Matt's Audio Letter of the Week

All right, hello and welcome to this edition of the Feel Better Letter, or the FBL.

This is Matt.

And today, I want to talk about why knowing the path and walking the path are so different—and how the trap of the mind is that it convinces you that because you know the path, you'll eventually arrive at the destination.

And what we need to do is really challenge this idea.

Because one of the things the mind does is it always puts off challenge and hardship into the future. It banks time in the future, right?

That's one of the traps of willpower. We believe we have this endless future where we can always do things tomorrow or down the road.

And we unconsciously convince ourselves that if we tell ourselves we're going to do something in the future, it's basically done—because we've told ourselves we're going to do it.

And this one thing right here is where a lot of people stay stuck. They always tell themselves that one day, it'll get done.

And it creates this feeling today as if it's accomplished, but it never actually accomplishes it.

So when it comes to any change in life, change does not come simply by knowing that you need to change, or even knowing how to change, for that matter.

It comes from the direct implementation of a process that's going to create the change itself.

We know this in any other facet of life.

If you want to make a change in, let's say, getting into a relationship if you're single, you can't keep doing the same things that have perpetuated being single. You have to actually change the way you're doing things.

If you become a parent, you have to change the way you live to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of being a parent.

If you want to change physically, you have to change what you do when it comes to diet, exercise, the people you hang around with, your habits, and your routines to actually create and sustain a physical change.

And anytime we try to do quick fixes, or tell ourselves we're going to change in the future, it simply kicks the can down the road.

And when we're talking about overcoming fear, this is one of the easiest things to do.

See, when you really buy into the idea that fear is a field that exists, that it's invisible, and that it is as real as anything else, even though it's invisible, you begin to understand that when you're in this field, it distorts the entire way you perceive everything.

It hijacks your mind, and it causes you to dramatically limit the way you exist in the world.

It is the greatest enemy any one of us will ever encounter.

And interestingly enough, when you're in fear, it will convince you that you're not in fear.

And even if you know you are on a certain level, it will convince you that you're being rational and reasonable and all this other stuff.

To transcend fear, you can't just know that you have to do it.

You can't just know resources and tools. You can't just know information.

Knowing information does not do anything to transcend fear.

It is the implementation of it that actually allows you to ascend and transcend fear, to where your consciousness is able to reside in a completely different state.

Now, there are obviously many higher states than fear that we can reside in.

Just above fear are things like courage and trust. And we can move into even higher states of acceptance, love, and peace.

Now, knowing all this is one thing.

Doing it is an entirely different one.

Implementing it is entirely different.

And you have to be careful not to let your mind convince you that just because you know it, that means you'll one day do it—or that by knowing it, you've done it.

You have to be able to see these things as different.

Because once you see them as different, you understand that knowing is less than 10% of the journey.

It's just awareness.

The implementation of it is a process.

It's an unfoldment.

It's a refinement.

It takes time.

It takes dedication.

And there are nuances. It goes in a kind of step-by-step, layer-by-layer format for most of us.

We metaphorically climb the rungs of the ladder, if you will.

And that's what recovery is.

Recovery is a path that unfolds through your intention to ascend beyond fear.

And notice my wording here is very intentional today—to ascend and transcend.

There actually is a way, and the possibility, for you to live a life that is not run by fear, that is not lived in fear.

There is an entirely different way to experience life.

And this is one of the hardest things, I think, for me to communicate to people.

Because, obviously, I've lived in fear for a very long time.

And when I talk about this, your mind conceptualizes it in a certain way, thinking that it makes sense or that you understand what I'm explaining.

But you will only really understand it once you arrive there.

Literally, it is a different world that exists outside the lens of fear.

And it is available to anyone.

The reason we intuitively know it's available is because it is—and we intuitively feel called to it.

We intuitively know that we're not designed to live in turmoil, fear, overwhelm, and anxiety. We know that's not a normal way for us to exist.

We intuitively know that things like peace and love exist.

We may even experience little pockets of them from time to time.

And the inner work, the inner path, recovery, is not about coping, managing, and maintaining symptoms so that you can function.

That is not recovery.

That is simply going from survival to being more stable.

Recovery is the actual ascension beyond that.

So, I just really wanted to break this down today.

And for those of you who have ever been interested in working with me on this, I wanted to let you know that this summer, I'm opening up an eight-week Summer Intensive.

I honestly don't know if I'll ever do it again.

I just got inspired to do this, so I'm opening up a whole new path when it comes to working together.

Currently, I'm taking applications for it.

We're capping it at 20 people for the eight weeks, where I'm going to work intimately with a small group of people on how to actually integrate all of this into your day-to-day life.

So if that sounds like something that's interesting to you or aligned with you—or if you've ever felt like you've wanted to work together and it just hasn't been the right timing for whatever reason—that's okay.

But applications are open.

They'll be open over the next several days, and we're going to be starting on July 27th.

So if that feels right to you, please fill out an application.

Once I review them, I'll be reaching out personally to those who apply.

So, yeah, I just wanted to let you know about that.

I hope this was helpful today.

Wishing you all a wonderful week, and I'll talk to you soon.