The Three Principles Discussion Thread

[NoSugar]

Great, clear video, Mary - thanks! Pictures always help :smile:.

One thing I read last night has been going on in the back of my head all day -- it relates to my ongoing, constant efforts to be as calm, content, kind, compassionate, healthy, etc etc (all the good stuff) as I can be. As I mentioned above, I do things like meditate, yoga, exercise, walk, pet my dog, hug babies, etc etc and I don't think I should stop doing them as long as I enjoy them - which for the most part I do.

But - the point the person (can't remember who - they all jumble together) was making was that those activities aren't necessary to attain the things I'm looking for! He compares it to massaging a toe that you keep dropping a brick on. The massage makes the toe feel somewhat better but how much easier and more effective to stop dropping the brick! Stop thinking the thoughts that are causing all the noise in your head and tension in your body and you won't have to do a bunch of stuff to calm it all down. So simple but at least to me, it isn't obvious.

[IamMary]

Yep NS, that was food for thought, even in that short video.
He wasn't saying that we shouldnt do those things, they work, as it blanks our minds therefore no negative thoughts. But that we don't have go to these efforts, as our default state could be always positive thoughts.

The cynic in me scratches my head about reaching this point!

[NoSugar]

I don't think thoughts will always be positive - although when we have them, we should give them more attention that we give negative ones. I guess this says something about me but I rarely if ever get into loops of positive thinking - I have to actively think that way. On the other hand, I can obsess on negative thoughts/feelings.

[NoSugar]

Hey, I'm revealing my confusion for all to see, Molly, so join me, please!!

I have to work at mindfulness -- think about what I'm "supposed" to be thinking about.

I really don't at all know what the 3 Ps are (mind, thought, consciousness??) but what I'm running with at the moment is that when I do have a thought, I don't have to pay attention to it. So, when I think about all the work I have to do and the trip I have to take, my stomach knots up and I feel awful. The work and the trip exist and I will do them as the next days pass but it is the thinking about doing them that makes me feel sick -- as I've actually worked today, making my way through this pile, I've felt just fine. And when my trip begins tomorrow, I'll just do it. I've always known that my dread of things was always much worse than they turned out to be. Maybe this was of thinking is a way to circumvent the dreading part. We need Kuya to chime in!!

[NoSugar]

Doesn't what you describe fit with this? -- you're being mindful of (paying attention to thoughts about) things that make you feel good/at peace/healthy/as we all should be in our "natural" state and letting the other 59,999 thoughts go. Maybe you've been a 3-Pee-er all along!

[kuya]

I feel like I used to feel when I was a newbie on mwo -- lurking and afraid to post -- mainly because of my lack of understanding -- AND despite signing up for the free online tutorial that Starty talks of to my shame I haven't even looked at it...

however --- what I'd like to ask is -- what in essence is the difference between the 3P's and mindfulness?

First off you are not alone and it took me a few weeks to get clear about the three principles of consciousness, mind and thought.
There are lots of analogies for it but this is the one I found most helpful.

Think of your brain like an movie theatre and there is amovie projector playing your thoughts.
Mind is the electricity, consciousness is the projector player itself and thought is the images on the screen.
Our thoughts are transient, created by us, not 'real' but they look so real we can get caught up in them and they make us feel emotions like a good movie does.
We cannot watch the 'film' of our thoughts without consciousness making us aware. Consciousness is the 'me' that can watch that other me thinking! LOL
And watching the film would be completely impossible without the presence of electricity (mind).

Mind is the energy of life, that great unknown that people have called by many names. It is that guiding life force which knows exactly the correct action in any moment. It is where your intuition comes from. All original thought comes from this place whereas our day to day thoughts are simply old thoughts rehashed.


Is 3Ps mindfulness? No, not really.
It is simply having a clear understanding that you are simply your thoughts and they are creating your reality. They are not 'real' but simply a tool to be used to move around and interact with the world. Knowing this gives you the instant choice to let all thoughts just pass through ..... There is nothing to do.
Knowing that everyone else is also living in their own thought created reality makes you more compassionate I have found.

Anyway I hope this helps a little.

[kuya]

Doesn't what you describe fit with this? -- you're being mindful of (paying attention to thoughts about) things that make you feel good/at peace/healthy/as we all should be in our "natural" state and letting the other 59,999 thoughts go. Maybe you've been a 3-Pee-er all along!

I am thinking that maybe one becomes naturally 'mindful' when 3Ps are understood. That mindfulness is the RESULT, rather than something to work at and practice.

[kuya]

I don't think thoughts will always be positive - although when we have them, we should give them more attention that we give negative ones. I guess this says something about me but I rarely if ever get into loops of positive thinking - I have to actively think that way. On the other hand, I can obsess on negative thoughts/feelings.

I also think that while you are still in outside-in rather than inside-out thinking then the delusion that things 'out there' made you feel bad will make negative thinking persist.

I was amazed at how quickly my negative thoughts dropped away. I truly did not realise how much of a victim I had become in my own head until I TRULY realised I was the 100% creator of my own feeling.
This is true 100% of the time, no exceptions.....ever!

[satz123]

Mind is the energy of life, that great unknown that people have called by many names. It is that guiding life force which knows exactly the correct action in any moment. It is where your intuition comes from. All original thought comes from this place whereas our day to day thoughts are simply old thoughts rehashed.

:egad: Kuya -are we talking about God by another name. Oh how you've changed
Well whatever - I love it anyway.

[NoSugar]

Think of your brain like an movie theatre and there is amovie projector playing your thoughts.
Mind is the electricity, consciousness is the projector player itself and thought is the images on the screen.
Our thoughts are transient, created by us, not 'real' but they look so real we can get caught up in them and they make us feel emotions like a good movie does.
We cannot watch the 'film' of our thoughts without consciousness making us aware. Consciousness is the 'me' that can watch that other me thinking! LOL
And watching the film would be completely impossible without the presence of electricity (mind).

That analogy helps - thank you. But where in all of this do the things/events/people which exist and are real, independent of our thoughts about them, fit in?

[kuya]

T

Mind is the energy of life, that great unknown that people have called by many names. It is that guiding life force which knows exactly the correct action in any moment. It is where your intuition comes from. All original thought comes from this place whereas our day to day thoughts are simply old thoughts rehashed.

:egad: Kuya -are we talking about God by another name. Oh how you've changed
Well whatever - I love it anyway.

Haha Satzy I have never denied the spiritual just the dogma of a personal god, the content of religious books etc, which I still think is BS.
I am a vet and I see the miracle of the life force in my job every day....I just never realised it extended to the mind as intuition.

[kuya]

That analogy helps - thank you. But where in all of this do the things/events/people which exist and are real, independent of our thoughts about them, fit in?

Those events and people are real but how you feel about those events and people are up to you.

For example. My daughter takes all my bowls into her room and forgets to bring them out. Some days it doesn't bother me, other days I get really ticked off.

The event was the same, the person performing the event was the same....how I FELT about it changed.

Knowing that I am the one creating my annoyed feeling allows me to let it go and return to a good place.

She will still be told not to hoard the bowls but it will come from a calm place, if she persists I can still be angry but it will be purposeful anger not loss of control anger.

Also the other realisation I have had is that people really DO NOT do these things to annoy us.

My daughter isn't forgetting those bowls to annoy me or because she doesn't care....she is simply a scatter brained teenager. I have to decide how important those bowls are to me rather than behaving like she is doing this deliberately.

In other words I am realising that I have been using magical thinking to assign meaning to the actions of others because I THOUGHT I knew what THEY were thinking.

I don't , you don't so don't waste energy on it.

This is what sets this understanding apart from other schools of thought......

[Eloise]

I am definitely a victim of my own thoughts these days.
All of the crap happening could be ignored, it might disappear and it might not?

Somehow the finality of my missing thumb is easier to deal with than our living situation because it is done. It is gone. It 'might' not happen another way. There are no alternative options, I have to accept it.
What I know now is we cannot carry on hoping for th best. We have to make choices about our future.

[kuya]

I am definitely a victim of my own thoughts these days.
All of the crap happening could be ignored, it might disappear and it might not?

Somehow the finality of my missing thumb is easier to deal with than our living situation because it is done. It is gone. It 'might' not happen another way. There are no alternative options, I have to accept it.
What I know now is we cannot carry on hoping for th best. We have to make choices about our future.

I think most of us are victims to our thoughts until we understand that they are ONLY thoughts ... with no innate power.

This may interest you Eloise

ooops that wasn't the right video .... I will find it and post it when I can Eloise

here is the one I meant

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy?language=en

[Eloise]

Thanks Kuya.. Will watch tomorrow, its 1:30 am here. Gotta try and sleep...