Until the soul becomes fully self realised - realising of the One Self - then it will attach in particular circumstances of life and fragment. This causes pain and tightness in the various layers of the bodymind such as physical existential matters; emotional attachment in relationships; or the mental tightness of trying to control an outcome. Society teaches people to surpress and dampen this pain through avoidance of soft comfort, which leads to a lesser life of imprisoned conditioned behaviours.

We need to beware escalating external distraction out there in the mainstream right now. The system is losing its grip, and they know it, that's why you'll see all manner of charades and shennanigans, such as what's happening on the world stage right now. It's all designed to distract by adding another level of fear and control. Don't let it!

In terms of the inner inquiry through meditation, the first thing to be clear on is what you want to achieve. This in itself is a tricky question because it's going to be much more effective if the answer is NOT coming from the ego, which is often based on a sense of lack.

I still see plenty of people advocating and teaching intentional manifesting. There are two dangers behind this: (1) It's still coming from identity, which is saying it needs something, or for it to be a certain way, when The One in you can embrace all states. Therefore you build in a constraint, another limitation, another box. You inadvertantly surpress and deny The One in you. Thus you are not free.

On the Openhand gatherings I often speak about the importance of the "50% rule". Which means that whatever is going on "out there", it will be of great help to you to have 50% of your attention "in here". The external is so seductive, especially at busy times of the year. It's easy to lose oneself in the drama. You end up actually enjoying it much less.