Kute Blackson – Let Life Lead You

Sometimes we're so attached to what we think we want and how we think things should be and who we think this person should be and how we think a relationship should be in that specific outcome that we don't realize that we are limiting the infinite possibilities. We're limiting the infinite ways that life could manifest and unfold and fulfill itself through us, in us and as us. And so in that attachment, in that force, we often don't realize that we're not open and we're not available. And so surrender, I think, is. Is an availability. It's an openness, it's a receptivity, but it's also the willingness to allow life to lead us, allow life to reveal itself to us, allow ourselves to be led and guided by the intelligence that is life, rather than constantly imposing our egoic will onto life.

Welcome to the mindtrax podcast with breakthrough ideas to live your best life possible and how to make it happen. I'm Paul Scheele, and today we'll be talking with Kute Blackson. Coot Blackson is an inspirational speaker, transformational teacher, and author of the Magic of Surrender. He's a member of the Transformational Leadership Council and has spoken at countless events around the world. Coot's mission is to awaken and inspire people to access their inner freedom, live authentically, and fulfill their true life's purpose.

Hello, Kut. Very good to be with you. Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Great pleasure. I loved your book Unsurrender. It was. It was a fun read. Lots of great storytelling, powerful ideas, and very inspirational. So thanks for writing. It looked like it was probably a labor of love or did you just crank it out over a couple of weeks?

I wish. I'm always jealous of the. The folks that just sit down and the whole thing flows. And he loved the writing process because I hate the writing process. So that's something I have to surrender to, you know, Kidd, this was not the book I thought I was going to write.

Oh, yes.

Was not the book I wanted to write. The truth is, I had all sorts of, you know, smart, clever ideas of, like, I sat down one day and I thought, oh, I'm gonna write a bestseller. I'm gonna write New York Times bestseller. You know, inspired by Jack and, you know, all the. All the folks. And I thought, I'm gonna write a New York Times bestseller.

What book would my publishers want? What book does my audience want? What book would people want? What book would, you know, build the brand? And I came up with all of these very clever ideas. Probably 50 to 100 ideas of interesting angles, interesting concepts. And the truth is, none of those books, none of those concepts felt authentic, and none of those felt I couldn't look you in the eyes with total integrity and stand behind it. They would just be nice marketing gimmicks.

Wonderful. What a cool insight. And what's wonderful about that, I really appreciate you authentically stating that, because such a powerful point is the difference between what's being ego driven, what's being soul driven. So sorry, please complete the story.

Yeah, no. And my ego wanted to write these books, and, you know, I looked at the books on the bestseller list and, like, the magic lot of tidying up. And so I'm not given an F. And I'm going to create something that's sexy like that. And the only word that. That was on this, like, whiteboard that felt.

Aligned with my soul, that I knew when I saw this word is the only. It had a light that was. There was the word surrender. And I thought, I don't know, writing about surrender, the people want to read about surrender. We run away from surrender. And so I had to.

Look at my resistance, face my own resistance to my own surrendering in life and surrender to the book that was energetically seeking to be written.

And it was in that process of surrendering and realizing I can lie to myself if I want, but the truth is, this is where the energy is. If I'm true, this is what I feel is seeking to come through. If I'm honest, this is the book that I felt was seeking to be written through me. And I looked at so much of my life and my childhood and my parents, and it just felt like, this has been. This is obvious. Like, this has been my life. This has been how I was born. This has been how my parents met. This has been. And everything kind of came together. And when I finally said yes, it was like things started flowing. Now, the writing process was still quite challenging, a real labor of love. But as challenging as it was.

I was able to move through my own resistances to the creative writing process because I felt it was real. I felt the calling, and that was the key for me.

I remember sitting down to write a book and having all kinds of promises of what would happen, and instead, here comes this bigger message. And it grabbed me by the throat and said, you're going to write about us right now. And that became a workshop. It became an integral part of all my stuff. And it was. It was fascinating that while I was headed in one direction, life was telling me to head in another direction. And what I love about that story is that you've demonstrated once again, we always teach best what we need to learn most. And there are some lessons in life that we're always going to be learning. We're always refining our ability to live more authentically, with integrity, more congruently. So kudos to you. Beautiful work. Yeah, it is the work of the soul. And I would like to get into that distinction. You know, this idea of surrendering leading to a significant amount of magic. You said surrender and trust equals magic. Control and resistance equals suffering. And the other thing that's really beautiful about that statement, first of all, we're going to need to define surrender, trust and magic a little bit. But this idea that suffering is.

The signpost that lets us know that it's time to start surrendering, we'll get to that in just a bit. Give me a little bit more. In terms of the definition of trust and surrender. What I've always taught was open mind, open heart, open will, open connection to Source. But when we let go of our egoic will to trust Source, it is an act of trust and surrender.

Yeah, it really is. You know, I think in our culture we have this kind of misconception of surrender, like as. As like weak and passive and giving up and, you know, waving the white flag that you're going to be left behind, that if you surrender, you. You're going to get less in life. You won't manifest your goals, dreams and desires. And what really, what I want people to consider is that in true surrender, like, what if you didn't get less, but you, you got more. That surrender is the key that unlocks the infinite possibilities that we're not even able to see and visualize with our own egoic, limited perspective and conditioning and identities. And so for me, part of surrender is a letting go of.

I was going to say control, but let's. The illusion of control, especially controlling the things that we don't have control over. Surrender is when we stop trying to force and manipulate life to fit our limited idea of how we think it should be based on our conditioning. And it's a willingness to, I think, let go of the idea of who we think we should be, how we think life should be, so that we can be open. Is that openness is that availability?

Well, one of the things that you said is that surrendering creates space. And that's one of the. This sense of expansiveness, of, yes, possibility, and as you said, of power, peace, freedom, love, miracles. Without surrendering to what else is trying to reach us? Our good has an awful hard time getting to us.

Yeah, sometimes we're just so attached to.

Our goals.

Ego goals, many times. Sometimes we're so attached to what we think we want and how we think things should be and who we think this person should be and how we think a relationship should be in that specific outcome that we don't realize that we are limiting the infinite possibilities. We're limiting the infinite ways that life can manifest and unfold and fulfill itself through us, in us and as us. And so.

In that attachment, in that force, we often don't realize that we're not open and we're not available. And so surrender, I think, is. Is an availability, it's an openness, it's a receptivity, but it's also the willingness to allow life to lead us, allow life to reveal itself to us, allow life to allow ourselves to be led and guided by the intelligence that is life, rather than constantly imposing our egoic will onto life. And so I think that's. That's a difference is to allow life to show us, you know, and I think if we are willing to be available and open, life has an intelligence. Life has been around for billions, you know, eternity.

And I think it brought us here, right?

It brought us here, it unfolded us, it was breathing us, functioning us, you know, digesting our food. Trillions and trillions and trillions of processes are happening in spite of us. And without our conscious control, it's just unfolding. And. And so I think if we are willing to just be open and available, we don't put limits on life. And. And what I found is you start feeling that, that in the quietness, in the availability, life has a flow. There is. There is a natural flow to life that sometimes feels very subtle, but if we bring ourselves into relationship with that, it has a flow like, oh, you start feeling.

Something'S moving this way.

And that's also going to be one of those good discerning moments that will help us understand the difference between the progress that we're making through sheer determination of willpower by trying to predict and control the outcomes of our lives versus really sensing and responding what's more open, what's a little lighter, what's a little freer? So really, I really appreciate the stories that you tell to give your own personal examples, but then also historical figures in the way that they also found what life was trying to do. And, you know, so often what happens is people you and I work with as clients.

They have goals.

Yeah.

They know what they're trying to do, but for some reason, they just keep sabotaging it. Just something's not working, the circumstances aren't right. And a lot of times there is. People give up on their goal. And what I've been taught through teachers that I've studied with is that once a goal lands on us, we already have within us what's needed to be able to achieve it. But what we have to do is we have to contact source, or as one teacher said, the pure imaginal realm, that realm of all possibility, and let it tell you how it's going to happen. Not what it is necessarily, but how. There was a great story you told about doing a surrender trip. You just visited your father, you're at the airport, you're going to go on a surrender trip. And the way in which you argued with life over and over and over again was really key. Can you describe some of those insights and how you learned to listen to life?

Yeah, you talk about the trip where I just traveled around the world and yeah, basically showed up in a nutshell without giving the whole story. But. But I showed up at the airport and I had seven days and I just decided to literally not plan anything and see what would happen if for seven days I just said yes and followed the, the deep, authentic guidance of my soul. Yeah. And without questioning, because the many times we are. What I found is the, the nudging of our soul doesn't always come in a loud siren bell like turn left, turn right. Sometimes it's just the gentle nudging or the gentle whisper or a small signal, but often we're not pay attention, paying attention. And so for seven days I literally, I showed up at LAX and my mind wanted me to go to a few different locations, but none of them again felt right. And I remember going to the Thai air counter and I had just come back from Asia. I had just returned from Asia, just done an event in Bali, and two days ago just returned. And the last thing I wanted to do was go back to Asia. And all I knew was the nudging, that subtle nudging that was arising from more than my strategy or logic was telling me.

This direction, which was go back to Asia, get on a plane and go to Thailand. I end up in Thailand, long story short, expecting to get clear, specific direction. And again, I don't have clear direction, but all I got was a nudging, go to Bali. I ended up in Bali wondering, what the hell am I doing in Bali? I was just in Bali for Two days walking around. And I went to my. I was about to go to my favorite restaurant in Bali, in Ubud, and the nudging said, no, no, don't go here. Go to this vegan restaurant. I'm like, I'm not vegan. I don't want to go to a vegan restaurant. But the nudging was there. A subtle sense. I end up in this restaurant. It's full, two tables, one small table, one big table. They put me at the big table. And I'm sitting there going, you know what? I'm not moving until I get some. Some guidance, like I could. I'm not going to, like, do something. I'm just going to be. And allow myself to. And.

It was crazy. In through the door walks a man who I had been. I'd given up at this point, but I had been trying to meet, like, 10 years ago, for five years, trying to track this media mogul down because people said, you got to work together. You got to work with him. You're going to work with him. There's things you have to do. And I had sent him letters. I had harassed his assistants. I had knocked on his office doors. Nothing. I had. I had exhausted my ego's capacity to make it happen, and I gave up. And this was like five, seven, six years later, in the middle of the jungle in Bali, in walks this man all of a sudden. And I'm about to, like, jump up and speak to him. No, just. Just allow. Okay. So I'm just listening. And I think part of surrender is the willingness to listen and be available. So I'm listening. I'm guided not to approach him. All of a sudden, a woman walks up to the table, and she says, can I sit here with my friend? I say, sure. It's big enough. Just so happens, I was at this big table. And she sits down. She invites her friend. Sure enough, the man who I saw, who I'd been trying to connect with years ago, is her very close friend. Sits down. They start talking. She sits on my left. He sits on my right. We strike up a conversation, and he asked me, so what are you doing in Bali? And I say, I'm not exactly sure because I was here two days ago, and I was guided back, and I ended up at this table somehow. And here I am. And we start talking. He opens up. I open up, and he looks at me and he says, look, I need to go now. But we met for a reason. And he says to me, it's God's plan. That's It. We exchange information and so, you know, life unfolds of living.

No, I want. There are a couple of things I really love about this story. One is how incredulous you were. Like, the nudging is putting me where. First of all, that's, that's really.

I was fighting a bit. I was fighting a bit.

Yeah. And. And that was good. I love that about this whole interaction because when we're getting the signals, like, it's like Moses right in front of the burning bush. Like, me, you talking to me. There's no way I'm gonna. You don't know who I am. This is not happening. But then, but then there is a nudge. And you say nudge and you used two words. You said the nudge said to me, now I want to know. I kind of want to, like, untangle that just a little bit. How does that feel? And what does that sound like?

It's. For me, it's a subtle sense.

Right?

It's a subtle sense in that sense.

And I get that it's going to be different.

Yeah, it's going to be different from a person to person. But it was a. A subtle sense that I wasn't making up. It was like, oh, I really want this thing to happen. It was like, I actually don't want this thing to happen, but I feel something.

Taking this path going right. I actually want to go left.

Was it a sense of expansion and contraction? What is.

Was a sense in the body? Yeah, a sensation in the body. And, you know, like, if you're standing in a stream and it's flowing in a direction, it kind of felt like that. It's. Something is kind of like, huh. I feel like.

If I were to give words to it, it's like, go to Bali. But it's not really in words. It's the sense of Bali logically. And so here's one thing I had to learn, and I think this is important, I had to learn through the years to stop questioning that sense. And everything shifted when I stopped trying to understand, figure out, analyze, and question it. And I just. When I felt. Feel this sense, it's like, I don't understand why many times what you're guided to do won't make sense to your mind because it's not arising from the mind. It's arising from an infinite dimension of possibilities.

Yeah.

And. And, And I would just invite people, follow it. Don't question. Turn left. I just turn left. Turn right. I just turn right. Go straight. Just go straight. Pick up the phone. Call Paul. Pick up the phone call, Paul. Because I think often we end up blocking that flow in the constant need to understand and the need to know, which is another form of control, ego strategy of control. And so I think when. Things will often end up making sense after the fact, after the manifestation.

Right. Hindsight, yeah. Super easy to see. Well, this was the only way it could have happened. When we're in the middle of it. Right. Standing and turning and trying to move upstream feels different than taking a step downstream. What I wonder is what is the practice for you of being able to listen to those subtle messages, to feel those subtler nudges? And what would you offer to our listeners of what they could do as a practice?

Yeah, I would just first tell people like, you don't have to know where you're going in order to get to exactly where you need to be. And trust that there is. There's something inside of you that knows. There's something inside of you that is intelligent, that knows. And so embrace the unknown. Because I think when you live your life from that place, your manifestation is not limited to your experience, your past, your personality, your conditioning. You're stepping into, into a way of creating that is open, is available. One practice is, is just sitting and asking a question like.

What is it that life is seeking to express through me? Nice. And just sitting with that, not, not even asking what do I want? I mean, that's one level of a question. But many times we ask that question, the answer comes from the level of the mind. The mind itself is conditioned. And sometimes we get what we thought we wanted only to realize that what we thought we wanted is just what we thought we wanted based on who we thought we. And, and, and, and sometimes the goals can be projection of unmet needs.

And so, yeah, and, and there is a neediness in that word, want, wanting, right?

Yes. And so just, just even asking the question of, okay, what, what is life? What is the divine? What is God? What is, what is my soul? What is, what is the universe? What is life seeking to express through me? And what is the deepest impulse of what life is seeking to express? And for me, just sitting with the question and becoming still and making myself just available in that availability, listening in that availability, just listening. And I found that to be really.

As a practice, really helpful.

Listening and feeling.

Listening, listening, listening, feeling, not questioning and acting. And that's for me, on one level, it's simple. Because if I don't need to know where I'm going and I don't need to know why something is. And just trusting that then there's a. There's a certain innocence in that.

Right.

The innocence is a good one. Because I remember each of my kids would get to a point where they are. No. No longer innocently following, but asking, well, why?

Why, why, why?

And I'd look at them and say, it's. There's only one answer to why, and it's the word because.

I don't have any other explanation. But life is that way, right?

Yeah.

So when you do find yourself arguing, is there a signal there.

About the resistance that you're in a place of resisting? And is there something after the resistance is clear that you could do to help move things along.

If there's.

Well, first, you know, what I've learned to do with the resistance is acknowledge the resistance. Because I think many times we hear the concept of, let's say, surrender or letting go, and we have sometimes an ideal notion of, well, I shouldn't have resistance. And the more we sometimes resist resistance, the more resistance stays stuck. And often it's our own ego, our perceived sense of self, that resists. And I think resistance is natural. Resistance is okay. You know, the ego's job is to reinforce its existence and protect us from getting hurt again, like maybe we were hurt when we were younger. And so resistance is a form and an activity of ego seeking to reinforce itself and protect us from getting hurt. So even that resistance can mean well. And so what I had to do was understand.

That underlying even that behavior of resistance, the intention is positive. And so for me, the ability to see that and shift my relationship with the resistance. And rather than resist it, you know, sometimes part of surrender is surrendering and embracing and welcoming the resistance and just being with, okay, I see this resistance. I welcome this resistance, you know, and, and thank you. Resistance and understanding. Underlying that resistance is just the part of me that is maybe afraid, a little nervous, anxious, and, and, and rather than just overriding it or doing a bypass like holding it and say, okay, I'm afraid and it's okay. Thank. Thank you. And so just that way of relating to my own resistance with gentleness and. And holding, holding that aspect of myself that is resistance, meeting it with compassion and loving, I found.

Helps the resisting in me, that resistant aspect, to relax. So it's not like a forcing or pushing or resisting in a certain sense. It's a total acceptance of the resistance that allows the relaxation of the resistance and just being with it, you know, and that really helps.

Especially powerful in your book was trying to help the reader understand that you're alive. You have an ego. You're not going to kill the ego. You're not going to get rid of it. Look, it's a protector.

Yes.

It's helping you. So when you welcome it and as you say several places in your book, if you say, what is this pattern or what is this feeling here? To remind me of or to show me or to help me to get past it. And very often when I work with clients, they'll say that part of you is trying to be a protector, is you've been doing battle with that for decades. There's a war going on inside of you. Why don't you ask it what it wants? Yeah. And what does it need? And when you can provide no longer has a need for being there so powerfully you go on to talk about story. If you woke up in a hospital room and you had no memory and someone came and told you everything about your life, what was the one thing you would know is that I am. I exist. Everything else is a story. So if you could talk about why it's so important for our growth and development to a higher level that we try to unravel some of those stories that may have us instead of recognizing, this is a story that I have.

Yeah, I think when we're locked in our Personas and identities and roles and stories.

We'Re limited. And we really believe ourselves to be with the role, the story. We really believe ourselves to be that Persona. And the degree to which we are conditioned inside of that is the degree to which we are not free. The degree to which we're conditioned inside of that and believe those stories, we live in a prison of that limitation that we actually don't have.

Free will to choose. You know, we're just repeating the same dynamics, repeating the same stories, repeating the same actions based on the sense of identification. And so I think why it's important is the ability to free ourselves. The ability to connect more deeply with who we truly are without authentic nature, with our truth, with our authentic feelings. And as we connect with who we truly are versus the limitation of our stories and conditioning, then we have the, I think the ability to really be present in the moment. The ability to really be in the moment and meet the moment fully and freshly versus projecting onto the moment the past stories and the past conditioning. And so I think it's important for us to be free. The freedom aspect is. Is really key.

You know, one of the distinctions you're making here right now is that when somebody is saying, well, the reason I Don't want to be. My authentic self is. Because my authentic self is unworthy. And it's difficult for someone to see that. No, no, no, no, no. Your authentic self is magnificent. There's greatness in you. There's purpose, there's presence, there's divine nature in you. But because they don't recognize that their sense of unworthiness is a story, how do you get underneath that? Now, I saw it over and over again in the stories you told of working with clients. So I think the reader of the book is going to get a hint of that. Yeah. But if you could. If you could help explain how to get underneath the story enough to see the. Whatever you think about yourself as being less than insufficient in some way unworthy in some way to see that your true essence is magnificent.

Yeah, look, I think our true essence is. It's always been.

If you look at a child, I think we were all born whole, perfect and complete. If you look at a child, the child is free. We were all in touch with that. It's how we. We incarnated into this existence. We were free. We didn't have so much of a story about ourselves. We would sing, run naked, you know, we didn't have the story that I'm not enough and I'm not beautiful and I'm not lovable. Maybe as children, we incarnated in this human experience. We met our parents. And based on the experience with our parents, maybe dad was an alcoholic, maybe mom, you know, was unable to meet our emotional needs. Maybe mom or dad left. And based on. Based on the experiences that occurred, let's say dad left. So we made up a certain meaning and interpretation of that experience to mean.

I'm not lovable, I'm not worthy of love. If I was worthy of love, he wouldn't have left. And that was a meaning. It's not necessarily reality, but that was a meaning that we made up in that moment. Being very young, having limited understanding of perception and ability to determine reality. That was a meaning we may have made up, often unconsciously, based on that moment to try to make sense of the world that we held on to, didn't even think about. But it became so ingrained as a story inside of ourselves that as far as we knew in that moment, at that young age, it was reality. I'm not enough. I'm not lovable. I'm not worthy.

And then mind goes about finding evidence of that wherever we turn. Right.

Then we go into our light, looking through that perceptual lens and filter, believing this is who we are. I'm not worthy. And so based on that, we resonate. We vibrate in our body, nervous system, our mind, our subconscious, seeking, attracting, you know, being attracted to people that can prove that story to be true. Based on our type, what we're attracted to, who we want to be with, we want. We want to spend time with. And as you mentioned, now we get to say, see, it's true. I'm not worthy because Paul left me. Coot didn't love me, Coot didn't call me back. And so then that story and identity gets even more reinforced for us as we collect more evidence based on our limited story. And so what we have to really be willing to do is question those stories. Challenges. Most of the time we don't question those stories, like, because we think those stories are reality. Like, I'm actually not lovable. And so, you know, I think we have to be willing to question those stories and ask ourselves, well, is that fact and is it true? Like, here is a cup.

This is a cup, the white cup. It's here. This is, to a degree, a fat. But if, If I were to ask someone listening.

Can you show me unlovable? Like. Like is like, unlovable is not a fact. Like, I'm a man. That's a fact. But unlovable is not a fact. It is a story. It's a perception. And so I think we have to be willing to question ourselves. Is this true? Is it a fact? Is. Is it real? But the stories often get so ingrained as an identity that it feels real, but it's not. But I think for our own sense of identity, our own sense of ego, you know, ego being that.

Perceived sense that. That what we perceive ourselves to be, that we hold on to for a sense of safety, security, right? It can be actually scary, I think, to change. It can be a little scary to question ourselves. Because if we believe ourselves to be not enough and that's who we believe ourselves to be, to actually question, is that true? Is that what I really am? No, it's who I am.

I'm not enough.

And I have so much evidence based on that that at least I know myself to be that. And even though it's painful, at least I'm safe in that knowing. Even though it causes me suffering, at least I know this is what I am. And at least I know the suffering that. That causes this to a degree, as crazy as it sounds, manageable. And so to actually question who we believe ourselves to be for our ego can feel like A death. And that's often why we resist, even, I think, changing and resist questioning the stories and the beliefs, because it. It's scary to. To die, so to speak, to who we believe ourselves to be.

Yes. I love that. And le Petit more. The orgasm is that little death or in meditation. My teacher always said that when you practice meditation, you're practicing the moment of your own death. Because you're saying, whatever lens I've been looking through is now over here. And you're just being. You're in a state of being. And that's one thing we can absolutely know.

We exist.

Yep.

I am just. And everything that you follow, that I am with.

Could be another story. And as long as that is the case, why not say, I am joy. I am peace. I am lovable. And to ask the question, why am I enough? Why am I so sufficient? Why am I so lovable? And then begin collecting evidence for that powerful way to get underneath it. Now, this is a key piece.

In what you're talking about, in the magic of surrender. Magic is the nature of the miraculous life that we are leading. And we can't really fully receive that magic, the. The miracles that are available to us until we trust, until we surrender, until we let go, until we know without any question that not only is everything going to be okay, but everything is okay right now. So when you help people to move to that.

That place of recognizing the perfection within, the imperfection, like this thing, your client doesn't want, doesn't like it, this is the way it is. I don't want it this way. You help people embrace that this is also perfect. What would you recommend to somebody who's listening that is recognizing there's something in their life they don't see as perfect. But you come to them, you immediately see the perfection in it. How can they open to the magic that's available to them right here, right now?

For me, it's about the willingness to embrace wherever you're at. That's part of surrender and the willingness to welcome whatever is happening. And so I never go and try to say, oh, this is perfect, and let me convince you why it's perfect. But I think just to even be with someone.

Because what's important is not what you say, but it's the energy and the presence and the intention. And so just to be with someone in the compassionate embrace of where they're at, and to meet them where they're at, and to provide the.

Loving space of compassion and acceptance for their process. Surrender, on some level, is a Death. So when a goal or dream doesn't happen, there is a, it's a kind of death of an idea, a death of how you thought things were going to be. And so I think in any true, authentic open hearted surrender requires the willingness to honor the grieving, to honor the grieving and allow yourself to fully grieve. And I think one of the reasons we're not able to truly let go is because maybe we're trying to get to the perfection too quickly. Trying which can even be a spiritual bypass of everything's God, everything's, everything's perfect, everything. And so I think it's about allowing ourselves to honor our humanity and grieve the loss, grieve the thing not working out, grieve the frustration, the pain, the heartbreak and honor that and allow those feelings to move, to move through. And I think once we do that and we're able to let go not from the mind, but were able to release some of that pain and the resistance as well. And I think in that true grieving process we're able to naturally come to a place of openness and availability to the next step. But sometimes we won't be able to see the perfection of why something isn't so while we're in it. Because from the perspective of the ego, what might seem like a disaster from the perfection of the, from the lens of the soul is a perfect unfolding. But when we're in it, we're not able to see it, you know. And so I think often it's after the fact that we're able to see it. And so I think it's okay to honor the process we're in to allow ourselves the process of grieving so that we can authentically come out the other side. And so I think one of the like to me, acceptance of something like it is what it is, is not true. Surrender, you can accept what something is like, okay, my, this is what it is, this didn't work out. But that doesn't mean you've truly let it go. That doesn't mean your true, your heart is truly open. Surrender is the open hearted embrace, the open hearted embrace and participation of what is happening. Not because someone is thinking about it, but because your heart is open. And I think the process of allowing the grieving is what allows the energetic, emotional, psychological, you know, physical letting go to happen so that we can embrace it. I think when things don't go according to plan, one thing people can practice is the grieving and allowing that, but also to, to, to cultivate the spirit of curiosity. Because often when things don't go according to plan, we collapse, we contract, we resist, we judge, we feel cursed. Right.

And.

And all we. Sometimes we're a little quick to try to make meaning out of what this means. And in that meaning, we actually limit the universe again. Because sometimes that attempt to make meaning is a limitation.

Where we're actually not truly available in the curiosity to allow life. Okay, life, show me, show me what's next. Show me, like, show me what this means. And so that curiosity, the curiosity is the state of being, I think, where you say, you know, I actually don't know why this happened. I actually don't know why this didn't happen. And I'm not going to try to, like, project a meaning onto it. I'm just going to be available to life, showing me. And I think when we look at the best things in our life, many of the best things.

We didn't plan. They. They unfolded in the process of living. They happen.

They really do. And there is a flow. When you're in it, you know it. And if you're struggling, it's a good time to pause.

Yes.

And do some inquiry. I love that.

How would you help call someone to recognize their greatness?

To me, greatness isn't because of what you do. Greatness isn't because of how much money you have or your status or your position. I think first and foremost, greatness is just your existence. Greatness is based on the fact that you exist, that you've incarnated into the human form. And what we are essentially beyond this physical body is.

Consciousness, divine essence. And to me, that essential nature of what we are, which we often forget.

That is great. You know, what is living and breathing us like? What is living and breathing us? An energy, whatever label. God, divine energy, I don't care what people call it. But there is something that is listening and there's something that is looking out of those eyes and something that is listening to this conversation. And there is that which is.

Functioning trillions and trillions and trillions of processes inside of each and every one of us right now. That is great. As human beings, we have all. We all have a story. And we have all, as human beings, been through trauma and pain and dysfunction and challenges with our parents and many of us listening right now. Many of us shouldn't even be here. Many of us, we've been through so much stuff. The fact that we can wake up.

And function and smile and be kind and care, let alone reach for the light, let alone Reach for that next level is in and of itself a miracle. And so I think sometimes we forget, you know, the. The amazingness of our human spirit and amazingness of what we are. And so to be human, you know, with. With all of its.

Risks and heartbreaks and death and pain and challenges and, you know, vulnerabilities of what it is to be human and to live with it like. Like a heart open.

I mean, it's risky, man. And, And. And to the fact that we are here alive and we show up every day and we try. To me, this is great.

Yeah. Yeah. There is a. There is a power in the idea of recognizing the greatness of just being right now. In the same way that you talk about recognizing the miracles that exist for you right now. This heartbeat, this breath that breathes you without you having to think about miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle. It's all miracles.

Yes.

You are great.

Thank you so much for your inspiring ideas, the power of your presence in the lives of so many millions of people in the world, and thanks especially being here with me. I appreciate it. Appreciate you peace and blessings.

I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Coot Blackson. You can learn more about koot@kootblackson.com. that's K-U T E B L A C K S O-N.com and now in the second part of the podcast, it's just you and me. I'll tell you how to use the paralliminal sessions in the MindTrax app to easily handle obstacles and move toward the success you want. If you're new to the relaxing parallel audio sessions, they use breakthrough technologies to activate your whole mind in only 20 minutes to help improve any area of your life. Let's get going.

Foreign.

Welcome back. I'm excited to be with you and share some cool takeaways that I had from my fabulous time with Coot Blackson, the author of the book the Magic of Surrender. Finding the courage to let go. It was a wonderful time. He's an inspiring spiritual teacher, brilliant consultant, and a really compassionate and authentic human being. Sharing from the heart, it was. It was a real joy for me to have my dialogue with. I'm glad that you could join in. My takeaways come in four different areas. There were a lot. As you could tell, I was pretty enthusiastic about the things he was sharing. But the four that I'd like to talk about are surrender, getting beyond the need for control, getting into the flow of life, and then the concept of greatness. Now, through the use of paralympical Technology, we can access a profound number of resources within you that can help you in each one of these four areas. Like to go through them and some of the thoughts that I had about it. Now, the concept of surrender is obviously at the heart of everything that Koot and I were talking about and the redefinition of surrender, what it means and why it's so important and how it leads to an expansion of all kinds of possibility and literally miracles in areas of your life where you may have thought there's not a chance to have a shift of any kind. So surrender is at the heart of it. And some of the paralyminals that may help get you on to surrendering at deeper levels for yourself include letting go. That's a para liminal that I did with Hale Dwaskin, who with the Sedona method really shows what he calls a triple welcoming. It's a concept that Coot referred to as just welcoming the feelings. Now, I spent a lot of time with Hale as well as a.

Teacher of mine named Arnold Patton, who really looks at how important it is to feel what it is we're feeling.

To just welcome it. If we don't want to feel it, we resist it. We get stuck in a loop or a pattern, as Koot talks about it, that ends up just repeating itself over and over again. Life is a classroom. We're here to get the lesson. If we don't get the lesson, we keep repeating the lesson until we get it. And sometimes we get stuck in patterns. And the only way is to first move beyond resistance or surrender our resistance to it. Another one. Gratitude. So important. Ku talks about in his book the idea of recognizing the miraculous nature of everything. It's not mundane. The fact that you're alive is miraculous. Everything about your life is miraculous. So gratitude helps you focus on the great and small, small things for which you can be thankful. But more important that recognizing the great fullness of your life. An important idea.

The other area I wanted to talk about was getting beyond the need for control. Because when we're trying to predict and control our life.

Realize at some point we've got to surrender that. But it's more than just surrendering control. It's being able to move beyond the need for control, especially in the areas, as Coot referred to, that we get wounded, we get hurt. Life situations can be very troubling. It could come crashing down around us. It's called the New History Generator, where we can actually see life as it has happened, see it in a number of different ways. And then see it from a higher perspective that allows us to plot a trajectory to a future we truly desire to create.

Sometimes we need to just embrace the way things actually are. As he referred to the idea of being able to grieve the the situations that were troubling for us and in a compassionate way see that there are other ways of viewing what's happened and being able to see the perf perfect nature of how things are flowing along. That there are no mistakes that have happened. And our mistakes or failures of our past don't have to define how our future is going to unfold. So new history generator is cool on the second session. The, the B session of that is called the the mental review of each day. So you can get in touch with what worked, what didn't, how you'd like it to go. So on a daily basis we're trying to live in a daytight compartment. This day is complete now we're living this day. And when this day is complete we can be finished with it and move on to what's trying to emerge as your highest expression in this life.

That gets us to the flow of life. I had mentioned the intuition.

Earlier. The idea of being in touch with our intuition. And when we are flowing with our intuition.

Things flow more effectively. As Coot talked about that nudge, what is your nudge look sound or feel like? What does it sound like when he said I felt the nudge like there is a flow of a river and if I turn this way it's easier, when I turn that way it seems to be more struggle. Intuition amplifier can help you identify how that subtle communication takes place and assist you in getting into the flow of life. And the final area is this idea of greatness. He referred to it quite a bit. Greatness in my estimation has a number of important components to it. And if you can accept coots proposition that by the very nature of your existence there is greatness who you are at your essence, the fact that you're alive, that you made it into this expression. You are here to deliver gifts and talents into the world and to really help reinforce this idea or open you to this idea. If you don't believe it. Self love paralliminal tops a list. It's so cool finding yourself which really helps you get in touch with that divine nature, that purpose that you're born into life, to live into.

Self actualization which is to transcend your stories about insufficiency and to recognize not only are you by nature of the fact that you're listening to me and participating right now. You are a self actualizing individual. You're also really transcending. You are a self transcendent individual moving beyond the limitations of the world that has raised you up until now and stepping into the greatness that is yours to express.

I hope that you go out and seek and create the miracles and abundance that is available to you as you let go. As you surrender, you find the courage within you to do so. You'll be opening the floodgates of the universe's great gifts to you. Peace and blessings. All the best. Bye for now.

Thank you for joining me today. I applaud your willingness to maximize your potential. You can easily use the parallel audio sessions in the MindTrax app to stimulate your non conscious mind, I.e. your inner mind, to reduce any resistance in your life and to propel you toward the success you want. Visit mindtrax.com to learn more. These amazing audio tools have helped millions and I encourage you to bring them into your world today. Be sure to be back for more episodes of the mindtrax podcast. You'll find insightful conversations with authors, experts and thought leaders all devoted to improving your life's experience. Thank you again for being here on our MindTrax podcast.