I’m a little obsessed with something this week.
(Just ask the students in The Little School of Big Change. They get an earful about my fixation du jour).
It’s this: There is no about or of when it comes to our psychological experience.
In other words, you aren’t angry about the government, what you ate yesterday, or what your coworker said.
You aren’t afraid of losing all your money, falling back into your habit, or–like questioner in this week’s Ask Amy —being alone.
We can chop off the end of that sentence right before the about or the of.
You are feeling anger. Period, full stop, end of sentence.
You are feeling fear. Period, full stop, end of sentence.
You feel stuff. And your mind pins it on what’s around you; whatever looks like a logical scapegoat.
Whatever tells a nice story.
Thinking and feeling seem pretty circular to me. Sensation and thoughts that tell a story about them. More thoughts and stories, more sensations.
But do you see what it does to chop off the end of that sentence and not get tangled in the who’s and what’s and why’s and “causes”?
It keeps you pointed toward a fact. You’re feeling something.
It keeps your mind quiet.
It keeps you out of the misunderstanding and superstitions about what causes your feelings. It’s not life, other people, or circumstances. The “cause” of feeling is the One energy that creates all things.
Looking there…period, full stop…keeps you from running around trying to change the world within or around you. It keeps you from re-arranging “abouts” so that you can be okay.
P.S. This week’s Ask Amy speaks to this in the context of a real fear.
P.S.S. This is not a new insight. It’s not even new to me. I wrote this article on this same topic a little over 3 years ago. I wondered what ever happened to this article…
