Teal Swan

Masturbation is a natural inclination when we are manifested in physical bodies because it is natural to be drawn to things that induce a sensation of pleasure. This is why children naturally begin to experiment with masturbation at a young age. But many of us alive today have been shamed for it. We were raised to believe that masturbation was immoral, evil, wrong, or an embarrassment. And many people, including spiritual teachers believe that masturbation is spiritually detrimental. So which is it? Is masturbation bad or good? The answer is like any tool; it can be both. So it all comes down to the conscious and subconscious intentions of the wielder.

Marriage is not just the act of two people making their relationship public and permanent. It is the promise which two people make to each other to enter into a bond which will constantly require growth from both parties in order to stay intact. For many reasons, marriage in this day and age is increasingly cut short by divorce. Couples often venture into marriage with the illusion that their relationship and feelings for each other will never change. But relationships are a dynamic, mutable force. And loving someone is something we learn to do. It is something we must practice. Here are eight ways to help ensure that you and your partner will experience not just an enduring relationship, but a thriving relationship as well.

Many of us, who are really suffering do not realize that it is because we feel completely out of control. Some of our biggest triggers are in fact the result of this feeling. Even things we would not at face value think are about this. For example, people forming negative opinions about us. If someone has made their mind up about us and we can’t change the way they are thinking about us because they can’t be reasoned with… What is upsetting us in this situation is that we are completely out of control. First and foremost, we have to ask ourselves honestly “What is so bad about being out of control?” We may find that being out of control means that someone or something else is in control. This is all well and good if we trust that someone or something. But if our life experience has taught us to distrust others and distrust the universe at large (because we have been hurt over and over again), being out of control can mean to us that we are going to get hurt at the very least and that we may just be in a fight for our very survival. Can you imagine the terror of your survival being in the hands of someone who does not have your best interests at heart?

In this episode, Teal provides an exercise that causes us to see our lives objectively enough that we can discover the kind of changes we need to make to our life in order to live a fulfilling life.

Why do I use the word addiction? Because we can use comfort to cover over something we are trying to avoid, we develop a dependence on it to the point that if it is taken away, we have extreme reactions to it as if we were in withdrawal, we limit ourselves and our lives while inside our comfort zone and yet we continue to stay in it even when we know it is harming us. This is in fact the criteria for an addiction.

In this episode, Teal demonstrates an exercise, which is part of the voice dialogue therapy technique. This judgment exercise enables us to use our judgments and prejudices to discover the aspects within us that have been suppressed and denied.

Envy is the emotion that occurs when we experience an extreme desire for something that someone else has, whether it is a quality, achievement or possession but we don’t think we can have it. Jealousy is the emotion that occurs when we anticipate or feel the loss of something of great value to us, whether it be a quality, achievement or possession. In other words, one exists when we wish to keep what we have and the other occurs when we want to get what we don’t have and in either case, feel powerless to do so. Why do these emotional states feel so similar (similar enough to be confused as one another)?

Having the truth allows us to have cognitive closure. It makes us feel more secure. It makes order out of chaos and meaning out of meaninglessness. So, as people, we are likely to arrive at what we think is a truth and hold onto it for dear life. The problem is that we do not realize that the most objective truth is that truth itself is subjective. If I live in the projects, my truth is “You have to work hard for money”. This is not the same truth for someone who is born into a trust fund. So what is the truth? Do people have to work hard for money or does money come easy?

A great many people, especially those who identify with new age spirituality and/ or the hippie movement, neither commit nor take responsibility and confuse that with freedom.

For thousands of years, duality within the universe has been like a war. Good versus evil; both sides unwilling to see itself in the other. If you are reading this article, chances are you identify more with being part of the side we call ‘good’. For thousands of years the approach that the ‘good’ took towards the ‘bad’ was that it needed to save itself from the bad. The approach it took was to separate itself from and protect itself from the bad. All the focus was placed on how to be good. If you read many of these old scripts, like the Bible, which were translated through the limited understanding of the human mind at that time, it paints the picture that there needs to be a power struggle between good and evil. It tells you how to be on one side, by separating yourself from the other.