“Misdirection is the art of initiating a train of thought in the mind of a spectator.”
– Alan Alan, Escapologist and illusionist
In this chapter, Jamie repeats ideas on the outside-in misunderstanding, to really get them through.
This misunderstanding, the outside-in misunderstanding, tells us that, in order to feel different, we need to have a different set of cirsumstances.
This misunderstanding seeks to convince us that our experiences are created from the “situation we’re in.”
As in… this person makes me angry… this thing makes me upset… this weather makes me low… and so on…
But this is a grand illusion…
Jamie means that the nature of our experiences are not directly linked to the circumstances, but created from out thoughts about our circumstances, and our thoughts about those thoughts.
An analogie that I came up with yesterday is this:
A WRITER WHO’S SIMULTANEOUSLY READING (and believing what he’s reading as 100% true…)
So, we are getting a lot of data into our minds and we’re constantly taking notes on the data, to tell ourselves what we’re experiencing. We jot them down and simultaneously read the notes, and we experience everything we’re reading as “our experience of it.”
Then we write footnotes on our notes, weather they are good or bad or interesting or not… Or weather it’s ok thinking about this, If we’re ok for “interpreting the current reality as this”… Which could be focused on past, present or future…
We’re caught up in our interpretation of the world, instead of experiencing it as it is, without any filter, footnotes and comments.
Jamie often repeats that “100% of our felt experiences is always coming from thought in the moment.”
And that “we’re always feeling the products of THOUGHT in the moment.”
We feel what we think…
We experience what we think…
We think what we think…
***
The Question:
How surprised would you be if you were to suddenly realise these qualities (clarity, creativity, love, peace, presence and freedom) are your natural state when there’s nothing else in the way?
Answer:
I think, If I really understood this… I would not look for & seek out “inspiration & motivation” in the outside world… I would simply remind myself of this truth that its my default setting to be brilliant… So I would probably stop “trying to think positively & productive” and instead simply trust that I have whatever it takes to rise to the occasion…
I would also ask myself more often: “What am I feeling now?” Followed by the question… “What thoughts am I thinking about this, which are making me feel this way?”
Then… as i recognise the nature of my experience… That its not that “I AM” upset… or that “I AM” scared… But that I am experiencing “feeling this feeling” and that it’s created from my interpretation…
The things is… It seems as our feelings are only tools to keep us safe from harm… But often we might not be very accurate weather what we fear is really “worth” fearing…
I look forward trusting this more and more, and seeing where it will bring me.
***
Take care!
Choose your own way…
With love.
– Daniel Galovan
Lund, Sweden
DANIEL GALOVAN 