Awareness Alone Is Curative
By Leo Gura - June 20, 2016 | 68 Comments
How to auto-correct unwanted behaviors.
Mandy says: Leo Gura – YOU ARE THE BOMB! – I listen to you ALL the time. I miss you when your videos are late. I also love Esther Hicks’ Abraham channeling. I do not know where I would be without you and other pioneers. You literally keep me sane. You are just fabulous. Please keep doing what you’re doing. Seriously – I am an older laydee (exhausted Mum of three (UK) – but you have a whole new generation upcoming. Thank goodness for amazing individuals like you x
Leo Gura says: Heh, thanks!
margo says: I was searching for meditation music on u-tube when I saw your string of pictures posturing attention to each topic you were to speak about. I thought who is this guy? So I watched one and after that I watched one every morning. Then I gave it a month and signed up to your website. Thanks for your direct approach.
Margo
Vanessa says: Thank you Leo!! Is it possible to tackle more than one bad habit simultaneously as you go through the day? (i.e., smoking, junk food, and procrastination)
Leo Gura says: You can use this as an across-the-board technique. Just basically aim to be more aware throughout your day, any time you’re engaged in unwanted behavior. Then you don’t have to focus on individual habits.
But if you’ve got a specific bad habit which is giving you lots of trouble, it would be a good idea to focus all your awareness on that. Because your awareness will be limited to start with.
Richard says: Hey Leo,
Nice video’s!!
but what about people with a psychological disorder like ADD/ADHD?
I’ve alway’s had problems with studying when i was very young because i have ADD so my mind just not allows me to do things i don’t like. Even when i try, my mind totally loses track.
Den says: Great video as usual Leo. I did something similiar after watching your video on addictions. I was a many decades pot user. I started observing how I felt when ever I smoked. The desired effect had ceased. Then one day I called the person Who is giving it to me for free and said I didn’t it any more. Simple as that. Awareness really is the key to everything that we do. Thanks again!
Lili says: Thanks, Leo again for the insightful video. How easy it is to be just aware of our circumstances and not letting the naivety take over our beliefs and thoughts. I have always this problem that people think I am naive and try to take advantage of me. I can not bear that perception. The simplest way to exhibit I am in the circle is to be aware of what is going on!!!!
Salute…..
JAYPEE says: wow! thank you Leo for this video, your topics released this year are so interesting. Right now I’m so excited for the weekly videos(I even smiling right now), never felt this way before
Mayur says: You Leo Buddha ! thank you for giving all these enlightenment corollaries .
They work great !
Iwona says: That was very powerful !!!! You’re fantastic !!! Thank you very much for your work and sharing the knowledge I’m sharing this video with my FB friends sending you my love, light and hugs
thanks Leo for this breakthrought, some time ago I did a course about “be” and the focus was very close to your awareness. see your behaviors like a bird observer, very clever Leo. thanks a lot.
Flavian Popa says: Leo, thanks for amazing Meditation, Mindfulness, Enlightenment techniques that you’ve been sharing with us. Hope you will continue to do. There is power in repetition, so even if you repeat some stuff, it only will be more useful, even more so for new comers on this self actualizing platform.
Last but not least: please could you do a video on the “Slow deliberate mindful action” kind of stuff you were mentioning in another video? Maybe a bit in depth, this could perfectly relate to practicing mindfulness on a daily basis, and it could also tie in with eliminating undesired behaviors as well, cause mindfulness is a part of awareness.
A big THANK YOU!!!
Steve says: Awesome Leo
sandy carter says: Terrific video. Really awesome description of what I describe as the “program”. Thank you Leo.
Linzie says: Amazing, I have used this technique successfully in the past, but have never attributed it to my awareness of the action.. A light bulb has just come
Yohan says: Cheers for the awesome video! You said to just observe a behaviour and not interfere with it. This has worked for me with behaviours such as facebooking, watching too many movies etc but how about overthinking because as soon as I become aware of it I just stop overthinking..is that meant to happen? Same thing with shyness,complaining, anger.
Sophie OShea says: Amazing!
Conny says: Leo, I can’t even put into words how amazing I think you are!! Your videos are getting better and better, it’s really impressive.
Saud says: Thanks Leo ,
Do we have Awareness while multi tasking ?
Nikki Songbird says: Hi Leo I’m a singer and student Nurse in Manchester UK. I love your videos they have helped me so much after losing my partner to suicide. You have kept me sane in my darkest moments. I would love to see more on how to focus on studies and practical things when dealing with such strong feeling’s of grief and depression. It bothers me that i cannot sing at the moment as its too painful, but my main concern is that i have only 10 weeks left until I qualify as a nurse and have lots of work to do on that time but I keep seizing up! Analysis paralysis! This video is so helpful thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart is there anything you can recommend that will boost my productivity and efficiency over the next 10 weeks??
Ali Rida says: Leo i’m kind of confused by what you said about change. At one point psychologists link behavioral change or change of any kind, to action and will and not to simple awareness, though awareness is an essential part. Nathenial branden for instance, talks about overcoming inertia. facing fears and confronting pain in using the six pillars of self esteem, and the way it is said non require simple awareness. He does talk about awareness and acceptance as prerequisites of change, but also not following one’s emotions, for example in dealing with anger, one has to notice his anger, feel it, accept the feelings and emotions with in, but do not act in a mad angry way. On the other hand you said that we should do what our emotions say but with awareness. I really believe in human will, i had the habit of drinking too much soda, i just stopped for good, i had a strong will i suppose.
I’m kind of lost. Can you please clarify that?
Leo Gura says: This video was a more advanced teaching than the others you refer to.
Traditional psychology is pretty clueless when it comes to awareness and consciousness.
Various techniques work. I’m not saying awareness is the only technique you should ever use. But it’s a powerful one. It can take you deeper than many other methods.
Ali Rida says: Leo, do you think that consciousness and awareness are different. In a way I’m linking consciousness with some mature idea about things or life for example, but awareness is more present moments awareness than thoughts, what do you think?
Bridge to Heaven says: Excuse me Mr. Gura,
Awareness does not seem to fucking work!
For the past year I have been a passive observer- not manipulating my thoughts.
However, my behaviors do not seem to have changed.
Continuing to be passive does not do anything as it seems to me in my experience.
Any help would be fine
Thanks
Leo Gura says: What are you trying to do?
Bridge to Heaven says: I don’t know…………….
Become Enlightened
Spiritually Empowered
Feel Every Emotion In The Universe
Not Feeling a DULLNESS INSIDE OF ME
Soaring Through Paradise While Closing My Eyes
MY EYES
Main goal of life is to feel emotions for human beings in general.
Leo Gura says: Step #1 is knowing clearly what you’re after. You’ve failed step #1.
Sounds like you’re just dreaming and floating around in fantasy-land.
joseph says: it took me many years to finally understand the difference between thought and awareness. I would guess that the vast majority of people do not know there is a difference or what it is.
sandy carter says: Leo,
My take on this experience is that we’re living in a virtual reality, except that no one is really in it. It seems that Awareness has to come to realize it isn’t any of the characters in this projected movie, even though the entire movie is comprised of consciousness. It is just like the night dream in which consciousness is all of the characters, all of the events, and the witness of all if it as well. This is such mind blowing stuff, but there is no support that encourages knowing the truth or waking up. It all feels very programmed. I did once have the experience when meditating that the story fell away for a few minutes. There was a desperate thought, a frantic wondering where it had gone.
Then, it reloaded exactly like a program. It didn’t all return at once but in chunks. Very weird. Thank you for all of your work with this.
Francesco says: Thanks for this video, Awareness Alone Is Curative. It is simply explosive.
Leo, Thanks for your incredible work. I will follow you, forever.
Elton says: Dam difficult to be aware while I’m smoking, the voice and images keep coming up, after smoking being aware of the pain I’m considering to use my will power,hypnosis and replacing bad habits with good habits feeling the emotions, because this might increase the awareness muscle but what about the lungs and the cancer it might cause, if unawareness is causing all the bad behaviors that means that unawareness has its own awareness??? All this is very frustrating and confusing.
Leo Gura says: The only thing causing your cancer is unawareness.
Become aware that you are resisting awareness. Be okay with that. But also be aware of it as much as possible.
Will power? Hehe, you have none. That’s just ignorance masquerading as intelligence. You’re a slave to your smoking, and there’s nothing “you” can do about it. But applying awareness can untangle that mess.
Even when you feel like you’re totally in control and doing something, you’re still not doing it. It is doing you. And you just have a thought that keeps coming up and saying, “Look at me Mom! I’m doing it! ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!”
Yeah, right… If you are really in control. Try stopping your thoughts for 30 seconds. Try and see what happens.
You have no control. You just have an idea of control. Which is why your “control” keeps failing.
Elton says: I know Leo, there is no me in this whole system all that is is awareness I know that because I cannot locate myself but something is perceving thoughts images and sounds and feelings that might be awareness.i saw your spiritual enlightenment video 2 yesterday again and it made a lot of sense to me this time except for the last 20 min, but the last 20 min was the main thing in which the internal and external worlds merge.
Your right the ego is causing a lot of resistance to awareness.
Elton says: I have no control over thoughts Leo I can’t control or stop my thoughts for 30 sec. I’ve done this exercise many times.
Ben says: Hey Leo.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounded to me as if you dismissed all action to solve problems in our life as futile and neurotic, and that the only vehicle to true change is awareness.
I used to be overweight, socially awkward, addicted to video games, terrible diet, depressed, etc, and I completely turned ALL of those things around, and much more in the course of 4 or 5 years, and I did so largely through action, or so I think. First thing I did was develop a fitness regimen, then cleaned up my diet, then started stepping outside my comfort zone by going out and socializing, and did countless other things in between over the years to grow as an individual. Today I’m in incredible shape, my diet is impeccable, I’m known amongst my peers as the one of the most outgoing, sociable guys (friends have literally come up to me and told me I’m silver-tongued), and I’m an A student in university, whereas in high school I had a C average. These are just some of the things I have done to improve myself and my life over the course of my self-development journey. I’m not saying these things to brag, I’m saying this to illustrate a point – that action has indeed had a transformative effect on my life and my being.
Now, I’m not saying awareness isn’t a better method. I’m certainly going to try it because there are behaviours I have that I have not been able to remedy through action. I started my meditation practice about 9 months ago, and I’m reading a book right now called “A Path With Heart” by Jack Kornfield. Great book. Would definitely recommend it. I also bought a book called “Mindfulness in Plain English” which I am hoping will deepen my understanding of awareness.
In any case, thanks for taking the time out of your life to produce this content. It’s life changing. Plain and simple.
Regards,
Ben.
Leo Gura says: No, awareness is ONE method. There are other useful methods.
But in the end, awareness is the deepest and most powerful because it’s the closest to truth.
Most other methods make use of awareness to do the heavy-lifting, but they don’t make you aware that awareness is doing the work in the method. So you think “you” are doing stuff, when mostly it’s awareness doing stuff to you.
This was a pretty advance teaching. Some of you might not be ready for it yet. It has very far-reaching implications which will fuck with your present ideology about how the mind works. For example, you will be forced to acknowledge that there is no such thing as free will and that you in fact have no control over life. And this is probably not something you care to acknowledge and investigate, because you want control.
Ben says: Thanks for the speedy reply, Leo.
Mary says: 1) Will applying awareness help to eliminate a habit, even if one doesn’t consider the act as neurotic?
2) My brother has left the country recently. I miss him so much, it’s interfering with my life. I don’t think I can ever feel normal again. Will applying awareness work in this situation?
Leo Gura says: Here’s a very simple rule for you: ALL suffering of ANY kind comes from lack of awareness.
So if you ever find yourself feeling bad, just remember: “Oh, that must mean I’m not fully aware. How am I unaware in this situation?”
Mary says: And if I asked myself the question but didn’t find an answer, should I just ask it again and again?
For example, today I went through a lot and had to make a very important decision, so I just came home and watched some tv series to refresh myself. It didn’t make me satisfied. I just watched it and felt some aweful sensations in my body. But I still don’t how I was unaware in this situation…
Leo Gura says: Well, the average person’s unawareness is sooooo deep and so vast that it will takes years to fully comprehend its scope, let alone reverse it.
Start a daily meditation habit. Start practicing mindfulness meditation. See my many videos about awareness & consciousness. It’s a deep area of study and mastery. People devote their entire lives to mastering awareness.
Uldis says: If your awareness “muscle” is weak, then this approach can be hard to implement.
Sorry for the bad news.
I somehow figure out this principle some long time ago, I called it “don’t fight yoursef”, but I wasn’t able to keep my awareness for more than few seconds then. I decided then, that this doesn’t work.
Now, after few years of sporadic meditation, it works like miracle.
Thank you for sharing high level wisdom Leo! I benefit from your learning and try to put as much in practice as I can to become my better self.
sandy carter says: Leo, I’m writing again just in case you go back and take a look at these. When the experience happened which I kind of described, i.e., during a meditation some years back when the story fell away there was an initial emptiness, a deep quiet that lasted a few minutes. It wasn’t up there with amazing spiritual experiences, but the entire story dropped away. The frantic thought several minutes later was a fearful “where did it go”, meaning where did the story go? It began reloading in chunks. It felt very weird. Something posed the question, and something “looked” for it, and something reloaded it. Something put it back. So, there is the very strong sense this is all a program, and that all there is to this supposed me is this impersonal, unlocated bunch of data, a program just like a kind of software running. There are glimpses of being awareness along with realizing the task is to separate awareness from the program which runs 24/7.
Leo Gura says: Right
Tom says: That was bad ass
Bh
SAB CHAB says: CANT FIND SCRIPT , DONT U PUT IT ANYMORE? THANKS
Dane LaMothe says: Leo,
I just want to say thank you. I don’t want to sound like a kiss ass but your insight honestly vibes with me more than any other source. I recently unsubscribed to most of the newsletters and all that jazz and now I simply check out your video for the week and roll with that. I could go on and on but I have to say how much I love the importance you put on meditation. It really is just so important! Guys who want to get big work out and take supplements. What makes us think that we can “grow” spiritually with out setting aside time and engaging in a spiritual practice. Anyway,
Thanks again,
Dane LaMothe
Rami Kalliokoski says: It feels nice how you but down into words all that mess what is screaming to get out from this network of thoughts of our minds.
This aweress is something I know nothing about. I have had my moments of clarity though. Sometimes things go smoothly and my mind works as sharp as a razorblade. Most of the time my toughts are only crappy misty blur. Normally after coming home from the work Im so exhausted my moment of clarity is out of the window. Do these moments of clarity have something to do with the awereness?
Those ahaa moments Ive had a few. Now as over forty years old looking back the way I behaved younger is telling me how incredibly foolish Ive been acting many times in my life. Is it so called wisdom cathered through years or is it raised awereness that one cant even understand how stupid one has been earlier?
Uldis says: Start practising meditation !
This stuff cannot be clarified by talking/thinking/reasoning.
Talking can only encourage you to do the action.
Stephanie Pihl says: I have a big problem with jealousy. I get jealous of everything. I have so much Envy and pride in my ego-system, that I keep getting depressed at everything. I really hope and think, that this is going to help me. Thank you so much.
Uldis says: Amazing !
Easiest tool for getting rid of unvanted shit if you have some level of avareness.
I quit drinking beer in one evening.
For 40 years I was thinking that beer is delicious
Yesterday I drank 2.5 botles consciously and discovered that it is repulsive
Silke says: Hi Uldis,
congratulations! Thats fantastic!
I would like to hear more about the positive results!
warm regards,
Silke
neil byrne says: you should do a video on the importance of breathing in the right way.
ahmd says: how can I apply this to porn addiction ? I mean it is really hard to stay aware when you are watching porn ,also what things can I be aware of in my porn addiction ?
Sanna says: Thanks Leo .
Silke says: Hi Leo,
thanks so much for sharing!!!
You have described the various and overlapping and interfering effects (in the same system) very understandable.
Now, after this viedeo lesson, I am very curious what you think in the meanwhile about the effect of affirmations? (I am so curious about that, because I am in my inner system -more or less – aware of the struggle of my negative thoughts with my intention to change them willingly.)
I would be pleased to hear your actual point of view on that topic.
Thanks again, and a wonderful day,
Silke
mick says: i havnt been taking my adhd pills since ive been actualized, and theres no end to actualizing,
Nicole says: I am wondering if you have ever taken the Myers-Briggs personality test. I’d love to know what type you are. I know you said you’re introverted but I love the way you think and I’m curious to know
Lin says: Great advice and wisdom. Thank you!
Pilvi says: Synchronicities are the best! I needed to be reminded of this, right now. Thank you.
Shahar says: Can you point me to how to use it for OCD?
Nicki says: Leo I love your work but this blew my mind! I’d love to go deeper on this as I also think it has applications for organisations and how they manage change.
Is there anything I could tap into or reading you’d recommend? Love the insights. Namaste.
Nicki
Anne says: Great session! Thank you!
PS: I am aware of the ah-ha moments after all these years. I’d say that’s a great start.
Simon says: I was trying to figure out how i stopped smoking cigarettes, as i wasn’t able to answer and find the right words to help someone with advice when they express the desire to quit. Well now i got all the words to describe it in this video, and now i can apply this to other areas too thanks Leo
Max the Know better says: This technique is a classic example of what a fool will do, as Leo’s no different to those marketing to fools, my direct experience with Leo’s words and doing what he says indicates that mere awareness doesn’t do anything, it just makes you aware of doing it and love it and do it even more, I know because I tried it, it’s a scam and I can now say that and laugh in your face with confidence, I found out by accident that awareness of not doing something too much stops you from doing it. At the physical and metaphysical level the fool is fooled into techniques, like the all ice cream diet helping you to lose weight, in my own English words that everyone else uses, the soy diet is an old one using unpretentious soy foods with everything, people go on these alternative diets that are old and low quality and does flavours for no one, like the raw food vegan diet, you don’t know if that stuff’s healthy, whether it’s a scam who knows? With these faiths it’s best to be kept in the dark, you know nothing about them, you don’t know if they’re true or not, the problem is that true for a faith can’t be defined in any dictionary, true means it’s based on fact.