PROGRAM: DEVELOPING TRUE AND STRAIGHT THINKING IN LIFE
THE LOGIC SEQUENCE AND LEARNING NEEDED
YOU'RE SCREWED WITHOUT DEVELOPING IT!
Without true and straight thinking, you cannot be a strong creator of what you want in life. If it is not true and straight, it will cause suffering that is totally needless and fruitless. If your beliefs about how things work are untrue, then you will not be able to create what works to get the results you want. (Duh!) But some people, the sufferers, just let it be or only occasionally correct things - making a major, major crucial mistake in life - pretty much the worse one you can make!
The key to having a good life is doing a "systematic build" thrath than flitting around here and theres and naving no solid stucture for thinking and for life. We cannot operate well if we do not have true and stright thinking about life.
THE QUESTIONS IN THE WAY
Am I inferior? No, not per se. You may be operating at an inferior level in alot of areas or some areas, but you, unless you are actually mentally impaired, have a brain that is adequate to your being able to learn and develop whatever is needed to have a happy life. You may not have applied that capacity, which would be the reason for not having developed the results you want in life. "I have the basic ability to develop whatever I need in life to assure that I am happy and effective."
Can I develop what is needed for a happy and effective life? Yes, as above, you have the ability to develop whatever is needed - and you can do by doing whatever it was that lots of people have done to be successful in any one thing! That is undeniable. "Do this, get that", once you're clear about how things work, is just how life works. Nail this down. Read Am I Capable Of Creating A Great Life and the perspecitve piece: There Are Limits, But You Can Have All That Is Important..
If you are trying to achieve a particular result and you fail to do it, you just do not know enough yet. You do not yet have Sufficient Knowing, you have partial or incorrect knowledge. You are not incompetent as if it were a permanent label for you overall or even in one area, just not yet competent. Therefore, you will make mistakes, just as a baby learning to walk - but in all cases, mistakes come from just not having learned something, not from being a "bad" or incompetent person. Read Why There Is No Fault and the piece that is the same thing from another view The Reasoning For No Blame. Consider reading all the pieces to get you to full acceptance and practice of this by going to Contents/Links Fault, Blame, Right/Wrong, Good/BAd, Criticsm, Anger, Punishment Syndrome.
But, you say, you can't direct your attention and concentration long enough to learn and practice, plus you can't resist your impulses, so you're just stuck. This is a belief, based on nonsense and your lower thinking brain making a conclusion that "if you haven't succeeded, therefore you cannot succeed" - which is definitely nonsense! All of these are skills that are developed and then made, gradually, bit by bit, with practice, into habits, that then become automatic and easy, without a contest with random impulses or need for "immediate gratification". Of course, to believe this, you'll have to verify and understand for yourself, as you most likely have this belief, in this culture, wired in so strongly that you believe it is "the truth" (as discussed in my write up on The Believing Brain). I have a whole section on this: Contents/Links Habits, Willpower, Discipline, Self-Control. See also Developing Skills Effectively Is Simple, And There Is No Way Around Doing "The Process".
Having established that you CAN DO IT and that you are not inferior or incompetent in a fixed way, the next question iis Do I Have Enough Time? The undeniable answer is: yes, if you toss out the wasted time with low or no payoff!
YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW A FEW THINGS, FIRST
Of course, to do all of this, you need to know what is available to you and then how to use it systematically, so that you build the basic skills much more time efficiently and effectively.
To have effective thinking, you need to follow the rules and do what is necessary to Take Care Of Your Frontal Lobes. Impairing your brain with "bad stuff" will not allow you to make very many good decisions.
You've got to know how the brain works, specifically in how it operates mechanically and primitively to produce "patterns" that are not necessarily beneficial or workable and how incorrect conclusions are made. If you don't know these, you cannot, obviously, overcome them and/or revise them, as you'll think they are correct, true, and real. But one of the most elemental things taught in all major thought disciplines is "a thought is just a thought" and not the truth nor real - they are often just mental constructs, existing only in the mind and not in reality. Test yourself by reviewing an indicated whether you believe The Thinking Brain - Rules And Reality (kind of a summary of the brains operations, limitations, skills, and uses).
TESTING FOR TRUTH AND REALITY
You've got to know to apply the truth test as you go. Such as "is this absolutely provably true?" If the answer is no, then it is possibly false and you should determine what is true.
You've got to know the great indicators of false beliefs. If they don't produce the desired result you thought they would, obviously the belief is not true. (Duh!)
And if they produce a bad feeling (beyond the necessary feeling of running from a tiger, which is a feeling that resolves itself), then the thought is erroneous, for there is no valid reason for feeling bad - yes, there are signals from the body to adjust back to balance or to respond to a need, but no "bad feeling" has to persist.
THERE IS NO GREATER POWER. THIS DETERMINES YOUR LIFE.
You are not an automaton, just reacting to stimuli. Animals can operate according to instinct, but we have few such instincts (other than being born with a fear of falling and loud sounds). All of our emotions and actions come from thoughts. This is indisputable, but some people hold to the false assertion that there are mysterious forces or entities (like your inner child, your inner saboteaur, or your ego, all non-existent metaphorical stories we created) controlling your responses. No, no, no. You are the controller IF you apply your higher thinking.
If you use your higher brain to manage your thoughts, you will be managing the source of all of your emotions and behaviors and therefore you will be managing your emotions and behaviors via managing the cause!
Using our logic, we can only come to the conclusion that the most valuable thing we can do in our lives is manage our thoughts - and it is not logical to let this be and to not apply the necessary effort to master this. Yet most people fail to apply anywhere close to the effort and rigor needed. That is careless, ignorant, ill-advised, damaging, harmful - and just plain unhappiness causing!
OK, NOW HOW DO I DO IT?
First, let's be clear about the reason why we are doing all of this: In order to be able to effectively create the results we want in life. (See the section following that makes sure you've got the "workable wants".)
And that won't happen through magical thinking, such as in the classic misunderstandings perpetuated and perpetrated around the Law Of Attraction - just thinking of what you want and being "in alignment" will not be enough to create a desired "manifestation" (result).
And a belief that you'll only be happy or satisfied when you have your expectations met is absolutely not true - and it causes unhappiness. And most of our expectations of what should happen are based on unrealistic (idealistic) expectations. We expect our spouses to meet expectations of princehood or princesshood because of our idealistic, untested beliefs around that. Complete idiocy! [And, yes, I got hooked into that one early on, too.]
Or, here's a good one: "I must have relief right now" coupled with false beliefs on how to achieve that relief (numbing, distraction, food, etc.). No, remember a thought is just a thought and the thought of a discomfort is something you can "be with" and even tolerate for a few minutes without having to do anything. All such things disappear quickly, with no real damage from the discomfort, unless you did something nonworkable in response to it. For instance, your emotion will disappear within 90 seconds unless you restimulate it through thought. Your impulses to eat something (such as a sweet) will often disappear within 12 minutes, so you can wait them out and then they'll go away (this is where positivie distraction is useful, as thinking about it at that time is not useful).
Anyway, getting back our reason for doing all of this, it seems readily apparent that we have to notice if a belief (or practice) works or doesn't work to get us what we want.
If it doesn't work, then (duh!) we should revise it to what would (or possibly would) work. This would, of course, be one of the criteria (workability) for answering the Truth Test.
You might actually consciously ask the question: Is this belief workable or not workable? Is it absolutely true or maybe not?
And when you ask a question, it actually interrupts what is going on and takes it out of the automatic "thoughtless" thinking and engages the higher brain, which is the only place where you can achieve the logic and high reasoning needed to come to a better conclusion than the unworkable one we have been operating on up to this point.
(And remember "not knowing" does not mean a person is bad, inferior, wrong, to be resented or be angry with, or be punished. It just means "not knowing" - and nothing more! Anything more being added to it is just a pile of beliefs - just a big BS (belief system, mechanical patterns/recordings by a dumb part of the brain).
Are you with me so far:
1. Workable?
2. If not, re-form it, by creating a true (or could be true) belief.
A true champion of life is a champion because he/she, as a sports champion does, rigorously looks for and notices what is not working and rigorously and promptly corrects it and then practices it until it is automatic and excellent. This is the theme of Living Life As A Life Champion.
But...
"But I get so anxious, especially when I have to perform!!!" Beyond the normal anxiety feeling that is actually prep to increase your performance level and energy for something important, added anxiety is based strictly on erroneous beliefs. So, guess what! You've got to find out what they are and correct them. They are not permanent builtins that you have to suffer from all of your life. They are just BS. They have no valid, workable function. They just cause emotional suffering, for no purpose! ("These are just thoughts, with no real meaning. I am not threatened by someone disapproving of me, by failing to perform a function not necessary for me to not starve... This is all BS... I now simply calm myself and I am confident life will work out. I'll do as well as I am capable enough, and if it serves me in life, I will simply improve until my skills are high enough to get the results I want.")
And then there is this huge belief that anxiety and worry can fend off the dangers and/or that it is necessary for protection. Well, it isn't. Of course we need to plan and anticipate all major dangers that are anticipatable, but thoughtless rambling "thinking" does no good and only does harm. Coup.e this together with our belief that we can and should control things we cannot control or do not need to control so that we can reduce our ambiguous unrealistic fears. Both nonsense and giving into cultural false beliefs in an attempt to deal with something but in an ineffectual unworkable way. "I have taken care to do the preparation and planning necessary and I will respond to any outcomes, but I know I can't control all the results nor do I need to attempt to control other people. I especially have no need to put up a mask to have them like me or to act in a way to cowtow to their unreasonable prejudices and expectations. I can fully take care of myself and I can access other resources as needed. I am fully capable of managing my life and developing all I need to in skills and good habits.")
Reforming...
Daily, and I mean daily if you want to be a life champion adroitly and promptly adjusting, you will record your beliefs that need re-forming and then you'll re-form them, using the simple listing formats or actual forms rangng from simple ones to the very deep ABCDEF Rational Analysis forms that are used in the, by far, most effective form of counseling (yes, you'll have to do this non-mindlessly, spending thought to familiarize yourself about which to use and when; of course, I make suggestions). (See Belief Processing Forms - Directory And Links. You might wish to jump off of versions of false belief that are already re-formed in the listing and links in Beliefs And Thoughts Contents/Links, such as The Core Belief Statements and "I'm Not Good Enough".) )
Using the simpler format or recording for re-forming later, you should be using your One Master Notebook (label the page if it is a journal or beliefs page), a master wirebound notebook you carry around with you or (and/or) in your Improvement Journal, where you make sure you avidly note what went wrong, what and who you could learn from, etc., on a daily basis, to speed up your growth and learning curve, easily, the Kaizen way.
am i good enough?
GUIDELINES
jOURNL
THIS THING CALLED " BELIEF SUPPORTERS"
Believing in yourself and your efficacy (ability and power to create desired results) is highly valuable, in that it replaces and pushes out "doubt beliefs" that get in the way. (No longer "I can't...", just "I choose...and I'll do as well as I do. I do just fine. I need not fear any of this.").
Although I'd prefer you just "get it", deeply understanding what the actual truth is, it seems apparent that we often need "supporters" for our beliefs, including much of what are called "evidence."
Accordingly, to beef up your useful beliefs, it is important to bring to mind and identify and remember the evidence of your having successfully done something, solved problems, contributed to others, etc. And acknowledging your abilities and strengths helps one feel more confident of one's competence but also on what you can rely on to produce desired results. And a part of this is knowing that you are safe enough and that there is a great abundance out there to count on and to be grateful for. I recommend you set up your Positives Portfolio.
A sidenote: As you develop a higher skill level in one area or type of action, the other areas will also rise, naturally. The higher functioning overlaps into your whole life, as does the higher thinking.
SOME "WANTS" AREN'T WORKABLE; DETERMINE THE ACTUAL WANTS!
Part of good thinking is based on finding out what the facts are - and then applying reasoning and logic to form a good conclusion. (Critical thinking is a critical skill!!!!)
There is a basic guidance system that one needs to align with to get what one really wants. That system is your Meanings system, which for now is called your Values statements. In a sense, what you really want out of life is that which you value - as happiness, it could be said, is a matter of maximizing the accumulation of what you truly value, what is of truly long term value so that it is "accumulatable". And in accordance with that, you derive your rules for how you'll live life and what you'll do in certain areas and/or circumstances plus the standards that you will hold to in order to support your values.
In a sense, again, the highest culmination of your values and what you give meaning to would usually be your "purpose" - a statement of the big what of what you want to contribute or achieve in the world. Rather than "get a car", it is in the realm of "be a great parent", but with an added extension that is your actual greater purpose "to have my children be capable and very happy in life." Or "to end hunger in the world". Whatever is meaningful for you. Follow the guidelines in The Ultimate Packet For Finding My Mission/Purpose/Usefulness - or one of the quick exercises on the page My Purpose, My Mission, My Calling.
After I straighten out my thinking, what do I do?
At that point you'll be free to completely self actualize. You may wish to enhance some of your other skills to get more of you want in life, as you'll have nothing in th way of that now. You'll just be developing more and more skill to pile on more and more abundance.
As part of all of that you will be applying your good thinking to identifying what works to make more money or to have some bigger impact where you want it to show up. You'll be able to apply success methods that can only be done effectively after one has straightened out his thinking - and to sort out the nonsense out there in the "go for it" world, where people are encouraged to take giant leaps with little competence to make it work. You'll add what you need, you'll develop all that is needed. (See Success, Creating The Person You Want To Be, And
As part of creating success you will plan well and learn management techniques that work and develop habits that make life easier and much more productive.
And you will thoroughly enjoy yourself and your full self-expression - and there will, besides on yourself, be a huge side effect: you will be hugely contibuting to others living much better lives, just by their being around you. You will be Living Life As A Life Champion, always aware, always enhancing life..
Nelson Mandela, using Marianne Williamson's great statement, said in his inaugural speech:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
