“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
– Benjamin Franklin
In last week’s article, we looked at the impact of insecure thinking, and why “lack of insecurity” is one of the essential keys to effortless influence. In this week’s article, I’m going to reveal how you can start tapping into that inner source of security that telegraphs confidence, builds connection and makes you effortlessly influential.
Let’s start with a quick thought experiment involving two doctors, Dr Smith and Dr Jones. The year is 1860, and both doctors work in a busy London hospital. Both of them are passionate about helping their patients, as well as caring for their own health and wellbeing. Both of them work hard and are committed to making a difference in the lives of others. In fact, the only significant difference between them professionally is this: Dr Smith (like most of his colleagues) ‘knows’ that illness and disease are caused by miasmas and atmospheres (bad smells) while Dr Jones has caught on to the peculiar idea that illnesses are caused by tiny invisible creatures called germs and bacteria.
Who do you think is going to get better results in their work?
“Understanding” is a massive leverage point
Obviously, it’s Dr Jones, whose grasp of the basic ‘fact’ of germs & bacteria is going to have a profound effect on his diagnostic process, his thinking and his behaviour. He’ll start exhibiting a huge number of ‘hygienic behaviours’ automatically because of his understanding of this fact of life (Eg. washing hands, sterilising instruments and changing wound-dressings). These thoughts and associated behaviours are Dr Jones natural response to seeing the implications of germs and bacteria.
By the same token, Dr Smith’s ‘unhygienic’ thoughts and behaviours are his natural response to the implications of his MIS-understanding of the nature of disease and illness (Eg. dirty hands, dirty scalpels, and a reliance on posies). Dr Smith’s innocent misunderstanding wouldn’t just lead to him innocently harming his own patients, but could also harm his own health.
So what does this have to do with inner security, confidence and effortless influence?
Just as Dr Smith’s misunderstanding of the nature of illness resulted in disease and infection, a misunderstanding of the nature of THOUGHT results in insecurity, neediness and muddled thinking. Here’s the understanding (and misunderstanding) in a nutshell:
The Inside-out Reality:
We’re living in the feeling of our thinking. 100% of your feeling is a reflection of 100% of your thinking in the moment.
The Outside-in Misunderstanding:
It often appears that our feelings come from somewhere other than our thinking in the moment (Eg. Clients, bank balance, family, the past, employers, the future, etc).
The moment a person believes they’re feeling something other than their thinking in the moment, they find themselves at the mercy of a world ‘out there’ with power over how they feel. Their heads fill up with a mental to-do list as they try to get control over the world ‘out there’, and clarity vanishes. On the other hand, the moment you wake up to the fact that 100% of your feeling is coming from 100% of your thinking in this moment, your mind begins to clear and you’re brought back into the present moment. Clarity emerges, and you re-connect with the peace, wisdom and wellbeing that are your true nature.
A deeper understanding of THOUGHT optimises everything
You see, clarity, inner security and peace of mind are your default settings; what’s naturally there when there’s nothing else in the way. And the only thing that ever gets in the way is superstitious thinking arising from the outside-in misunderstanding. When I first realised this for myself, the next step was obvious: “Your most important goal is to get a deeper understanding of the inside-out nature of life.” Because thinking is behind everything you do, all your activities get optimised as you clear up a misunderstanding about the nature of THOUGHT.
So how do you get a better understanding of the nature of thought, and experience instant inner security (with all the benefits that brings)? Explore the audios, articles and videos at www.JamieSmart.com and stay in the conversation.
To your increasing clarity
Best
Jamie
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Comments
I accept the fact that my feelings are effect of my thinking (except those emotions that come from my physiology), and it's quite reasonable (or common-sense, or intuitive) assumption. But sometimes my thoughts are about reality, my environment etc. Certainly, that's me who decides what I think about, at least to some extent. For example if someone screams something straight into into my ear, it's hard to think about something else, at least to me. That's all simple so far.
When it comes to transition between the nature of thought and the nature of reality, you just seem to put "=" between one and the other (or am I wrong?). Then I have the impression you try to explain what colours are to someone who was born blind. Maybe, just maybe, Moses was a man who understood the nature of life as the same like the very nature of thought: "life works just the way the mind works". Maybe he just understood it. But you seem to say it as if it was something obvious. I believe that it's obvious to you, because you understand or even can see it. But I still remain "blind"; what you say is not obvious to me. Maybe some day I'll see "face to face", but now I can only believe (have a faith?)… or not. 🙂