Instant motivation – the surprising truth behind what really drives top performance written by Chantal Burns, is a book about “the difference between how we really think and how we think we think” as Rory Sutherland, Vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather states on the cover of the book.
“All feelings are created by Thought.
Your feelings are the felt experience of the Principle of Thought taking form, moment to moment.
Thought and feeling are inseparable.
Whatever you think, you will feel. Whatever you feel can only ever come from Thought in the moment. This is how the human operating system works.”
It is. 100%. Even though we all, I think, have that special area, where we d o n o t believe it works this way. But here’s the thing about principles, like for instance the principle of gravity, they are always applicable. There are no “exceptions to the rule” when it comes to principles that govern life on Earth. And the principle of Mind, Thought and Consciousness are just that: principles.
“[…] the content of thought isn’t the issue. It’s our preoccupation with the content of our thinking that gets us into trouble and it’s our understanding of how the system works that gets us out of trouble.”
Another way to phrase this is: “The problem is never the problem. The problem is always your thinking about the problem” which Cathy Casey stated during the first Supercoach Academy weekend I attended back in 2014. For me, understanding that my state of mind is the driving force of how I experience my everyday life, and not external factors, has been a huge part in why I enjoy life so much more today than I used to. And more than anything, when I got this: “We might think a particular thought but we don’t have to listen to it. It doesn’t have any inherent power over us unless we give it power.” life shifted in a way that means it will never be the same again.
Oh the relief, when I understood that I didn’t have to listen to and act upon all the really weird and not-so-constructive thoughts that zoomed through my mind! And this is, in essence, what this book is about. Clearly written, easily described, with plenty of examples from real life, it’s an easy way to gain deeper understanding to the human condition and more than that, insight into what shapes the human experience on Earth.
The book I am blogging about is part of the book-reading challenge I’ve set for myself during 2018, to read and blog about 26 Swedish and 26 English books, one book every week, books that I already own.