David Friedman - The Healing Power of Negative Thoughts and Uncomfortable Sensations (The Thought Exchange)

THE HEALING POWER OF

NEGATIVE

THOUGHTS

and

UNCOMFORTABLE

SENSATIONS

Stop being afraid of your

negative thoughts and uncomfortable sensations

and start using them to heal!

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Copyright 2015 by David Friedman and Midder Music Publishing, Inc. Published by Library Tales Publishing, Inc., New York, New York

Forgiveness Embrace: Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, Copyright 2001 Stephen Schwartz. Administered by Williamson Music, a Division of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Grey Dog Music (ASCAP).

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INTRODUCTION

Look at any description of New Thought and the word Positive will most likely present itself in the first sentence.

Across the board, New Thought wisdom tells us that since our thoughts create our reality, all we have to do to transform our lives is Think Positive.

Unity often describes itself as A Spiritual Philosophy for Positive Living.

Books from The Power of Positive Thinking to You Cant Afford to Have a Negative Thought (which to me has always had an interestingly paradoxical title, since the title itself seems to be a negative thought) have sold millions of copies.

Phrases of advice abound, such as, Cancel, Cancel (in relation to a Negative thought we might have or, God forbid, voice); Dont be so Negative; Release that Negative thought; Stop spreading Negativity.

So many of us spend hours coming up with Positive Affirmations, repeating them over and over and putting them on our refrigerators and desks, thinking that if we say them enough we will banish other thoughts and our Affirmations will come true.

There are spiritual philosophies that attribute any Negative thoughts that might arise to our evil Ego that is out to get us and needs to be ignored or even killed off.

People talk about God being Good, and often interpret that as meaning that only Positive thoughts come from God, while Negative ones dont. If God is indeed the Creator of Everything, where DO those other thoughts come from? The devil? The ego? Us?

(If God created Adam and Eve and EVERYTHING else, then who sent the snake? Must have been God, or God isnt God.)

We frighten ourselves with the notion that any thought we think, will make something happen, so wed better not be thinking Negative ones or we will immediately see upsetting results appear in our world.

And why do so many of us spend so much time trying to be Positive? Because we want to feel good. We want to be comfortable. We want to have no pain.

So much of New Thought dangles the carrot that with the right thoughts, the right incantations, the right juggling of our insides, feeling comfortable all the time is not only possible, but is something desirable that we should put all our efforts into achieving.

There are disciplines that tell us that well know were on the right track when we feel good.

There are countless books that say you will experience bliss when you are doing what youre supposed to be doing.

There are methods that teach us how to release, change, let go of, forget about, ignore or avoid any uncomfortable sensations we might experience.

One of the greatest misconceptions in the New Thought, Self-Help world is that when you get what you want, you will Feel Good. In fact, you will feel however you feel, which often, for reasons I will explain in this book, may be extremely uncomfortable. It is, in fact, our ability to be with this discomfort that determines how able we are to be with success, be with fulfillment, and be with the manifestation of our dreams.

So many of us have spent years pursuing method after method, workshop after workshop, book after book, to try to get ourselves to not have Negative thoughts and Uncomfortable sensations.

But try as we might, those Negative thoughts and Uncomfortable sensations keep popping up. Often, the more we resist them the more they seem to persist.

In my years of developing and teaching The Thought Exchange I tried every way I could think of to get over, under and around them, to no avail.

So I finally decided to take a different tack. I began wondering if perhaps these negative thoughts and uncomfortable sensations had a purpose; had a meaning that could be helpful; had a message that we needed to hear.

As I explored these new possibilities, I began to realize that these Negative thoughts and Uncomfortable sensations were, in fact, a key to healing our childhood, coming to terms with our past, and becoming able to live as true, whole, integrated adults with the ability to make choices freely and lead fulfilled and happy lives in a world of infinite possibility.

So, if youve been struggling with your Negative thoughts and Uncomfortable sensations (and who hasnt?) read on, and learn how to have them, make friends with them, and actually use them to heal wounds that all the Positive thinking in the world has not been able to heal.

This book is about wholeness, completeness, NO part of you left out, NO part of you to censor or fear or suppress. What a concept!

In short, this book is about the Inner Peace that comes from seeing things EXACTLY as they are, without resisting them, trying to change them, trying to release them, or trying to pretend they dont exist.

So join me, as we explore the enlightening, healing, soul-freeing world of Negative Thoughts and Uncomfortable Sensations.*

*NOTE: Throughout this book I put words like negative, positive, uncomfortable, protective and problem in quotes. The reason I do this is that these are subjective descriptions, interpretations or opinions rather than absolutes. One persons negative thought could be another persons positive thought, and so on.

PART I

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

AND UNCOMFORTABLE SENSATIONS

CHAPTER 1

Where We Live

T he first thing we have to understand, if anything in New Thought is to make sense, is that we do not live in the physical world.

Our entire lives take place in the world of Experience. When something happens in the outside world, the only things we actually experience are thoughts and sensations. The only way we ever register that anything happened is via thoughts and sensations.

Thoughts and sensations are non-physical. Something happens and we experience a tingling or a pressure or an emptiness, and we have a thought about what it means. In our world of Experience, which is where we live, thats ALL that happens. So we experience EVERYTHING in the invisible, non-physical world.

The sensations we experience in any given situation, which seem to come unbidden and over which we dont seem to have any control, are based on whatever thought were holding based on the past, though often we will be aware of the sensations before were aware of the thought.

So, for example, we ask someone out on a date and they say No. This experience in itself does not have any intrinsic meaning. It doesnt in any way predict the future or say anything about who we are. It also doesnt tell us what the other person is thinking or what is motivating them to say no, even if they tell us.

(Often, when we tell people what were thinking, were telling them our interpretation of what we think were thinking, or telling them what we think they might want to hear.)

If, in our earlier life, we were taught, by parents or circumstances, to think that we are worthless, and thus are holding that basic thought about ourselves, we might have a sinking sensation in our stomach and take on a thought like, Nobody will ever go out with me, Ill be alone for the rest of my life.