There’s another little paradox around the inside-out understanding that it’s easy to trip up on, and it’s to do with ‘good’ feelings.
You see, you’ll often hear people like me pointing out how helpful it is to be in tune with our feelings, because they’re a really good indicator of what that trickster thought is doing, in the moment.
- So a feeling of stress is a reflection of stressful thinking… and can be let go
- The feeling of an urge is just a thought… and it doesn’t have to be acted upon
- A feeling of anger is a reflection of angry thought… and it doesn’t have to be taken seriously.
None of these are rules, per se (there are no rules), but it’s good to know what’s going on. It gives us options, offers some perspective and helps us to understand our behaviours.
And while we’re on the very shaky ground of labelling emotions, a mind might look at the three examples above and consider those to be on the ‘bad’ side of the equation… leading to a 3 Principles slogan you might have heard, that can serve as a guide of sorts in these situations:
Faaaaairly harmless and often actually very helpful, especially when stress, compulsive urges or anger have become a problematic feature of your life.
With me so far?
Good.
The thing is, minds are tricky little bastards that do like rules, in fact they LOVE rules!!
Rules are the currency of the algorithmic mind.
So when we’re engaged in work, or creativity or a project or our business and we come up against a difficult bit (which is often the very beginning, or the very end), what does the mind say to us, as it’s doing that ‘helpful’ thing of trying to guide us in our actions? You’ve guessed it:
“Hey! Look for a good feeling, before you start!”
Which is a bit of a disaster, if we’re ever going to move forward on what it is we’re engaged in.
😩
The 3 Principles have nothing to say about what you should (🚩) or shouldn’t (🚩) do in any given situation - they’re just a description of how we experience life, moment to moment.
So when we feel stuck, productively, it’s good to know that that feeling of stuckness and resistance is a reflection of stuck, resistant thinking… and we don’t have to wait for a ‘good feeling’ to crack on.
In this week’s very short video clip, I bring this idea to life:
I hope you find it helpful.
Here’s to you having a productive day… whatever the feeling!
💟
Giles
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Giles P Croft