There can be a hidden cost to having preferences if we aren’t flexible in our attachment to them. However, when we shift our perspective toward a state of neutrality around a given want, it removes our need to remain in that stagnant, one-sided energy and opens up the possibilities for more knowledge, wisdom, and overall wellness.
[00:00:20] Aaron: Today we are going to take something we've discussed for a while now, the power of non-preference to a whole nother level because, as we move through these teachings of the J.U.S.T. Philosophy, or as I move through them, I continue to unravel the layers of my misconceptions and power on the understandings and gratefully, I'm here to share that as we move through this process.
[00:00:45] Alexander: Yes and this is part of this discussion that I think is so valuable. Is that many of teachings of all types, the more that you work with that structure, and it doesn't just have to be the J.U.S.T. Philosophy, but any structure that you choose, that many times you'll learn deeper and deeper like subtleties, so to say.
[00:01:07] And I think that hopefully this will be inspiring for our listeners, that if there happens to be certain stuff that you don't understand or you don't feel like you're quite following, stick with it. This is cumulative over time. And I'm so excited about you sharing some of your most recent revelations, so to say, and how we're going to break it down in the complete conversation, step by step of how to most utilize these situations.
[00:01:34] Aaron: So I think as we start out with this philosophy, we start out on the mental level. We hear things that are said that kind of make sense. Maybe we have sensed them, like I have over the period of my life and they make sense. But then actually putting them into practice, you get a lot more because you gain that wisdom and it just keeps unlocking more and more that you're then able to utilize, and it almost like snowballs. The more you practice, the more wisdom you gain, the more you're able to utilize the information. And the things maybe you heard, you know, years ago for me, start to unlock on a whole nother level.
[00:02:11] Alexander: Yes. And this is the separation between intellect and wisdom. Wisdom is information plus experience over time. And intellect doesn't always involve experience, it's just the mental process. So once you really get into the finest subtlety of the J.U.S.T. Philosophy of the all Five Levels of the Physical, the Mental, the Emotional, the Energetic, and the Spiritual or Religious, that when you take all of those into consideration throughout everything you're doing in your life, that's a balance.
[00:02:46] And for anyone that has any resistance to certain aspects of this work, you know, it may be just worth looking at what area of these Five Levels that you are sacrificing or giving up to gain whatever you want or whatever you're going towards.
[00:03:03] Aaron: So it looks like SMEEP gets a shout out in this episode.
[00:03:06] And, of course, SMEEP is the acronym for the Five Levels that Alexander just mentioned.
[00:03:10] Alexander: Yes. And in that order, it's Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Energetic, and Physical.
[00:03:19] Aaron: And non-preference has come up time and time again episode through episode, and you guys, the listeners out there, have even been with me through my whole transition from being like conspiracy minded.
[00:03:31] I remember we did an episode maybe three years ago when I shifted kind of behavioral thought patterns away from that conspiratorial view, which was moving more into non-preference. And of course, like that was the start of me doing that and that was not me saying I've mastered that. And so this whole experience that I'm gonna bring up today has kind of stemmed from that.
[00:03:59] Like, I don't know, I think it was three years ago.
[00:04:02] Alexander: Probably.
[00:04:02] Aaron: But it's a view that I've kind of still kept and it does go around AI. And that is something that's in the news a lot where we're talking about AI art, and it can be controversial. So we're gonna try to not be as controversial, but I'm just gonna share my experience with some of my thought patterns that I've had that have stemmed from my past conspiratorial mindset that was just impacted in the last couple days.
[00:04:31] And so I've kept this view that AI is negative, is a negative thing, and how it's going to impact humanity. But through my recent experience, I was able to see how that was a judgment and it wasn't really based on anything of substance. It was something that was passed down from that previous mindset, something that was in my echo chamber of people that I kept around me, or people I listened to, people I watched, the mindset that I subscribed to in recent past. Through this experience of actually interacting and utilizing an AI program to generate art from a series of phrases or descriptive words that I interacted with through my work, it allowed me to shed light on my ignorance and actually have and create an experience with this part of technology that I had no previous awareness of like how it worked or no previous experience of working with it. And having my boss explain certain perspectives of how we could use this to better our product, but that nothing was really changing in our process. This was just something that we could utilize for inspiration.
[00:05:55] And so it created this whole new realm and perspective that I had never considered before. To me, AI was this thing that was eventually going to control us. [Mm-hmm] Because it can allegedly become sentient, and think for itself, and eventually lock us all down and apocalypse would happen. That was all my previous mindset.
[00:06:14] But here my boss was discussing another view and showing us how it could be used for strictly inspiration and how we would utilize that if we choose to. And I immediately was able to see the benefit in my own creative process because I'm more of a manipulator of graphic objects than I am a pure artist where I'm creating something from scratch. Because I can't draw, but I've been mostly in the digital arts for 10 plus years. And if I'm going to create like a logo, I start with shapes and different elements that I can like purchase from a stock website or something. We're kind of talking about like vector shapes here.
[00:07:00] But then I would manipulate them into the ultimate design that I have in my head. [Mm-hmm] But here I was able to see how a tool could kind of even help me get what's in my head out by strategically crafting phrases and adjectives to describe what's the vision in my head out into this text box. And then the AI would go out and pull upon previously derivative works and put something, mash something together, and then you could refine those sets of adjectives to refine the image.
[00:07:40] So it was a whole new perspective for me, is something that I had never considered, because I think sometimes when we're in resistance to something, I wanna say sometimes we enjoy that. We enjoy taking up arms against something because it can create a group like mindset where you feel camaraderie with other people and you almost enjoy- I mean, I don't think consciously we know we enjoy it, but I think subconsciously we can become addicted to having that rival. And I think we see it in sports, right?
[00:08:14] Alexander: Especially anybody that has a competitive side of their personality, which is very easily seen in the Human Design and the cards. And so when that's there, that need to make a stand, that need to feel like you're right and someone's wrong, is just ingrained in our culture as well. So it just, it just accentuates that in people that are, you know, more susceptible to that. And I think that you certainly carry a competitive edge, although everybody around you may not see it, but anytime that competitive edge, and I certainly had one that was out of control. And so my working with this non-preference practice, was quite a practice for a long time before I really started feeling the benefits of it. But anybody experiencing anxiety or negative health patterns, your resistance, or when we are in friction with something, is what stimulates that to get worse and worse or to hang around.
[00:09:14] So that's a big part of. This Wellness philosophy is realizing that you're putting your body, your energetic system, your cells in conflict when we make these stands and when we go to these little wars with people about differences of opinions. And many listeners out there are going to feel like these opinions are very, very important. And if they, if you feel like they are, then I want you to feel like they are. But when you get to a certain point of taking care of yourself and being mindful of your Overall Wellness, that's part of the view that is willing to change.
[00:09:52] And unfortunately many people don't get into this view until they do come across some type of health crisis where they're almost forced to make changes.
[00:10:00] Aaron: Yeah. I'm glad you brought up the Wellness mindset because that is what this work is about, and that is a perspective that I'm trying to work through and look at the parts of my life where I could be inhibiting that within myself. And that's why I wanted to bring this conversation today. Because if anybody came up to me and said AI is awesome and it's gonna change the world for good, I would've had an argument with them, [Mm-hmm] based on my ignorant perspective.
[00:10:29] Alexander: Right.
[00:10:29] Aaron: And of course, I'm just pulling from what other people have said, not from experience. The reason why I wanted to talk about this is because now I feel like I'm standing in a whole nother position of power, being able to be neutral. Because I've seen the good and I can still see the bad, the potentially bad and potentially good, or what could be judged on either side as good and bad or useful and, and maybe destructive. But now if anybody came to argue with me, either one, I could share their view and have one against their view. And so we could have a conversation that could potentially just be neutral and beneficial for both of us to expand our awareness. But I wouldn't become emotionally like altered by that conversation because AI could go away tomorrow and I would be fine.
[00:11:24] AI could, you know, expand and I could be fine because I've accepted that it's part of this reality and this has been a huge part of my process the last couple years, is continuing to look at the world and where I resist it, and to accept that it's part of this reality and experience that I'm here to have.
[00:11:47] And so my mantra has been everything's in Divine Order whether I understand it or not, and I, will just continue to repeat that to myself, whenever I find myself in resistance to something that's happening in my life. And this could even be something like this, where if I was in a conversation and somebody brought up AI, or I read an article about AI and I felt that resistance come in, this is something where I would bring in that to be like, everything's in Divine Order. This could be coming into our shared reality as a teacher for many different people. [Mm-hmm] And in the past I would've resisted as being evil or judge it as being evil. And so I can now see it as being helpful for some, in some aspects.
[00:12:29] So I just wanted to share and have a conversation with how powerful becoming neutral, exiting out out of our preferences, and getting into non-preference, around certain subjects that may come up for us, where we realize we have a resistance to them and how it can benefit our lives. And that's not to say that you can't have preferences, but when you're conscious, you can pick and choose when you want them and when, you know, you may not need them in this in certain situations.
[00:12:59] Alexander: Yes. And it's important here, as we're talking about AI, it is artificial intelligence for anyone that's not familiar with that phrase. And we want to separate here as well, the fact of non-preference does not equal not caring. It's an active, not a passive, format.
[00:13:17] And as Aaron was saying earlier, It's not about that you don't ever have a preference, it's that in any situation, you can set your preference to the side to be able to either learn more or see more clearly the situation. And we're going to get into, in the complete conversation we're gonna get into why it is so powerful in this shift of perception because we can literally take just about any subject matter and look at it as it's just like someone getting upset that you have a different favorite sports team than they do. Because this is what's happening, especially the media pushes views to alienate people, to separate people and to draw sides. And when they keep this anger and this frustration going, they're able to control easier.
[00:14:12] So see, we're just taking this from a mass scale, of how it happens day in and day out, and we're bringing it down to a personal level. To where if you take away a person's opportunity to upset you, then you are standing in your power. And again, to live in your Authentic Self and stand in your power is a big part of this philosophy. And this tool of being able to live in non-preference is a great tool. And that's what we're gonna continue to expand on as we talk in this podcast.
[00:14:47] Aaron: And I would even mention that I still have a preference if it's called upon. I would say that I would choose for AI not to exist because I can see the purity of artistic exploration and creativity in, in a pure sense, coming from the human spirit. And so if I had a choice, I would say, I don't need AI. I don't need AI for inspiration. I can look at other sorts of art for, for creative inspiration, but while it's here, I could still use it for that benefit.
[00:15:24] But then like I can hear people from my past or that conspiracy view saying, well, why don't you take a stand, because it's gonna destroy humanity? When that's another phrase I wanted to bring up is taking a stand and the cost of that, because we're talking about, again, a Wellness perspective. So when you choose to stand in a preference, or take a stand in any sort of thing, like I could take a stand against AI if I chose to. And that's the thing about being neutral is you can choose to, but a lot of people, they're not conscious and they can't choose to. They get triggered and they don't understand why, because they're not conscious of it being a preference. They almost identify with it as being a part of themselves, a part of their view.
[00:16:09] Alexander: Right. Right.
[00:16:09] Aaron: And then they don't have a choice. And anytime somebody comes along and mentions AI being good, like people can manipulate you. Like I could go up to somebody if they, you know, had that as part of their, their view and just say something even like, under my breath or jokingly, and they would be immediately in an emotional reaction, [Mm-hmm] and be triggered and leaking their energy. And so we can, like Alexander just mentioned, we can be easily manipulated when we don't have a choice. And this is all giving you a choice on whether you want to react, whether you want to conserve your energy.
[00:16:45] Alexander: Yes. And anyone that you view that utilizes the skill set of being passive aggressive. This is exactly where their power is. Is they're able to say or do something in a passive nature that sets you off. And then many times they point at you and say that you're the cause. And this takes away opportunities like that. To give people like what they want to hear or allow them to be right and allow your opposite view to be right and not have this need to prove it.
[00:17:18] There's going to be plenty of people that protest, that do make these stands. So see, we're not telling the whole world, this is actually a philosophy for a small percentage of the human population, and you may or may not be one of them, but we're not saying that this is the way that everyone on the planet should live.
[00:17:38] Again, the polarity view is a big part of this philosophy. Opposites have to exist. So there's gotta be people that don't resonate with this philosophy, and I've accepted that a long time ago. I'm just looking to reach the people that do resonate with it and want to learn more and more about it as we continue to expand, just like you share with us in your stories and the how you keep seeing things deeper and deeper.
[00:18:05] Aaron: Yeah, and I just wanted to mention that the more we take a stand against something, the more the opposing force takes a stand against us or against our viewpoint. So really, if you wanted to neutralize whatever view it is, that you opposed, you would neutralize your own view. Because then you're taking away their power.
[00:18:23] And it's the same thing like, like you were talking about with a passive aggressive nature. If somebody comes up and insults you, if you say something back, then you justify their insult. But if you take a neutral stance and don't feed into that, don't give them that energy, then more than likely, they go away with looking at how their energy was.
[00:18:42] Alexander: Yeah.
[00:18:43] Aaron: And so we're almost like changing the world in a way by being neutral.
[00:18:47] Alexander: Yes. And it would either set the person off more, possibly, or it forces them to look at what they just said or they just did. So anytime you emotionally react to somebody that brings emotion at you, you justify their reaction. But if you're able to hold your countenance to neutral and almost have this, this surprise about it that you're surprised, but you're not offended, everyone watching that situation learns. See, there's very few people that know how to not emotionally react in a situation. And so children especially, they get very, very few examples of this. And then many times the people that do exemplify this, they're just passive in nature and it's actually traumatic for them.
[00:19:33] So this is, you know, a call to those that are looking for Wellness on all five of these levels, and to be authentically them themselves, and to break the patterns in family lineage that they've picked up, throughout their lives.
[00:19:47] Aaron: I can't believe this free part is almost over. It's already been 20 minutes. But I wanted to wrap up this part by maybe asking you are there any other benefits that we haven't already talked about? You're gonna be more content because you're gonna be more balanced. You're not gonna be able to be triggered as much. People can no longer control you and your emotions. You have full control over that. Full choice over that by understanding and learning how, as we're gonna discuss in the complete conversation, step by step on how to actually do this and maybe even how to find these areas in your life where you may not know that you're in a preference, or not in a preference. But are there any other areas, maybe even like physical health, maybe that's one area we haven't really discussed.
[00:20:30] Alexander: Yes. So, because whatever we resist does persist, and the longer we're in that frictional energy, the more it depletes us on all Five Levels, even at a cellular level. So in the long run, the more that we're able to accept in life. And again, in this philosophy, acceptance doesn't mean approving of or condoning, it simply means that you stop the resistance or the friction to it. You accept that this is in your life and this is happening, and that's the, that first step to moving through it as optimally fast as possible.
[00:21:04] And this is just a great start on many people look for things to do to make them stronger, to make them smarter, to increase their abilities. But I want to highlight in this episode we're really talking about if you just focus on where you drain your energy, and if that could become the focus in that you see that you drain your energy anytime you are in resistance to something in your life, be it a person or a situation. And the power of acceptance, if you just stop the drain of your energy, you will be amazed about how much energy you are increasing, actually.
[00:21:47] Aaron: Well, I'm certainly not getting drained by this conversation, Alexander. So looking forward to the complete conversation and hoping everybody else will join us on the other side.
[00:21:54] Alexander: See you on the other side.
[00:21:56] Aaron: On the other side in the complete conversation. Thank you for joining us. We just had an event where it wasn't our preference, but one of our mic cables kind of started bringing in some distortion and-
[00:22:09] Alexander: Check. Check.
[00:22:10] Aaron: We did not go into resistance over it. We just simply, or Alexander did, and I just sat here, but he changed the cable.
[00:22:17] So I did want to bring in, you know, something that I wanted or I was trying to, make the point of in the free version of how, if I had a preference around AI it would be that it didn't exist, but it's here now and I have a choice to accept it or not. I could go into resistance, and keep that preference, and stand in that and fight for it, but I've chosen that through my consciousness, through bringing in consciousness to see that I have a choice. I don't want or I don't need to go through that lesson. I don't think I need to have that experience, or I want to have that experience by bringing in friction in my life in that avenue.
[00:23:01] So this has just given me a choice and we did want to just quickly discuss that or bring in that, you know, many of our preferences are just that, preferences, based on our limited view and limited experience in our lives, just like my AI view was. And once we have the ability to gain some experience through going on the other side of that, then we tend to start building out that more rounded view. And it starts to chip away at some of that resistance because we're getting that other side.
[00:23:39] And so I feel like that would be the hope for people having conversations with people on the other side. But unfortunately, it usually causes them to stand more into their preference and go more into their view and less into that. But that's always the hope, I think.
[00:23:56] Alexander: Yeah. Or the, yeah, the hope I think is a good word for that. Not even intention, but many times, or rather I would say it that through my life, looking back, I can't recall one single time where I saw someone change their point of view, when their point of view was being challenged. Now I can see a change on somebody's face and I might have a feeling that they change their view, but many times it's very hard for anybody to A) admit that they're wrong. And so what I have seen that works more often is when somebody feels accepted of their view, then they're more likely to be at least open to potentially hearing your view. And realizing that most people don't have the experience of being accepted when they give their points of view.
[00:24:51] And many people that have strong points of view, a lot of times they have that strong point of view because they come from a family that didn't agree with them, and so they learned this from a early age. And so it becomes part of their personality, so to say, or part of who they feel like they are. When that resistance isn't necessarily who they are, it is just what they've become used to.
[00:25:18] So I wanted to give an analogy of how to utilize that non-preference, is similar to that if you enjoyed running and that running made you feel alive, made you feel strong, made you feel confident, and you just chose to run some every day.
[00:25:36] And then if you looked at the weather like your emotions or your wants, the resistance that we go through or put ourselves through, then you might have a preference that you enjoy running on a clear 70 degree day. But it may be raining the next day and because you are focused and you love that connection of the running, you set your preference to the side and stop your resistance to the rain and you go and enjoy your run.
[00:26:10] You don't complain to your partner when you get back home that, oh, it's raining, it's yucky out there. See, that's more than likely not acceptance. It can be just it was a different experience. You know, I never have this type of experience when it's dry and sunny. And then it might be snowing or the wind might be blowing, and it's the same thing.
[00:26:29] See, it's a choice that there's this thing that I get out of this experience that I'm not willing to allow this emotional weather to knock me off course. And many times people ask me, what is the purpose of this work? And I can't say what that is for everyone listening, but from a personal standpoint, the purpose of this work is for me to stay connected to that Divine energy and we can't be conscious and emotional simultaneously. That is the dichotomy of being a human.
[00:27:03] So when you choose the emotions to go down that path, you normally create a void where consciousness is. And that's why people react out of negative emotions and do things that they never believe that they would do because they're so far away from their natural selves. They're in such reaction.
[00:27:23] So I think that that hopefully will help to see that living in this non-preference is being able to set that preference, after you realize that you have a preference, set it to the side so that that preference doesn't get in the way of your enjoyment, of your experience of everyday life.
[00:27:40] So that's the true intention of not only this podcast, but the whole philosophy. And we would love to hear from you listeners of what is your purpose for doing this work. But what would you say, if asked that question, what is your purpose for practicing this J.U.S.T. Philosophy or self-improvement? What would you say? Would you agree with kind of what I said, or do you have a different take on it?
[00:28:04] Aaron: Yeah, I would tend to agree, and it's about being as conscious as possible, seeing where I'm being manipulated and where I'm not able to have choices, and just trying to give myself as many choices as possible and also feel as content as I can.
[00:28:22] And obviously when my emotions are stoked, I'm not able to be in that energy and I don't like giving up control over that. So I mean, of course I have some control issues and that's a whole nother thing to look at. Maybe we can do a podcast on that for many people out there who have control issues.
[00:28:39] But one thing is being able to control and have full control over how I react to things and how not to, to be able to be in contentment.
[00:28:48] Alexander: Your life experiences. And that's, and it's important to note here that, you know, we're not talking about suppressing or running from emotions. We're talking about being able to manage them just like children. That, you know, anyone that expects a child to just be quiet all the time, say a three year old, that's not very likely, but when you learn to manage the child of proper place, proper time, and proper environment, that type of thing, and you support them to be expressive in other areas, that's what keeps trauma from coming in.
[00:29:20] So that's the true approach here, is that the emotions are very similar to raising these little children inside, and that we want to let them know that they're respected and they have a right to a say, but that we are going to make the final decision. And this is also the way that I teach and share about raising children. That please make your child feel like they have a voice and they have a right to have a say about every situation, but you teach them that I've got to make the final decision. And that's the way that I suggest to look at emotions too, is we're going to go through fear. We're gonna go through anger. We're gonna go through sadness, but it's how long we stay in that vibration is what consciousness is about. Is that you're able to shift your consciousness, your focus on going down the rabbit hole of anger here, and I'm gonna recognize that you showed up. I'm gonna ask you to please sit down and peacefullness, contentment, I want you to come to the front of the line because this is what I want to stay in the vibration of. See, the negative emotions are still recognized and their respected. And in this work we have what's called the Three Rs. Recognize it, show it Respect, and then Redirect it.
[00:30:30] Aaron: And I wanted to go back to your metaphor because I thought it was interesting when you talked about running in weather and I feel like people who wanted to practice being neutral and if they were a runner in that aspect, there's almost two ways that you could choose to approach that in the practice. And one would be just going out, being neutral focused on running and no matter what weather it is. But another one would almost be leaning into the friction and finding something that you could enjoy about the weather that you didn't enjoy or you thought you didn't enjoy, that goes against your preference.
[00:31:08] So if it was rain, if you didn't like going out in the rain, maybe instead of just running and trying to stay neutral, you could really feel into and be present with the rain. What about it was different? What things could you enjoy about it? Maybe it cooled you off as you're running where normally you would get overheated. Maybe it felt good on your face. Just almost going to the other end and trying to find the things you could enjoy. Is there something there?
[00:31:36] Alexander: Sure, that is leaning into the friction and working on acceptance and sometimes people might say that they don't like running in the rain because they don't like getting wet, but then when they run on a 90 degree day, they're completely drenched in sweat. But see, they choose, and this is the key here, with all preferences, they're a choice, but they choose to look at that they don't like rain, but they don't think twice about sweat.
[00:32:01] So yes, just shifting that attitude, the shifting the openness to the experience rather than directing the experience. Like you said, most people that resist this view are showing that they have more control like issues. And so anytime we can recognize we have these control issues and we need things to be a certain way, a very specific way before we can enjoy it optimally, those people are going to experience contentment a lot less then the people that choose to be able to adjust or adapt and make sure that they're going to have this experience no matter what is going on externally. And that if they can't in that environment, they'll remove themselves from the environment.
[00:32:46] If that, that focus of like the rush of running in that analogy or the staying connected to your God or that Divine energy and what that feels like to you. To me it feels, you know, so complete. And there's no yearning, there's no, there's no voids. It can be called love at the highest degree.
[00:33:07] And so then the question just becomes, well, why do you want to experience anything different from that? And then you just start developing your life around that and realize that you can develop your people, your experiences, your work environment, everything to be in alignment with that.
[00:33:24] And so that is what we want everyone to understand the true power of standing in your Authentic Self and what it can turn into be to where you're able to sustain this high vibration for long, long periods of time.
[00:33:39] Aaron: So a little bit ago I jotted down something as you were talking and it was every experience and perspective is about more than just words.
[00:33:51] And I wrote that down because I was thinking about the things that we resist. The preferences that we go against. Like I don't like that person because they believe in that. Well, the thing that we're against, we have a limited view on. And sometimes we have a limited view just because in words it goes against what we are for, what we have a preference for. But usually when we go and entertain that view, when we learn more about it, it's more than just the words. There's energy involved. There's subtle energy. And there's no way for you to understand that perspective, that experience, until you go and have it.
[00:34:33] This was exemplified on a show that I may have talked about in a past podcast, but it used to be on TV where they would have the wives of two couples switch places and they were in opposite viewpoints of how they lived. And I remember one episode that made an impact on me was when like an anti-gun woman or anti-hunting woman went and lived with the family that hunted for their food, and that's how they lived.
[00:34:59] They didn't live in the city. They didn't have grocery stores nearby. That's, that was their way of life. And when she left that, she learned so much because she understood it was their way of life and they used most of what they killed completely. It wasn't just waste, they weren't doing it just as a sport. So [Mm-hmm] it totally changed her experience because again, it was more than just words. It was the energy around it, the whole perspective change of this person lives a totally different life than me. And so they have different needs and, and ways to take care of themselves. So that, I guess that's kind of where I was going with that kind of phrase there.
[00:35:37] Alexander: Yeah and that's why most people that are looking to be very well rounded are looking for experiences rather than conversations. Because the experience will change your point of view a whole lot faster than a conversation with somebody that has a different point of view. And of course, we're talking about exercises to break these patterns, but put in certain situations, and when people make stands against, you know, hard topics, they can be very challenging to discuss some of those topics. But it helps when you are able to put yourself in the hypothetical situation that you maybe could never see yourself in and how you would handle that. And I think that's why nothing replaces experience.
[00:36:24] And I used to have a saying that I, I utilized a lot that you can only know what you know, and you can only truly know what you've experienced. So if you want to know, go immerse yourself in experience. And we are a culture that talks a whole lot more then we go out and experience. And that's why being the example is the optimal teacher rather than the teacher verbalizing information. It's the one that that lives the example and exemplifies that in a consistent manner, is the optimal teacher.
[00:36:59] Aaron: So as we start discussing some of the how-tos around kind of neutralizing our preferences, or at least giving us the choice, bringing in more consciousness, would you say that it's more useful to do like around the weather thing that I talked about, where you go out to find the enjoyment in the other perspective that you are against.
[00:37:26] Because that definitely helped me in the AI situation. I was able to leave my preference because I saw the usefulness of it. I don't wanna say positive. I saw the usefulness of it. So if there was a way that we could take that and apply that and is that more useful than trying to control our neutrality? Where, in the running metaphor we're going out, I have the intention to be neutral no matter what the weather is. And I'm just gonna focus on being neutral. Like is one more useful than the other?
[00:37:57] Alexander: No, I think it's just to have both examples as tools and then, you know, it's per situation. I like to tell people that when you think that you don't like a certain food, every now and then revisit it. Revisit it, maybe fixed in a different way than you've ever had it. Because that's so limiting to feel like you don't like green beans at five years old and you don't ever give green beans another chance throughout your life. And many people do that.
[00:38:24] So having those experiences and being able to, you know, have it from that childlike excitement of life of like, hey, this is unknown and I wanna set all of my preferences to the side and just have a few more experiences and see how I really view this.
[00:38:40] So, so I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong or a one works better than the other, I think it's more per situation, whether you focus on holding that neutral vibration, or I call that, that Divine connection. It also could be just called love. That you're holding this love vibration and you don't let anything distract you from that. And that's even like a type of meditation practice. Or it's you're intentionally immersing yourself into something that you haven't liked or even considered.
[00:39:13] And another analogy that I'll give like if somebody's a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan and normally a diehard fan has a team that's their rival that they dislike the most. Then see, I like to suggest for that person to look at that team and let's just say hypothetically is the, the Raiders. And I'd like to suggest to that Pittsburgh Steelers fan to look at a Raider's game and don't look at them as a team, but like find individual players that you see that make plays or that have a work ethic or something that you do like. And so you're, you're practicing seeing this team deeper, on a deeper level into individual players.
[00:40:00] And this is exactly what I worked on to work on some non-preference stuff because I did have favorite teams. I was a big, watched a lot of sports, so especially football and basketball, and it dictated my mood. And of course you and I have talked about this and you've gone through your own experience with that. But that's the way I started is I started getting away from preferences of teams and focusing on players that I liked to watch. And then I wasn't as interested of what the score turned out to be, therefore, it wouldn't bother me the next day. Because I would just be like, man, I really enjoyed watching Peyton Manning play or whoever it was. And that was a great show.
[00:40:42] But there's multiple ways to approach this and I hope that we've given sufficient examples. But even someone that, you know, likes a certain style of movie. You may be willing to watch another style. The key here is truly having that, that innocence of a child of being willing to discover something new.
[00:41:03] And so this being able to set the preferences aside and visit things that you've had resistance to in the past can actually bring in amazing waves of new creativity. Because guess what? You've been avoiding these areas for the majority of your life.
[00:41:20] Aaron: Yeah, back when we were both watching football consistently, we both shared a respect and a hatred, or I say that loosely, for the Patriots, but we brought in respect for the coach, for Tom Brady. And I just wanna bring that up because that is kind of bringing in the Three Rs, and I do wanna bring that in now, which is when you've kind of identified you have a preference, you feel that resistance come in. And then when you make the choice that you wanna work on that resistance, maybe the Three Rs is something that you would go to?
[00:41:52] Alexander: Yes. Yes. Because it's a direct path. And the, the middle R of show respect is that stopping the judgment. That is what showing something respect is, is that you're not judging it negatively. And then once you get to that acceptance or that neutrality, then redirecting the energy is where it's gonna be most useful.
[00:42:15] And that's where I was talking about that if you stop the judgment of say that I happen to not like to watch foreign films that has captions. But that limitation can keep me from seeing a lot of films, especially ones that have been groundbreaking. So, every now and then for me to take that opportunity to be willing to have that experience is that childlike vigor of life. And people lose that so early when we start planning our lives out so much and we, we start to separate our lives of, okay, I like this and I don't like that.
[00:42:52] And so hopefully this is resonating with many listeners out there to expand your experience of life to those that want to get out of the boredom of life, the same repetition of life. This is a great practice to help your self development, help your creativity, and change the way that you even view your everyday existence.
[00:43:14] Aaron: Yeah, so maybe one of the ways people can try to find that second R, that respect, which is how you know we did for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick by just admiring their consistency over the years and their discipline, I think is, is also a another thing that we've admired about them.
[00:43:35] But we can choose to shift our perspective about the experience that we want to have when introducing ourselves to that. So you were talking about like foreign films and maybe when you watch a film, you're always going in with a certain perspective of, I just wanna laugh. So I don't like foreign films cuz they don't make me laugh. I'm not able to relax. But if you switched that and just tweaked that and was like, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna watch a movie to experience the art of it.
[00:44:03] Alexander: Yes. Well said.
[00:44:05] Aaron: Then you're able to find some respect for it, if it was a groundbreaking film in artistry, or how it's done, or how different it was in filming versus like a comedy. Kind of like, I'm just applying it back to the experience with AI, where I was able to find respect for it because I was able to see how it could be used in inspiration, which is something that is not controlling humanity. You know, it was something that outside of the realm of what I thought it was only made for. So it was able to create some respect in me because it's a tool that could be utilized to create more art in a way.
[00:44:45] Alexander: Yes, and this is the beauty of being willing to see the so-called benefits and the cost. There's the consistency throughout this philosophy that I talk about. Always be willing to look at the cost. If you're willing to pay the cost, then look at the rewards. But most people just focus on the rewards and they don't even consider the cost. And, you know, we have another suggestion to consider everyone involved as well. What's for the highest good of everyone involved?
[00:45:13] Because very few decisions just affect one person. Very few reactions just affect one person. So this is another point of being able to be more conscious, to be more clear in your decision making, so you're not making decisions based around emotions, or people antagonizing you, or manipulating you. You're able to stand in your power, accept your truth, accept other people's truths, and potentially have adult conversations that could expand both parties' views.
[00:45:47] And I think that's the win-win that at everybody's heart and soul level, that's what I really feel like people are looking for is not to just see things the same as everybody, but to be able to feel comfortable in the way that they are viewing things and be stimulated by other ways to view things. But in order to get there, many people need to work on their reactions for quite a while to be able to have these types of conversations. But those of you that do, know how important, how fun, how life changing that they can be, and they're certainly not typical or mundane.
[00:46:26] Aaron: And so let's maybe run through a few examples of preferences that people could have that may be causing them resistance and maybe unnecessarily, because they could be seen as silly. I don't know, maybe there's a different word for that.
[00:46:42] But one I wanted to get into is like having a preference for a restaurant. And so, if you and maybe your family are going out to eat. You're all meeting and they want to go to a restaurant, but you have a favorite that you want to go to, but they all make a decision to go to this one, and it's one that you don't really enjoy, or maybe you haven't been there. And so you have a choice right then and there to stand in your preference and have a bad time because that preference is gonna create friction. You're gonna be in probably in a bad mood. You may snap at them. You may not enjoy your family and your time around them because you're in resistance to [Mm-hmm] the whole situation. So you have a choice there, and the cost is all that we're talking about. Like you may not have a good time. [Right] Your mood is gonna be shoddy. You're not gonna enjoy yourself. You're not gonna enjoy your family. And so that's the cost of hanging onto that preference.
[00:47:37] Or you have a chance to shift that perspective and maybe bring in the Three Rs and shift that perspective to, okay, I'm gonna try something new. This is a, a restaurant maybe I haven't been to or one that I've previously have been to, but there's been two things that I've only ordered. Maybe there's something else on the menu that I could try and maybe you could like double dip and try something completely new that you have never had before and since- because you could consider it like a wasted experience because you're going to someplace you don't like, well then take the opportunity to try something you've never had before. Maybe a new experience could be created out of this and maybe a new, I don't wanna say preference, but a new like, can come out of it, something that you do enjoy.
[00:48:19] Alexander: Yes, and I think those are all good points and I wanna back up one step before that and potentially one step after that. And when you recognize that you have these preferences and anyone that has so-called control issues or high levels of preferences, then it's good to inform or question, especially when you engage with a party, like beforehand.
[00:48:41] Like if you know a few hours before you're going to eat somewhere and maybe that you don't feel like you're gonna be in resonance with that, instead of waiting till the last moment, if you have the ability to say, hey, where are you guys thinking about eating? And if they tell you, say, three or four hours before, oh, we're going here, and you recognize that you have resistance right away. Well, one thing you can do is you can eat before you go. And then you can get something very, very small and it's about enjoying the environment, the people, the blah, blah, blah. You don't have to make a stand about your food.
[00:49:16] So, that's ideal. Remember that consciousness many times is most useful in preventing the situation then when you're in the middle of it and emotions are flying around, it becomes much more challenging. But in the situation to where you maybe find out on the way and then you recognize that, oh, I don't want to eat here. Maybe it's a burger chain like McDonald's or Burger King, and you try to eat better quality food. But you're the only one outta 10 that doesn't want to go there. Well see right away, again, you choose to make it about the visit the people and you simply think of somewhere that you can grab something to eat, maybe on the way back home. And so again, you just get something very small, very light. You're able to engage, not make a big deal about it, not have to make a stand, not make anybody uncomfortable about it. But then when you leave that restaurant to go home, you arrange it to where you can swing by and pick up something somewhere that you do enjoy or wait till you get home and plan on eating there.
[00:50:16] So again, the preferences around that you want to eat when everybody else does, and you wanna be hungry and you want to enjoy it to the max, and this is similar to the running analogy, is what's the most important here. If it's truly connecting with your people and enjoying your environment, then make whatever adaptation you need to make, either beforehand the situation or after the situation. And two of the main things that throw people off center is being hungry and being tired.
[00:50:45] So I like to suggest that if you are hungry or you are tired, it may not be the best time to practice this philosophy. And again, it might be better to ask yourself why you've allowed yourself to get hungry and not always have some food and water with you of some type. And why are you not resting well enough and you're feeling tired? Because those things will create longer issues as time goes on.
[00:51:10] Aaron: Yeah, those are great examples of also extending all this to what's best for everyone involved and not contributing to the ripple because you're stopping it. Because that's what this work is also about is stopping the ripple. Stopping those emotional reactions being taken out onto other people, so then they take 'em out onto other people and so on.
[00:51:31] Alexander: Yes, yes. And this is where if you're willing to stop the ripple, you're being a different type of example, and many times you are teaching more people than you have any idea around you. Because again, kids are observant when parents don't even realize they're being observant. Many parents don't think the kids are aware, but they're always watching. And they're, they're watching how people handle certain situations.
[00:51:54] And so when kids become teenagers and they're rebellious and that kind of thing, the parent doesn't like that, although they've exhibited this rebellious nature to them their whole life. And again, that's where respect is lost in families. When the parents ask the child to do something that they don't practice themselves, many times that's what loses respect.
[00:52:16] Aaron: Could you bring in maybe one last example that maybe people have?
[00:52:20] Alexander: Wow. I mean, a big one is around religion or spiritual paths. And out of all the time that I took studying as many different paths as I could, I just came to this realization of how most everyone is seeking the same thing. They just get caught up in the verbiage of how they describe that thing, and wars, and arguments, and fights, and deaths, and all types of things is created around that.
[00:52:51] But again, I see it that if you want somebody to be interested in your way, then you accept and you learn about their way, and you share more about your way. And it doesn't have to be a competition and a, a seek and destroy or seek and overcome. It can be a win-win. And so, again, there's gonna be many people that hear this and feel that especially their spiritual path or their religious path is something worth standing for, and I'm not gonna tell them they're not, I'm just helping those that are looking to step out of friction and resistance, and to get closer, and more knowledgeable, and wiser on their path here while they're here on Earth in this lifetime.
[00:53:35] Aaron: Yeah, I've definitely kind of got into that a little bit and the more I get into other religions, it just seems like we're all talking about the same thing. It's just different labels pretty much and semantics, of course.
[00:53:46] Alexander: Yes. And healthcare is another place. Marriage is another place. There's plenty of places that are subjects that people make hard stands around. And again, I'm not trying to suggest to them that they not, unless they're my client and they're hurting in some way and I'm sharing that their stand or their resistance to accepting something in their life is creating this health challenge.
[00:54:11] And that's in my private practice, I work with many different people for different reasons, but the people that come to me with health issues, that's exactly what we're starting with. That there's an emotional component to this, and it began to deteriorate this area of your body, through your energetics, through even the first level of the spiritual level. It begins in resistance. And then the judge is in the mental level. And then when it says that it's wrong, then that affects our emotions. And then the emotions drains the energetic field and it makes the physical body more susceptible to injury or illness in the area of that weakness.
[00:54:53] So when we are healing something on the physical level to find where that emotional beginning was and start the repair there expediates the whole healing process.
[00:55:03] Aaron: And if anybody is struggling with preferences around how their life is unfolding and wanting things to be a certain way. If you go back one episode ago, we did an episode on living in the flow of life, and I think we covered that pretty well.
[00:55:17] Alexander: Yeah.
[00:55:17] Aaron: As far as allowing within the flow, accepting how things are going, and looking into more of the pillar one, around the spiritual plane will help with that.
[00:55:28] Alexander: We even have a recent episode about following signs and what that means. And all the episodes fit together, but these are kind of some highlighted ones of that we've done recently this year, I think as a matter of fact, that really fit together, really nicely. And just continue to expand on the same concepts. And that's what we, we really talk about the same few concepts over and over and over, but we just bring them in, in different examples, in different situations, and we love sharing with you beautiful people. So, thank all you listeners, everyone that's tuning in, and please send us your request ideas or points of view as well. We love hearing from you
[00:56:08] Aaron: Before they leave us, do we have anything you'd like them to focus on the next two weeks?
[00:56:15] Alexander: Well, I think that, if you just focused to where every time that you don't get your way, how you react. And we're looking to just shift that to a response. Right away, there's nothing to do. Just realize that, oh, when I said this to Karen and she said something back, it ruffled my feathers. So that's what we're kind of looking for. You don't even need to specify what emotion it is right away. Just realize that people and their actions and their words, anytime it ruffles your feathers, so to say. Anytime it just unnerves you, frustrates you, makes you angry, makes you mad, makes you react, and see that like if you could take those times out of your day, how much at more at ease you would feel, how much more peace you would carry, and how much more you would feel like you're standing in your power and your confidence would grow. And all of this is just by not changing a lot in your life except not letting your preferences dictate your energy, your power, your mood. And accepting that people are going to see things differently. People are going to have different preferences. This is why there's so many religions. This is why there's so many different ways of healing and medicine, whether it's pharmaceuticals, all the way down to herbs that's been around forever.
[00:57:46] See, we were given all these options to show us that there's so many different approaches in so many different ways. And so I like to see these approaches, and these different ways, and these different mindsets as just stepping stones. And the more stepping stones that I go over as life goes on, just the more stepping stones I realize exists. And that is exciting to me because a lot of energy is wasted on people feeling or being scared that they're gonna make the wrong decision. And when you start working with these principles, you realize there's really no such thing as a wrong decision. And that takes a huge amount of stress away from people.
[00:58:27] So that's what we're looking to do, first step, is just start recognizing where we leak our energy, and then listen to more and more episodes as we describe how to start filling those holes and saving your energy. And that goes a long way in self-development and healing.
[00:58:43] Aaron: I appreciate you all joining us on our individual journeys.
[00:58:47] Alexander: Yes. Bless you.