"Your religion/god is the thing you think most about." - Jimi Hendrix
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What things do I think about the most? That is my world. That is my reality.
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My friends and I started a book club a few months ago with the intention of creating a supportive community for our growth. We meet weekly to discuss the reading and to learn about and support each other's current circumstances and endeavors. We decided to alternate between books that are more about "doing" and those more about "being".
Our first bookclub book was a "doing" book called "Think and Grow Rich" about changing your beliefs and thoughts so they gear you towards a life of "wealth" in all aspects of your life, not just financial wealth. This was a powerful lesson in how all suffering is born from a place of lack, separateness, and fear. And although not necessarily easy, we can remedy this, through building a habit of believing and thinking abundantly. From those seeds of belief, we will gather the necessary knowledge and then the following action to acquire the "wealth" we desire.
This second book, is a "being" book. It is called "The Untethered Soul" by Michael A. Singer. These posts will serve to document our journey through this book. I'll include some notes and insights on the chapter, as well as a journal prompt for further inquiry.
Chapter 1: The Voice Inside Your Head
My inner dialogue is incessant. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it’s pleasant, sometimes painful - it doesn't matter, it’s not me and it’s always happening. Some thoughts aren’t “more me” than other thoughts. They’re all just thoughts. They're all still phenomena occurring "outside" of me. It's happening outside, because I can observe it happening. I am not my thoughts. Thoughts happen. 99% of thoughts are just useless noise - cycling and repeating the things we already know or rabbit holing into fictional scenarios and fantasy... often creating suffering.
Why do we narrate everything in our heads if we already know what’s happening? The narration makes me more comfortable with the world around me. It makes me feel like things are more in my control. Makes me feel like I have a relationship with them. It's no longer a tree... it's a tree that I labeled, decided if I liked it or not, and made personal. The analysis and judgments of my direct experience translate that experience into my beliefs and values and history.
My inner world is a playground of my complete manipulation and control. The outer world is not. Thoughts create a buffer and filter between the raw unfiltered reality as it happens. So I’m not living life, I’m living mind. The experiences I discuss in my inner world are the ones that matter to me. I control my experience of reality so it all fits in my mental model. Now my experience of the world is influenced and warped by my thoughts. I recreate the world in my mind because I can’t control the world but I can control my mind, which can make me feel better because I feel more empowered. Example: saying it’s cold when I already know it’s cold.
I recreate the outside world within myself. To not do this, I’d feel open and exposed because I wouldn’t know what would happen next, I wouldn’t be predicting it by using the context of my past and assumed future. Reality is just too real for most of us. We get uncomfortable and then thoughts come stampeding in.
I’m attempting to hold the world together, but I’m really just trying to hold myself together. Life will happen regardless of whether I think about it or not. The sun will keep rising. Thoughts are a defense, a protective mechanism. I give the mind a job to do: protect me, make me feel secure.
True growth is about transcending the part of you that is not okay and needs protection. I do this by constantly reminding myself that I am not my thoughts. My analysis of the world is not reality. It’s a buffer meant to keep me safe. But it’s not what is true. The silent one who watches all the thoughts is the doorway into the depths of my being.
What things do I think about the most? That is my world. That is my reality.
"Your religion/god is the thing you think most about." - Jimi Hendrix
Journal Prompt:
What are the top 3-5 things you spend the most time thinking about? And what are the top 3-5 things you WANT to be spending the most time thinking about?
And if you’d like to dig deeper, you can ask yourself “why?” For each of the 6-10 categories & plan how you will anchor/catch yourself in the “non-helpful” thought patterns, and remind yourself to shift to the “helpful” thought patterns.
next week: chapter 2, your inner roommate
dream extreme!
♡ kat
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