In this transcript, Hollis explores the concept of Unity Consciousness — the idea that we're all interconnected on a fundamental level. We’ll discuss practical ways to apply Unity Consciousness in dealing with emotions like jealousy, self-doubt, and insecurity. By recognizing that there's no separation between ourselves and others, we can foster empathy, compassion, and a deeper connection to the world around us.

Listen to the full episode.

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Hello, and welcome to the Designed Life Podcast. I'm your host, Hollis MM. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I'm really glad we get to share this time and space together, and I'm especially excited to dive into today's topic. This is a practice that I deeply love and value. It was taught to me by one of my own healers in the past, and I’ve integrated it into my work with clients ever since. I believe it’s something that is really needed—especially now, but always. It resonates at a level of truth that connects to our existence as living beings, not just humans, but creatures that grow in harmony with everything around us and are inherently linked to the natural environments surrounding us.

This practice brings us back to an understanding of our essential selves and the interdependence we share with the world. It's something we can never truly escape from, no matter how disconnected we might feel at times.

Today, we're discussing unity consciousness—not just as a concept, but as a practice. On a basic level, unity consciousness is the understanding that there is no separation between you and me. It’s a belief I’ve held for a long time, although it’s more than just a belief—it’s grounded in science. Everything is made up of particles and atoms. On a microscopic level, there is space between those particles. We’re essentially constructions of condensed atoms, making us a dense human body. But fundamentally, we are not separate from anything around us. We're made of the same materials found all over the planet—minerals, gases, elements—and at that level, there’s no separation between us and everything else.

Even if you zoom out and look at the planet from a distance, there’s no separation. We’re all on this planet, floating along together. We can’t escape our interconnectedness.

By recognizing this truth, unity consciousness reminds us that everything is connected. There is no separation, and everything we do sends ripples out into the world and the environment around us. The same applies to everything else. If you’ve ever moved homes and noticed how the person you were in one space changed in another, that’s a clear example of how we're connected to our environments and how they profoundly shape who we are. There is no separation.

The same applies to the food we eat, which nourishes our energy and enables our bodies to function. It continues in our relationships, too. You’ve probably heard the saying, “You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” I think that’s true to an extent, especially when you view it through the lens of unity consciousness. We are influenced by the people we spend time with, and we are no different from those we encounter daily.

This practice taps into that sense of connection. It also helps us build empathy, compassion, and work through challenging emotions like self-doubt, insecurity, jealousy, and envy.

So, what is the practice of unity consciousness? In its simplest form, I like to describe it as looking at someone or something else and saying, “I am you, and you are me. There is no difference.”

For example, when you experience emotions like jealousy or envy—two feelings that Karla McLaren, an emotional sociologist, describes as triggering our sense of fairness, security, access to resources, and self-preservation—you might feel as though your connection to security, resources, or recognition is destabilized. You see something in someone else that makes you feel you don’t have access to the things you need to stay safe. Like all emotions, these can sometimes be distorted and unskillfully experienced.

You know, we can experience jealousy and envy for all sorts of different reasons, but at its root, these emotions arise because we feel like somebody has something we want, and because they have it, we won’t be able to have it. There’s a separation that’s established from these emotions, and there’s a feeling of lack, and that lack triggers our sense of security and safety.

So, when you experience emotions like jealousy or envy, the first question is: What is being triggered? What insecurity or sense of doubt is being brought up? That question can immediately provide insight into what you feel like you don’t have enough access to.

For example, I experience jealousy when I see other female entrepreneurs out in the world, thriving in their work, receiving a lot of support, and really flourishing based on what they’ve created. As a successful entrepreneur myself, you might think that feeling is unfounded. But there’s a part of me that still wants to push myself to greater levels of success. When I see other women doing that work, there’s a fear that I won’t ever get to that capacity, and I start to doubt myself and my own success and security in what I’ve built. We’ve all experienced this on some level.

It’s clear to me that my jealousy is attached to my material sense of security and my career. So, the first step is recognizing the emotion and why it’s coming up. Then, I work through the density or heaviness of the emotion. Emotions like jealousy can leave us feeling stuck, judgmental, and filled with self-doubt, which can stop us from moving forward and stepping into our power or motivation.

After identifying the emotion and its source, I can apply the unity consciousness practice. I’ll look at the people I see thriving and say to myself, I am you, and you are me. I’ll think, Look at me out there, thriving in my career, doing the work I love, and being successful while enjoying the process. As I say this, I start to step into a vibrational or energetic space that feels more connected to that possibility. I can start to see myself in the same position as the women I admire, and I begin to feel what it would be like to be in that space.

This triggers my imagination, and I start visualizing myself in that position. That opens the way for me to see how to get from where I am now to where I want to go. It puts me in an empowered state, where instead of feeling down about what I think I don’t have, I can clarify what I want and start moving toward it.

The whole idea behind unity consciousness is about stepping out of the density of separation and constriction and stepping into connection, lightness, and empowerment. This is one example of how it works with jealousy and envy.

If you often struggle with jealousy or envy, or find yourself wanting what others have, I recommend not only practicing identifying the emotion and understanding why it’s coming up but also applying the unity consciousness technique—seeing no separation between you and the other person. See them as an extension of yourself.

You can also apply a little more strategy by clarifying what you truly want for yourself, and then getting clear on the steps you can take now to energetically align with that desire. Visualization meditations can help—envision yourself as that person in that space, doing what they do. This helps magnetize that version of yourself into existence.

So much of getting to where we want to go has to do with vision—being able to clearly see ourselves there. And we can’t see ourselves there if we only see the separation between us and what we want. That creates a block. But the more we recognize the connection and possibility, and how it’s entirely possible because there’s no separation between us and the people already doing what we want to do, the more we can clarify our vision and start moving in that direction.

Now, another example of when unity consciousness can be really, really beneficial is when we're experiencing feelings of self-doubt or insecurity. You know, jealousy and envy obviously stem from something that feels insecure, that feels like it's not stable. There's a feeling of lack, of not being enough. And that is very much connected to other experiences of self-doubt and insecurity—of not feeling like we will have enough, or that we are enough, or that we are providing enough.

Before moving forward, I’d ask you to think of an area of life where you feel like you’re not enough. Whether it be in a relationship, in a friendship, in your work, with your body, or with your relationship to anything—we all have something that we carry around with us, something that says, This is not where I want it to be. It's not up to the standard that I want it to be, and we think, I need to do better, I need to work harder, I'm not enough.

So, I invite you to name one of those things for yourself. What is something that comes to mind immediately? Hold it gently; you don't need to dive into it too much just yet, but keep it as an example so that this information can start to feel tangible for you.

For me, an example is that I used to have to enter a lot of spaces where I was surrounded by, quote-unquote, really successful people. I’m using the throughline of material security and success because that’s something that particularly triggers me. Financial security is something I struggle with a lot—not just on a material level, but on an emotional level too. It bleeds into a lot of my decision-making, and I have many personal insecurities around it.

So, I used to walk into these rooms and be in spaces with very, very successful people. For a long time, I felt like I was somehow less than them, that I had to learn from them—which, in many ways, I did. There were plenty of things I could learn from these people. But I always placed them on a pedestal above me, like I was a few steps down, and I felt like I had to be smaller in those spaces.

Over time, I began to realize that if I was in those spaces, if I was put into those rooms with those people, then I was there for a reason. Truly, there was no real difference between me and them—the only separation was the one I had created for myself. I started applying the unity consciousness technique, where I recognized that I was them, and they were me—that we were all just different variations of the same person.

This realization opened me up to these spaces. I found useful connections with the people there because, instead of stepping into the room feeling like I was less than, like I was not enough, and feeling separate from them, I started acknowledging the value I had within myself—even if it wasn’t the same kind of value they had. There was no hierarchy in that space. I recognized that I was contributing just as they were contributing.

By acknowledging that within myself—something only possible by recognizing that we were one and the same, that there was no separation, and that we were all human beings going through life’s struggles, just in different ways—it made those spaces much more accessible. It also taught me how to help my clients and friends walk into spaces with so much more confidence. Instead of seeing different levels of people who were more or less capable, better or worse, it became clear: We are all human beings, going through this human experience together.

So now, I'd like you to come back to that thing you feel not enough about—the thing you feel you’re lacking in some way. Think about someone who triggers that insecurity in you, and start considering how there is no separation between you and that other person. Can you look at that person and say, I am you, and you are me, and we are just different expressions of the same person? How does that change how you feel about your own experience? Does it make you feel like their experience could be more accessible to you? Do you even want their experience?

And, more importantly, what do you remember is the value that you carry, based on your own experience? How can you connect more deeply to that value? Remind yourself of the value you carry with you at all times, to help ease that feeling of insecurity and doubt. Remember, there is no separation between you and these other people. Even if it feels like there’s a huge divide between you, I guarantee they’re experiencing the same insecurities, doubts, and self-questioning, just in different capacities.

This leads me to my last example of why unity consciousness is so profound, and why I think this kind of thinking is extremely helpful and necessary in our day and age. It builds compassion, empathy, and understanding. When we start to see that there is no separation between us and the people we encounter—whether in person, digitally, or through stories in the news—we recognize that we’re all going through the same challenging emotions and experiences, just in different ways.

When you start to realize that what you're experiencing in your own body is directly connected to the people around you—that there is no separation, even on a particle level, or when you zoom out to look at the planet as a whole—you see that the pain, disillusionment, or struggles of another person are yours as well. You can impact what they're experiencing simply by living your own life. Nothing you do is isolated to you.

The more we remember this connection and apply the practice of unity consciousness—thinking about how we are all the same—the more it inspires us to live in ways that align with the greatest good for ourselves and others. Every time we compromise our integrity or act against our values, we are compromising someone else's integrity, acting against their values too. There is no separation between you and me.

As I speak this to you, I know you already understand this on a deep level. This is just putting it into a new light for you. We are all aware of these truths. We all know that we are deeply and inherently connected. It's just about remembering it consistently so we can come back to acting and living with intention, mindfulness, and thoughtfulness—with everyone’s greatness in mind.

In today's world, we witness significant division, with a growing focus on separation between individuals. This division is often the root cause of conflicts and wars around the globe, stemming from an emphasis on differences rather than shared humanity. While it’s important to acknowledge the uniqueness of each individual, the failure to recognize our commonalities—like shared experiences of joy and pain—fuels this separation. The truth is, all life on this planet is interconnected, evolving, and striving to grow within its form and capacity.

I encourage you to practice unity consciousness regularly. Whether you're walking down the street or dealing with emotions that make you feel less than, take a moment to see others as extensions or different versions of yourself. Notice how this practice helps dissolve boundaries and fosters connection. How does this new perspective empower you? Does it allow you to take up more space and feel more confident in your value?

If you try this practice, I’d love to hear your experiences—whether they feel expansive or challenging. This practice isn’t always easy, especially when applied to individuals you find difficult. Yet, the more we embrace this perspective, the closer we move toward unity, healing, and collective support for everyone and everything on this planet. I firmly believe this is possible if we apply these practices more consistently.

Thank you for listening to today’s episode. I'm incredibly grateful for your continued support. Stay tuned, as I’ll be inviting new guests onto the podcast, sharing wisdom from those who align with the values of Life Design. I’m excited for you to hear their insights, and I look forward to the next episode.