Amy Johnson PhD - Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to Overcome Self-Doubt and Make Peace with Your Mind

Just a Thought helps you see why you suffer, and it shows you how to wake up to your innate well-being.

Deepak Chopra, MD , author of Total Meditation

Just a Thought is a must-read for anyone who feels broken or inadequate. Amy offers a radical approach to discovering peace of mind that is much simpler than conventional self-help. Follow her guidance, and you will discover the happiness, confidence, and well-being you never thought were possible. This book has the power to change your life!

Gail Brenner, PhD , author of The End of Self-Help and Suffering Is Optional

Just a Thought provides a road map to freedom of mind across a range of seemingly insurmountable issues. Discovering the way our mind works and learning how to react to it is a game changer for escaping anxiety, fear, and unnecessary harsh self-judgments. The book delivers on all frontsa gentle, reassuring journey of discovering who we are by understanding what were not . True freedom from repetitive negative behaviors.

John C. Dicey , global CEO, senior therapist, and coauthor at Allen Carrs Easyway Worldwide

This beautifully written and powerful book untangles so much of the confusion we feel every day, providing a simple and elegant alternative to the maddening cycles of the mind. This book distills some of the most complex concepts into usable, practical direction to find peace beyond your thoughts. A truly incredible, and life-changing read.

Annie Grace , author of This Naked Mind

In a modern world of souls desperately seeking to calm their minds, Amy Johnson provides the invaluable insight needed to reconceptualize our experience for true peace (despite what our minds may tell us to the contrary!) Those brave enough to entertain just a few radically simple thoughts, may find a life-changing paradigm shift patiently waiting inside of them. Just a thought: your life may change with Just a Thought .

Melanie Avalon , author of What When Wine , and host of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast and The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast

Amy Johnson has written a profound book pointing toward a paradigm shift of awareness that will transform your life. In easy-to-digest, bite-sized chapters, this book contains all you need to free your life from being terrorized by your mind. Amy offers a liberating shift in view to bring to any circumstances. Through connecting with perspective and kindness, you will learn to see everything with new, wise eyes.

Vidyamala Burch , cofounder of www.breathworks -mindfulness.org.uk, and coauthor of You are Not Your Pain and Mindfulness for Women

Just a Thought proves that we are not our ever-changing, psychological experience. We are the pure consciousness that lies beyond all experience, and that leads a LIT life.

Shaman Durek , global leader; sixth-generation shaman; ambassador of Mandela Mile; and author of worldwide best seller, Spirit Hacking

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

NEW HARBINGER PUBLICATIONS is a registered trademark of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Copyright 2021 by Amy Johnson

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Sara Christian; Acquired by Elizabeth Hollis Hansen; Edited by Gretel Hakanson

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Johnson, Amy (Psychologist)

Title: Just a thought / Amy Johnson.

Description: Oakland, CA : New Harbinger Publications, Inc., [2021] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021019761 | ISBN 9781684038183 (trade paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Negativism. | Habit breaking. | Behavior modification.

Classification: LCC BF698.35.N44 J64 2021 | DDC 158.1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019761

To The Little School of Big Change community. You have taught me so much. Its an honor to watch you discover more of who you are every day.

Contents

Preface

I have been listening to people tell me about their struggles, fears, insecurities, insights, hopes, and wishes for as long as I can remember. First, as the friend whom everyone loved to confide in. Later, as the neighborhood bartender. Following that, as a social psychologist. And, for the past fifteen years, as a professional coach and teacher.

Ive had thousands of private coaching conversations, run hundreds of group coaching sessions, and lead an online school and community where I hear from people from all over the world every day.

A funny thing happens when you hear the innermost thoughts and feelings of that many people, that often, over that many years.

You see that were all the same.

Demographics, childhood, and life experiences dont make us fundamentally different. Those might impact what we talk about, but they dont impact the fact that our mind talks, just like everyone elses. Beyond the surface layer of always-shifting story and opinion, we all work in the same way.

Our minds spit out repetitive stories. They love to replay the past and predict the future.

Our minds have strong opinions that feel solid and meaningful, but are always changing and contradicting themselves.

Our minds love drama and exaggeration. They relate everything back to the person they inhabitour minds world revolves around us.

Minds love certainty and efficiency. They create our identities and then work like crazy to protect their creation.

When we see how our mind works, it becomes easier to not take it so personally or seriously. Its habitual stories, complaints, fears, and criticisms move to the background. Our awareness shifts from the content of our moment-to-moment experience to something quieter and deeper that lies beyond our moment-to-moment experience.

We live less in the stories and details of what our mind is saying and more in the recognition that a mind is talking. And a whole new worldbeyond the habitual hum of thoughtopens up.

Years of day in and day out listening has shown me that, without exception, were all the same. Only the details are different, and the details arent nearly as relevant or meaningful as we think they are.

Its shown me that, without exception, we are all fundamentally well. When we think our minds stories mean something solid about who we are, we suffer. When we see the truthand we glimpse the space that lies beyond those thought-created storieswe suffer far less.

One of the phrases I find myself saying most often is: Thats just what minds do.

Minds compare and worry and project and judge. They label and categorize and fear and complain. All eight billion of them. Different details, same process.

When we see that the machine in our head is just doing what the machine in a head does, everything changes. Habits and anxiety begin to fall away. Insecurities and self-judgments look less real. Problems and limitations appear far less solid.