Let me show you something amazing...
It’s a multi-billion dollar industry, you know. There are thousands of different books, tapes, CDs and DVDs out there. There are hundreds of different techniques and theories and guides on how to live the right way. It can be pretty confusing. And most of it is crap.
You see, the reason there is such a variety of viewpoints out there is that no one really knows for sure what works. Most people just grasp at straws and are quick to celebrate anything that seems to work. And then there’s the fact that people are desperate. Desperate people do crazy things.
There’s an easy way to not get caught in it, though. Understand how problems actually work.
You see, problems are caused when strong emotions get associated to a particular situation such that when you think about the situation, the emotions pop up and influence you to stay away from one thing and seek out another. These emotions even make it seem like the right thing to do. Because of this, most people’s lives become one giant pendulum swing after another as they flee from things that feel bad and run toward things that make them feel good.
Here’s a case in point to make it more clear. I was browsing through the psychology section of a bookstore–something I rarely do–and I came upon a little gem of a title:
“Therapy, Nudity & Joy: The Therapeutic Use of Nudity Through the Ages from Ancient Ritual to Modern Psychology”
The premise of this book is that nudity can be a therapeutic tool by allowing a deeper sense of freedom and openness by embracing the vulnerability of nudity in a therapeutic setting. Sound like a good idea? I’m sure it does if you’re feeling repressed. In fact, when you’re in the middle of a problem, swinging from that extreme emotional state to the opposite extreme seems like a great idea. Again, desperate people do pretty crazy things.
Well, here’s what’s really going on. Let’s say that someone is feeling insecure and repressed. Maybe they’re afraid of being vulnerable and sharing their feelings with a room full of people is terrifying. Add to that the embarrassment, guilt, and sexual excitement of being naked in front of those people and you amp up the emotion so that when they finally go through the “process” and get past their fear it’s a HUGE relief and it gives them a sense of accomplishment and an emotional high that may last a few days or weeks. That emotional high lets them feel better and they filter their experience through those feelings and life seems to be all rosy.
(This is actually the same principle as a more common self-help adventure called “firewalking.” Exactly the same.)
Of course, then they’ll go back for another session a week later as the high starts to wear off. Every time they go, though, they lose more and more of the uniqueness of it and the fear and excitement of being nude so it has less and less of an emotional impact. This means that they eventually have to find things that are more and more outrageous to achieve that dramatic emotional high that keeps them going. When they can’t get that anymore, then they crash.
In short, they’re letting themselves be led around by their emotions. The mistake in thinking that just about everyone makes is that if it makes you feel really, really good then it must be the soolution to your problem. In fact, when you’re desperate to find a solution, anything that seems like a good idea is like a shining beacon in the dark.
But, I know better. I know that unless I find the emotional garbage I’m running away from in the first place, any fantastic-sounding solution that makes me feel better is, at best, only going to be a temporary fix. At the worst, it will cause me to get distracted in the search for the next quick fix–drug rerference intended here–and I’ll never actually fix the problem. Personally, running around in circles for the rest of my life, never being able to get anywhere on my problems is my personal idea of hell.
But, between my knowledge of how problems work and my skill with the 3D Mind technique, I know that I have the tools to tackle any problem. I don’t need a quick fix from some flash-in-the-pan guru. I don’t need to live a crazy, extreme life. I just have to keep on after the things I want in life, and clean out the emotional blocks that geet in the way. Really, I know too much to get caught up in the emtional rush of jumping after wild success or miraculous new techniques to change my life. I have to admit that I neither have nor want the ridiculous glamour of either following or being the next big “success guru.”
I guess I just have to settle for living life as a balanced individual.
Aww darn. 
