STEP 1 Notice
* The Buddha said "the Body Knows, the mind thinks"
* start by noticing any negative feelings
* this is the body's sensing of something not in line with Reality, or the reality of this immediate instant of time
* whether this is a process of the subconscious mind, the limbic (emotional) system, the autonomic nervous system, or the actual body (nerves, muscles, cell membranes, etc) is not known, but it is below the level of conscious awareness
* locate where in body the negative feelings are felt, the middle of the chest, in the gut, tension in the neck and shoulders, in through out the head are common places
* energy, usually alot of energy, is being expended (used and wasted) on this physical sensation-feeling
* Examples:
1. while driving someone cuts you off, you immediately notice Anger, with increased gripping of the steering wheel, tension in the neck and shoulders, and head going to explode
2. you receive an unexpected bill you cannot pay at this time, you notice fear, there is a deep down gut feeling associated with gloom and doom, possibly a sense of hopelessness
3. you are put on endless (telephone) hold when calling to correct a mistake on your credit card statement, you notice frustration, feeling this in your head, and a general upset of the body
4. someone lies to you, you notice sadness, in your chest (heart), sinking feeling, and self pity; OR you notice anger, head exploding, even rage
* sometimes negative feelings and emotions arise without obvious cause, such as when 1st waking up in the morning, or when things are "stable" through out the day; however, the idea is the same, the body is saying something is not in line with Reality at that moment
* so we start by noticing the negative feelings, then on to Step2
* Paradigm:the body is capable of knowing Truth from falsehood (non-truth), regardless of our beliefs, thoughts, programming, and prior experiences!
STEP 2 IDENTIFY
* after noticing a negative feeling, then we identify what we are holding in mind at that moment
* usually these thoughts are obvious (see the examples in STEP 1); the negative feeling arises when something happens and there are thoughts and ideas that occur almost simultaneously
* these thoughts and ideas come from our (genetic) programming, (social) conditioning, and even (karma) past actions and experiences
* stopping to identify what we are holding in mind will frequently de-energize and defuse the negative feeling to some degree
* identifying causes us to look inside ourselves, instead of "out there" and to begin the process of realizing that the problem is inside of us
* after identifying enough times, the craziness, even absurdity, of these thought becomes apparent; many are seen to be outright falsehoods, lies, and meaningless ideas!
* Examples:
1. you are late for work, and on the way, you get stopped at a (long) train crossing, you notice frustration, anger, you sense this in your head in neck, you identify thoughts such as "this should not be happening to me," "this train should not be coming at this time,""I always catch this train when I am late," "I should have left my house earlier," "I should have gone another way"
2. someone yells at you for a minor mistake you made, you notice sadness, guilt, shame, and become defensive, you feel this in your chest, and "shrink" away, you identify thoughts such as "he should not have yelled at me," "I should not have done something wrong," "I am always messing up"
3. you cannot pay your bills this month, you notice fear, guilt, anxiety, you identify thoughts such as "I should have more money," "I should not have all these bills to pay," "I should always be able to pay my bills"
* at times the thoughts/ideas/concepts that are causing to the negative feeling/emotion/mood is not obvious, or cannot be easily identified; these are deeper issues, and the more one identifies thoughts that cause negative feelings, the more the deeper issues surface, this is par for the course, and helpful in getting to the root thought program, or what is known as THE MEME!
* A MEME is a behavior, idea, style, or usage that spreads from person to person in a culture. They are "viral" in that they self replicate, and spread easily among people. They are usually short phrases that become ingrained in our psyches, conscious, and subconscious minds. They are powerful, pervasive, and difficult to undo!
* most memes outlive their reality and usefulness; these will be out of touch, or in conflict with, our current situation, or Reality, and thus they produce noticeable negative feelings and emotions
* It is necessary to identify these "outdated" memes when they produce negative feelings/sensations in the body
* after noticing the negative feelings, and identifying the thoughts, ideas and memes associated with these feelings, on to Step 3
* Paradigm: our ideas, thoughts, and memes can hurt us, they cause negative feelings and emotions in our bodies when not in alignment with the Truth-Reality at this instant! {what we think can cause harmful feelings}
STEP 3 OPINIONIZE
* this concept maybe challenging, that our thoughts and ideas are all opinions
* our thoughts are all opinions because they arise from a certain perspective/position of our ego-mind
* these positionalities are from our programming and conditioning, they are arbitrary, though some may fall out to be aligned with Truth
* it can be seen through out history and through out one's lifetime, that what was "right" at one time becomes "wrong," inaccurate, or irrelevant at a later time; conversely, what was once wrong-inaccurate, is later seen to be correct (e.g., the earth is flat, becomes the earth is round after exploration; it was "wrong" for a 3 year old to run across the street alone, later becomes, it is unsafe to run across the street without awareness of the dangers)
* these opinions, then, are subject to change frequently, making all thoughts and ideas likely to change sooner or later, therefore, they cannot be "unchanging Truth"
* Examples:
1. you are stuck at a red light, you notice frustration (in your neck and arms), you identify the thought "this light should turn green NOW!" you now realize this only your opinion; the light will change when it is programmed to change, and your forcing these thought that are associated with anger and frustration will not make the light green any sooner!
2. your spouse overdraws your checking account, you notice fear (of loosing credit, having the bank get upset, or not having enough money to live on), you feel this in your gut; you identify the thoughts, "they should know better," "they should not have done that;" you realize that these are only your opinions; they have done what they did already, and the consequences of their actions are not yet known!
* we stated in the previous 2 Steps, when you notice negative feelings, then what you identified in mind at that time is contributing to, correlated with, or causing these feelings
* and now, we state that these thoughts that are identified are opinions, hence, our opinions are identified as the source of our negative feelings!!
* and since opinions can, and do, change, we can change these opinions that are hurting us!
* we notice the negative feelings, identify the thoughts we are holding in mind at that time, and we realize these thoughts are opinions, our opinions, and we can change them, then on to Step 4
* Paradigm: our thoughts, ideas , memes are opinions, and they can be changed {I can elect to change thoughts that hurt}
STEP 4 "FLIP IT"
* if we can change our opinions (thoughts/ideas/memes) that hurt, what do we change them to? Intuitively, we change these opinions to ones that do NOT hurt!
* the easiest way is to FLIP these opinions to their exact opposite; to make it clearer to know the exact opposite of an opinion, we identified our opinions with the wording should/should not, but must, have to, need to, always can also be used
* Examples: (see the examples in STEPS 1,2,3)
1. "They should know better" becomes "they should not know better!"
2. "they should not have done that" becomes "they should have done that"
3. "the light should turn green now" becomes "the light should not turn green now"
4. "I am always messing up" becomes "I am not always messing up" or "I never mess up"
5. "I must be on time" becomes "I must not be on time" or "I must be late!"
(at times, 'self-orienting' the opinion works best, that is, "They should know better" becomes "I should know better!")
* by declaring the opposite of our opinion, that is FLIPPING our thoughts, we instantly release the negative feeling we were experiencing! this occurs every time! this release can cause a feeling of joy, happiness, laughter, or pleasant sensation, or just neutralize the negative feeling; it always releases the negativity, and produces neutrality or a positive feeling
* whether the FLIPPED thought is Truth or not, is not always known, however, it is always more true, and always feels better than the prior thought...
* doing this on a consistant basis keeps us from feeling bad, makes us happier, produces a more effortless and predictable life, gives us a more accurate view of the world, andcauses us to be more aligned with Reality and Truth. The benefits of this are huge! and largely unkown as yet too few of us know this and practice this constantly...
* Paradigm: we are not victims of the world we see, we become the cause, and not the effect, of our world!!
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