Thrive 008 - Authentic Spiritual Living

Glenn is joined by his son Lee Harrold as this week’s special guest. Lee is a hypnotherapist and involved in the Vedic traditions of Krishna consciousness. They discuss how authentic spiritual living can be adapted into daily life. Authentic spiritual living is not something you get good at, it’s more something you attune yourself to - a frequency based on your mindset and activities. We can raise our vibrations through selfless service, meditation and spiritual association. 

 Lee stayed at the temple and associated with monks through which he learned the importance of attaining inner happiness from a spiritual source. He explains the distinction between happiness and pleasure, as the two are often confused. Detachment is also a big part of the Krishna consciousness philosophy and practice in spiritual life. Often attachment to the outcome of life can result in us suffering. Spiritual practice keeps us grounded in the 3D world with a sense of purpose.

This episode finishes with Glenn's meditation called Mindfulness Meditation for Higher Consciousness. In this recording Glenn's meditation techniques are combined with deeply relaxing music by Russ Davey to create a powerful session which is will help you experience deep levels of compassion, gratitude and a higher awareness. 

About Glenn Harrold: Glenn Harrold is one of the world's most successful and trusted hypnotherapists, with over 25 years of experience helping millions of people improve their mental health, sleep, confidence, and overall wellbeing. His recordings are renowned for their clinical effectiveness and exceptional production quality.

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Please do not listen to this recording while driving or operating machinery. This recording is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello, so this is Glenn Harold, and this is my next podcast, and this podcast is going to be on authentic spiritual living. And because that is such a big subject, I've got a very special guest on this week. And that guest is my son, Lee Harold, who's also a hypnotherapist, and he's working with a lot of clients at the moment. And just to give you a little bit more about Lee, he's also been involved with the Krishna consciousness movement for quite a long time and has read the Bhagavad Gita extensively and spent time at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in London, which is the Hare Krishna temple, it's the main temple in London. And so yeah, Lee's got a lot of experience now in hypnotherapy and also in things of a spiritual matter. So without further ado, I'm gonna bring on Lee.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Hello to you, Lee. Hello, that was um yeah, pretty amazing introduction there. You should have done a speech at my wedding, maybe. That's really good. Well I've got to big you up.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

You're my son, yeah. Sounds good. It's gotta be a good one, hasn't it? So, Lee. So, with that title, Authentic Spiritual Living, what does that mean to you and how do you achieve that? How do you actually live a spiritually authentic life?

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Yeah, okay, that's a really good question. I think that it's something there's always an aspiration for me, and I think it's something that you're not it's not something you necessarily get good at, but you uh become more authentic over time, that should be the goal, and obviously we've got lots of challenges being in this body as human beings, we have emotions, desires, all these different things that can pull us different ways. Um but I think for us striving for authenticity and trying to do the best we can and aspiring to do that, even if we're not perfect, um, is ultimately the goal.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

So, what what was it then uh in your life? What happened in your life to align you with that path? So, Sandra, kind of what I mean by that is you know, because you go through life, especially when you're a young man, you go through life where you're you know often on the materialistic treadmill where you want to acquire things, you want to have a nice flash car, and you know, as you said to me before, you grew up in Essex, which is one of the most sort of um uh materialistic places in England, and you know, for fashion and that kind of thing. So, what was it that got you away from that sort of materialistic treadmill into the spiritual seeking treadmill?

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Yeah, that's a good question again. So I think um I think I've always been happy. I don't think that was necessarily an issue for me. Um, but my happiness was through uh like entertainment, kind of like most people really, you know, finish work on a Friday, go out with friends or to the cinema, and you know, I still do those things, um but there's a seal in there as to where you can there's a big difference between happiness and and pleasure, right? That a lot of the time it gives you pleasure, you know. Well, I still like enjoying watching a good film these days, or um yeah, you know, doing doing those different pastimes, but I I wasn't I I was quite happy, but I knew there was more. I thought, well that is this it because this can't just really be it in life. There must be something deeper there. And um I remember I was on Old Street in North North London and I met one of the um Hare Krishna devotees and they stopped me and they was kind of asking me a little bit about my life, and I was talking to them, and this guy seemed really happy, and I looked in his eyes, and he had something really special that you could tell he'd cultivated, not something he had bought or something that he had um yeah, even kind of like um yeah, just just got it was something that he had acquired over a uh a period of time, and he just looked happy, he looked glowing, and I was like, wow, this is really nice what you've got, um, whatever it is, and I wanted to know more about it. So um I I went up to to the temple, uh their temple in um Hertfordshire, and I was kind of seeing how these guys live and how they was living that authentic spiritual life, and I think the spiritual rewards for the kind of daily practice, the commitment, um, you know, in some ways the austerities was fueling the happiness they had inside, so it's all internal. The point and the message here is that guy's happiness come from within, whereas my pleasure was coming from without. And it's in this life, it's it's kind of getting the balance in daily life of making sure most of our happiness is coming internally and also enjoying the external pleasures as well, but but mostly fueling that within within ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yeah, because that's the one thing I notice with the Krishna guy is that they are living uh what to me is at times seems like a really austere life, where they're you know up very, very early in the morning, like four o'clock, and uh they're they're chanting and praying and and then giving themselves uh to others, you know, being of service and living that really it seems to be all uh austere, but then they have this happiness and this you know peace within them that makes you think, well maybe it's worth getting up at four in the morning and doing that work.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Exactly. I think um you know I stayed there for um I think it was ten days, and um I thought to myself at the beginning, oh you know, early mornings at like three o'clock, and you know, um not the comforts of my own home, am I gonna be okay? It was in the middle of summer, so it was really, really hot at the time. I remember there was a heat wave at the time, and I've it was spontaneous. I remember going there on the Sunday, and someone said, Oh, we've got a 10-day course over the next 10 days where you can stay here and experience what it's like to be a monk. And um I said, Yeah, yeah, fine, I'll I'll come in the morning. So I I drove home, got my staff, and then I drove back early in the morning, and it was about a 50, yeah, about a 50-minute drive at the time, so it was spontaneous, and I decided to do it. And um, yeah, I had a bit of a bit of time on my hands um back then, so I thought I want to give it a go. And I remember being about three or four days in and getting used to the early mornings, um, getting used to kind of working and doing different kinds of services and duties, cleaning the toilets, cleaning the men's um dormitories and all these different things that I'd never have done before. And on a material platform, you know, those things could be hard, you know, you don't really want to be cleaning up after other guys and all this. But I remember after three or four days, the the the the prem, they call it the prem, which means love in Sanskrit. The the prem started coming and that feeling of that devotional service I felt inside of myself a deep love. I don't know, I don't quite understand the mechanics of how it happened, but the smile within started manifesting to the smile without, and I was really enjoying living a basic simple life in the mood of service and love.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

So that's the real takeaway from this, isn't it? It's that you know, even if you're scrubbing the toilets or you're doing some really menial, uh, you know, tough job, if you're doing it with a level of consciousness and you know, you're really present with that activity, yeah, and doing it from a connection to the divine, you know, you've got that connection to the divine, it's it doesn't matter. You're you're enjoying that moment, you're even if it seems like a tough job, you're you're in it and you're enjoying it. You're present, and you're present. So whatever you're doing, whatever kind of work you've got to do that you don't fancy, if you do it with that mindset, you've got this amazing connection.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah, and it's a it's a very it's a really good point. I mean, I you know what I've taken away from that is you know, I love cleaning now. And if you remember when I was a kid when I used to, you know, when I was cleaning, I used to leave all my clothes everywhere, and dad would be like, Look, pick your joggers up and stuff, and that that was how it was for me.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

I you know, I didn't want to clean like I was now thanks to the Bagavag Gita, Lee loves cleaning.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Yeah, due to a lot of the wisdom and stuff that I learned it you know, through this process. Um yeah, I love cleaning like on a Saturday morning now. I love putting on my mantras and chanting and getting in a meditative state and and cleaning the house because it doesn't have to be something you don't want to do, you can turn it into a spiritual process.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

So, how would you um you know relay that to somebody who wants to be in that? What would they have to do to get into that mindset so that whatever they're doing in their day, they do it from a you know heart-centred place and they're they're able to enjoy it?

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah, good yeah, okay, cool. So, like reading lots of different spiritual literature from different kinds of parts of the world and uh different philosophies, the kind of conclusion I've come to is is um there's different things going on here. I think committing to like a daily spiritual practice is very important. I know that serves me nicely. And what would that be in particular? So, you know, I've I've got friends and I know people that, for instance, uh really big on like the breathing, like the Wim Hof breathing. A lot of people doing that at the moment. Um, there's also uh like mantras for me, that's my kind of gateway into raising my consciousness, reciting a mantra through uh a form of meditation, or also just kind of putting a mantra on YouTube and chanting along with my daily duties. I find the the sound vibration in these mantras for me are so powerful and it's a real gateway, and I can be feeling I can wake up and feel a little bit dismo uh unmotivated or kind of um yeah, a little bit kind of stuck, and I'll go into a practice of chanting maybe for sort of 15 minutes, half an hour, and I'll come out the other side completely different. So that's the spiritual practice, that's that's the setup first thing that gets you in that that mindset. They call it sadna. Sadhna uh is a Sanskrit word for like your daily commitment of spiritual practice, and that could be lots of different things, you know. Um I done some uh om chanting the other day, which which was really amazing, where I was chanting om in a kind of circle in uh with a group of people, and it it I've never done it before. I thought I'll give it a go. I'm quite kind of open-minded to try new things, and I come out the other side. Wow, so now that's in my sadna, that's now in my daily practice because it it was so incredible, you know. And um, so that's one thing here, and other things are you know, our activities coming from more of a a mood of service, yeah, which um you know, serva uh is the Sanskrit word for that, and that's kind of cultivating um more of a mood of of serving people around you.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

And you know, you can say what you do there, you do that once a week down at the soup kitchen, don't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically Lee's down there with his wife Cavi in there um you know, serving food to homeless people and people who are you know uh under the breadline. Yeah. So that's all one way of being of service. You know, there's there's lots of ways, isn't there?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

And there's lots of ways, even just um, you know, again, like for me, I never liked cooking or anything like that or preparing anything. I just kind of had that sort of I don't know, when I was a young lad, I just his mum looked after him well. Yeah, good mum. She was a good one. So he didn't have to do too much. Amazing food for me, and and but but now like kind of rustling something up, even if it's like a salad for some for someone nice and kind of offering it in a sort of uh in a mood of of being of service to maybe someone you love or or even a stranger, someone that comes to your home preparing something nice to them and and and and uh having that kind of sweetness to it. And that was one thing I always noticed from the temple when I went there. Um, a lot of the guys would be so sweet to me, they'd prepare me food, they would ask if I'm okay, they'd get me a drink, we would sit and have conversation, and these these monks and these devotees were so sweet, and I just I thought, wow, I want to be with these guys, you know, these guys are understanding the secrets of life here, and so that that's what I kept with me afterwards, and and I try um to imply that today.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

So that's that's the thing, isn't it? It's it's learning this stuff, but then it's also um you know implementing it into your everyday life.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Yeah, we have the tendency to forget, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, yeah. You go on a c a weekend course or something, you get you know, you learn mindfulness or how to sing a mantra or whatever, but then you come away and you get back into real life. But the thing to do is to really, you know, uh, you know, bring these things into your everyday life and make it a part of your life so that yeah, when you get up, like Lee was saying, you're you know, you're doing a mantra or you're you know practicing yoga. My thing is I do a little bit of yoga first thing in the morning and exercise, and that normally gets the heaviness out of my system, and you know, I'm I'm ready to go. So and it and it also gets you um into a state of mindfulness because when you do yoga or whatever it is, you you're there, you're in it at that time, yeah. And and then from there on, so then if you do have to clean the toilets or wash up or do whatever you have to do, you've still got that mindset, you're carrying that into your day and presence, you know, presence, yeah. And it's a good setup, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Yeah, absolutely. I know it's a big difference, and the rewards are there, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

You go through life feeling you know more contentment, more happier, you know. And when you're helping others and being of service, you've that makes you feel good, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. It's a lovely feeling, and you know, it's that ripple effect as well, you know, when you put it out there, other people benefit from it and they get uplifted. So it's you know, it's something you have to work at, but it's part of the spiritual journey, isn't it? Yeah, and I and I love the you know, the other big teaching in Krishna consciousness is about detachment, and this is another good thing to bring into your everyday life to help you journey through life because you know, especially in this day and age where every life is so up and down and so uh changing, it's so changeable, you never know what to expect one day from the next. But if you can really work on that detachment thing, and so whatever comes along, whatever hits you, you know, good or bad, you can react to it in a in the same way without getting emotionally charged up, and you know, you you practice uh this this uh nice philosophy, yeah. Yeah, so Lee, what would what would you like to add to that?

SPEAKER_03 14:50

You know, the thing of detachment, yeah, yes, it's uh I mean at the moment, like you say, circumstances and you know the world's changing all the time. Um the more I think we practice um you know kind of spiritual life and bringing that to the forefront of our mind and our endeavour and things, I think that we build um a strength. You know, it's like out there can still be a battlefield at times, but we can be coated with the armour and with the protection going into that. So I think that that naturally gives you a sense of being more grounded the more you practice spiritual life and you kind of focus your attention and keep your vibration higher. The circumstances can still be the same out there, but we can have a sort of sense of fluidity and the ability to move through them and around them and navigate our way around them with you know ideas or kind of concepts that will keep us um not affected by those things because we can't always change circumstances, life happens, right? Yeah, the good, the bad, it's it's it's how it is, but spiritual practice keeps us not as attached to the outcome.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah, that's the that's the work, isn't it? It's the work, that's the thing that um you know, the more I know, the more I connect with my spirituality and work on that side of myself, I I find that when you know something stressful comes along, I'm much more able to deal with that because I'm in that spiritual mindset and um you know just that higher consciousness state where I just accept you know this is the 3D world that is very changeable and dark and light, and and you you learn to um navigate it so much better. Sometimes, you know, if you have a number of things that hit you at once, very stressful things, you know, that they're the times when it can be the hardest because you know everyone's got a limit. But I think you know that's the time when you need to pull yourself out of it and focus on meditation in particular more than ever, or you know, chant into your thing, then chant at that those times. But always remember that you know, how even if life's getting really tough and really intense, or especially when it gets to those times, that's when you need to really focus on your spiritual work and your spiritual practices because that's the time that challenges us the most, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Yeah, so very good point.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

So um so are there any other takeaways that you can give people for living an authentic spiritual life?

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Yeah. Um a quote I love um I think it was from Buddha was above all else, seek good company. I like that one. Association, very important. Um you know, keeping positive influences in your life. And um I I found when I was keeping really, really good association and mixing with people that were kind of quite elevated in in a spiritual sense, or not even in a spiritual sense, but just kind of choosing the right activities and things, it would steer you in a different direction, and I think that that would always be very, very powerful for me. You know, when I would I'd come away and I'd learn new things, or or be around someone that had a positive influence um on the people around them, and I would I'd I'd feel amazing, yeah. You know, in instantly if if you're around someone that's very negative all the time, of course, we always try to help other people, but sometimes it can wear us down ourselves, you know, and it it's not always conducive.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

That's a really important point to remember that you know it's good to be of service to others and to help others, but it's also important for your own spiritual self-worth to uh you know have firm boundaries so that if somebody is you know turns into a bit of a leech, and you know, I get that sometimes in my work. I like to help people, I like to answer emails and you know, um give as much as I can, but sometimes people want to take too much, and and I have no qualms at cutting them off, you know, and saying, look, enough. You know, I had to do that last week, in fact. You know, a lady was just pushing it too much, and I'd given given a lot, and so I had to cut it, cut it dead, and um so yeah, the message in that is it's also about being a warrior, you know, in yourself that you're not afraid to tell people, you know, no, enough, I'm not gonna put up with it anymore. Yeah, but that's an important part of it, you know. The the whole teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is about Krishna on the battlefield and how he's having to face his demons and fight uh dark forces and that kind of thing, and it's a it's a metaphor, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah, it's it's you'll know more about that than me, it's an amazing story, and that's the thing, I think, with spiritual teachings as well. When I read stories, um you know, you kind of take the part that you need from it, you know. If if we was all to read a quote or a philosophy or um some direction in spiritual life, we'd all take something different from it. You know, it's a quote would maybe speak to you differently how it'd speak to me. And I think that there's there's miracles and this knowledge all around, you know, it's just it's just it's it's everywhere, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Yeah, absolutely. And um and so I think you know, to sort of round up, we're sort of 20 minutes in, aren't you? So I'm gonna um uh round it up is to say that um you know it is a work in progress, isn't it? The spiritual path is a work in progress, and it's something that you have to you know, just in the same way that if you wanted to build a fit, healthy body, you go to the gym three or four times a week, you'd work out and you tone up. And the spiritual work is the same, you know, what you put in is what you're gonna get out of it, and you know, ultimately, I think it's the most important thing we can do on this journey. You know, we've got the gift of life and we've got free will in this life, um, but ultimately it's the our spiritual growth that is the thing that will you know help us at the end of life and help us prepare for death as well. That's another big part of spiritual teaching, isn't it? Um George Harrison always talked about that, didn't he? Always m immersed in spiritual life, and yeah, I was reading about him last night.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

He was like one of the biggest influences for me, like he's just incredible and how um you know he had all the money and the fame and these things and pursued for him the most important thing was spiritual life, and I think that's something we always need to work on.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Yeah, I love that quote from George where he said that he until he read the autobiography of a yogi, he'd he realized his his his life had been a complete waste. Yeah. Up until he read that, and he'd been in the Beatles before that. Yeah. But he said as soon as he read that book, it transformed his knowledge and his wisdom, and it just gave him amazing meaning, meaning to life. And um so that was it. So it If George can, you know, think that he'd wasted his life in the Beatles and then got a spiritual enlightenment through a book, the you know, there's hope for all of us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Something I want to be working on forever, you know. Um Yeah, I think that's the thing. That that's I I hope and I pray I can, you know, it's it's one of those things.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Once you once you go through that door, you don't come back out of it, do you? Because you know you have to live a more authentic life. Yeah. You can't cheat or take shortcuts because you know you're only cheating yourself ultimately. Yeah. So you have to um you know be authentic in, as Gandhi said, in mind, action, deed, and word. Oh, cool, yeah. That's the ultimate thing. So well, thank you very much, Lee. Yes, that's a pleasure. Thank you. I love it. And I can honestly say, you know, Lee's my son, but I can honestly say that he lives an authentic spiritual life, probably as much as anyone I know. Oh. He really does, you know.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

I don't know about that, that's nice though.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

No, I mean you do, you know, I mean he you when you were a young man, you go out nightclubbing and drinking and doing all the things young men do in England, but nowadays you're on that path and you you walk it authentically, you really do. So, yeah, it was so great having you on, talking about that, and we'll do another one. If if people like this, we'll do another one. And what I always do on the podcast, I always finish with um a nice recording to help you. You can either switch off now or you can listen to a nice meditation. And the one today is called Mindfulness Meditation for Higher Consciousness. And it's a 20-minute track that I made with Russ Davy. And so if you get yourself nice and relaxed now, headphones on, if you've not got them on, or you don't have to, but it's always better through headphones. Get comfortable and drift away with the relaxation, and it will get you into that higher consciousness place. So take care, and I'll see you again soon. Welcome to this mindfulness meditation recording, which has been designed to help you raise your consciousness and experience life with a new awareness. Begin to focus on your breathing. Follow the flow of air as you inhale and exhale as you breathe in. Feel the air flowing in through your nose, oh mouth, to the back of your throat, and gradually expand your lungs as they fill with air, and as you breathe out, feel your body suffering, releasing any tension. Allow your body to feel more relaxed, and more peaceful with each breath. I want you to imagine now that you are standing on a beautiful, tranquil beach on a warm summer's night, and there is a beautiful full moon up above you in the night sky. You watch the reflection of the full moon shining on the surface of the water, as the calming waves gently lap to the shore. You feel very safe and secure now as the moonlight illuminates the white sandy beach all around you, and as you listen to the calming sound of the waves, you feel a gentle warm breeze against your skin and notice the soft sand beneath your toes, and you feel so good now as you look up to the stars in the beautiful indigo sky. You notice the way that each star sparkles uniquely as its light passes through the atmosphere at the end of its journey to the earth. And this light reminds you that all energy in the universe is intertwined and interconnected, and you sense this is a magical healing place, and in this blissful state of presence, I want you to imagine that with each breath you take, you are breathing in the energy of the universe in through your heart chakra, in the middle of your chest, and as you breathe out, you breathe out love, just connect with a feeling of love and peace, and as you do this, you sense a feeling of gratitude, immense gratitude, and with a grateful, loving heart, you can simply rest in this moment as you feel connected and at peace with everything around you, you feel a deep sense of inner peace, you feel a deep sense of and as you experience this subtle change in your awareness, you can now feel connected with the infinite consciousness that shines from within all beings from each blade of grass to each planet, to each star, and to the universe itself. Be aware of that infinite consciousness that's in everything, and you can feel a deep sense of love and compassion for all life, for all the animals who live on this planet alongside us, and for every human being, each one on their own journey, experiencing life at different levels of consciousness, and this understanding and feeling of love, kindness, and compassion will stay with you now. Just continue to breathe through your heart chakra and feel your consciousness elevate to a higher perspective, almost as though you are looking at the world from above from a higher spiritual perspective where you feel completely connected and at one with the universe, just stay with that now, you feel connected to your higher self, you feel connected to your higher self, you feel connected to your higher self, you feel connected to your higher self, you feel connected to your higher self, you feel connected to your noise. And your knowledge and understanding will grow, and you will just know that everything is connected, and that we are all one, just expressing consciousness in different ways, and your awareness and vibration will continue to grow. And I wish you all the very best. Best wishes.