Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr – The Five Levels of Attachment (New Years)
This is an excerpt from my radio interview with Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. We were talking about New Year’s Resolutions and attachments. However, I think that his wisdom is relevant as we start each and every day. What would happen if every morning could be a manifestation meditation, where we start off the day as if we were a brand new baby full of opportunity and potential. Each day could be a practice of reminding ourselves to dance with the universe and to hear the “yes” or “no”. If you want to hear more of the interview click on the podcast above (fast forward to about 4 minutes in), or “subscribe” to our newsletter as we publish more transcripts from this interview.
Transcript of Radio Interview with Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr
Q: Let’s talk about the Toltec traditions during the end and beginning of the New Years. Do you have any New Year’s resolutions or end of year rituals?
A: January 1st is basically a brand new day. When we were born, and when our parents hold us in their arms and they see nothing but the pure potential that they can dream. We can be a doctor, a lawyer, a great musician, or gymnast, anything is possible when our parents held us in their arms. The sky was the limit. There is moment in our life, where we become aware of that opportunity and that potential we have in our life and January 1st is one of those days. It feels on that day that we went a whole brand New Year. We realize that we can do anything we want. We can create this, and we can create that. Anything our little heart desires. When we make a resolution, it is basically saying what we want our year to look like, because we see that same potential.
The beautiful thing about that tradition of New Year’s Eve is that we are once again reminded that we are alive, completely and totally alive. We have the capacity to create the life the way we want to. We can dance with the planet to create it. Because the planet has the perfect right, every right to say “no” to us. But, when life says “yes” to us and we say “yes” to it, then we can create anything. But, it is important to realize that there is huge difference between letting life tell us “no”, and our own mind says “no” with fear. Because when we are saying “no” , then something won’t be done. When I say “yes”, then something will be done. It is a beautiful dance between me and everything around in life. A New Years’ resolution is setting up an intent.
Now, the question is what do we use as a motivator? If we are going to use the goal as the condition for our own self-love. Sometimes, we will succeed, and sometimes we won’t. Sometimes we say something we don’t really want it, and we stop doing it. But then, there are things we really want to do and somehow or other we manifest it. For example, this is your first radio show on a brand new network. This is probably part of one of your New Years’ resolution and here you are, it is done. What we do in our New Years Eve is exactly that, we become aware that this is a moment in time where I can say good bye to the dream I created in the previous year. We can do this either consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly. We can say, “it is told, it was created, it is done, and I say ‘thank you’”, and then I start anew. It is like a baby who fell down, stands up until he is able to walk and run with it.
Q: As a coach, I find that New Year’s resolutions and personal goal setting can morph into a punitive thing. They become “should’s” versus wants (e.g.- ‘I should lose weight’, ‘I should be on time’, etc) based on external expectations that people put on you. Now, think about how the whole New Year’s experience would change if we did as you suggested. If we do not use resolution as a condition for our own self love and we think of each day as an opportunity to create dreams. What would happen if we could think of every day as a new beginning and being aware of the potentiality of creating anew? It changes the whole way folks in the US think of resolutions, don’t you think?
A: I think so. Everyone is different, there are 7 billion of us in the world and we all think differently. What is beautiful about what I am saying and what I have learned is that it may not be about the goal at all, or the actual resolution, because the resolution or the goal is just the focal point of my intent. The great thing about the process of goal setting is becoming aware of how powerful we are as individuals of being able to create it. Goals and resolutions and all those things are basically the excuse for us to create. If we shift our attention away from the goal as a condition of my own acceptance, but instead see it as a focal point for expressing who I am or manifesting what I want, or manifesting the dream that I want then what I’m really celebrating is the life in me, my strength, my abilities, and the intent I have. As you were saying, we make our resolutions from a place of ‘I should’s and we are so used to that. But, all of a sudden if we look at it from a different angle and we say that resolutions come alive only when I put a foot forward, I take an action, I say “yes” or even say ‘no’, then what I’m really celebrating there, is this great power, and this great intent hat is in all of us. For example, this radio show required Cassandra, the technical staff, the telephone company, and you and I to create it. We are all working together for this, everything in our dreams. A dream to finally say “yes” to this moment and we are riding the wave and riding it until the waves let go and then we look for another one.
INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED.
About Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr
At the age of 14, don Miguel Jr. apprenticed to his father don Miguel Sr. and his grandmother, Madre Sarita. From that early age, he was called upon to translate Madre Sarita’s prayers, lectures and workshops from Spanish into English. In this way, through constant repetition and review, he learned the content of her teachings in both languages. Through interpreting for Madre Sarita, don Miguel Jr. came to understand the power of faith. He saw first-hand how she manifested her intent to heal people, both physically and spiritually. don Miguel Jr.’s apprenticeship lasted 10 years. When he reached his mid-20′s, his father intensified his training. At the apex of this power journey don Miguel said to his eldest son, “Find your way out. Go home and master Death by becoming alive.” For the past six years, don Miguel Jr. has applied the lessons learned from his father and grandmother to define and enjoy his own personal freedom while achieving peace with all of creation. Today, don Miguel Jr. is married and has two young children. And so, as a Nagual he begins once again to pass along the wisdom and the tools of his family’s traditions in helping others to achieve their own personal freedom and optimal physical and spiritual health. Miguel Jr. has taken the lessons of his father and grandmother and discovered his own personal freedom. Being able to apply his teachings to the world around him gave Miguel Jr. a new understanding of the lessons his father and grandmother had passed onto him, once again giving him the desire to pass on his beliefs. After decades of training, Miguel Jr. was finally ready to share everything he had learned. As a Nagual, he now helps others discover optimal physical and spiritual health, so that they may achieve their own personal freedom. Join Miguel every Wednesday at 12:00 PST for his radio show “The Way of The Desert” as he shares his beliefs using both the tools of his family’s traditions and the knowledge gained through his own personal journey. You can also access the site to listen or download past archived shows.
# Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr, toltec wisdom, the four agreements, don miguel ruiz jr. , how to let go, toltec, 5 agreements,four agreements, the four agreements youtube,the 4 agreements, 4 agreements, toltecs, toltec teachings,don ruiz,don ruiz miguel,don miquel ruiz,ruiz don miguel, miguel don ruiz, miguel ruiz,don miguel ruiz four agreements,toltec wisdom beliefs, ancient toltec wisdom, Letting go, how to let go, letting go of past, how to let go of the past, let go of the past, let the past go, letting go of love, on letting go, I can’t let go, letting go and letting god, learning to let go of past, how to let go of someone you love, letting go of someone you love, letting someone go, attachment, attachments, recapitulation, 5 agreements, smokey mirror