As water travels from ice ~ to liquid ~ to vapor, it endures immense heat and pressure. That heat and pressure allow it to change states. In each of these states, the experience of reality is different based on the nature of that state.

Now, that doesn’t mean that reality itself changes, nor does the shift in states transform the essence of what water already is. Whether it is the crisp vapor above the Swiss Alps, a magnificent iceberg at the North Pole, or the warm flowing waters of the Caribbean Sea, water is always essentially H2O.

The change in states allows the transformation of water’s frequency. Frequency is the rate at which an energy current changes direction per second. This can be seen, with water, as when it is ice (at its lowest frequency) it exhibits no physical movement. As liquid, it moves and flows; as vapor, it moves so fast we can’t even see it with the naked eye. With each change in frequency even though it remains the same, and the environment is the same, its personal experience of reality profoundly shifts.

When its frequency is low or slow it may experience itself as an Icicle in the Swiss Alps hanging from a fragrant mountain pine. As the frequency rises it can be the liquid in the North Pole, experiencing the depth and vastness of the Arctic Ocean. When the frequency increases even more it can become vapor in the Caribbean as the thick humidity that blankets the beach on a hot sunny day.

The more heat and pressure is applied to it the quicker it shifts states and expereince.

Water isn’t self-aware in the same way we are so it offers no inner resistance to the heat and pressure that bring on the changes in frequency it goes through. Our resistance is an unfortunate downside to our self-awareness, but an upside is that we can consciously direct and participate in this change of frequency if we choose to.

As a species, we’ve been changing our state since our very emergence.

Evolution didn’t stop when we became upright.

It continues and the two agents that fuel its process are physiological heat and pressure.

Think about your own life experience. Remember a time that you faced incredible heat & pressure (what we call stress). What changes came out of that experience? How did you go from stagnation to flow or maybe even from flow to the total lightness of being that accompanies a radical shift in consciousness?

For many of us, our teenage years were a time of deep transformation. Where our dense (icey) sense of self completely shifted as we encountered the pressures of adulthood. The caveat is at that time in our lives we didn’t have the wisdom we have now.

With wisdom comes clarity and skillfulness.

Life is adding immense heat & pressure to the collective at this time. We’re evolving from the dense, fearful, materialistic, disconnected higher animals that we’ve become into the expansive, connected, and aligned beings we have the potential to be. This requires a complete shift in consciousness that would move us into an entirely new frequency of being.

In this new frequency even though we’d still be inhabitants of planet Earth (the environment) and we would still be essentially humans our experience of reality would shift completely.

We can see the need for this shift all around us when we see the horrifying world events, egregious misuse of power, and the insane way we are treating our planet and resources. I’m sure we also see it in our personal lives in the ways we are being pushed by our life circumstances to dive deeper, get more resourceful, and connect with our communities in mutually beneficial ways.

Responding latterly requires clarity and skillfulness. Clarity and Skillfulness are the flowers that blossom from the rich soil of understanding.

Since the heat and pressure are already being applied by life it behooves us to work with it. This is what I call learning how to burn.

Understanding What is Happening

The first thing we need to understand in this process is what exactly is happening.

Without understanding this we fight, scratch, claw, and argue with reality till we are blue in the face. There’s no logic or real goal in this behavior. Some part of us knows that it won’t change what has already happened. It arises in us out of what Thich Nat Hanh calls habit energy.

"Habit energy" in the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh refers to the powerful, often subconscious patterns of thought and behavior that automatically drive our actions, pulling us towards certain responses without conscious awareness, essentially acting as a force that can prevent us from being fully present in the moment.

One way we understand what is happening is to recognize habit energy arising in us.

Habit energy arises as a response to heat & pressure (stress) because that is how we have been programmed to respond to it from the level of consciousness (frequency) where we currently find ourselves. If we notice that we are steeped in resistance, negative thinking, or on a spiral of heavy and intense emotions then we know that we are in the grip of habit energy.

Now with that realization, we can begin to make sense of our circumstances.

So what is happening?

We are going through the heat and pressure necessary to change our state and thus our frequency.

This heat and pressure are aiding the evolution of the human species. They are what allow us to evolve our consciousness. If we become aware of habit energy we can watch how it operates in our bodies, minds, and the world. This awareness already represents a profound shift in frequency because as we become aware of dysfunction we no longer willingly align ourselves with it.

With this understanding the rage that wells up while we’re caught at a stoplight, annoyances that overtake us when we’re stuck in a long line or the deep pain and sorrow we experience when we look on at the immense suffering of many around the world can begin to serve a greater purpose.

It’s not that we automatically become grateful for our suffering when we understand its purpose, that’s a much longer journey on our collective quest, but at the very least we’re not as confused and shocked by it. This understanding allows us to relinquish our resistance to the best of our ability and move toward thoughts, feelings, and actions that are more aligned with the greater purpose we see unfolding.

Understanding Your Tools

To cooperate with the shift in our frequency we need to work with shifting our bodies and our minds. There are many, both ancient and modern, tools that aid us in that task. We live in the information age so we’re able to find a myriad of techniques to work on transforming our thoughts, feelings, and actions to align with those of higher frequency with a simple google search.

Whether we are using any physical exercise/movement, hypnosis, breathwork, journaling, or even talking to a trusted friend/guide the most important tool is self-acceptance.

We must first accept where we (humanity) currently find ourselves. Accepting doesn’t mean we agree or align with the dysfunction we notice ~ it just means we accept the reality that even though we notice it we don’t take it to be who we essentially are.

Without self-acceptance (or self-love if you’re able to be lavish) every tool we use will be tainted with the corrosive energy of hatred. This renders the tool ultimately ineffective and leaves us believing that we are dependent on certain states of mind and body to truly be ourselves.

We can create stories about how the state of our home, relationships, finances, and any external circumstance is to blame for our inability to truly love and be ourselves completely.

With self-acceptance, we can align with life for the long haul. We don’t need to see immediate results to feel better because we aren’t using our tools to feel better we are using them to align ourselves with evolution. With this attitude, it doesn’t matter how many times we fall back into habit energy or how triggered we get by the behavior of others we understand that evolution is a lengthy process and our tools are there to support us through this journey not simply offer us a quick fix.

Understanding Your Essential Nature

Remember I said that whatever state water finds itself in it always remains essentially the same substance?

Well so do we.

Whether we find ourselves triggered, joyous, succeeding, failing, on the receiving end of kindness, or brutality one thing remains consistent.

It remains (and has remained) constant for our entire lives. That constant fact is that we are ourselves.

One of my teachers would often tell folks it doesn’t matter if you believe that God exists ~ can you debate that you exist?

You know that you exist because you are in there being yourself.

You have always been yourself.

There is not a time that you are not yourself. Regardless of the state of your body, mind, or the world, you have and will always be yourself.

Now what that self is only you can know for sure. We must dive into what it means to be ourselves and what we truly are.

In order to know what we are it is helpful to realize what we are not. Since we have been in our experience then we must rely on our own experience for the answers. We have experienced our bodies at 5 years old, 20 years old, and whatever age we are now and it has changed a lot throughout that time. Our minds on the other hand can change from moment to moment. And yet this sense of being ourselves is untouched by the changing of our bodies and our minds.

Which must mean that what we essentially are is more than our body and mind.

Get curious about what that more is and inquire into the nature of who you are. When we do this through becoming conscious of our thoughts, feelings, and actions we move from the frequency of habit energy to that of a deeper consciousness.

This is how we align ourselves with evolution and the transformation of our species.

Eckhart Tolle says:

When we talk about watching the mind we are personalizing an event that is truly of cosmic significance: through you, consciousness is awakening out of its dream of identification with form and withdrawing from form. This foreshadows, but is already part of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is concerned. The event is called - the end of the world.

We’ll talk more about what this end of the world means in our next letter. Till then I’m sending you so much compassion and grace as I know you are facing incredible heat and pressure in this world. Thank you for continuing to face your fires. Thank you for allowing your frequency, and that of our planets, to shift.