Psychology Has It Backwards

Episode 181: The Gift of Acceptance

People often think that the Principles explain why we are tempted to act on negative past thoughts when they come to mind.  We try to assign blame, or rationalize that we were insecure at the time.  We engage our intellect (our memories) to see how/why thinking and behaviors we wanted to put behind us came back.  We find ways to use the Principles to sidestep accountability and acceptance of what is.  We miss the possibility of going deeper and learning from fresh insight.  Yes, thought creates our experience; but when we are thinking a reality that we don’t want, our true gift is we can let any thought go.  Our true guide is the feeling state that comes with thoughts.  If something occurs to us that gives us an uneasy, negative feeling, we know to stop; slow down, remember we are the thinkers and we have the power to take thoughts seriously or let them go.  The experience thought creates is a feeling state; that is what guides us to know whether our thoughts are helpful, constructive, inspiring, or not worth keeping in mind.  Every moment is a fresh start.

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Episode 182: The Illusion of Thought, Part 1

“Ego” is whatever we think about ourselves.  Believing those thoughts can result in acting on idiotic ideas.  Such thoughts are illusions we create about what we are or how we should be.  Our thoughts appear real as we’re thinking them, but they are no more than illusions we have created.  There is no need to be frightened by illusions that will disappear as soon as we stop thinking them and turn our thoughts elsewhere.  We all live in the same reality, but our experience of it is how and what we think it is, unique to us moment-to-moment.  Recognizing ego-thoughts for what they are — just fleeting images we are making up in our own minds — helps us not to become discouraged or frightened by negative thoughts we have about ourselves, and not to become arrogant or boastful about positive thoughts we have about ourselves.  We are all just human beings using the gift of the Principles to think our way through life.  Because thoughts are illusions, images passing through our minds as we create them, we are not prisoners of our own thinking.  We’re always just a thought away from creating a different experience.

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