When You Know What You Want but Keep Doing the Old Thing

Seer Sessions · The Practice · October 25, 2026
Edited transcript of Jina Seer's remarks from the October integration conversation

In September, we explored What do you actually want? In the October 4 hypnotic journey, we brought a situation we kept circling to our Higher Self for a wider perspective. This follow-up conversation was about the space between seeing something clearly and living differently when the situation comes around again.

This is a selection of Jina's remarks, lightly condensed and edited for reading. The gathering was a conversation with members; their personal stories and responses are not reproduced here. The timestamps refer to the original recording. This page is not a verbatim transcript of the full gathering.

The lag between awareness and action

[02:00] Jina: What I wanted to do today was take a second and answer your questions if you dug into the hypnotic journey. We can have these experiences where things are illuminated. If I want to feel creative or adventurous, and I experience a lifetime where I feel that way, it's almost like that feeling gets turned on in my body. I can feel what it feels like.

And I can see the thoughts and beliefs that support that feeling. Sometimes I realize, Oh, I believe the opposite here. Once I'm aware of that, I can make a different choice. It's like finding out that a place you drive to every day has another route that takes half the time. You didn't know it was there, and now you can try it.

Sometimes it is that easy. Sometimes you see something clearly, then you encounter the situation again and find yourself doing the old thing. I've had stretches where I was painfully aware: This is not how I want to operate in this situation. I've specifically worked on this. That's another layer of annoyance.

Awareness can be the first painful step. Then the next time you're in it, you begin to recognize the moment and think, Okay, next time I'm going to do A instead of B. There's sometimes a lag between awareness and how we actually operate in our lives, whether that's in a relationship with someone else or in our relationship with ourselves.

September was about what we want. The October journey was about that one situation we keep circling where it's hard to hear our own opinion because so many other things are saying, You should do A, B, or C. I wanted to dig deeper and put a staple in time: Here's where I am with what I want. Here are some of my patterns.

Catch the moment you resist

[12:55] Jina: When you're moving through your day and notice resistance, maybe you planned to work on something and didn't, see if you can catch yourself at the moment you would normally do something else. What are you saying to yourself right then?

I think about a lifetime I experienced as a woman named Hannah. When I started working in hypnosis, I knew the value of my work, but something in me kept me from acting like I valued it. After a session I'd wonder, Did that person get what they needed? I cared, and I could spend far too much of my day thinking about it.

Sometimes I'd ask, How would Hannah do this? The answer wasn't a technique for managing the thought. She was up to other shit. She was focused and present with something else. Sometimes when you ask how that version of you would get around a problem, you don't get an answer because she wouldn't be spending her energy there.

That doesn't mean our lives have identical circumstances. Someone in another lifetime may not have today's pressures. She may not have been a mother. There are a million possible differences. But the comparison can help you see a way of relating to your life that you couldn't see from inside the familiar reaction.

[15:24] Jina: I also notice when I start thinking, This is hard, so I must be doing it wrong. At 46, I've realized a lot of things I want are just hard. They won't necessarily always be that way. I used to give up more easily when something felt uncomfortable. Now I can ask, Who am I going to become because of this?

When you notice you didn't do the thing you planned to do, get curious about what the resistance was. Think of a particular time it happened. Was there a belief? Was there an excuse? I don't see “excuse” as a dirty word. An excuse can be valid, and it can still be worth looking at.

Then think back to the life or version of yourself you experienced in a journey. What might she say about that moment?

[21:44] Jina: If I forgot to ask myself that question two or three times, I would literally set an alarm on my phone. I might attach a word to it that brings the experience back. I know that's a little wild, but reminders help me catch a moment that otherwise passes unnoticed.

How much of your day is influencing you?

[22:18] Jina: One of the biggest hurdles can be getting to know you. We are surrounded by so much influence: social media, our phones, the internet, audiobooks, podcasts, TV. There is no shortage of things trying to influence us. Sometimes we're missing that connection with ourselves, and then we feel the lack of it in other parts of life.

I went through a period when I was searching for conviction, though I didn't know to call it that at first. I wanted to feel passionate and true about my work again. I had been through some things personally, and my work is so tied to my own journey. I realized how much drama came from feeling like I didn't know who I was or where I was going.

Some difficult experiences taught me how important it is to know myself and advocate for myself. I had to learn not to give my power away just because someone was leading the room. Today I'd meet some of those same situations differently. That change matters, even if the experience that showed me the pattern was painful.

So I want to ask: When you think of the thing that tends to get in your way, can you recognize it while it's happening? Do you have another option you could take in that moment? Where are you with that?

Remembering that a day is not your whole life

[29:38] Jina: I journal, especially when I'm not feeling great. I use it to access my Higher Self. About once a week I look back at what I've written to see what I've been up to. It's wild: I can feel optimistic today and discover that three days ago I was asking, Am I ever going to make it? When I'm in one part of that range, I can almost forget the other part exists. Looking back helps me see the wave of it.

[31:03] Jina: I've found it helpful to seek out reminders, whether that's a group, someone I follow who talks about this regularly, or an alarm on my phone. Travel changes my perspective, too. These things help me pull out and see my life differently, but it's still me doing the seeing.

I used to sit at my desk and grind through strategy and creative work at the same time. I'd get things done, but I didn't like how I felt while I was doing them. I don't want to work like that anymore. Now I can often tell what will deplete me, so I plan certain kinds of work at different times. And if I'm doing creative work, everything seems to be in place, and I still feel blocked, I can go on a walk. I love learning the details of how I work.

Finding a calling by getting curious

[44:09] Jina: Why wouldn't we look at an ebb in life as a time when something might be changing? I'm going to remember that. I decide what I want to see, and then I start to see it.

I believe we find more of our calling by understanding ourselves and who we want to be. How do you want to lead in a situation? What do you want to make room for? When we're looking from that place, we may see opportunities we missed when we were consumed by wondering what we were supposed to do.

If you're curious about a part of yourself, play around with everything related to it. Try something once. Make a video for yourself about what interests you. Document a process. See what you notice. You don't have to know who it's for before you explore it. If you want a calling, get fucking curious about yourself.

[49:00] Jina: I've put things online, looked back, and thought, I don't really like that. Sometimes it helps me remember how much freedom there is in learning publicly. I can be here for myself and for anyone who's interested, even when the audience on a particular day is small.

I also notice how easily an imagined opinion can get into my head. A person may not be doing anything to stop me. It's my interpretation of what they might think that's occupying the space. That's another form of influence worth noticing.

The relationships and choices that make room for you

[52:00] Jina: When we're sensitive and open, we may not realize how influenced we are. I didn't understand for a long time how much I was overgiving. I thought I was just doing what I had to do so everyone would get off my back. But when people-pleasing becomes the price of a relationship, so much of my energy goes into keeping it going.

It has been painful to let some relationships change. I don't think the grief necessarily disappears. It becomes part of the backpack I carry. But I've also learned that there are other people and other ways to live. Life is better now than it has ever been for me.

When something crumbles because you stop doing what you always did, there can be a gap between the old structure and what comes next. You are the person who has to cross it. Find people who reflect the good, strong parts of you back to you, especially on a day when you have trouble seeing them yourself.

[1:02:24] Jina: You can return to a job or a situation you've been in before and still be a different person. There's a whole journey in between. Returning to a familiar place doesn't erase who you became while you were away.

And I think some of us need phases with a lot of time alone to recalibrate. That time can be part of getting to know yourself again.

Closing

[1:07:30] Jina: I'm trying to be a little more present with what I'm thinking about before I make the next podcast episode or plan the next gathering. Usually I'd have the whole next year mapped out by now, and that feels a little scary. I love a strategy and a high-level view, but I want room to be in the details of what's alive right now, too.

Thank you for coming and sharing. Let's take a full breath together: breathe out, breathe in, and breathe out.