Don’t Believe Everything You Think
BY: Joseph Nguyen
Introduction: What You Will Discover In This Book and How To Get the Most Out of Reading It
the only constant is change — growth is an enviable process of life
no matter who you are — you can find peace, unconditional love, complete fulfillment and an abundance of joy in your life
you are no exception — an open mind and a willing heart are all you need to receive every answer you’ve been looking for
the feeling is what we want not the external physical things and stuff
the trap is that we believe that the physical things will give us the internal feeling of energy, fulfillment, peace, joy
read for insight not information — insight or wisdom can only be found within
without hope we have nothing — look for a feeling
the truth is simple — don’t let ego make it complex
Chapter 1: The Journey To Finding The Root Cause of Suffering
“people have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar”—Thich Nhat Hanh
suffering is optional — pain is unavoidable, but how we react to the events and circumstances that happen in our lives is up to us and that will dictate whether we suffer or not
anytime we experienced a negative event in our lives, two arrows fly our way. Being physically struck by an arrow is painful, being struck by a second emotional arrow is even more painful (suffering)
we can’t always control the first arrow but the second arrow is our reaction to the first, second arrow is optional
Chapter 2: The Root Cause of All Suffering
we live in a world of thought not reality — thought it’s not reality; yet it is through thought that our realities are created
each of us lives through our own perceptions of the world
the meaning or thinking we give an event is what determines how we ultimately feel about it
reality is that the event happened, with no meaning, thinking, or interpretation of it
our feelings do not come from external events, but from our own thinking about the events — we can only feel what we are thinking
the root cause of our suffering is our own thinking
we can change our experience of life by knowing that it comes from our thinking
people, situations or circumstances don’t have the power to make you feel a specific way without your own reaction
Chapter 3: Why Do We Even Think
humans evolved to develop the ability to rationalize, analyze and think because it helped us survive — but not fulfilment or joy
our minds duty is to keep us alive — our consciousness duty is to help us feel fulfilled
we need to let go of listening only to our minds and go beyond it to thrive
Chapter 4: Thoughts vs Thinking
we can’t experience anything without thought— thoughts are a noun and aren’t something that we do, but something we have
thinking is the act of thinking about our thoughts — it’s actively engaging with the thoughts in your mind
the moment we think about our thoughts is when we begin to get taken on an emotional rollercoaster
thoughts create, thinking destroys — we begin to think about thoughts we cast our own limiting beliefs and judgements, criticism, programming and conditioning into the thought, thinking about reasons as to why we can’t do it and why we can’t have it
you can only feel what you’re thinking so feelings abs emotions are like intuitive internal dashboard
Chapter 5: If We Can Only Feel What We’re Thinking, Don’t We Need to Think Positively to Feel That Way?
“We are ever only one thought away from peace, love, and joy, which come from a state of no thought — Dicken Bettinger
more accurate way of describing it is that we can only ever feel negative emotions when we are thinking
sometimes negative emotions are helpful in survival terms
you do not have to have thoughts or think to feel positive emotions
our natural state of being is joy, love, freedom and gratitude — a baby isn’t naturally stressed, anxious, fearful and self conscious
the more thinking we have going on, the higher the meter goes up and soon we’ll be in the red zone like a car, leading to stress, anxiety, burn out
it’s the amount of thinking that’s directly correlated to negative emotions
it’s not WHAT we’re thinking about that is causing us suffering, but THAT we are thinking
we don’t have to try to think positive to experience joy, love, bliss and any positive emotions we want because it is our natural state to feel those emotions
the less thinking we have — the more space we create for positive emotions to naturally surface
Chapter 6: How The Human Experience is Created — The 3 Principles
at its fundamental level, the human experience is created by these 3 principles:
1. Universal Mind
2. Consciousness
3. Thoughtthey work together to allow us to experience everything we do in life
Universal Mind: the intelligence behind all living things — the life force and energy, all things are connected by the universal mind, it’s what keeps our heart beating and breathing automatically
Universal Consciousness: collective consciousness of all things, allows us to be aware that we exist and aware of our thoughts — without it we wouldn’t experience anything, brings things to life and make them perceivable to us
Universal Thought: it is our ability to think and create form from energy of the universal mind — it’s the object we can perceive through consciousness
Chapter 7: If Thinking Is The Root Cause of Our Suffering, How Do We Stop Thinking
“a crowded mind leaves no space for a peaceful heart” — Christine Evangelou
it’s not possible to just stop thinking entirely but what we can do is reduce the time we spend thinking so that it can get smaller and smaller each day that passes
not trying to stop all thoughts in general, we want thoughts — allowing thoughts to come and flow through us while we minimize the thinking about those thoughts
just be aware about it — detach, settle and pass — done through pure presence in the moment
analogy: imagine a bowl of dirty water, how would you make the water clear? — think of your answers before moving on
most would say filtering or even boiling it — if you let the the bowl of dirty water sit for a period of time the dirt begins to settle in its own and the water is clear
same with your mind — if we let our thinking sit without disturbing it, the thinking will settle and the mind will become free from thinking
the natural state of our minds are clear if we do not disturb it
to break free from our thinking is to let go and trust that our natural inner wisdom will guide us back to clarity age peace like it always has — as the more we fight our thinking it amplifies the negative emotions
we will be oscillating between anxious/stress and joyful/peaceful — we cannot control this but we can minimize the time spent in thinking = more moments of joyful, peaceful, passionate and full of love
we are ever really one moment away from remembering that we always have that infinite well of clarity, love, peace, and fulfillment
that is the beautiful state we always want we can not lose, but only forget
Chapter 8: How Can We Possibly Thrive in The World Without Thinking
“Anxiety is thought without control. Flow is control without thought” — James Clear
total state of flow = when you are loving what you do so much and are completely engrossed in it that you lose all sense of time and space
the state of peak performance for Humans can be described as the state of non-thinking
Chapter 9: If We Stop Thinking, What Do We Do About Our Goals, Dreams & Ambitions
“there are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge” — Napoleon Hill
I think therefore I suffer
the source of thoughts vs the source of thinking are different — the source is what will dictate whether it causes suffering or not
like everything in this world, there is nothing inherently good or bad, only our thinking makes it so — it’s more about where those goals are coming from
goals created out of inspiration and goals created out of desperation
goals out of desperation: it feels heavy, self doubt, and imposter syndrome begin to manifest — want to finish faster, looking externally
there’s a means to an end — always a reason we want to accomplish the goal and it’s always for something else
we feel like we HAVE to do things rather than WANT to
goals out of inspiration: we feel deeply moved, inspired and expansive — feels like a calling rather than an obligation
not really creating for a reason other than because simply we want to
we aren’t creating these goals so that we can do something else or use it as a means to get something else we want
this creating comes from a place of wholeness and abundance — overflow of joy and love for life
it really doesn’t come from us, but through us from something greater than us — divine inspiration (comes from something greater)
it happens when we have groundbreaking creations, ideas, inventions etc that seem impossible at first
it knows no boundaries, limits, or constraints— lifts us to feel whole, complete, filled with unconditional love, joy, and peace
we don’t analyze, compare, critique, judge, or rationalize anything but we truest live, love, share, give, create, grow, and nourish
we can only ever follow one calling — either desperation or inspiration, cannot coexist at the same time but can fluctuate depending on how much we think
to tell when your goal or dream is from inspiration or desperation — when we think we’ll analyze, judge, criticize, rationalize and use our past to create new goals — feels restricting = desperation
how you feel is another way to identify, if it feels heavy and draining and empty leading to stress, fear, and obligation then that’s more desperation
Ex. Want to quit job as a goal or make a million to have financial freedom and travel = there’s a mean to an end and not the end itself
so how do we create goals and dreams out of inspiration vs desperation? — naturally have thoughts of infinite inspiration
Ex. Children naturally have wild dreams and inspiration and imaginations but the difference is that adults learned to shut down all these thoughts of inspiration that contain our dreams and goals
our minds are filled more with reasons of why we can’t than thoughts of what we want to create
“if I had infinite money, already travelled the world, had no fear, and didn’t receive recognition for what I do, what would I do or what would I create?”
to a mind without the limits of thinking, anything is possible
Chapter 10: Unconditional Love & Creation
“The greatest power that mankind could ever achieve is the power of unconditional love. This is when people love with no limitations, conditions or boundaries
when you love someone unconditionally then you can’t really come up with reasons why as it’s true
Ex. Joesph and his girlfriend Makenna, she couldn’t list reason why she loved him, she just knew she does. Joesph on the other hand could list things like her smile and laugh and care but realized that what if she stop doing those things now he won’t love her?
goes beyond reasoning — not a place of reciprocity where she does not love him because he loves her
does not come from external reasons, but comes from within from the infinite source we all come from
unconditional creation is always different, new, bold
conditional creation is like a goal of making money as it’s not the money you want it’s the thing you want to use the money for — only creating for something else
this is why we might be feeling this grind culture — accomplish the goal but move to the next
we ultimate are looking for feelings of joy, fulfillment, peace, love— but we think the goal or object we want will give those feelings, but our feelings can only be generated within not external things
when we create something without conditions or reasons, we actually immediately feel all of the positive feelings we want
unconditional creation is creating something without it being for another purpose but purely to create it because we just want to create it
Chapter 11: What Do You Do Next After Experiencing Peace, Joy, Love & Fulfillment in The Present?
Don’t think. It complicates things. Just feel bad if it feels like home then follow it’s path” — R.M Drake
become aware of the fact that our negative feelings comes from our own thinking
reason why we feel worried, anxiety, and doubt after we’ve experienced peace is because we have just let go of everything we thought we knew in the world — the death of personal ego
but it’s impossible to prevent thinking from happening so it’s more about shorten the time that it takes for you to remember that it’s just your thinking that’s causing negative emotions
Chapter 12: Nothing Is Either Good or Bad
instead of looking for right and wrong, good or bad in the world, look for truth
but many people believe what they think is the truth — need universal truth, will find within you
negative emotions are an indication of misunderstanding — we believe what we are thinking
be aware of of thinking and let it be, then slowly dissipate it
Chapter 13: How Do You Know What To Do Without Thinking
“The intuitive mind is sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift” — Albert Einstein
your intuition will lead you to where you need to go and what you should do at any moment
don’t want to rely on external confirmation on what you know to be true for you
so how do we know what to do without thinking? — most of us know what to do, but we are too afraid to do it and don’t believe that you are good enough to do it
if you don’t have any fear and self doubt about the the situation then trust your inner wisdom — “whether you think that you can or can’t, you’re right”
know that you already know and if you don’t know, know that you can know what you need to know — trust it will
Chapter 14: How To Follow Your Intuition
many will attributes the state of non-thinking or flow with a particular activity that we love to do and that’s the only time we an be in flow — this is far from the truth
we can be in a state of non thinking at any point in time — present moment
it might feel like you’re not doing anything when we’re in this zone because we lose our sense of personal self and become one with life
when we’re in this state, miracles occur, people show up at the right time and place, money comes in when we need it, connections that we were looking for — life seems magical
we don’t have to have it all figured out, nor do we even have to figure it all out
there are millions of small circumstances and events that have to have been meticulously orchestrated for us to be where we are now. To plan that would be impossible and futile, yet here we are. This is the miracle of life
we decide to change our experience of life whenever we want and how we feel at any moment — we can choose to be happy by letting go of our thinking
not about what we have, but how we feel inside that is the true measure of success, joy, and fulfillment
our intuition speaks to us all the time — it’s that small voice inside you that always knows what you should do, that gut feeling
it will softly beckon you to pursue what you truly want in life vs following what everyone else says that you should want
fear is what stops us from listening to our intuition — we can’t predict what might happen
it is only when we step into the unknown that we can begin to experience the limitless possibilities that life can bring us
the unknown is the only way to manifest what you want in life if you don’t already have it. You have to do what you haven’t done in order to get what you don’t have
Chapter 15: Creating Space For Miracles
“Today I make space for miracles. I recognize that it’s not how big a miracle is that’s important but how much room I create for it” — Kyle Gray
-for creation to happen, there must first be space — new thoughts then you must first create space so that you can receive new ideas that can change your lifeto create this is through non-thinking — questions that challenges our current way of thinking are also great way to create space in our minds
“we can’t solve problems by using the same level of consciousness we were at when we created them” — Albert Einstein
we’re only ever one thought, one insight, and one idea away from living a completely different experience of life
Chapter 16: What Happens When You Begin Living In Non-Thinking (Potential Obstacles)
“do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace” — Dalai Lama
once you begin living your life in non-thinking, you’ll be having the time of your life not having many worries, stress, or problems in your life — if you don’t see things as problems anymore, they literally stop being a problem for you
it may feel unfamiliar and we humans don’t usually like unfamiliar because it means uncertainty — what’s ironic is that when people begin thinking that something is wrong because they feel so happy and peaceful the majority of the day
the unknown is where all possibilities exist, including everything you could possibly ever want for your life
we can choose either to be free and happy in the unknown or to be confined and suffer in the familiar
it’s okay to fall back into thinking — it’s human to think but know when to catch yourself
Chapter 17: Now What?
“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished, that will be beginning” — Louis L’Amor
the truth is simple and always will be — anything that makes something complex and intricate is only taking you further away from the truth
when you prioritize making space in your life and in your mind for Infinite Intelligence to come through, your life will change