The essence of this talk is that the human mind can be seen as primarily a device for managing stress. In this work the definition of stress is "The tension that is created in the human mind and body by the difference between the way things actually are, and the way one wants them to be". If the mind is our primary way of managing stress then it makes good sense for us to understand how this system works and how it is that we are creating and relieving stress in our lives on a regular basis.
A key concept in this talk is the idea that we have two lenses in our minds, one lens over intention and one lens over perception. Each lens can have only one of three possible filters set at any one time. At any given time, the lens over intention must be set to either the filter of Hostility, the filter of Fear, or the filter of Love. It is important to know that the only time I will be seeing the world accurately is when the filter over my intentions is set to Love. Any time the filter over my intentions is set to fear or hostility I will be seeing a distorted and inaccurate view. So it is important for me to monitor my internal feelings and actively work to reset the filters over my intentions and my perceptions to Love on a regular basis.
Another key concept in this talk is the idea that our intentions can be many, varied and contradictory and they do not determine our behavior. It is only when I choose an intention from among the many I may have, and elevate it to the level off a goal that it begins to organize my perceptions, thoughts, and actions, and determines my behavior. So if I have a thought that I would like to attend the Mindshifters group, and a thought that I would like to go to a movie, and a thought that I need to get some paperwork done at home, all of these can be said to be intentions. When it is time to go to the group, or attend the movie, or do the paperwork, one of these intentions gets elevated to the level of a goal and my perceptions and thoughts work to show me how to do the behaviors which accomplish the chosen goal. Soon, I am either sitting in the group, or sitting in the movie, or working on my paperwork.
Since my goals are always chosen from my intentions and the quality of my intentions is determined by the filter which is set over the lens of intention and perception, it becomes even more important to monitor the filter I have set and continuously choose to reset my filters to Love. If the filter over my intentions is set to Love, I will see positive, creative and Loving ways to interact with the world and this will give me positive, creative and Loving intentions to choose from when I select a goal.
The quality of my intentions determines the quality of my goals. My goals determine my behavior. If I want my behavior to be positive, creative and Loving, I need to be vigilant about my intentions and the way I am perceiving the world.
In the discussion during the group tonight a fundamental theme emerged again. This is the theme of understanding that I am the one who creates my emotions with my thoughts, and that I don't cause the emotions of anyone else. Some of our members have been working on taking responsibility for causing their own emotions and this is helping them detach from some of the unproductive patterns in their relationships. However, while they are able to see that their partner does not make them angry, they still want to blame themselves for making their partner angry.
It is very difficult to change the life-long conditioning of our culture which makes us want to blame others for what we feel, and accept the blame of others for what they feel. This is one of the most important points of all in understanding ourselves and how our mind/body energy system works.
"If I am in pain, I am in error!"
Tonight we tried to help ourselves remember that, "If someone else is in pain, someone else is in error!" In this situation we do not do them any favors if we try to change the way they are feeling, or accept blame for their feelings. The most productive thing we can do in this situation is hold a space of love for them and for ourselves.
The basis of the work we are doing is that when anything that is less than Love gets exposed to the energy of Love, it is healed and transformed. So if I can generate the energy of love and hold to that for myself and the other person/people whenever someone around me is angry, sad, confused, hurt, or blaming, I will be doing the best possible thing for all of us.
We discussed how each of us has a device which helps us know when we need to change what we are doing. This is our emotional center and whenever our emotional center is sending us strong, negative, or confusing signals we know we need to stop and change what WE are doing, because WE are causing ourselves unnecessary pain.
We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.
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