Blog - Escapism
We live in a world full of distractions. Everyone wants our attention, family, friends, work, Instagram, facebook, television etc. The question is why is it so easy for them to get our attention? The answer is simple, we are so easily distracted because it seems so much easier than actually dealing with our emotions. Emotions are the cause of all thoughts and as we go through life if these emotions are not properly dealt with they begin to build up and eventually cause serious issues in our lives. We go to great lengths to avoid our emotions by watching TV, scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, sleeping and even more serious using drugs and alcohol. All of these are just methods to escape what is really going on inside of us. Now I know what you’re thinking that this is supposed to be a platform for you to learn how to achieve your wildest dreams and have amazing success, so why am I talking about emotions? For the members of Rise Up Rich it is my goal for you to not just have success in one area of your life but all areas of your life. On my path to find fulfillment and achieve success I realized that there were some seriously fundamental teachings missing in most success oriented programs. Most of them failed to help figure out how to be happy in this moment and with be happy with the person you are today. All of these books and online classes were focused on achieving great success so that you can be happy one day in the future. What I have discovered is that the key to achieving great success is to learn how to be happy first and then the success will come into your life effortlessly. Learning how to deal with your emotions and stop escaping life and start enjoying life and everything it has to offer is by far one of the most important steps you need to take to achieve success and happiness.
Companies like Facebook have a great understanding of human phycology, posting a picture and seeing how many likes you get is all a confirmation that you are liked person, a respected person, a person that is important. They are playing to your emotions giving you instant gratification and it becomes extremely addictive, the more likes you get the more confirmation you get that you are doing the right thing and the more time you spend on their site or their app. Using this tool and taking advantage of our unconscious wanting to avoid actually being quiet and alone with our thoughts and emotions, they have us by the balls and in order to loosen the grip we have to have a basic understanding of how to deal with our emotions. Again it is not just Facebook, I’m not here to bash big companies, they are just doing what they think is best for their business. This also includes other form of escapism like drugs, alcohol, TV and gossiping with friends all of these are tactics to avoid what is really going on inside of us.
How do we begin dealing with our emotions? Frist you need to understand that all thoughts come from emotions and if you are able to deal with the emotion itself then all negative thoughts that are associated with that emotion will go away. First you need to understand that all emotions are usually dealt with in four ways. Suppression, repression, escape and expression. All of these are the tools we use to hide from our true feelings. Trying to deal with an emotion on an intellectual level is fruitless as one emotion can literally be the source of thousands of thoughts. If we can learn to deal with the underlying emotions that are associated with our thoughts, we will be truly free of suffering and have a clear mind.
Step one: Become aware of your thoughts. Many of us go through life just letting our thoughts rule the roost. They push us and pull us in every direction and we are completely unaware that we are allowing our thoughts to do so. Becoming aware of what is going through our minds is where we begin.
Step two: What for? Now that we have started to observe our thoughts we can start to get to the root causes and emotions behind them using the “what for” approach. This is best described in an example. Bob is constantly thinking about making more money, it consumes his life. He is completely focus on achievement and working long hours and sacrificing time with his family to reach his goals. Bob has now become aware of his thoughts and has come to realization that his desire of money is consuming most of his thoughts. Using the what for method Bob can start to get to the roots of all of these thoughts.
“I need to make more money” What for? “So I can provide for my family” What for? “So they can live a good life” What for “So they don’t have to struggle like I did”
In just three questions bob has begun to get to root causes of his desire for money. The struggle he faced growing up had huge emotional consequences that have never been dealt with. They have been suppressed, repressed, vented or escaped. Bob is for the first time becoming conscious of the underlying emotions that have ruled his life to this point. As Bob digs deeper he finds that his struggles in life from not having money resulted in a lot of shame as other kids would make fun of him for not having nice clothes. This created a lot of anger towards his father for not properly providing for his family. Bob would tell his friends as a teenager when I have a family I will make sure they have everything they every wanted.
Step Three: Letting Go. Bob is now aware the emotions that he needs to deal with shame and anger. He can deal with them through the process of letting go laid out by Dr. David Hawkins in his book Letting Go. This book is a must read for all Rise Up Rich members and basically everyone in the world. Download it today or go to the book store and buy it. Literally don’t waste another minute without reading this book. Here is a the process of letting go of your emotions
This process again is detailed more completely in the book Letting Go but this is a great starting point. Now that Bob has released the emotions behind his desire for money he can now move towards his goals consciously. He is no longer being pulled around by his endless thoughts of having to work harder to provide for his family. He begins doing things because he wants to, not because his emotions are driving him to. He realizes that the best way he can provide for his family is to be present with them and love them. Bob is no longer attached to money yet money begins to flow into his life effortlessly because Bob is no longer doing it to fill a void created in his childhood, he is doing it because he loves what he does and is enjoying life to the fullest. This is the process of letting go and this is how you become truly rich!
We live in a world full of distractions. Everyone wants our attention, family, friends, work, Instagram, facebook, television etc. The question is why is it so easy for them to get our attention? The answer is simple, we are so easily distracted because it seems so much easier than actually dealing with our emotions. Emotions are the cause of all thoughts and as we go through life if these emotions are not properly dealt with they begin to build up and eventually cause serious issues in our lives. We go to great lengths to avoid our emotions by watching TV, scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, sleeping and even more serious using drugs and alcohol. All of these are just methods to escape what is really going on inside of us. Now I know what you’re thinking that this is supposed to be a platform for you to learn how to achieve your wildest dreams and have amazing success, so why am I talking about emotions? For the members of Rise Up Rich it is my goal for you to not just have success in one area of your life but all areas of your life. On my path to find fulfillment and achieve success I realized that there were some seriously fundamental teachings missing in most success oriented programs. Most of them failed to help figure out how to be happy in this moment and with be happy with the person you are today. All of these books and online classes were focused on achieving great success so that you can be happy one day in the future. What I have discovered is that the key to achieving great success is to learn how to be happy first and then the success will come into your life effortlessly. Learning how to deal with your emotions and stop escaping life and start enjoying life and everything it has to offer is by far one of the most important steps you need to take to achieve success and happiness.
Companies like Facebook have a great understanding of human phycology, posting a picture and seeing how many likes you get is all a confirmation that you are liked person, a respected person, a person that is important. They are playing to your emotions giving you instant gratification and it becomes extremely addictive, the more likes you get the more confirmation you get that you are doing the right thing and the more time you spend on their site or their app. Using this tool and taking advantage of our unconscious wanting to avoid actually being quiet and alone with our thoughts and emotions, they have us by the balls and in order to loosen the grip we have to have a basic understanding of how to deal with our emotions. Again it is not just Facebook, I’m not here to bash big companies, they are just doing what they think is best for their business. This also includes other form of escapism like drugs, alcohol, TV and gossiping with friends all of these are tactics to avoid what is really going on inside of us.
How do we begin dealing with our emotions? Frist you need to understand that all thoughts come from emotions and if you are able to deal with the emotion itself then all negative thoughts that are associated with that emotion will go away. First you need to understand that all emotions are usually dealt with in four ways. Suppression, repression, escape and expression. All of these are the tools we use to hide from our true feelings. Trying to deal with an emotion on an intellectual level is fruitless as one emotion can literally be the source of thousands of thoughts. If we can learn to deal with the underlying emotions that are associated with our thoughts, we will be truly free of suffering and have a clear mind.
Step one: Become aware of your thoughts. Many of us go through life just letting our thoughts rule the roost. They push us and pull us in every direction and we are completely unaware that we are allowing our thoughts to do so. Becoming aware of what is going through our minds is where we begin.
Step two: What for? Now that we have started to observe our thoughts we can start to get to the root causes and emotions behind them using the “what for” approach. This is best described in an example. Bob is constantly thinking about making more money, it consumes his life. He is completely focus on achievement and working long hours and sacrificing time with his family to reach his goals. Bob has now become aware of his thoughts and has come to realization that his desire of money is consuming most of his thoughts. Using the what for method Bob can start to get to the roots of all of these thoughts.
“I need to make more money” What for? “So I can provide for my family” What for? “So they can live a good life” What for “So they don’t have to struggle like I did”
In just three questions bob has begun to get to root causes of his desire for money. The struggle he faced growing up had huge emotional consequences that have never been dealt with. They have been suppressed, repressed, vented or escaped. Bob is for the first time becoming conscious of the underlying emotions that have ruled his life to this point. As Bob digs deeper he finds that his struggles in life from not having money resulted in a lot of shame as other kids would make fun of him for not having nice clothes. This created a lot of anger towards his father for not properly providing for his family. Bob would tell his friends as a teenager when I have a family I will make sure they have everything they every wanted.
Step Three: Letting Go. Bob is now aware the emotions that he needs to deal with shame and anger. He can deal with them through the process of letting go laid out by Dr. David Hawkins in his book Letting Go. This book is a must read for all Rise Up Rich members and basically everyone in the world. Download it today or go to the book store and buy it. Literally don’t waste another minute without reading this book. Here is a the process of letting go of your emotions
- In meditation or just with your eyes closed this can also be done with eyes open but I find it is more effective with eyes closed. Become aware of the feeling. In Bob’s case were are using anger. Stay with the emotion/feeling, let it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. Just be with it
- Let the feeling be there and focus on letting out the energy behind it
- Have the feeling without resisting it, venting it, fearing it, condemning it or moralizing it, drop all judgement it is just the feeling
- Be with the feeling and surrender all efforts to modify it
- Let go of wanting to resist the feeling, resistance keeps the feeling going
- Let go the mind wanted to be distracted as it is just trying to escape dealing with the feeling itself
- Let go of any fear or guilt you have about the feeling first then move onto the feeling itself
- Ignore all thoughts
- If the feeling returns later it is because there is more to be surrendered
- Eventually you will realize you are not your feelings/emotions and the real you is just witnessing them
This process again is detailed more completely in the book Letting Go but this is a great starting point. Now that Bob has released the emotions behind his desire for money he can now move towards his goals consciously. He is no longer being pulled around by his endless thoughts of having to work harder to provide for his family. He begins doing things because he wants to, not because his emotions are driving him to. He realizes that the best way he can provide for his family is to be present with them and love them. Bob is no longer attached to money yet money begins to flow into his life effortlessly because Bob is no longer doing it to fill a void created in his childhood, he is doing it because he loves what he does and is enjoying life to the fullest. This is the process of letting go and this is how you become truly rich!