03 – Enduring Wisdom: Life's Full Contact Sport and the 3 Principles

0:03Shaleia StevensSo hi and welcome back to Time for You, where you could just put your feet up, grab a tea, sit back, and enjoy some moments for yourself. Um, I'm Shaleia Stevens, coming to you from just around the corner from Frankfurt am Main in Germany. This is Leah Wernli from Zurich in Switzerland.

0:32Lea WernliHey.

0:33Shaleia StevensHello. And Leah and I were talking today, and we were kind of reminiscing about where we started on this journey, how this list of people or this community of English speakers even came to get to know us with My Secret Life. And You know, back then in 2020, or like right when COVID was starting, Hmm. it was like a time for us where we really were interested in the very first insights that people had had that started to shift and change everything in their, their perception of being human and life and, you know, our spiritual nature. And what we want to talk about today is like a little bit further down the road.

1:32Lea WernliMm-hmm.

1:34Shaleia StevensNow, what it feels like, what it looks like to be on this messy, beautiful, crazy human journey with this understanding, Kind of like in our pocket, so to speak. And I, I don't know about the listeners out there, what their life has looked like. But, you know, Sid would say about human life that it's a full-contact sport. And I mean, who knows what Sid ever meant when he said anything. Sometimes I listen to his recordings, and I come away like I have no idea what he— I was trying to point to, but what I think he meant was, you know, there's sort of like the outside life where things— I'm doing quotation marks— where things happen. And since 2020, I've lost loved ones.

2:39Lea WernliMm-hmm.

2:41Shaleia StevensI've had huge shifts in my business. like where I felt lost. Um, I've had some really kind of long-going illness situations. Um, people in my family got cancer.

3:02Lea WernliMm-hmm.

3:05Shaleia StevensUm, just human life. Um, wars broke out in that time, Leah, in, in the Ukraine, and now In Israel, um, not to mention anyway all the stuff that's going on in Africa and India and human life. It's, um, just from that perspective, a full-contact sport. And then there's the full-contact sport that's going on inside of us. You know, it's like you could have the most abundant life on the outside, you know, with a house and a car and food on the table and good health and nothing going on that looks in any way problematic on the outside, but inside of yourself you could be in a state of turmoil.

4:06Um, maybe your thoughts have just gone into a crazy storm ongoing, and you have just been looking at it a lot and thinking it's real. So that's the other kind of, you know, full-contact sport, like the inside sport. It's like rugby. And That's what we want to talk about today, like how, how this understanding helps in just that, that sort of a human life. So that's the start-off point, Leah, and let's see where you take that.

4:55Lea WernliWhat just came to me is Probably a slight misunderstanding that can occur when you find the 3 principles, or when you've been touched by it, or when it changed your life because you had an insight for yourself. The misunderstanding could be that you can avoid the contact sport or the humanness or the human experience. And that's not an offer at all. And what I sometimes see is that Little mind, our head, then plays the 3-principle police role. I should know better.

6:03Why am I feeling bad when I know the principles? Why is this happening to me even though I follow my intuition? And that looks so appealing, or to believe these thoughts, but they're not true. They're not truer than other ones. It's always just thinking. In the moment about life happening.

6:46Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

6:48Lea WernliAnd these 3 principles thoughts, they can be so heavy, and it's just so helpful to realize that We remain human with all of it, all the feelings, all the emotions, everything. And we have in every moment the possibility to come back to the present and to this moment. And that's for me always, not always, it's a doorway out of strange, miserable thinking.

7:54Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

7:55Lea WernliAnd often it calms This outer and inner turmoil, in a way, when I realize where I am and fresh thinking occurs.

8:12Shaleia StevensHmm.

8:12Lea WernliAnd then I start to see again, oh, effing hell, that's the beauty, that's the truth of the design. And it's always only in the moment and not tomorrow and not yesterday and not solving problems in my head.

8:43Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

8:46Lea WernliAnd I don't know why, but I mean, I'm very human too. I make a lot of mistakes. I'm very bad at certain things. Other people are way better than I am. It, I, at the moment, I'm, I even think it's sometimes luck that I just often remember. And my little mind crashed a few years ago, really. And it did build up again, but I'm extremely grateful that it didn't Fully come back in a way. It did, but really not fully. And I fall asleep too, but very often it's just one eye. And the best I can do is to bring that to you too and to be present with all the people I love, including myself, with this awareness and trying to share that and See it as a huge, huge, huge gift.

10:44Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

10:44Lea WernliAnd it's nothing that I do. It's somehow something at the moment that is. And A big part of how I am in life is to remain alive and not asleep, and to follow the notches that come through and mind that has the hands on my back. And trust that it's serving the world in a way.

11:46Shaleia StevensYeah.

11:49Lea WernliThat was rambling.

11:50Shaleia StevensNo, that was not rambling. That was truth, truth, truth. That was so good, Leah. You know what I just loved about that was It's so simple. Like, really, like, I'm just gonna repeat what you said. It's like staying in the present moment instead of getting into like a made-up future outcome or fear. Staying in the present moment instead of, um, you know, getting our hands in the mess of the memories of the past. Just being here and now. And then you said something that, you know, the difference that makes a difference is in that moment of, you know, a quiet mind in the present moment, we get that guidance or that fresh thinking.

12:49And you know how I am, Leah. I like to make things concrete a little bit.

12:55Lea WernliYes, definitely.

12:56Shaleia StevensIt's where the personal stories, you know, come in that we talked about from the last time. You know, I was just saying in the beginning, you know, someone in our family just has a cancer diagnosis, and with this understanding in my pocket, I just know it's not necessary to make up, you know, things about Oh, how sick he's gonna be when he does chemotherapy. And, um, it doesn't entice me to, you know, worry about him losing all his hair or, or how hard the drive is going to be there every week to be with him.

13:41Um, you just— when you stay in the present moment, you just kind of take things step by baby step by baby step by baby step. And there's so much ability in the here and now just to like enjoy each other's company.

14:01Lea WernliMm-hmm.

14:01Shaleia StevensLike, you know, just have a nice lovely phone conversation, embrace like what is still there. And, or, you know, with the things going on in the world right now, they can—

14:22Lea WernliMm-hmm.

14:23Shaleia StevensAnd, you know, it's just coming in all the channels, you know, on— I watch a lot of YouTube and Instagram, much more so than television, but some people, you know, get it via television or conversations with colleagues or television or radio. Just, you know, like you said, Leah, coming back to the present moment, being where you are right now in the world, you know, and just being in appreciation of your alive life.

14:57Lea WernliMm-hmm.

14:59Shaleia StevensYou know, from, from that loving energy, being in the world right where you are. Noticing if there's anything for you to do, if there's any fresh thinking around something to do or not. You know, it, it makes a world of difference, um, than living in a, um, perpetual state of fear and dread of the state of the world, just as an example. Just as an example.

15:31Lea WernliTotally.

15:34Shaleia StevensRight. So I love, I love that you said that, Leah, because I mean, it, it's so simple, but it's so powerful. Just coming back to the present moment, seeing, seeing what's fresh on offer, taking a tiny step from there or not.

15:55Lea WernliYeah. And it is so simple and it's so helpful that I know, that we know how to navigate. And I mean, it blows my mind every single day. It does. That we have feelings that immediately show us where we are. As you said, present in life or up in your, in our effed up little head.

16:37Shaleia StevensYeah.

16:39Lea WernliAnd it's okay to be there and it's okay to feel it and it's okay to, to feel pressured and anxious and stressed. And to see and feel and wake up to it again and to come back. And we will, we will remain in this dance. There is no way out. That's the human experience.

17:10Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

17:11Lea WernliAnd it's okay. But When we know about how we function and who we are, and even if it's just a little small, tiny glimpse, it opens up a door to a different world.

17:35Shaleia StevensHmm.

17:41Lea WernliAnd in the present moment, there is very often a lot less to do than we think. Doesn't mean that there isn't anything. Sometimes there is. And it's always an insight for us, for this moment. That is helpful. And this little tiny step we can take, and it's a muscle. It is. There is something to do. I was the one who said there is nothing to do. But actually, I was wrong. There is something to do, and it's to be aware. And to, to take the step and to build the confidence in the knowing.

18:44Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

18:45Lea WernliAnd it did grow over the years because when I didn't listen, I, Most of the time I ended up in a bigger mess than before. And when I started to listen, the path just unfolded gently in front of me. Isn't that amazing?

19:21Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

19:24Lea WernliIs it always like my head envisions or dreams about or sees itself in the world? As you know, Shelia, no, not at all. But I really, that's just not the place where I want to give a lot of attention. I'm not interested in that part. Or less and less and less and less and less. And sometimes I am, and that's fine too.

20:03Shaleia StevensMm-hmm.

20:08Lea WernliBut the journey being in life instead of being in my head is so rich and beautiful and alive.

20:24Shaleia StevensYeah, those sound like beautiful closing words for this episode, if you agree, Leah. Yeah, yeah, thanks for that, Leah. That was beautiful.

20:40Lea WernliThank you for the practical Life examples. Always. We're always good together. I always think I'm the practical, but somehow— I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Either.

20:59Shaleia StevensI don't know.

21:00Lea WernliI don't know.

21:02Shaleia StevensBut what we do know is we wish you a wonderful rest of your day, your evening, whenever time you're listening to this. And thanks for taking time for yourself. to look in the direction of more inner peace and well-being and nurturing that space. And we'll see each other in the next episode, or to hear each other in the next episode. Until then.

21:25Lea WernliBye.