When someone says they understand the Principles intellectually, I would say that is shorthand for saying ‘I don’t understand it’.
The embodiment of the Principles is completely different than understanding it intellectually. The way I have moved and seen others move from an intellectual understanding of the Principles to an embodied understanding is simply by testing it out.
If it looks like someone in your world is causing you to feel upset, angry or stressed, the Principles point us to the fact that it’s not the person but our thinking about the person. How do we embody this?
For me, it was always a great Thought experiment when I couldn’t see it. I would ask myself, what if the Principles were true? What if my feelings about this person were simply coming from my own thinking at the moment?
Now my intellect might want him to shut up. ‘If you are thinking this way, it’s because they are acting a certain way.’ But I would ask myself again: ‘Well, what if that’s not true?’
I would do these Thought experiments, and ask myself, what would the implications be of that? And I would test it.
For example, when I had a boss who looked like he was causing me stress and anxiety through his behaviour. I asked myself, what if that’s not true even though it looked like so? I experimented with the implication of that, which was if he’s not causing that, then I don’t need to do about changing him or his behaviour.
The moment I stopped trying to change it, our relationship improved and I started having ideas about how to work with him more effectively. Everything got better.
I have so many examples of where else I tested the Principles and many of them are described in my book Sweet Sharing. These range from my feelings of guilt to stress. And I’ve had wide-ranging implications on my relationships, my finances and my health.
With love and appreciation,
Ankush Jain
Coach and Author of Sweet Sharing – Rediscovering the REAL You
