Mary Schiller explains that thought is a universal principle, not a personal habit, and that recognizing this changes how we experience emotions. Since thought creates 100% of human experience, seeing it as an impersonal mechanism lets you observe feelings like annoyance or grief without judgment, allowing peace and intensity to coexist.
Hi, it's Mary Schiller, and I wanted to just pop in here for a minute because something has been on my mind lately based on some of the things that I have heard people say recently and some of the things I've seen here in the group. And I wanted to just address this idea that thought isn't personal. You know, in this conversation around these three principles, you sometimes hear people talk about personal thinking, and what they mean by that— hi Shirley— what they mean by that is those thoughts that kind of go around and around in our heads, you know, that seem very habitual. You know, that's usually what people are talking about when they talk about personal thinking, sort of old thoughts that we've had for a long time. And the reason I want to make this distinction is because there is a big difference between thinking, personal thinking, and— hi there— and thought as a principle. And the reason why this is so important is because it's really one of the major reasons why The 3 principles are so different from anything else that is out there. So if we can look at thought as a principle and not as personal, it really changes the way we experience life, and here's why. So one of the main things that's important to see in these principles is that thought is responsible for 100% of what we experience in life. So I'm experiencing holding this iPhone right now via thought. You're experiencing listening to me via thought. Everything comes to us via thought. That's simply the way it works. That's one of the things— hi, Helene— That's one of the things that has allowed this to be called a principle, because it's true all the time. We're always experiencing life via thought. That's just how human beings work. Hi there. Hi Patricia. Hi Mona. And if we can start to look at thought in terms of being a principle then the specific content of our thinking doesn't— hi there— doesn't seem to be as important. So we don't have to keep looking to our personal thinking and having, you know, concerns about what it is, or, you know, worrying about having certain thoughts over and over again. We just don't have to go there anymore. Because we can kind of step back and go, all right, thought isn't personal. This is something that everybody has thought. It's something that is what creates this human being experience that we're having. So it's not all about me and my personal thinking and what all that is, and we can get very serious and very kind of caught up and wound up in that. Instead, you know, take a few mental steps back and see thought as a universal principle that allows us to have this human being experience, whatever it might be at any given moment. So the way this plays out for me personally sometimes is I'll be having some kind of experience. I'll be having, you know, let's say I'm in the subway or something and I'm feeling kind of annoyed, whatever, and I can kind of step out of it and go, wow, I am experiencing some annoying thinking right now, and I'm having that human being experience of being annoyed. It doesn't have to be so personal to me. Anymore. And to me, this is so crucial because it allows us then to have any experience at all. Any emotion at all can come through us, and we can experience it, and we can not fear it because we know that it's a universal phenomenon. It's something that everybody experiences. It's how everyone experiences this life that we're living. It's a system that's built into us as human beings, and it's been incredibly helpful to me because I used to worry a lot about my thinking. I used to think there was something wrong with it, and therefore there was something wrong with me. That's how I used to see things. And now I get that, oh, I'm just like everyone else. We all have thought. It comes in, it goes out, it does what it's going to do. We can't control it. Hi there. Hi, Carrie. There— it's something that happens to everyone. It's a universal experience. It's not personal to me. I can't control it. But what I can do is see exactly what I'm telling you right now. That it's not about me, it's about being human. You know, I think that one of the ways this becomes very obvious is when we have very intense emotions. You know, I'm going through some of that myself right now. I'm having some very intense feelings, but I can also, at the same time I'm having those very intense feelings, I can also have this incredible peace and joy inside because I know that thought is responsible for those feelings, and the joy is what I'm made of, and it's what you're made of too. Hi, Martin. Hi, Hannah. So I think if we can stop looking at thought as something personal and start looking at thought as a universal principle, it starts to take the onus off of us having to manage any of this personal thinking that we've got going on. It just doesn't matter anymore. I'm at a point now in my understanding where I don't care what feeling I have, don't care what thought I have. I kind of am like, bring it on, you know, this is what it means to be human. Bring it on. I want all of it. Bring it on. And I can feel— today I'm feeling some intense grief. I can feel this grief, and yet I feel this joy underneath, this power, this peace. Hi, Martin. And I can have all of it. I can have all of it with this understanding. So I would love to hear from you in the comments after you've given a little thought to what I'm saying, no pun intended, about looking at thought as not so personal but as universal, as a way that human beings experience this life and all of the gifts that that gives us, that we can look at all of those experiences, no matter what they are, as incredible gifts as being part of this human being experience here on Earth while we're in this human form. Warm. So thanks so much for joining me. I was kind of spontaneous and just felt like being in here today and saying hello to everyone. And I just thank you for being here, and I hope that this short video has been helpful to you. I'll talk to you again very soon. Bye-bye now.
