If I could identify one factor that destabilised me for most of my life, it was the experience of feelings I did not like. I may have pointed the finger at situations (immigration and too much traffic), people (my brother, kids in the present and my wife/parents in the past) and of course “yours truly” (also an easy target, both past and present). But though I did not know it at the time, it was never about those factors.

For when I learned three years ago that all of these factors were innocent, my life flipped 180 degrees. I came face to face with the power of Thought and its intimate, inescapable connection with feeling. And I discovered that circumstances, past events and other people had never and could never create a feeling in me

Something that is a constant doesn’t come and go. It is always there. Always has been. And always will be. Thought is a constant. It had been behind every feeling I had ever had. The ramifications of this one single fact were enormous for me and are enormous for the world.

Discovering and recognising a constant is invaluable. It is reliable, predictable, ordered, hopeful and of a deeper nature. Scientists are always looking for a constant. Seeing how something works as a scientific fact or truth has monumental implications. Every time in the course of history that mankind has stumbled onto a pre-existing order, it has instantly dissolved superstitions, self-made philosophies, beliefs, theories and assumptions. Personal truths are replaced by a universal truth.

Think of the discovery of a round earth, the revelation of a sun-centred solar system, or the unearthing of germs and their effect on human beings. Before we knew that these truths had always been true, we were essentially making up the way things worked without knowing how off the mark we were. Once these universal truths were uncovered and set straight, we now had a different logic to teach us. This new logic had major implications that changed the world and the way we perceived it.

So here is another universal truth: we are always experiencing the power of Thought in the moment.

People often say they don’t like change. Well here is something that doesn’t change, ever: the power of Thought creating your felt and perceived experience of life. From birth to death you can only experience life through the power of Thought.

So how does this one irrefutable fact help us have a better life and make a better world?

The power of Thought creates our impressions of the past (memory), of the present (thinking, attitudes, perceptions, feelings, moods, ideas, opinions, learning) and of the future (imagining, worrying, planning). All thinking can only happen in the present. There is no other place we exist but in the present.

It is possible to be out of alignment with the present when we forget we are in Thought. But in truth, we are never anywhere else. There is only ever one place we can be.

Each time we realise that there is only one place that feelings can come from – from Thought in the present moment – we will instantly quieten  down to a deeper truth that is revealed to us from within. This is an implication of seeing how it works. Once we realised that germs created child bed fever, our minds no longer had to think of all the other factors that we thought were the culprits (fear, curdled milk, hospital atmosphere). Having a singular cause always simplifies the equation.

When you don’t see Thought as the singular stand-alone cause of whatever you are experiencing, the implications of this misunderstanding will be multiple concerns to think about and figure out; chew on and worry about.

The one essential discriminator or question is this: “Where are our feelings coming from?”

And there is only one answer. 

Our feelings are always coming from Thought in the moment. Never from anywhere else. Never.

Does this first statement seem true: 1. "My feelings are coming from what's happening to me"

Well, it does appear true.  However, when you consider this second statement: 2. "my feelings are coming from my thinking about what's happening to me" The first statement is no longer true.

Then, when you consider this third statement: 3. "my feelings are coming from my thinking in the moment" this discounts both the first and second statement to be untrue.

YOUR FEELINGS ARE COMING FROM YOUR THINKING IN THE MOMENT

This deeper truth is the bedrock of our psychological experience. It is a constant. It is revealed through insight and it replaces whatever was nagging at us before. Whenever we feel a need to drop thinking, control thinking, find a better thought, uncover wisdom, arrive at clarity, not take our thinking too seriously, or do anything else to Thought, we are forgetting where our experience comes from. To see that it comes from the infinite power of the Mind in the moment is to reconnect with what is true. And thank goodness, truth doesn’t need sorting out or changing. 

Truth also makes no judgement of us. We may judge how we are feeling. Others may judge us for how we are feeling. But the truth is the truth. It doesn’t judge. It just is.

There seems to me to be a state of deep psychological rest that needs no changing or doing when we are aligned with the truth that we are always and only ever experiencing the power of Thought.

Inherent in this truth is no separation between clarity and contamination; wisdom and irrationality; positivity or negativity or positivity in this truth.  There is only the truth.

Thought is of a pure, Divine nature.  It cannot change its nature. You can misunderstand and forget that what you are feeling is Thought. So you might feel negative, confused or insecure.  But Thought is still Thought.  Neither good nor bad. Just Thought. A constant.

When we forget this, we try and control, change, seek, wait, let go and so on. This will always be the case. Just like when we forget that the earth is moving, so we speak about the sun rising and setting. It looks this way to us. But it is a fundamental error...the sun never moves. The world we live in seems to be changing fast. Our personal life circumstances and our relationships also seem to be in a state of constant flux. However, the fact that you will only ever know your circumstances, your life, your job, your loved ones, yourself, your worst nightmare and your best day dream via your Thinking in the moment, will never change. This reliable fact is what is sometimes called “Innate Health”.

Experiencing the truth of this is the doorway to resilience and psychological stability. (Don’t confuse this with feeling good or calm. That chase is a myth, far less appealing than the truth of how the mind works and your connection to that which is Divine and constant). Innate health is to discover a centre of gravity that will never move or change. It can’t.

Our innate health is our psychological and spiritual life force. Pull the plug and we would cease to know we are alive. It is the source of yet to be discovered knowledge, love, compassion, peace. It has told a thousand tales of resilience

It has all these gifts nesting in its bosom. The challenge is to see that this bedrock is what lies behind all the change we feel. Always. That there is no other factor or force, law or person, event or circumstance that has had or will have the power to make us feel  or experience anything, other than Thought. How simple. Only that single thing. That one discriminator.

You can’t get away from it. It’s one hundred per cent. It’s a fact. It’s a constant. No exceptions.