INSPIRATION
HEALTH
gered when we were younger and misinterpreted
those thoughts that closed us. Your mind hijacks the
sensation of closing (worry, fear, anxiety, and stress)
and combines it with its own fabricated evidence to
make you believe that it knows what the future holds.
It pro-jects as fact what it thinks is going to happen.
But in reality, it’s running a habitual program that is
repeated over and over in similar situations. If you
have done the “Discovering Your Closing Themes”
practice on page 80, then you already know that repeating thoughts are currently operating in your life.
The practice I’d like you to try now is to write out
your feelings. Any time you’re having an emotional
experience — whether it feels positive or negative
according to your mind — write what you’re feeling. Use the list of emotions provided on page 97 to
help you isolate more precisely what you are feeling. Most people are unaware of how they feel, or
they have a limited emotional vocabulary. In order
to boost your emotional vocabulary, use the list. I
recommend that you copy it from this book, or you
can go to www.yourinnergps.org/emotionslist and
download the list s o that you can post it in several
places for reference. The office, fridge, bathroom,
and nightstand are good; your car, purse, and wallet are some other great places to access it quickly.
When you’re in the midst of, or just over, an emotional experience, sit down with a piece of paper,
look at the list, and write out the top three things
you’re feeling, such as “I’m feeling frustrated, I’m
feeling disappointed, I’m feeling hurt.”
Then write out why you’re feeling those three emotions. Just let your mind tell you the story of why
you feel the way you do. You don’t have to make it
a long story. In fact, it is best if it’s just one or two
sentences long.
The practice I’d like you
to try now is to write out
your feelings. Any time
you’re having an emotional
experience — whether it
feels positive or negative
according to your mind —
write what you’re feeling.
Use the list of emotions
provided on page 97 to help
you isolate more precisely
what you are feeling.
you have written. Notice whether you are open or
closed with each emotion and story.
What I have observed is that very often a negative emotional experience gets combined with a
sense of closing caused by your IGS. This means
what you’re thinking is not true. The thoughts that
prompted the closing, if continued, will not bring
you to a happy resolution. If you don’t get to the
bottom of your thoughts and understand what is
closing you, then your mind can actually drive you
into a situation you don’t want. Keep this in mind:
when you get upset, you can use your emotions as
a signal that it’s time to stop and check your IGS.
“I’m feeling disappointed because this project was
canceled, and it was very important to me. I’m feeling frustrated because it seems to me as if my manager is pulling out the projects that I really enjoy,
and he seems to be doing it on purpose. I’m feeling
hurt because I work very hard in this world and yet
I don’t seem to get the recognition or the rewards
that I deserve.”
One thing you’ll discover in doing this exercise is
that some of those statements will open you. I’ll
use the previous example to demonstrate how this
may happen. You may get an opening sensation
when you say you are disappointed; even though
you feel disappointed, you will feel open. Then,
when you tell your story about feeling frustrated,
you will be closed. What closes you is the claim
that the manager is specifically taking projects
away from you. The closing means your manager is
not undermining you on purpose, so you can drop
that line of thinking and move on.
The next step — and this is where your IGS comes
into play — is to drop into your listening and read
back to yourself each of the emotions/stories that
The feeling of disappointment, then, is authentic
for you, and you can own it: “I have a right to be disappointed. The sensation of opening I feel when I
11 | New Consciousness Review