CHAPTER ELEVEN
PRUNE AWAY THE HABIT OF BEING YOURSELF
(Week Two)
During Week Two, it’s time to add three steps in pruning away the habit of
being yourself: recognizing, then admitting and declaring, followed by
surrendering. First, read through all these steps and answer the related
questions. Then devote at least a week to daily meditation sessions in which
you first go into induction, then move through the three steps. Of course, if you
need more than one week to feel competent at all this, that’s fine.
STEP 2: RECOGNIZING
Recognizing: Identify the Problem
The first move necessary in fixing anything is to understand what is
presently not working. You have to know what the problem is and then name it
in order to have power over it.
Many people who have had a near-death experience report that they
underwent a “life review” in which they saw, as if watching a movie, all of
their covert and overt actions, their expressed and suppressed sentiments, their
public and private thoughts, and their conscious and unconscious attitudes.
They saw who they were and how their thoughts, words, and deeds affected
everyone and everything in their lives. Afterward, they typically describe
having a greater understanding about themselves and a desire to do a better job
of living from then on. And as a result, they perceive new possibilities and
better ways “to be” in any opportunity. Having seen themselves from a truly
objective point of view, they clearly know what they want to change.
Recognition is like having a life review every day. Since you have all of the
equipment in your brain to notice who you are being, why not do this before
you die, and, in effect, be reborn in the same life? With practice, this type of
awareness can help you override what would otherwise be the predetermined