The Three Principles Discussion Thread

[kuya]

Also we need to remember that, like all new learning, it is not linear. Take a break and come back.


All the long time practitioners speak of a long term learning curve. We cannot expect to skip it simply because we know it may happen.

I am going to spend a couple months hanging out. There is no rush.

[NoSugar]

Mr G, I didn't get your reference to the video about Sydney Banks that I posted - what did you mean?

The conversation I woke up to here is so on point for me today. Last evening I heard from my friend who is very interested in all this. She had a horribly disappointing Christmas Day and was badly let down by someone she cares about it. Her knowledge of how the 3Ps work was doing nothing to make her feel better. And everything I could think to respond to her sounded really weak. Knowing how it works doesn't 'fix' anything, just like knowing how gravity works doesn't make a fall less painful. But at least you don't have to be as fearful and upset as you would be if you had no idea what was at the root of your feelings or tumble. And you can know your thoughts will pass and bruises will heal. It's just not the quick fix that we (I) would like it to be.

[j-vo]

I just watched this tonight:

Jamie Smart: The search is over- Unless it's not! - Three Principles Movies: Three Principles of innate health and wellbeing

I understand it, but how does one just live in reality and not allow thoughts to creep in? Isn't that a part of humanity...to think and create thoughts? How can we learn, have opinions if we don't. I'm missing something. I get it that nothing can make us feel the way we feel, but our own thoughts. It's a principle just like gravity to our world is a fact. It's a fact that only our thoughts create our feelings, and that nothing else around us can do that. That's a hard one to wrap my head around. We're so conditioned to react this way. Almost every situation in our lives, it seems as though we are conditioned to act a certain way, think a certain way. Unlearning something is really difficult. Unlearning behaviors is hard. Maybe I'm missing the whole point.

[Pie]

Yes, thoughts creep in whether I "allow" them or not. With 3P awareness, I have the power to choose which thoughts to latch onto, and which to let drift back out. I have the power to realize that not all of my thoughts are necessarily true, and I can just as easily choose a more benign interpretation of what's going on within and around me.

Anyway, that's where I am at this point in understanding. Thanks to everyone posting in this thread. It's so very helpful!

[j-vo]

I ordered Jamie Smarts Clarity. Sometimes I need to read and reread to "get it."

[kuya]

I just watched this tonight:

Jamie Smart: The search is over- Unless it's not! - Three Principles Movies: Three Principles of innate health and wellbeing

I understand it, but how does one just live in reality and not allow thoughts to creep in? Isn't that a part of humanity...to think and create thoughts? How can we learn, have opinions if we don't. I'm missing something. I get it that nothing can make us feel the way we feel, but our own thoughts. It's a principle just like gravity to our world is a fact. It's a fact that only our thoughts create our feelings, and that nothing else around us can do that. That's a hard one to wrap my head around. We're so conditioned to react this way. Almost every situation in our lives, it seems as though we are conditioned to act a certain way, think a certain way. Unlearning something is really difficult. Unlearning behaviors is hard. Maybe I'm missing the whole point.

You are not missing the point, but may not realise how freeing this is.

You are no longer a victim of life, no longer thinking life 'happens' to you.
It is true that the conditioning and randomness of thinking is hard to shift BUT you will find that from now on you will find it harder and harder to react in the same destructive way.

U der standing HOW you think changes HOW you react...whether you want it to or not.

I was an habitual worrier. I can still momentarily fall into it but I watch myself doing it and have to stop, laugh and go somewhere else with my thoughts

[NoSugar]

I understand it, but how does one just live in reality and not allow thoughts to creep in? Isn't that a part of humanity...to think and create thoughts? How can we learn, have opinions if we don't. I'm missing something.

Thoughts come and go, we form opinions, and we have beliefs -- the thing 3Ps is pointing out is that these opinions and beliefs are not real - they are just our thoughts. Other people have different opinions and beliefs that similarly are just what they have been raised, or have chosen, to think.

Wars are fought because people don't realize this. Whole segments of the population are absolutely hated by other segments simply because of differing beliefs that don't even exist outside each person's mind. Understanding the 3 Principles doesn't mean you have to give up your opinions or system of beliefs - we have free will and get to choose what we think. What a gift! But the flip side of that freedom is the responsibility to allow others to do the same.

[j-vo]

Thank you girls, for your responses. Throughout the talk, I did get it a few times, then I got confused. If this will reveal the truth on how our brains work, then I can see that it can be applied to everything in life. I hope this blockhead gets it. I've read so many self-help books in my life, can't even count them. But they were methods, not an awareness of what already is, this paradigm of the mind. And to be frank, I'm tired of trying new methods to feel good. I just wanna live without the baggage.

[NoSugar]

I can just as easily choose a more benign interpretation of what's going on within and around me.

Exactly! We can't know what is going on apart from our thinking about it so why put the worst possible spin on it (as I'm sometimes inclined to do)? As my Grandma used to say, Why borrow trouble?

I can't help but look at my low moods now and now say, NoSugar, why are you choosing to be in a funk? If you were thinking about this differently, you would feel at least somewhat better. Like Kuya said,

BUT you will find that from now on you will find it harder and harder to react in the same destructive way.

Once you get a glimpse of this stuff, you can't really get it out of your mind, even when wallowing in the muck seems kind of appealing.

Jamie Smart gave a great analogy. Have you ever seen the arrow in the FEDEX logo? I hadn't but now it's the first thing I see whenever a truck goes by. I can't ever see that logo in the same arrow-free way again.

[kuya]

Thank you girls, for your responses. Throughout the talk, I did get it a few times, then I got confused. If this will reveal the truth on how our brains work, then I can see that it can be applied to everything in life. I hope this blockhead gets it. I've read so many self-help books in my life, can't even count them. But they were methods, not an awareness of what already is, this paradigm of the mind. And to be frank, I'm tired of trying new methods to feel good. I just wanna live without the baggage.

I will try and find the talk by Micheal Niell where he states how many self help books he has read, how many 'new' methods he has taught yet been enlightened by this new paradigm.

Please don't worry that it seems elusive, it will embed itself. Just relax and list n or read and let it wash over you....there is nothing to 'do'

[j-vo]

It's my nature to figure it out...NOW. I need to let go of that thought!

[NoSugar]

I'm a figure-er, too, J-vo, but I don't think it works here. This is something to understand at a different level. No egos allowed :wink:.

This video is a good one for explaining why the 3Ps are not a "self-help" protocol - they are just an explanation about how life works which, once understood, can help us. It doesn't solve our problems but helps us stay calm and allow our inner wisdom/intuition/hunches/flashes of brilliance/outside-the-box thinking to come through. It also helps us realize that some things we tend to get upset about aren't really worth it because they're not real anyway -- we've invented them and so can just dismiss them.

Like Kuya has mentioned a few times, now that I can get rid of it pretty quickly, it is kind of amusing to notice the trouble I've made for myself with my thinking. Where I really tend to do this is with believing that I know what other people are thinking in a particular situation, attributing those thoughts to them, and then reacting to all of that as if it had come from them!!! They weren't even involved - the whole thing played out if my mind in light of what I think I would have thought if I were them... Good grief.

I've noticed personally that I'm over-reacting to people and events much less since I began exploring all of this. The parallel I've drawn is that when my computer acts up, I tend to freak out. Other than re-booting or unplugging, I really don't know what to do b/c I don't understand how computers work. On the other hand, when my sewing machine is messing up, I get irritated but I basically understand how it functions so there are all sorts of things I can try to fix it. When you realize how your mind is working, it isn't so scary, because even when you don't like what is going on, you know it will change.

[YouKayBee]

"The Three Principles point towards a pre-existing logic that explains the human experience. A renaissance of the mind based on universal constants (principles) that uncover our innate or natural resilience, wellbeing and humanity."

This topic has been discussed in a few threads over the last several days, in particular in the ARMY thread. A dedicated thread will make it more likely that we will be able to re-find links and ideas that are shared.

A few places to start are:
Three Principles Movies: Three Principles of innate health and wellbeing —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCi83BkCHv0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4i9C2AJyGQ&list=PLX6bm_wy6ipgJmevYaiUZxbDqt43XbDPj

Michael Neill

In one of his blog posts, Michael Neill wrote:
That describes what I was going through daily a couple years ago. I'm open to any ideas that enable people to get out of (and stay out of!) that hopeless web.

I hope people take a look at some of the links and if interested, join the conversation :smile:.

I've not been able to read the full thread, but if we are talking about not beating yourself up, what I've found helpful is taking the outlook that every person is trying the best they can with what they have.

This comes from Rogerian, client-centred approach to counselling and although it can be a bit wishy washy at times, I find it a really useful way to look at yourself and others around you. Whenever I've struggling with myself or anyone else, I remember this, take a deep breath and it keeps me calm.

[j-vo]

Thanks for the video NS. So NS...what am I thinking right now????!!!!! <3

[j-vo]

And this will be beneficial to me, because I am an overreactor. OMG. A big one.