The Three Principles Discussion Thread

[NoSugar]

I couldn't find the part about thought, Behan. Do you have a more specific link? Thanks, NS

[behan]

Yes sorry NS a bit obscure. I was trying to find the brains chemicals behind the thought process( thought being the ghost in the machine so to speak)

Similar to this
Fight-or-flight response - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And this
Amygdala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Best to you

[NoSugar]

Thanks, Behan. It is amazing how complicated our brains are and even when we learn all the structure and biochemistry, thought remains something of a mystery. How does baclophen affect this part of the brain?

[NoSugar]

So many things that we think are real, like race, are just ideas we made up. I think this is beautiful:
Prince Ea

[Guitarista]

So many things that we think are real, like race, are just ideas we made up. I think this is beautiful:
Prince Ea

Nice one Sugarbabe. He is a fine young man with lot's to share. Yo!

[NoraC]

So many things that we think are real, like race, are just ideas we made up. I think this is beautiful:
Prince Ea

Thank you, NS. I just sat here and cried while I watched it. Yes - how do we stop the labels?

[NoraC]

By firstly recognising that we ALL label and identify with this delusion, some more than others obviously.

If you were raised and/or live/work in a multicultural area and your Facebook photos contain only people of the same race then red flag right there! ��

As the saying goes ....."if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem"

Interesting point, Kuya. There's an old saying something like 'You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?'

I live in a multicultural part of the city. I just checked my Facebook page........I was extremely curious as to what I would find to be honest.

On my personal page of actual photos that I posted, I found that the photos are 99% of the time my immediate family. So, most are the same race as I am. Of course, there are many of my beautiful dil and other family members who are a different race. *** The other photos would be of friends and that would be of different race.
***Note - I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was to type those sentences. I never think of them as of different races.
The other items that I post are mainly positive quotes or pictures. I like Playing for Change so I probably have shared some of their stuff. Also, a few funnies were there I see.

On my feed:
Oh my goodness. That is from all over the world. I have Facebook friends from all over the world. I met some of them when I was into Facebook games and we would friend a bunch of strangers. Well, I stopped playing those games years ago. But, there are some people that are still on my friends list because what they post have meaning. I met some of them here. I also have my friends from my real world daily life. Those are of all races. One of my co-workers is from Romania. So, as I was just checking Facebook to report back here, I saw a post in Romanian. I'll have to translate that later.:biglaugh:

But, the thing is - yes, everyone labels to some degree....you see someone & think..... She's old. He's short. She's fat. He's ugly. She's black. He's white.
But, I also know that my label isn't a very sticky label. A first impression and then you look inside. I honestly try to live my life that way. I do still throw a label up subconsciously when I first meet someone. When I went into the tattoo parlor and the woman had so many body modifications, I immediately wanted to judge. Even a split tongue (I didn't see that though) And, of course, she was the sweetest, most helpful person.
I have tried to be a better person and share a positive encounter when I am out in the world. Some days more successfully than others.

I shall continue what I'm doing. I hope that in some small way, each encounter I have with every human being brings a moment of happy for them & me. Just as I'm walking down a grocery aisle and strike up a conversation with another person and we both laugh. Sharing a smile as you meet someone on the street. Just some positive action.
We are living in a very negative world at the moment. I don't have the answers. I don't choose to debate them (sorry - that is directed to all the political crap on Facebook). I am not going to make some earth shattering discovery that is going to bring peace into this world. But, I can choose to bring happiness into the part of the world that I can touch. And, that is what I have been trying to do.

Sorry - didn't mean to hijack this. I just feel strongly that every person can make a positive difference.

[NoraC]

I'm on my kindle but wish I could respond in more detail. I realized your response was general but it did make me think. That's why I really went and looked at my Facebook page. I needed to know if I was trying to really walk the walk.
I had an incident happen on Friday. I was taking my mom for a haircut. I was helping mom with her walker and getting over a curb. Looked up and a 40 something woman and a 20 year something man (her son??)walked out of one of the shops. I smiled at them and continued on. Then I realized that the woman was talking loudly. I couldn't hear it clearly but it was racial. comments such as she hasn't shot anyone, what are you looking at her for. I just went in the hair salon and sat down with mom but the woman was getting into her car still yelling. I heard the man I was sitting next to say something to his wife. So, I questioned him if he knew. He said that he saw the young man walk by with a big metal brace on his arm and had turned to his wife to ask if there was a doctor at the end of the strip mall. So, he thought the woman thought he was talking about skin color. Who knows what it was really all about. Maybe she liked to yell. But, in that short period of time, it could have turned ugly. The people that were around there just went about their business and ignored her yelling. It didn't seem to be directed at one person. The 20something that was with her was laughing. But, what if someone decided to ask her what her problem was. What if words were spoken, violence, etc. The headline would be ...... violence broke out due to racial tensions. just how quickly things can escalate.

[NoSugar]

Here's a talk by Syd Banks himself: Jumping the Boundaries of Time - Sydney Banks | 3PGC Photos & Videos
We don't have to carry any burdens, including addiction, and we can put them down immediately.

As I listened to this talk I remembered that when I went to college, I decided not to be a shy person anymore. Over the years it seemed like being shy was just part of who I was but I could see what I was missing and was getting tired of it. I could have changed at any time during high school when I started wanting to be different but didn't have the confidence to do it in front of people who also labeled me as "shy". So, college was my chance. No one who met me during those years ever would have labeled me as shy. I wish I'd given up my perfectionist label then, too! I was really sick of that role but it stuck for another 9 years :sad:.

[SnoopyC]

Kuya,
Love your posts on the 3Ps, they have changed my perception about my ability to manage/control my moods by managing/controlling my thoughts. What I think about alcohol is true, if I think it is hard to be AF, it is. If I think I can make a plan, stick to it, and feel better, I do. It is amazing the strength of our thought and our ability to guide the direction they go in.

I also appreciated your last two sentences: We are never CURED of addiction, we are enhanced by it, if we so choose.

What this means to me is that drinking to excess, with all the negative outcomes, has forced me to look at my life, decide what I want and what is important to me. Then, decide what I want to do about it and do it. Yesterday I felt a little lonely waiting around for my husband, and I decided that I would change my thoughts, change directions in my activity, and guess what? The loneliness left and I felt content, ok, just fine. Knowing that you are not at the mercy of your thoughts is a game changer.

Hope you are doing well.

[NoSugar]

I wish there were a way to share your post with the wider world, Kuya. You've captured much of my experience in a few paragraphs and filled me with hope for my future, and for others who are fortunate enough to see how life works and who we really are. Thank you.

[NoSugar]

Why can’t the disease and learning models just get along?! | Understanding Addiction

Like your post, Kuya, this article is very hopeful.

[NoSugar]

they have changed my perception about my ability to manage/control my moods by managing/controlling my thoughts.

Hi, Snoopy. I've found that I can have some success in redirecting my thoughts (and therefore, moods) but the main thing I've gained is recognizing that they are just thoughts which may or may not be true and that I can choose to think more about - or not and can choose to act on - or not. It a "train of thought" feels good, there's all sort of reasons to follow it. But if it feels bad, I try to just let it go, as thoughts do. Realizing that all the feelings we have derive from thought and that thoughts (mine or anyone else's) don't have to be taken so dang seriously, just makes life easier, more fun, and more full of compassion - for myself and everyone else.

[NoSugar]

I am blown away by the fact that my own recovery only really kicked into gear when I studied concepts that changed my perceptions. Prior to that I was simply sober and wondering 'what now?' It actually lead to a feeling of pointlessness and mild depression. 3Ps woke me up again.

Before I became addicted to alcohol, I thought I was fine and essentially in control of my life. I dutifully went to church and tried to believe but essentially lacked a spiritual life. That didn't bother me too much because my physical (REAL) life seemed to be going so well. I was grounded in science, facts, and what I perceived to be "reality".

It was when I realized I was in the pit of addiction that I became a seeker - reading books, saying affirmations, doing yoga, learning about different religions that might have 'the answer', meditating, exercising excessively, practicing mindfulness... I truly believed that there was something I could do that would "fix" me, I'd quit drinking, and be happy again. Each of the practices I took on did make me feel better but only while I was practicing. So, I'd try another. None of them effected a permanent change or enabled me to stop drinking. Joining MWO and getting the support of you lovely people here were the key to that.

As any of you who have followed my progress here know, I delved in to learning everything I could about the physiological basis of addiction. I loved the idea that the only reason I became addicted was because of my genetics and biochemistry - it made it seem like it was "not my fault" and my ego loves that idea. I continued to experiment with various "practices" that would make me feel good in this new sober life. And I do feel much, much better! I'm glad that I am no longer the ego-driven, anxious perfectionist who was primed to become addicted - who needed to do something to feel ok each day.

But something is still missing and I continue to search. I'm finally seeing glimpses of the answers I've been looking for for years in the 3 Principles understanding. Some of the people I studied in the past but couldn't quite understand, like Eckhart Tolle, now make sense. It is clear why all the techniques I've tried only work while I'm doing them but cannot effect permanent change. I still do many of them, but for their own sake, not to "fix" me.

I don't need to be fixed - none of us do. We just need to understand how our thoughts, and our misunderstanding of who we really are, can make us believe that we do.

As Kuya wrote above: We are never CURED of addiction, We are enhanced by it, If we so choose.

And as Marc Lewis wrote in the post I linked above: The brain is either a normative thing that can go wrong and then be repaired, or it is an open system that can develop along diverse trajectories, integrating the meaning of experience according to its own expertise.Addiction is one of those trajectories, but then so is progress beyond addiction.

[NoSugar]

I'm not yet to the point of being thankful for addiction per se but I am very grateful for the changes it resulted in. I would like to think those changes could have come about less painfully but ... maybe not. I've seen similar evolutions in people who develop a terminal illness or lose a spouse or child. They learn what really matters. Maybe it takes a serious problem to wake most people up and I guess we're fortunate to have been nudged along by something we can manage.