It’s Not New – But It’s Still True
When I first began to study psychology the understanding was dominated by external circumstances as the causation for mental distress. Talking to patients about their upbringing or their life experiences was the primary method to uncovering the cause of their issues. Since those things were unchangeable; coping was considered the ideal option. That ideology was not what I had wanted when I entered the graduate program. Healing and wholeness – as well as happiness and joy in life, was my intention for everyone I desired to help.
Fortunately for me I uncovered an approach that began with a base of innate mental health, wisdom, and the ability to apply that approach to everything from anxiety to depression as well as addiction and other forms of suffering.
At the deepest level of our experience we realize that most days we are not dealing with reality – we are dealing with our thinking about reality. As my hero Albert said – you can’t solve a problem or resolve an issue at the same level of thinking that created that issue in the first place. The wisdom of Einstein’s comment has been around for a while. Everything from positive thinking to cognitive behavior therapy has touched on that wisdom in one way or another. For all those years of knowing that, we still see people struggling with how to think differently when they discover that thinking is at the root of the problem. If I had a quarter for every time I was asked “but how do I change my thoughts” – I would be sitting on a beach drinking rum out of a coconut.
And you may be disappointed to find out I am not answering it in this blog either…I will however point you in the right direction. The clue is not in the thought itself (it’s too late at that point…) but in the nature of thought and how experience is created from moment to moment. Not events – but our experience of events. We have an innate nature that is always wise and knowing – when we tap into that fully – thought follows.
It isn’t new – but it is still true!
