We are very dependent on our intellect (everything we already know that is stored in our brain) for a lot in life.  It allows us to remember how to run things, where we put things, what we've learned, how to find our friends' houses, how to do our jobs, phone numbers, people's names, etc.  Sometimes people hear us talking about looking to live from original thought, wisdom, and common sense rather than from memory as if we had to reinvent the wheel every day.  Or they hear "wisdom" as something really special and hard to attain.  Original thoughts are fresh ideas we get that are perfect for that moment in time, or for the problem at hand.  They come to us out of the blue and they come with a feeling of certainty that they're just what we need to know.  If we spend our lives in our intellect, applying what we know to seek new answers, trying to figure everything out, it's exhausting.  If we accept everything we know as a resource and look for wisdom to keep life fresh, in-the-moment and interesting, we live at peace.

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We might awaken from nightmares frightened or sad, but as soon as we wake up we realize it was just a dream.  Even if we find our dreams disturbing, we know they are dreams.  Yet when we fall into low mood thinking or get stuck on troubled memories or entertain fears during the day, we don't call them "daymares."  We don't realize we can "wake up" and put those thoughts behind us.  We're always thinking.  Thoughts come to mind.  If they are distressing, they affect our feeling state and we can hop on a train of negative thinking.  But when we know we just got caught up in some negative thoughts, they have no more power than nightmares, just temporary intrusions into the moment.

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Low mood thinking is always compelling because it generates strong feelings and it arises from insecurity.  So it looks like we have to do something about it.  It is habitual thinking that comes to mind from our memories with a familiar feeling, which gives it more weight.  People complain about being "plagued" or "haunted" or "frequently visited by" negative thoughts, and the need to "deal with" them.  The Principles show us that thoughts are nothing more than images brought to mind by our own power to think.  As the thinkers we are always at choice.  Turn away from them.  See them as signals to quiet down and let our mind rest.  Not take them seriously because they have no power but the power we give them.

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People are often confused by the power we have as thinkers to create our experience of reality.  It does NOT mean that we can stare at a new car in a showroom and manifest it in our life; it does not mean we can wish for an outcome of a situation and make it happen.  Life is happening; there is actual reality in which we live.  But what WE see of it, we see from our own thinking.  So in a low state of mind, we might look out at a rainy day and feel glum about having to go out in it.  In a different state of mind, we might just remember to take an umbrella and feel grateful that the rain will help the flowers grow.  Reality does not create what we think and feel about it; we create what we think and feel about reality.

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When we recognize the simplicity of living in the now, following our wisdom as things come to mind, we live at peace.  We benefit from a flow of insight which allows us to see more clearly our own power to think and create our experience of reality and understand life.  We learn as we go, finding the lessons and blessings in disappointment as well as in great outcomes.  We are inspired by fresh thought, and we start to see that we can't figure things out or force a plan to work out; but we always get the thought we need when it's needed and we are guided through life.  When we ruminate about the past or worry about the future, we accidentally abandon our natural peace of mind to things outside our control.

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The definition of changing our minds is "having a new thought."  It is natural to allow thoughts to come and go, responsive to the moment, without attachment to any thought.  If we get stuck on a thought, though, we hold onto it.  We think some things so often for so long that they seem more "real" to us.  We all have ideas we assume are true because we've always thought them.  We easily let go of passing thoughts and we change our minds all day long without even realizing it.  In the face of habitual thoughts, though, it takes an insight to change.  As we understand the true nature of thought, we increasingly lose attachment to our thoughts and live in the moment, easily changing our minds.

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Each one of us is always creating our own experience of reality with our unique power to think.  So there really is no such thing as objective reality.  We all see what we see; someone looking at the same situation will see it differently.  Indeed, in a different state of mind, WE may see it entirely differently.  So our experience of life is unique to each of us, and what we see for ourselves looks compelling and true to us.  The Principles explain this.  Seeing the truth of this reveals why disagreement and conflict occur and why they are understandable and forgivable.  We're all acting on what appears to be true or right to us; no one else sees it exactly as we do.

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A lot of people talk about "doing the Principles," or "using the Principles," or "combining the Principles with other 'approaches,'" or thinking the Principles are a "really interesting method."  That downplays the power of Principles as words that stand for and describe formless power, the essential energy, from which all creation takes form.  We use words to represent the idea of what that energy means.  But the Principles are the understanding of how life works that wisdom brings us when we look away from the form and deeper within our own soul or consciousness to gain "insight."  Long before we had words for them, before we "knew them," the Principles were the eternal laws of creation. 

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When you hear about the Principles, you hear of "Levels of Consciousness."  What does this mean?  Our ever-changing "level" is the degree to which we have insights that lead us to realize that all thought is illusion, merely what we make up in the moment.  All of it, even though early on, much of it seemed "real."  The more we realize that the power to think is what sets us free and the content is variable and transitory, the higher our level of consciousness.  The level is our ability to live at peace, knowing that everyone's thoughts are unique.  It allows us to find love and understanding for all people because we are all the same before we create the illusion, just thinkers making up our experience of what we see.

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Listening to others in neutral is difficult until we understand how thinking works in all of us.  Everyone is creating their own experience of every moment in life.  No two people see anything exactly alike; we all think our own thoughts and draw information from our own memory and see things in our own way.  And we express what we see to each other.  Knowing how the power of thought works allows us not to take things personally, but to listen to each other without judgment.  We can learn from others' ideas when we can truly listen; and we find compassion for others who may appear to be harsh or critical or emotional because we understand it is their state of mind and thinking we are hearing, not anything about us.

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Many people ask us whether encouraging people to find a calm state of mind and contentment isn't just positive thinking.  Our state of mind is BEFORE what we think; when we are at peace and our minds are quiet, the quality of thoughts we produce is a much higher level than the thoughts we produce from a negative or upset state of mind.  The problem with the technique of Positive Thinking is that is doesn't come from our own level of Consciousness; it's a technique we impose on ourselves to try to feel better.  We don't truly SEE or believe those thoughts.  When we address our state of mind and quiet down, more positive thoughts naturally come to mind; we don't need to read them from a list.

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