The Basics of Thought

All of the coaching that I do centers around a core understanding of how the human mind works. Through this understanding; people come to learn who they really are and are able to discard fears they've had for decades; heal relationships that seemed damaged forever; and create or grow a business or other project in a surprisingly short time.

Three Levels of Thought

Level 1: Content

This can also be referred to as "What you're thinking." The content is the collection of hundreds of thousands of thoughts per day that take shape in your mind. e.g. "Why isn't my business going where I want it to?" "My partner is a moron." "I wonder what's for dinner," etc. A "mindset training" that this level would suggest that you should "think better thoughts." But, as far as I can tell, we're not really in control of our thinking. You can force yourself to have a particular thought, which will stick for a fleeting moment, but as soon as you go back to whatever you usually do, all of those random thoughts will start pouring in again. Looking at content to get a better feeling and improve your life drastically is about as effective as using a drinking straw to empty a swimming pool.

Level 2: Programming

This can also be referred to as "Why you're thinking what you're thinking."  Programming points to your childhood, culture, religion, etc. Most therapy and mindset training attempts to get you a better future by unwinding the past. Unfortunately, it's not been that successful at it. You unwind a particular behavior, and maybe you get rid of a phobia or addiction, but you still have a pile of other problems and new ones keep popping up. Looking to programming to have a better experience of life is also a long, arduous process that will likely render small improvements, but probably not what you're looking for.

Level 3: Mechanics

Also known as "How the experience of being human, is created, moment to moment," this is where real transformation takes place, where real magic can happen, and where you can see everything in a completely new way.

Throughout the day, something like 100,000 "thought waves" (maybe something analogous to a sound wave) arrive at your doorstep. These "thought waves" are formless, completely neutral, and have no idea about your life.

As each wave of thought enters your consciousness, it (your consciousness) grabs that formless thought and shapes it into something. It adds dimensionality, color, velocity and maybe a set of horns. What began as a completely innocent, neutral, formless "thought wave," is now transformed into a massive, abrasive, glowing red brick (with horns), hurtling at you at a thousand miles an hour. Thanks to your consciousness, that brick looks extremely real and seems like it's going to sucker punch you and express your ass back to the stone age. Of course that is scary.

Our mind is doing this all the time. Fear — and all feelings for that matter — is just the result of this process that's invisible to us and happens at the speed of light. As we wake up to the fact that that's all that's happening, we can see that the feelings that we sense aren't giving us any indication about our situation or what we should do. As we "get" this understanding in our belly, in the same way that you "get" a joke (beyond the words), we see that without doing anything, our feeling state will change, on its own. We see that the mind is wired to clear our crappy thinking, without intervention, in the same way that our bodies are wired to heal a cut or flush out a cold, without intervention.