Two phrases we hear often in Awareness Practice, from ourselves and others, are “I got talked into…” and “I got talked out of….” Seeing these in proximity, it is quickly clear that the salient information is “I got talked.” Whether into or out of is irrelevant.
I’ll bet that a perusal of our past will confirm that every difficult, unskillful, disappointing, or unfortunate episode in our lives followed having “gotten talked.” It might be a useful exercise to review a few of those episodes to see if you can see how that happened. Perhaps do this before reading further.
Identifying how that happens for you—the conversation that gets you to either dive in or reverse course—doesn’t alter the process of getting talked into what is not good for you or talked out of what is good for you.
The helpful aspect of catching on to processes such as “I got talked…” is that it’s harder for us to be fooled by the content. If I got talked into not going, into changing my mind, or into quitting, which is ego’s ultimate “goal,” it’s the same as I got talked out of going or sticking with my commitment. I will still wind up at quitting. This is facilitated by old ego favorites: I don’t want to, I don’t feel like it, it’s too hard, I’m too busy, I’m not good at it, it’s just not me, I’m not that kind of person… and on and on and on.
Once we get the hang of “I got talked…,” it’s easier for us to get current and recognize when that’s happening. Is there something currently about which you’re “getting talked”?
In gasshō,
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