(The book speaks of "Universal Mind or Universal Intelligence" - I have a preference to not embrace that notion. Although I do believe in the power of inner peace.)
The nuts and bolts of my addictive behaviour are less the issue - more the issue is a thought that leads to it.
I am going deeper than simply a behaviour.
A thought is like a taxi.
It pulls up, offers me a
lift, and I am not required to get in.
A thought is like a cloud in
the sky.
It floats past, and I am not
required to walk along with it.
What else might be in the sky?
A sun!
Otherwise I couldn’t 'see' a
cloud.
How might I let a little more of my sun shine
through?
I was making a choice regarding an unhelpful addictive behaviour I SAW
as helpful, and definitely the least stressful, at THAT time.
With THAT state of mind.
In THAT moment - with little view of my future.
When a state of my mind
alters a little, a choice of mine might alter, or become a bit clearer.
In what way might I see it as “too” difficult, painful, or
disruptive to change.
How might I be more grateful for a helpful thing in my life, and more “graceful” with an unhelpful thing in my life
My Lower Brain - My Inner Lizard - has “rat cunning” - as is expected.
"Acts" as if a habit is necessary
for survival.
In order to “feel” a bit hijacked,
there needs to be something there, that is capable of being hijacked!
Lower brain can’t actually DO
anything - it requires me to give it control.
Like a back seat passenger,
yelling “run the red light” each time I approach one.
I might CHOOSE to see it as an arm-less,
leg-less, lizard with a megaphone - the megaphone likely decreases in size over time. Especially as I see it has no 'real' control over me.
When a human being is lost in the wilderness, they tend to speed up. Go harder.
'Rescue people' say staying
still is much safer.
Intellectual knowledge comes
from studying a thing.
Insight comes from freeing
the mind and looking at a thing from a number of different angles.
An unhelpful addictive habit started as a way to
get a benefit of some sort.
After a while, this habit was
done mainly to make an urge go away - to satisfy it.
My unhelpful addictive habit is a result of a thought of mine - done habitually now.
A thought is an Impersonal and Temporary
Human experience.
Perhaps I might choose to see a habit and an urge in a
different way.
That insight, awareness, might alter a thing in a significant way.
A course of action may start
because I don’t feel ‘good’ in my own skin and want to feel good in some way.
Achieve freedom from an unhelpful thought.
Be distracted from an experience I don’t
like.
An urge to do an unhelpful addictive habit might
provide helpful information.
That a feeling or thought of mine is not helpful
to me at this time.
It could be an opportunity to step back and be quiet.
In what way might this be a ‘choice
point’ to ‘pause’ and step back a little?
A challenge might occur when I ‘believe’
a little in the urge.
When I see it as ‘powerful,’ ‘meaningful,’ and something that I ‘MUST’
act on.
A voice “why am I doing
this?” is perhaps a bit of my inner wisdom.
I might exercise my “FREE WON’T” rather than my 'free will' -
my ‘veto power.’
The more I exercise my ‘free won’t’
the more an urge or thought can be seen for what it is. Temporary; passing;
powerful only as far as I give it permission to be.
The mind, at rest, is in
something deeper, truer, and more helpful.
Lizard brain seeks
simplicity - predictability.
It is its default position.
It opposes and ‘argues’ against change.
Inside me is a “spirit of me”
energy (seen in meditation or mindfulness and in my Hierarchy of Values - HoV).
I might attempt to ‘see’ a ‘choice
point’ – attempt to take a different path.
Each time I attempt it,
let alone succeed in it, I change a bit of “The Landscape of My Brain.”
As a child I was “fundamentally
well by nature.”
Increased rumination or over-thinking interfered with that.
I can perhaps CHOOSE TO move
a bit more towards clarity and wellness.
A label tends to stand in the way of my progress.
Rising above the human
condition – accepting that an unhelpful thought (or urge when moving away from a habit)
occur.
Doing a thing to transform my relationship with a
thought or emotion or urge of my unhelpful addictive habit.
An expectation of mine tends to shape my reality.
Seeing a thing a bit differently
tends to alter an expectation of mine.
I MIGHT do a thing – there is
no thing I MUST do.
I might choose to dismiss a potentially
unhelpful thought or urge.
Dismiss = shrug off; brush
off; pay no heed to; scoff at; distract myself from.
What I believe about a thought;
make of a thought; how I relate to a thought; interact with a thought.
ONLY THAT gives it any substance.
I might choose to see a thought as
ebbing and flowing; impersonal; unstable; unsubstantial.
I might create a pause; dismiss
an urge – I might see it get easier over time.
I expect I’ll be OK,
regardless what my future might hold.
I might make an alteration in the way I ‘feel.’
This is a part of what it means to
be a human.
I might choose to “see” what might have been
handled a bit differently.
Shift(s) in a thought of mine – in viewing a thought of mine.
Power of discomfort - seeing
that I am using a 'Power of Thought' against myself.
A Thought -> An Emotion ->
An Urge -> A Relief.
Re-frame a thought to a Different
thought -> A Relief
Commonly, doing an unhelpful addictive habit is eventually,
rather than relief or relaxation, simply attempting to get to my former baseline of some sort of wellness.
Being free of an unhelpful addictive habit is actually
raising my baseline wellness.
Falling back into the well-worn
path of an unhelpful addictive habit for a moment is common.
It means absolutely nothing on its own.
A person tends to be
mortified when this happens.
That secondary upset, being
upset about being upset or slipping, tends to be truly unhelpful.
The lower brain is ‘machine-like’
and suggestible.
It repeats a pattern and seeks
to create a habit of some sort.
A “Path of Least Resistance”
– the beaten neurological path through my mind – mightn still be trodden in stormy
weather, or when I let my guard drop.
Reversion to my previous
behaviour is an “Oops!”
- rather than anything meaningful or important.
What might be important and
very helpful – “what might this event be telling me?”
How might I have been
choosing to feel or think? How might I do differently?
It seems to be a ‘process’ to move to greater
freedom from a habit of thought or action.
It tends to be an inconsistent process.
It tends to be messy or sloppy.
I might choose to dismiss an urge or a thought – choose
to refuse to engage with an urge or a thought.
Choose to leave a bit of my “personal,
opinionated; judgmental thinking” behind.
Choose to be a bit more “open in the
moment.”
Look to discover a bit, rather than simply confirm what I seem to "know."
Allow a bit more room for wisdom; or common
sense; or a bit more helpful idea.
My current thought
may not create a space for my health, peace and charity.
I might choose to hold 'what I
think I know' more loosely.
The less I think I ‘know,’
the freer I may become.
Look to be a bit ‘dumber’ in the
moment.
“In what way might this thought of mine this be less than helpful?”
In what way might I be choosing to
write a thought or feeling of yesterday, on the clean blank slate of now?
Masking a bit of the ‘reality’ of
today.
Interfering with a bit more blissfully
experiencing this moment.
In what way might I be having a
thought or acting like my life is lived from “outside in.”
In what way might I be choosing to
live my life from “inside out?”
To be more aware of feeling
a thought of mine in the moment.
Of choosing to use a thought of mine and a
feeling of mine to more tailor an experience I prefer to have.
Being more deeply in the
moment, rather than in a thought of mine, is LIVING.
What might I be learning from this
struggle about what it is to be a human?
How might I grow and develop
a skill of mine?
In what way might I alter
this thing to happen “FOR” me rather than “TO” me?
How might this experience
assist me to rise a bit above my human condition?
Rather than me BEING a
thought, urge, habit or experience of mine, it passes through me – it is NOT ME.
Rather than be as much out in the
storm on the surface, I might choose to relax a bit more into the calm within.
Rather than be caught in and
tossed by a wave of a thought or emotion or urge, I might choose to seek to get on top of a
wave and surf it to a newer understanding.
I do what I can,
With what I have,
Where I am.
An insight or awareness
helps to set me a bit freer.
Common unhelpful faulty thought:
“I feel this way; I think
this way; therefore I must BE this way!”
I choose to look for a glimpse of the “ME”
underneath.
Back up a little from what I am creating in
thought or emotion, and move a little into the “awareness” that is the “me.”
Addictive Behaviour is a
same creature in a different costume – my “brain lizard.”
The “me” underneath has a tendency to
be a “blue sky” thought.
A thought naturally moves in
all directions.
I choose to be wary of a “broken” or “special”
thought that I might latch onto.
Rather thanbeing ‘broken,’ it is
solely to do with a thought habit of my mind – and me getting caught up in it.
Would I rather have a “Blue Sky”
thought, or a “stormy weather” thought?
What in me is “aware” of a
thought of mine?
That is actually my “me.”
From the moment I was born –
to “see” and make a choice.
As a person I am always whole
and healthy – how might I shine a light more fully on my own true nature?
“Seeing” where motivation
originates.
Where potential is realized.
Where efficiency comes from.
My “essential nature” is
untouched.
My “pure nature” is
untouched.
As a human I have a tendency is to see a thing I
am doing, or have done, as ‘who I am.’
To see 'me' as a behaviour of mine or
thought.
I might choose to attempt to see my ‘true self’ and see my
health and resilience.
When I feel 'hurt,' I might
then describe the other person’s behaviour.
Is my hurt coming from my
ego?
Or is it coming from love and
understanding?
How might I point myself
towards that part of me?
My ‘experience’ is coming
from a thought of mine.
What part of me is ‘aware’ of a thought or experience of mine?
Go ‘inside’ and rest in my
awareness.
As I look at an experience
from my awareness, what alters?
Seeing from a thought of mine tends to make my
life more challenging.
I might choose to go ‘home’ and see it from my
wisdom or awareness.
See it from my love and peace.
Who I am cannot be broken.
My essential nature continues
to be there, is always whole.
Might be a source of joy and
peace in my life.
There is nothing on the
outside that can help me.
There is nothing on the
outside that can hurt me.
There is nothing on the
outside at all.
There is no outside.
It all originates in me, in
my awareness.
A thought of mine may alter, and I
may choose to live it.
My awareness is a constant.
What in me is “seeing” a thought of mine?
In what way am I aware?
How am I aware of sound? What
can I hear?
How am I aware of sight? What
can I see?
What is looking at a
thought of mine?
How long has this looking, or
awareness been there?
That awareness is me – pure – whole –
complete.
Realizing the “me” in the moment.
Three principles:
Universal mind.
Consciousness.
Thought.
Little mind is the ego mind.
Big mind is the divine mind or
universal intelligence.
Consciousness has infinite
levels.
I am one thought away from
sadness or happiness.
See the process as a movie projector:
Thought is the movie.
Consciousness, as the
projector, brings the movie to life.
Mind is the power for the
projector.
I'm Alive.
I Think.
I'm Aware.
Connectedness is my natural
state.
Thought is arbitrary.
It simply occurs and passes
through me.
I am not required to ‘believe’
a thing.
When I choose that a thing
is true, I am influenced regarding a thought I have and how I interact with
it.
