SSP 057: Weekly Lesson - Lessons in Death

Yo, what's going on, guys? I've got a shorter little in between episode this week. For those who don't follow me on Instagram, I announced a few weeks back that I'm gonna be recording a weekly lessons segment and I'm gonna be posting that video onto my Instagram and gonna be sharing the audio onto the podcast as well. So stay tuned for that. There'll be shorter little segments, maybe a little 10 minute clip. And for today's one, for this week's lesson, it really came from probably, you know, a really emotional experience going to the funeral of my good friend Nathan Diabore, who passed away in March. And we finally got a chance to lay him to rest. Due to the COVID lockdowns, we weren't able to have his funeral. And being at that funeral really, you know, brought a lot of lessons into my life. I'll be honest, just losing Nath in general. And I wanted to, you know, record a clip that really detailed and outlined what the meaning of life was for me that came out of Nathan's death. I really felt like I learned a lot more about life when Nath passed. And really this was an Instagram live. I really just. This came through in the moment. Sunday evening, I just went live and I just wanted to share the audio on here in case you missed it. If you want to watch the video as well, check it out on Instagram. But this one was for Nathan. I really know that he's up there watching, listening. He's still with us in spirit. And I'm really grateful that I was able to learn lessons and be around him and call him a friend because he was a true, true, true legend when it came to embodying this wisdom that I'm speaking about. So enjoy this lesson, guys, and be sure to stay tuned. I got a bunch more exciting interviews to come through, so thanks again and enjoy the episode.

Welcome to the State Shifters Podcast, a show dedicated to helping you discover your true potential through connecting the mind, body and soul.

What's going on, guys? I wanted to come on here and do my weekly live segment around the lessons that I learned this week. And each week I sit down and reflect on the lessons that I've taken from the week that was. And this week has been an interesting one. And I wanted to share my lessons live because to be honest, like, usually prepare for this, and I sit down and set up my camera and record the lessons and think about it, but the lessons just. I want it to come through me live and share with whoever wants to Take part in my live chat. Thanks guys for joining me. So this week there's a big lesson. And this lesson came through me or came through a lot of people probably about three months ago, good friend of mine, Nathan Diabro, passed away all of a sudden in a motorbike accident. And this lesson that life had presented to me and a lot of people who are close with Nathan was something that really was a big wake up call for me. And the reason I'm talking about this now is because Nathan's funeral was Friday. And for anyone who was at the funeral or was close to Nathan, for me it was like a very sombering experience. I wanted to share what came through me or what I took from that experience. Being the first funeral of a close friend and getting to see a lot of people who I hadn't seen in a long time under circumstances that, you know, you don't expect to be brought back together. So Nathan was 26. He was the same age as me. He was about to turn 26. And he was on a very similar journey as me. And the reason why, you know, I felt so close and connected with Nathan was because we shared very similar values and very similar ways of being. And about this time last year, I know release my first online program and I gave that program away for free. And Nathan was with the first person who took part in that program. He was the first one on every single call. And me and him chatted in length and in depth about what the meaning of life was and what our purpose was here and how we could show up our best version of ourselves. So Nathan was going to be a big part of that expansion. So I thought, so my mind thought. And it's when our mind clings to the way we expect life should be, we have this expectation on what life should be. And when I got the phone call that Saturday night midway through March, after Nathan passed away, my expectation on plans and life got absolutely collapsed. And it was such a big shock to the system to know that we don't have any control over what's going on. We may think we do. Our mind likes to think we have control, but we don't. And Nate's passing was. It was a massive reminder for me that we are in control of nothing. And tomorrow isn't guaranteed. And it doesn't matter how much you meditate or how much you think you try to take care of your inner circumstances. Sometimes we have to surrender to the control that lives a grander plan beyond what our mind can vision. And at the funeral, I was reflecting on the. On Nate's life and what that meant to me. And I wanted to give a shout out to Julia and the other people who put together these hundred daily reminders taken from Nate's journal. And as I reflected on what life meant to me and what Nate's life.

Meant to me, it was.

It was something that brought me right back to the one thing that we all have and will ever have and is the present moment. And it's this moment right now. Whoever's joining me, take that in that this is the only moment we ever get. You know, the moment you're breathing right now. And we may look to the future.

Sometimes for our salvation.

Our mind likes to plan things for the future. And it likes to think once we get that job and the new car and we progress down the line, then life will take care of ourselves and we'll be happy. But if you can't find happiness and peace and appreciation and joy and acceptance for this moment right now, you'll never be able to find it. And ultimately, the reminder for me, when you lose a close friend who you never expect to be able to just evaporate from your world, when that happens, it brings you back to the only thing that matters and is right now. And sharing life with the people who you're closest with, it's being able to appreciate the simplest little things in your life and whatever that takes for you to slow down and appreciate the moment. That's been my lesson over the last few weeks especially, but particularly since my friend Nathan passed away, is really slowing down to express gratitude for just the fact of being alive, just the fact that you get to share life with friends and family who are still here. So my invitation is from that lesson is how can you start to bring more attention into this moment, into the only moment we have? And it so often gets overlooked because the mind likes to think the future is always going to be better. There's always the life is going to be better when we get more money, more house, more houses, whatever it is. But this moment, if you make it your number one priority, oftentimes what I've noticed, I've realized how much I'm not in the moment. And now that I'm prioritizing it, I'm starting to see all the subtle ways that my mind likes to dramatize, play out stories, think about what I got to do tomorrow or the next day. And it's through that shift in awareness when you decide to make the present moment your number one priority, that there's a Level of depth that you start to access as sort of like this. The dimension, the vertical dimension to life opens up. And for a lot of us, we're stuck in the horizontal dimension, which is time. We're bound by time. We're limited by time. And Nate's death, again, was a great reminder that we don't come here for time. We come here for lessons. We come here to learn very specific lessons. And those lessons can only be learned in the present moment. When we step out of the story of our mind, come into the present moment, and accept whatever it is that's going on, whatever our experience is, we can bring acceptance and awareness to that. Deeper lessons can be understood as a deeper dimension to living that's available. So I've chosen to make it a priority this week of how can I start to cultivate more presence, more awareness, more peace, more understanding, and just more acknowledgement for how simple life can be. And my mind has a tendency just over complicate everything. My mind tells me there's always so much to do. I gotta be in a rush. I gotta stay on top of all these different things. And it cuts me off from appreciating, enjoying sitting out at a park and hearing the wind blow or just watching the birds fly around. And it was in that moment where I was sitting watching my friend get buried in a Fremantle cemetery for people here in Western Australia. And I looked up and I saw the birds flying around. I saw the wind blowing in the leaves, and I felt the energy and the presence of that moment. And I knew that's what life's about. Life's about being in it. And I know, because I've read through Nate's hundred daily reminders that this is the way he lived as well. And I've realized after committing to that, that everything else that happens out there isn't really that important. Ultimately, it's. It's. It's the seriousness that starts to. To. To lose when you. When you prioritize the present moment. Because seriousness exists in the mind. The mind creates the fears, creates the worries, the doubts. All of a sudden, our job becomes so serious. The outside of the mind and when you're in the body, life is just flow. Life is. Life is connection. And it can become very easy. Life doesn't have to be hard. It can be super easy. And it's. The new wave is the new evolution of how we're going to live in alignment with the present moment. So some ways I've been doing that is, you know, because I've now noticed how out of alignment sometimes I am with the present moment. Meaning thinking, stuck in the thinking mind. And, you know, I'm someone who meditates a lot. I meditate like up to two hours sometimes every day. But that don't mean shit. You can meditate as much as you want, but if you get out of your meditation, you're back into thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, worrying about the future. What are you going to do next? You know, you're cut off from that deeper dimension to living. And that deeper dimension to living has a. Has a feeling. It has a feeling to it. It's like this, this vibrantly alive peace that starts to emanate through you. And, and from that place you get access to your purpose first and foremost. That is our purpose, to live from that place. Once you prioritize that place and you live from that place, what comes through you is something really unique. And it's unique to each and every one of us. And I believe it's our purpose here on earth in this expansion, this evolution to discover what that unique expression of life, nature, consciousness, God, what that unique expression is that's trying to come through you. It's our purpose to connect with that and allow that to come through. So it's such a beautiful thing because, you know, I'll be sitting out in nature and sometimes it takes me a little bit of attention and focus to slow my mind down, connect with nature. In those moments, what comes through is inspired action, something really creative, something that I've maybe forgotten about all of a sudden I want to express and put out. Oftentimes when I'm in conversations with people, I always find the right words to say. I don't have to think about saying the right thing. The right words will come when you're in that place. It's flow, it's guidance, it's alignment, it's pure creativity. And when you access it, your purpose comes from that place, through that place. So life has a roadmap for you, the universe has a roadmap for you. And it can't be discovered up here, it has to be from here. So when you prioritize slowing the mind, we start to tap into that place more frequently. And when you can tap into that place more frequently, the quality of what you do on an external level starts to raise. The energy behind what you do starts to raise. People start to pick up on the energy you're putting out. So I tell people, when I coach them, a lot of people who want to discover freedom, they want to leave their job and start their own business, and they get caught up in the doing before we can have what we want on an external level, focus on the being. Who are you being right now in your job, in your corporate job? Can you raise the quality of your being in the work that you do? And before you start to think about changing anything externally, change the internal verse. Because once the internal changes, all of a sudden you're going to find this deeper dimension to living that I'm speaking about. And it's from that place you might realize that there's something you're overlooking. There's something you're overlooking right now. If you think when you quit your job, when you find that new relationship or you travel, then you'll discover the meaning of life. No, the meaning of life is right now. So that was a big lesson. And I'm continuing to live from this place. And presence came through me probably about three, you know, I would say four years ago, when I was living, working in my corporate job as an accountant. And I was caught in the mind, the story around why this job sucked and I didn't like it. And life, this wasn't the life for me. And it wasn't until I created that inner shift and change what I did, but I changed how I did it, meaning I brought that dimension of presence into what I was doing. When I created that shift, I realized that nothing has to change externally. You can live from this place of peace and connection just by changing the quality of your doing. And it was when I made that shift, all of a sudden I had this calling. It was like a feeling, I would say it just like hovered around me that was like, it's time to leave this job. It's time to travel, time to go, time to go to Canada. And this feeling was just like something that for a little while my mom was like, nah, you shouldn't do that. You know, it's a risk. What if you can't find a job? What if you run out of money? You've got a good, comfortable job here. Don't quit. The mind comes in with all these stories of why you shouldn't follow this feeling. And whatever your story is, I invite you to, like, pay attention. Notice it. Notice the story, the limitation of why you can't take that expansive leap or do that scary thing you've been putting off. The only reason you haven't listened to this feeling yet is because you've been spending too much mind, too much time, or too much attention in the story. And this is the invitation with mindfulness and presence Is we're spending more time with the feeling we're spending more time with. What does that, what does that expression of unit of the universe want to make through you and learning to follow that? And I made that leap last year. I followed this feeling and it just pulled me out to Canada and took me on this amazing journey where life gave me a bunch of lessons that ultimately brought me to exactly where I wanted to be. But it required an element of connection with this present moment that I've been talking about. And this connection with the present moment brings something that I feel is all we need is two things. It's faith and trust. Faith that you're being guided by something greater than yourself, and trust that you'll be delivered exactly what you need. Faith in a higher power, faith in God, universe, energy, spirit, whatever it is you choose to believe in your higher faith. And then trust that when you follow that feeling, life will give you the people, places, and opportunities you need to express your highest calling. And you'll always be looked after. And if money is something you've, you've feared when it comes to taking these scary leaps, trust me when I say it. You know, I've had moments where I doubted, but I always got looked after. I never ran out of money. I was always given that next experience, the next person, the next thing that just said, here's the next breadcrumb on your journey. Fortune favors the brave. And to become or to develop or cultivate that courage, we must first prioritize this moment. Prioritize establishing your connection with the deeper truth of who you are beyond the mind. So some ways in which I want to give some practical ways in which you can do this. Now, oftentimes, routine is what dictates our day. If you, if you're working in a corporate job, routine is sort of what structures your day. When we first wake up in the morning, we into our habitual routine, whatever you've set up now, my invitation is start to bring routine, bring mindfulness into your routine so you don't have to change what you do. Like I said, we're not changing the routine. We're still getting up, we're making our water in the morning, we make our coffee, we maybe go do some yoga, we do our journaling, whatever it is that you're doing. But can you do that from a place of presence, mindfulness, and even the subtle elements of like prepping your coffee in the morning? Can you drink the coffee in presence? The little subtle movements, little subtle sounds, the taste, can you bring full attention to these little seemingly meaningless activities and start to discover a deeper dimension to living in these simple in between moments of life. Another example might be in your drive, in your commute. If you go to yoga. For me, I was going to yoga the other day and I'm like in a rush to get to yoga because I was running late to the class. I'm like, I've run to the class, get to yoga, but I miss that. The yoga, it can be found in the drive. Yoga can be found in the walk to the studio. So don't overlook those in between moments because that's where you embed the mindfulness. That's where you embed the deeper dimension to living. If you're rushing home to get to your meditation practice, then turn the drive, turn the walk or turn your setup into the meditation. Life is a meditation if you can allow it. And that's what I'm inviting you to do. How can we establish mindfulness into our everyday activities? You're driving, you're commuting, you're prepping your food, you're eating your food. Another one. If anyone love, I just love food. I love eating good quality food. So I thought why would I ever want to rush through the process of eating my favorite meals? Slow it right down and bring mindfulness into your eating. Turn off your TVs, put your phones down, turn the radios off. Eat mindfully, appreciate every bite. Allow these simple activities to connect you with a deeper part of yourself. And finally, use nature. Nature is the gateway, is a portal. There is something so sacred when you can sit out in nature and practice silencing in mind. Don't get me wrong, this may seem challenging if you have never done this stuff before. If you've never practiced mindfulness and present moment awareness before, you may found this challenging. The mind will be strong. Like if you, if you haven't practiced this, you. You may notice how inattentive you are. Like the mind will just get distracted very easily onto the next thought. This is the training, this is the training ground. Practice training your attention and bring it back to if you're out in nature, the sounds, what are you seeing? What does it feel like on the body? Bring your attention to your breath. Practice bringing your attention back to this moment. The more you do this, you do this for a week, I can guarantee it by the end of it, you'll be establishing a lot longer duration of gaps between your thinking and you start to notice this stuff. Start to notice the gaps between your thoughts. Can you maintain no thought for 10 seconds, 20 seconds. How long can you maintain your connection with the sounds of nature, the sounds of the birds, without judging, labeling, identifying what type of bird or tree it is? Just being this is a practice. You commit to this practice, life is going to change. Bring it back to the basics. The deeper dimension to life is found in the in between tasks, all the little things you do. So I invite you to maybe take stock on what is your level of presence right now. Like, if you start to think about how present am I throughout my day? Am I 5% present, my 2% present when I say present, like, are you there, here in this moment, not caught in thinking? Good question, Nicoletta. Why do I feel mindfulness is so important? Because I said there's a really, there's a really key distinction between meditation and mindfulness. Meditation is that practice that we dedicate to silencing the mind, connecting with the vertical dimension. And that practice is something we put aside. Like I said, I sometimes sit for an hour to an hour and a half and I enter this state of peace and connection and alignment. And that practice can have an amazing effect on the quality of your day, the energy you bring to your day. But more importantly, mindfulness is the level of presence you bring to the actual activities and actually learning to step out of the thinking and into the being, which creates a different energy, which is what I want to prioritize. Mindfulness as well as meditation. Don't overlook mindfulness. I'm sure a lot of people on here have meditation practices already of experience, meditation. But you don't have to know anything to be able to be mindful. It's just a matter of being present. And sharpening your attention is the most valuable asset you can bring to society today, is your attention. So if you think about it, the phones, TVs, everything's trying to pull our attention and we're not trained, our attention is not trained to be present right now. It's trained to get distracted by every little ding and bell and a whistle that goes off. So, so new training, training attention to be present, to be focused. And life is going to start to change, you know, bring a different energy. So just to recap this week, experienced Nathan's funeral, close friend passed away in March. It was a, it was an eye opening experience to be at the first funeral of a close friend. It brought a lot of lessons to me, it brought a lot of understandings and it brought me more connection with some really, really important people who are going through some big awakenings right now. And it ties right back into presence Mindfulness, the only thing that really matters in life is is this moment right now. If we can't enjoy this, then we're missing something. So thanks. Nicoletta, quick question from Miguel. From your experience, is there any less value to not practicing and. Or meditating daily? Yeah. But still making an integral part of your life. That's a. That's a really good question. Because the last couple of days, I didn't meditate. Like, I was just bringing more attention to being mindful and the little, little things that I was doing throughout my day. I noticed that, you know, my mind was actually really quiet. Whereas in the past, if I skipped a meditation or I didn't meditate and I hadn't incorporated mindfulness, my mind was very active. And I would notice that, you know, I would have less energy. Because your thoughts are energy, right? Every time you have a thought, that's energy used. Thought is the manifestation into the physical world. So thoughts are energy. If you can have less thoughts, you're conserving energy. You're going to have more creative life force coming through. So if you can combine meditation and daily mindfulness, then you're going to have a really, really powerful quality energy that you infuse into your doing, into your interactions with other people, and your level of creativity will go through the roof. So, yeah, good question, Miguel. I'm glad you asked that. I just want to acknowledge you guys. Yeah, you brought some attention and presence into being on this live with me. So whoever is on here and is experiencing is on this path as well. Just want to acknowledge you for that because this is the real work. And like I said, just prioritize right now because ultimately we're here to learn specific lessons. And ultimately, we don't know when it's our time to leave or we don't know when it's our time for friends and family to leave. So appreciate every moment you have with them. Thank them, express gratitude for the people in your life you love. And ultimately, life doesn't have to be complicated. We can make it simple. It doesn't have to be serious. It can be fun. And I'll leave it at that. Sunday. Sunday lessons. Coming to you live. Thanks so much, guys. You guys are amazing. Love you all and we'll be in touch soon. Take care. Bye. Hey, there we have it, guys.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode. And yeah, look, if you made it this far, cool. Here's my voice again in your ear. And I'm gonna make one more request for you is go ahead and subscribe. Leave a comment on the podcast page because I'm really putting a lot of focus and attention on getting this podcast out to more people because I know what I'm putting in here can serve and bring value to people and it would mean a lot if you got value from this to to leave some feedback and subscribe. So you stay up to date with what's coming up and as always, follow me on Instagram and love hearing from you. It's at State Shifters until the next episode. Guys, thank you so much and I appreciate you.