have a desire to express love and our mind has a desire to have its beliefs and expectations met. This can create some internal conflict that gets more complicated when we add another person's desires to the mix.

#05: Love relationships part I Sep 30, 2006

Desires for a relationship come from deep within us. They aren’t desires for a specific person so much as a need for expression and experience of connection and feeling that we can have with another person. Those desires include the emotion of love, physical affection and sexual satisfaction.

#04: Happiness as choice Sep 12, 2006

Experts will advise you that in order to be happy you first have to make yourself happy. What they usually can’t explain is how to make your self happy. What I try to uncover in my work and in this audio is some of the mystery that surrounds an individual’s happiness.

#03: Emotional reactions Aug 22, 2006

When it comes to stopping or changing emotional reactions people often approach the problem like they are fixing a car. The assumption seems to be that if we change one thing the whole problem will go away.

#02: The Four Agreements and hidden assumptions Aug 15, 2006

In this episode I cover some places that assumptions hide. I do a little poking around to show you what they look like. I also show how they lead us down dark alleys chasing illusions in our mind. Becoming aware of those dark alleys of mental illusions will make it easier to get out.

#01: Feeling not good enough – beliefs Aug 11, 2006

A big component of feeling insecure is the image of perfection that we create in our mind. When the voice in our head compares us to that image of perfection it concludes that we are not good enough. Buying into this comparison with an imagined self is what creates the feeling of not being good enough.

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