Over the past few months, I have been going through a time of transition, and Recording and Listening has been an invaluable support. One practice that has felt helpful recently is leaving myself “signpost” recordings.

When I am identified with egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate and in the dark room, it is really difficult to see beyond ego's stories of fear, scarcity and separation. So when I come out of a dark place and am experiencing clarity and wellbeing, it has been dropping in to make recordings about how I feel and what I can see from that place. I then have those recordings as signposts -- clues about how to exit the suffering process and proof that wellbeing is possible even within my current situation.

Those recordings also help counter the fear story that ego would like to slip in at those moments of wellbeing – stories such as “This clarity will fade, and you'll be back in suffering soon.” With the signpost recordings, it's like I'm slowly building up a breadcrumb trail that becomes easier and easier to follow, helping to guide me home when I get lost in the dark woods of ego identification. 

It also feels like those recordings help me move from being hunted by ego to being the hunter. I'm not just hoping that clarity won't fade, I'm anticipating ego's moves and proactively setting up supports, making it easier to recover when I do get lost in a conversation. 

I have been deeply grateful for the support of Practice in many forms during these last months, and making and listening to these recordings has been just one more way that Practice has helped light my way.

Gasshō.

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