Saturday, February 5, 2022 (Private/Phone)
Participants: Mary (Michael) and John (Rrussell)

(Audio starts partway through session)

JOHN: There’s no reason to not self-promote. And I value myself, certainly, and I want to do different things. So part of me finds it challenging to identify why I feel uncomfortable with this concept of self-promotion.

ELIAS: I would say that’s very understandable. Regardless of how logical it sounds or even how GOOD it sounds, if you will, I would say that it’s unfamiliar.

JOHN: Yeah.

ELIAS: It’s not a direction that has been expressed and taught for a considerable time framework. It’s not something that you’ve been encouraged to do for a significant time, or throughout your life. You’re encouraged to excel but not necessarily draw attention to yourself. Which is somewhat ridiculous, but that is how individuals have been being taught for centuries.

JOHN: Interesting. You’re including me specifically, but you’re saying that’s a general…

ELIAS: Yes. I am expressing this to YOU specifically, and why you feel somewhat uncomfortable with promoting yourself, but I would also say that in general, it’s very understandable. It’s understandable individually with you, and it’s understandable in general period, because it’s not something you’ve been taught. It’s not something that has been encouraged. You are encouraged to excel; you are encouraged to be competitive; you are encouraged to win; you are encouraged to be successful. But, at the same time, you’re also encouraged not to draw attention to yourself: "Do all of that without promoting you, because in promoting you, that’s arrogant." But no, it’s not.

JOHN: Two questions. One is, you said something interesting – or the way I interpreted it is – self-promotion used to be an encouraged thing in society, and then it turned into something that wasn’t encouraged. My other question is really more fundamental: if you could define self-promotion. And I don’t mean to be funny, just that—

ELIAS: I understand.

JOHN: In our conversations, you’re very exacting with definitions, so that might be useful.

ELIAS: I would say that promoting oneself is the act of expressing your own value and your own importance. (Pause) And in that, putting yourself – genuinely – in that primary position. Therefore, you are expressing that you are ultimately important, that you are valuable, and you are expressing in a manner of “me first.”

JOHN: Yeah.

ELIAS: And in that, I would say that this is something that for a considerable time framework, definitely throughout YOUR lifetime, has been perceived as being arrogant and self-serving. And self-serving is definitely not good (chuckles), according to the rules of society, or what they HAVE been. That’s changing, but what they have been has expressed that it’s not good to be self-serving – that’s selfish.

JOHN: And you’re saying it didn’t used to –

ELIAS: These are all expressions that stem from religious beliefs.

JOHN: Okay.

ELIAS: And remember: Religious beliefs are not necessarily associated with religions, but that religions do move in directions of capitalizing on religious beliefs.

Now, in that, religious beliefs are all of those beliefs that put you in a secondary position, and put you in the direction and the position of being less than, and that something is more important than you and greater than you. And I would say that even to this day, in relation to this shift in consciousness, many of your religions are being overshadowed by the new religion of metaphysics, and even THAT expresses that there is something greater than you. It’s ATTACHED to you, because it is expressed that it is your higher self, but it is your HIGHER self: there is something that is bigger and greater and more powerful and more knowing than you.

But in this, that’s shifting. And it’s being expressed in different capacities, in practical terms, in your world. And this is one of them, is this idea of self-promoting, promoting yourself, expressing your importance, your value, your significance – not asking someone else to express your greatness, not looking to someone else or something else to promote you, because that has traditionally pastly been acceptable, that if someone ELSE is promoting you, that’s different. But for you to do it yourself and to not be seen as arrogant or selfish or self-serving or self-consumed, this is somewhat of a new direction and a new concept. It isn’t entirely new, but in YOUR lifetime it is.

JOHN: Yeah. Yeah.

ELIAS: And in that, it’s not familiar, and therefore all of those old recordings in your head are expressing a reaction to it, that this is not necessarily what you’re supposed to do. But what is tremendous is that you have other people that are encouraging you.

JOHN: Yes. Let me ask a purely theoretical question that’ll help my understanding: In some future society, post Shift, where individuals are ultimately valued – because that’s not today – would there necessarily be a need in that future society for self-promotion?

ELIAS: There wouldn’t be a need, because it would already be being expressed automatically.

JOHN: Oh. Okay.

ELIAS: People would be expressing in that capacity automatically, because that would be part of HOW they express themselves.

JOHN: So having a society where the individuals have ultimate importance doesn’t obviate the need for self-promotion. In that case, what is the intended outcome of self-promotion? Speaking theoretically of course, just to sharpen my understanding.

ELIAS: I would say it’s a matter of the times, that in relation to your present time framework, the point is that it is a matter of being able to express yourself more fully – that there are no limits placed upon your self-expression; that you don’t have to monitor yourself or express in a manner in which you are careful about how you express yourself, because you can express yourself genuinely in all capacities, and that it IS acceptable for you to value yourself, to express your own importance – which is what you are doing in relation to this meeting. But it’s MORE than that, because of the interconnectedness; because when you are promoting yourself, you’re also promoting everyone else.

JOHN: Explain that.

ELIAS: When you elevate yourself, you elevate everyone else. When you are doing it in a genuine capacity, when you are putting yourself in that primary position and expressing your importance and your value, you are automatically, as a natural byproduct, expressing the same about everyone.

JOHN: I see. Okay. By expressing that, you’re expressing the overall concept that everybody is valuable.

ELIAS: Yes.

JOHN: And reinforcing that. I see, okay.

ELIAS: Yes, yes. And therefore, you are expressing that reinforcement and that promotion, so to speak, of everyone – because everything is interconnected. You’re not setting yourself apart.

JOHN: Right. Right.

ELIAS: And in that, just as we’ve been discussing in relation to your meeting, in relation to moving in this direction, you’re not simply promoting yourself; you’re moving in a direction in which you are expressing how you want to grow and you want the business to grow – because the business has to grow for you to be growing with it.

JOHN: Right. Right.

ELIAS: Therefore, it is interconnected; one doesn’t happen without the other. In that, what you would term to be self-serving is also promoting of the whole.

JOHN: Yeah.

ELIAS: And that is what people in positions such as your boss want to see, that a person is aware of that. That’s what they value.

JOHN: If I grow, our organization grows.

ELIAS: Correct. Correct.

JOHN: Yeah. Yeah, he’ll get that. (Laughs) I’ve got the feeling he’s been in my shoes once or twice.

ELIAS: (Laughs) And I would say, Yes he will get that, and he’s looking for that.

JOHN: (Laughs) You know, you referred to recordings in one’s head, and one of the recordings in my head is – and I think I can get around this, but it’s a sort of: “I’m not a self-promoting type!” Right? I can come up with all manner —

ELIAS: Ah, no, no, no, no, no!

JOHN: Yeah. Yeah.

ELIAS: Let me say to you, that is a very familiar and common justification. And let me also say that people do this very frequently. They express in certain manners about what type of person they are, based on what they’ve learned and what they know and what is acceptable to them. In that, many, many, many times people express that in relation to expressions that they’re not comfortable with: “I don’t do that because it’s just not me.” (Chuckles)

JOHN: Right.

ELIAS: But that’s not necessarily true or correct, because you don’t necessarily KNOW that that’s not you, because you haven’t had the opportunity to test it.

JOHN: Right. You know, one word that I use in relation to that is "humility." Humility is a quality I value, but I think I’m misdefining humility.

ELIAS: I would agree. And what I would say to you, my friend, is humility is (chuckles) NOT the expression of denying yourself. Humility, in genuineness, is the ability to express gratitude. Humility is the ability to see that you aren’t alone and that you don’t function entirely alone, and to express that gratitude in relation to how you move together. That would be genuine humility.

JOHN: I like it. Now that helps change my perception. That’s how my mind works. If I can redefine the concept in a way and still hold true [that] I do have humility, I like that as a quality, but now it’s redefined in a way that doesn’t limit me.

ELIAS: Correct. And it SHOULDN’T limit you.

JOHN: Yeah. Yeah.

ELIAS: Humility is not a quality that should EVER limit you.

JOHN: Right.

(Audio ends after 22 minutes)

©2022 Mary Ennis. All Rights Reserved.

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Copyright 2022 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved.