Hi Nina,

Its really great to hear from you - you raise a very interesting issue!

We frequently hear in spiritual circles that our thoughts effect our environment including ourselves - and I agree with this. However I don't agree with the solution that is frequently suggested - it seems people are often advised to suppress these thoughts (just as you seem to have tried doing). All kinds of techniques from NLP to hypnotherapy are suggested. In my view however, merely tackling the thought itself is dealing only with the effect not the cause.

The cause itself stems from an inner attachment to a desired outcome. In other words, we perceive that we need or desire things in life and this causes inner tightness (hence the feeling in the pit of your stomach). Out of this tightness arise the effects - conditioned behaviours generate fixed neural networks within the brain thereby leading to this repetitive negative thinking pattern (please note: when you talk about 'subconscious thinking', I believe you are really talking about fixed neural networks and pathways in the brain brought on by years of conditioning).

So what is the way around this? In short our attachments happen for a reason. They are our 'karma' - aspects of our lives that we came here to understand and release. So there is no way around them - no short cut! The only way out is through.

To deal with an attachment, we first have to understand where it arises from. The soul in each of us is a unique blend of seven key characteristics - seven rays of light (as we see in a rainbow). In other words, as the soul (or true self) we are each a unique harmonic of these seven rays - seven influences. Our purpose through our life's journey is to fully discover, unfold and shine forth these characteristics.

What happens however is that as the soul's influence passes through the personality it gets 'stuck' in our attachments. For example, I know that you have a strong ray 1 influence. This means you have a strong will aspect - the will to get things done. In the personality this can be distorted to control - we may wish to control events and circumstances. The imbalance between the two causes energetic unrest inside like two poles of a battery discharging energy (for more info on the seven rays of influence, read this article...7 rays).

The way to deal with the attachment involves moving into the place of the observer of ourselves and watching ourselves in all interactions. If we do this, we notice that ALL experiences fall into patterns of activity intended to reveal the attachments - in our careers, our relationships etc etc.

Within each attachment lies a hidden gift - one of the seven ray characteristics. We overcome the attachment by choosing to express the gift not the attachment. Over time the neural pathway in the brain forming the attachment dissolves - the 'karma' is processed. In its place comes the free and authentic expression of the true self without distorted conditioning.

This is really only a very brief summary - understanding it is perhaps one of the most important things we can do because our attachments effect EVERY aspect of our lives whether we are conscious of them or not and the ONLY purpose of being here is to find and express the gifts - that way leads to sheer bliss as we uncover the very deepest aspects of our true nature. It brings sense of fulfilment, purpose, contentment and wholeness.

That's why the second course in the Openhand program ("Way of the Heart") is completely dedicated to discovering our true gifts and releasing our attachments. You might like to consider coming on the next one over easter? If so, here is the full info...heart

It teaches a powerful process we call "Openhand Way" designed to release these attachments - for an overview...click here

Hope this helps!

Love

Chris

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply Chris. I appreciate your thoughts and will look into the articles. I like your insights and the distinctions you made (subconscious thoughts, karma, etc.), and need to give some time to consideration.

Have a great day and I'll be in touch again soon.

THANK YOU
Nina

yvonne
dear Nina,
i know exactly what you mean when you say you have a feeling in the pit of your stomach. i have learnt to understand my thinking process. i didn't realise there was a pattern, i just thought i just had physical symptoms.what was actually happening was that i thought a thought for the very first time i.e. a conscious thought, if this thought is left unanswered it goes down to your subconscious unanswered and keeps bouncing back at you, depending on how much electrical energy you give it, that is to say how frightening a question it is. you will find if you are aware that the ones that cause this effect have a question mark after them.
The physical symptoms are i believe a direct result of the way you are thinking. Chris is right in that there is only one way to resolve them and that is going straight through them, but it is knowing how to do this.Distraction techniques DO NOT WORK,
once you are aware that your thinking effects your emotions it's a big key in understanding where you have been going wrong and then you can do something about it. hope this makes some sense to you.

Hello Nina,

You wrote "Both my friend and I are aware how our thoughts affect our state of mind, health, and emotions but many times its subconscious thinking and one isn't aware until the FEELING becomes obvious (this one for me, in the pit of my stomach)...."

So it seems like you are linking your experience of knowing that "negative thinking" can make you feel bad/ get ill, with an assumption that if you feel bad you must be doing a bit of "subconcious negative thinking."

If I have understood that correctly, you may find some things I noticed about myself are helpful.

I found that when I got a "pit of the stomach feeling" it was because I had an inner knowing that something was "wrong". For example: a decision I had just made, or an action I had just taken didn't serve me. (It would have been made as a result of my conditioning, i.e. to please someone else, or because it was generally the acceptable choice by my peer group, or it was the one that kept me in my comfort zone, etc. etc). There was perhaps a more surprising choice I could have made which I may have found difficult to "justify" to those around me, but would actually have been much more in line with my personal expression of true self. As these things are often "felt" rather than logically understood, my feedback was my stomach "alarm" being sounded.

Now, for me, the solution is to welcome this, not to try and get rid of it! Wow, we have our own messenger that doesn't get lost in the labyrinth of the brain!! It just knows! Once you look at it like that you can just ask what its about and you must take the first instinctive answer, NOT then get lost in logicking around talking yourself out of something which may be difficult to face. If you are really honest, and make an adjustment to your behaviour, the feedback feeling will naturally change from unpleasant to pleasant.

Then, it gets even better, because you can use a "dry run" version for future choices. Just by visualising yourself making a decision one way then another way you can feel your body telling you the answer. It is a sure fire way of listening to the true self without the brain getting in the way and I would highly recommend it. All our choices/actions even things that seem small (like talking to draining people in our tea break), or things that seem big (like a change of direction/job)enable us to be in a place of inner calm - or not! Sometimes it is apparent that our current considered options are not actually providing us with any choice that will reflect the actions of the true self. They are all giving us a kind of "dead" or "dread" feedback. Maybe we haven't even considered what light might be waiting for us "outside the box."

To me, the visualisation "dry run" felt a bit like an old fashioned weather forecaster thing, (don't know what they are called). When I was a little girl I remember seeing like a little model house with two doors, if it was going to be fine, a happy jolly lady with a basket of flowers and best hat would swivel out of one door, if it was going to rain, someone looking grumpy with raincoat and umbrella came out of the other!

Happy weather forecasting!
Lesley x

Thoughts are everything and nothing. They are the bricks and mortar of our reality. Let go of all thoughts, concepts and recognitions. Then you will only be consciousness and the moment will be pure experience and experienced pure.