I would like to explore the Three Principles which I spoke about in my video and last blog post. It may sound easy to understand these principles intellectually, but quite another thing to ‘get it’ insightfully.
The Three Principles are a concept expounded by Mr Sydney Banks. He discovered these Principles whilst he was suffering from severe depression. Then one day, he came to the realization that he was caught in his thinking.
The Three Principles are as follow:
Mind Consciousness Thought
Mind refers to energy and higher intelligence. Some cultures call it ‘God’, or ‘life force’. Mind sends the content via Thought (thinking) into our brain. Thoughts are the information that we feed into our brain, in the form of images or ideas. And since the brain controls the body, hence it becomes our reality, which is the Consciousness.
If we truly understood the above ‘insightfully’, then we couldn’t be angry, frustrated or stressed. This is especially acute when you need to perform – you get panicky and stressed, and you are fearful of not getting it right. Why? Because perhaps everyone tends to think in an instant that it is always something outside of us that causes us to think and feel this way. But no, it’s only your thinking.
Then my clients go on to say, “But I cannot stop my thoughts.”
Of course you can!
Some people go into meditation to stop their thoughts. That unfortunately doesn’t work. It’s like saying you want to stop water flowing within a river.
Remember, Thoughts are not the stuff that give you trouble. The problem comes when you start thinking into the Thoughts. Some people may call it “perception”. Yet others term it “manifestation”. Let’s use the analogy of the river again.
Let’s look into the river. Some people may not like what they see in the water. There may be some rubbish, plastic bags etc, in it. Yet, sometimes, you may find flowers and leaves being carried down the river too. In short, the river is what it is. Just a river with stuff in it.
But when I start thinking into what I see, I might think, “Oh god…plastic bags? How inconsiderate of some people!” Your brain will begin to associate this opinion with many other associated memories that you had in the past, and cause a reaction within you. And lo and behold, our minds become ‘full of stuff.’
When something like that happens, you are completely not living at peace because you are struggling mentally. However, if you are able to practise the Three Principles successfully you will realize it is only your thinking and nothing else. And if you are able to do it, that’s Clarity.
Since you know that everything starts and ends with only your thinking, here’s an exercise. I’d like you to spend the rest of your day being mindful and aware. Whenever you feel bad, panicky or uneasy, just tell yourself, “Hey, it’s just my thinking.” Try that, and see what results you get out of it.
Stay well,
Nancy
