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Psychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 194: Going Too Fast and Missing the Point of LivingChristine offers the metaphor of life seeming like a high-speed train ride. We settle down, look out, and take in the view as the train slowly starts to move. Then we experience the illusion, as the train speeds up, that life is moving past us. Suddenly, when the train reaches full speed, life is a blur rushing by, and we can barely take it in or enjoy it. Many of us spend a lot of our time moving and thinking so fast that we are always in a hurry -- doing the best we can to make sense of the...2025-06-2135 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 173: PerfectionismChris and Judy confess to their own habitual perfectionism. We've learned from years of delving deeply into the Principles that it's just a thought not worth taking seriously, and harmless when we can laugh it off or let go of it. Thoughts that seem vitally important to our happiness or impossible standards we set for ourselves, our lives, or other people, are just ideas that we adopted at one point to feel more secure. When we understand how thought works, and the true source of and release from insecurity, then we have the option of remaining attached to habits that...2024-08-3129 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 168: When Am I Ready To Share What I Understand?We created this podcast live with an audience at the Three Principles conference in London. Chris was on stage in London; Judy was being broadcast from her home in Pittsburgh, appearing on a big screen on stage with Chris. People often ask how we develop ideas, how long it takes to prepare our material, etc., so we decided to show them. We asked for a subject from the audience. Someone responded quickly that he would like to hear us talk about how people know when they're ready to share their understanding of the 3P. We chatted about it for a cou...2024-07-0624 min
In Our Nature"Security Is Built-In" with Christine Heath and Judy SedgemanI loved having Christine Heath and Judy Sedgeman as my special guests on the pod! Chris and Judy have been working with groups, individuals, couples and classes for - literally - decades to help them find freedom beyond their personal thinking and see life in a completely new way. They also co-host the incredible podcast Psychology Has It Backwards, which completely reimagines mental health awareness and 'recovery' and is one of my favourite shows.Chris and Judy have had an enormous influence on my work (and life!) and it was a sweaty-faced fan-girl moment to h...2022-12-0954 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 96: The Past, Part 3: How the Past Tricks and Serves UsAnything that pulls us out of the present moment, when we are creating our life, is memory. Memories can be powerful, beautiful, touching, or horrifying, upsetting, sad. No matter what, the past tricks us and keeps us from living life in the now, moment-to-moment. We can recall past joy and think the present can never measure up to it; we can remember past upset and think it is ruining our lives. Understanding the past is not about sorting out the content of our thinking, but recognizing that the past, good or bad, is over. We can't change it; we can't...2022-09-1024 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 95: The Past, Part 2: Psychology and the PastThe field of Psychology, with the intention to end suffering, has fostered suffering inadvertently by focusing on people's past. Because people suffering mentally in the present tend to be focused on thinking, thinking, thinking to try to find relief, they are caught in their intellect and using their memories to try to understand themselves. When we are processing thoughts from our intellect, all we have to work with is the past because the intellect is all stored thoughts. So without an understanding of how the mind works, how quieting circular thinking allows for insight and clarity in the present, psy...2022-09-0324 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 94: The Past, Part 1: What Is the Past, Really?We think about the past as "real" and important, the personal story of our life that has power over us. Or as memories that haunt us, or delight us. Or as the history we learn about in school. Really, the past is just thoughts, stored in our memory. Just images we can bring to mind. The past is the sentence you just read. The past is everything behind us that isn't happening right now. It is as easy to forget as to remember. It is not a "thing" that we have to deal with or figure out. It has no power...2022-08-2726 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 93: Explaining the DSM-5The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a huge volume of symptoms of mental illnesses organized into many hundreds of Diagnoses. We see it more as a collection of observations of the creative ways people in low states of mind come up with to help themselves feel better or quiet their thinking. The Three Principles explain that there is only one underlying mental illness -- innocent misunderstanding of the power to think. And there is only one cure -- understanding our spiritual power to think and experience our thinking as real. When people see that, they recognize thei...2022-08-2027 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 92: Why Does Doing Horrendous Things Look Like a Good Idea to Some People?While there is no excuse for doing harm to others, an understanding of why it makes sense to the people who do it would improve treatment and rehabilitation for them. We all live on a sine curve from low feelings of insecurity to higher feelings of security and peace of mind. For most people, the feelings come and go, just changing moods. But some people get deeply frightened by low mood, negative thoughts. In an effort to understand or fight them, they hold on to them and think about them more and more. Extended, worsening periods of negative thinking send...2022-08-1429 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 91: Is Violence Really a Mental Health Issue?When violent events occur, the quick response often is, "Society has a mental health issue." In truth, people experiencing mental well-being do not harm other people. But most people who are experiencing mental health difficulties do not kill or harm other people. There is a psychological path to violence: as some people experience extended periods of extremely dark, negative, insecure thinking and see themselves as alienated from others and hopeless about who they are or where they fit, they fill their heads with extreme nasty, vengeful thoughts. At some point, they commit violence, looking to get relief from the pain...2022-08-0626 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 90: Discovery of Spiritual Nature vs. Creation of BeliefsPrinciples are discoveries of eternal truths that allow us to understand life more deeply. Principles are at work behind life whether we know them or not. In the case of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, the Principles explain where beliefs come from: Mind, the formless energy of all things, empowering thoughts, which Consciousness brings to our awareness as "reality" (experience of life). They explain why our own thinking looks so real and important to us -- and why we can change our minds. Beliefs are the many ways thinking has manifested and taken root in people's thinking as meaningful as idea...2022-07-3028 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 89: A "Thing" or a "Thought?"We tend to see ideas we have often as "things," -- baked into a reality. We do that with our life stories, our training, our political or religious convictions, our personalities. In our minds, they are "the way it is" or "the way I am." Understanding the inside-out nature of Thought, of the fact that each time we bring a thought to mind it is transitory -- either a memory drawn from our intellect, or a new idea altogether. Thoughts appear real in the present only while they are on our minds. Thoughts are not "things" with a reality of th...2022-07-2329 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 88: FEELING vs. feelingsIt's easy to confuse "FEELING" with what people commonly understand as their "feelings" -- what we would call emotions. When Three Principles practitioners talk about listening for the FEELING, we are talking about what Sydney Banks called "the silence of our minds." The FEELING that comes when our minds get quiet and we are open to wisdom is peace of mind, contentment, ease, a sense of connection to the energy of life. It is not an emotion; it is quietude. Paying attention to our ever-changing emotions to search for the FEELING there is pointless. The FEELING of peace is befor...2022-07-1627 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 87: Don't Get Distracted by DetailsMost of current psychology focuses on the details of people's thinking -- paying attention to negative thought content, encouraging positive thought content; suggesting journaling "important" thoughts, etc. Working with the details of our thoughts is after the fact; once we've thought something, we experience that thought as real, and the more we think about it, the more "real" or significant it seems. Understanding the principles focuses people on their power TO think. When we see that we are always thinking and the way we experience our thoughts moment-to-moment depends on our state of mind, not the details of our tho...2022-07-0930 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 86: Finding Common Ground: The Illusion of Separate RealitiesThe "information age" has pulled society into the intellect and the pace of life has lessened our respect for quiet, for reflection. As a result, we are divided by beliefs into rigid groups, or separated from family members, friends and colleagues by the ideas we like. Humanity feels fractured. We can reconnect with the understanding that the gift of thought we all have -- to create our own ideas from the energy of life and then see them as real, allows us to experience our thinking, but recognizing the gift and knowing we all think of different things and eve...2022-07-0228 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 85: It Can't Be That Simple!Because we have become accustomed to mental illness being difficult and complicated to diagnose and treat, the idea that all diagnoses arise from a common problem, the innocent misuse of our power to think, seems ridiculously simple. But the Principles reduce the complexity of all the thinking that has been done about our psychology and ourselves to the simplicity of creation: we are born through the energy of creation and we use that energy to create thoughts that consciousness brings to life as our perceived reality. Once we see this, we cannot be frightened by our own thoughts....2022-06-2524 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 84: Flight Into HealthThere's an expression in the Mental Health field: "Flight Into Health." It describes a sense that dramatic improvement in a person's level of mental well-being can't last. People are often confounded when others have an insight that results in a shift in consciousness — for example, realizing that they are spending a great deal of time analyzing their negative thoughts, thus becoming mired in them. If they set themselves free from that habit as a result of that insight, their level of well-being shifts. It is a true shift into a higher level of understanding that is life-changing.Suppor...2022-06-1825 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 83: The Illusion of MoodsAs we understand more how our thoughts create our moods, and how our moods are a barometer to the quality of our thinking, we are less and less frightened by our low moods. Although it appears as though they are "caused" by people or events around us, they are actually just the shadow of our thinking. Moods lose their importance when we see that they are just as illusory as our ever-changing thoughts. As our thoughts change, our moods change. Being afraid of our moods and thinking about them more trying to figure ourselves out is what holds them in p...2022-06-1128 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 82: Traditional Therapy Inadvertently Creates Dependency in Clients and Burnout in TherapistsTherapists working from the assumption that external events create our anxiety and suffering take it upon themselves to help clients solve problems, change their lives, or figure out new ways to adjust to circumstances. In the process, without meaning to, clients can become dependent on their therapists to deal with their lives, and therapists can become exhausted as problems pile up. They feel they have to help clients get stronger. Three Principles therapy helps clients see that they are already strong, and helps them discover how to tap into their own wisdom and common sense. Both therapist and client are...2022-06-0428 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 81: What if "Being Happy" Was the True Goal of Therapy?The common view of therapy is that people with problems seek therapy to get help solving their problems. Three Principles practitioners are unique in that the goal of our work is not solving particular problems or helping clients get over them, but rather, finding happiness and peace of mind regardless of external circumstances. We assist clients to find their innate resilience and power to address any life situation. The Principles elicit understanding of states of mind/levels of consciousness in our lives, and explain why and how our life looks different to us as we become aware of that. When...2022-05-2823 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 80: Decision-Making: Knowing When It's RightMost of us got the message growing up that success is an outcome of making and adhering to careful plans. A deeper understanding of how our minds work, of the Principles, leads us to realize that having a direction, or intention, is helpful, but detailed plans keep the intellect busy and judgmental. That holds wisdom at bay. Deep listening, and patience to wait until an action or decision arises from wisdom, take us down unexpected paths towards our destinations, and often protect us from poor choices. We "know" it when when seeing it leaves us feeling settled, secure and conf...2022-05-2122 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 79: Just Be YouSydney Banks always told people, "Just be you. Just be ordinary." Many people thought he was advising mediocrity. But he was not. He was advising understanding that each one of us is born with the power to think our way through the life we can imagine; no two people are alike. It doesn't help us to compare ourselves to others or to aspire to be more like x-person we admire. Just relaxing into our own being and understanding that what we all have in common as human beings is that we are each creating our own separate realities. No one is...2022-05-1424 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 78: The Principles Point to Prevention, as Well as CureUnderstanding the Three Principles leads to mental well-being and allows for it to be sustained and strengthened throughout our lifetime. The Principles explain a universal fact: we all use the power of Mind to create our own Thought, and Consciousness enables us to experience our perception of our life as real. Once we recognize that we are the creators of our individual realities, we can navigate life's ups and downs. Knowing that our feelings are the barometers of the quality of our thinking allows us to turn away from figuring out or fighting our thoughts. Instead we use our feel...2022-05-0726 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 77: What About Personality Disorders?Much is written about personality disorders. With an understanding of the Principles, we can see that what we call personality disorders are the best efforts of extremely insecure people to define and control themselves. They either create a fantastic idea of themselves and present to the world as perfect, always right, and better/smarter than everyone else or they create a victim story in which their life is far worse than anyone else's. They think they are always mistreated, misunderstood and taken advantage of by others. Those are the two sides of profound insecurity: thinking about oneself constantly and hidi...2022-04-3024 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 76: Recovering From RelationshipsSome people get upset with life or disappointed in themselves if relationships don't turn out the way they hoped or planned. People get locked into bad feelings and find they have trouble "getting over" the relationship. In fact, as soon as a relationship ends, "it" is over. From then on, we are locked in a relationship with our own memories. It helps to see how easily we can be tricked by our own thinking. If we dwell on what we've lost, or what went wrong, or why our plan went awry, we are innocently wallowing in the muck of...2022-04-2327 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 75: Life: Taking It as It ComesPlanning and goal-setting are highly recommended techniques for life success. We offer a different view. The ability to have a successful experience of life is intrinsic to all human beings; it is recognizing and following our wisdom instead of getting locked into our personal thinking about what should happen and then struggling to make it work out. It makes sense to have a direction, an intention, for life -- the work or activities or people that attract you. The intention opens you to recognizing opportunities or listening to your own creative thinking as you make decisions and move through...2022-04-1825 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 74: Why "The Program"We started "Psychology Has It Backwards: The Program" to give people who follow our podcasts an opportunity to meet with us and explore their questions and ideas more deeply. We wanted to help therapists understand our work; help people who are trying to find ease in life get experience with the ideas and interact with others who are finding more peace; and show people learning to work with the Principles how it looks to interact with clients/learners from this perspective. It has turned out to be a really nice experience, so we're hoping more people will join us...2022-04-0923 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 73: How This Shift in Psychology Could Help the WorldDisagreements are a head-on collision of thoughts. When two people (or groups, organizations, nations) who see the world differently confront each other's ideas, the result is often misunderstanding (or anger, alienation, war). Without understanding, thoughts look not only real, but clearly right, to us. The Principles bring us back to our common humanity with the understanding that thinking is a spiritual gift that all people share; we experience our reality as we think and become aware of our thoughts. But everyone creates a different, ever-changing reality. Knowing how the gifts of thought and consciousness work, we can appreciate differences...2022-04-0324 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 72: Addiction to the IntellectThink of the intellect, our personal mind, as our individual library, collections of everything we've learned or thought about, representing all we know so far. It is what allows us to study and learn, to do our work, to remember how to get around places, to recall people we know, to enjoy reminiscing, and also to scare ourselves with recollections of our difficulties or bad experiences. We depend on our intellect, and we can become so attached to it and enamored of what we know that we lose sight of the greatest resource we have, access to the unknown...2022-03-1125 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 71: Innate Health Is the Heart of Well-BeingWe talk about Innate Health as fundamental to the effect of the Principles. It's good to stop to appreciate what a gift it is to mankind. Innate Health is the spiritual core of well-being that cannot be touched by the circumstances of our life. It is our intuitive knowing that we're OK, deep-down, and we can rise above our problems. It's the resource that allows us to survive and thrive. It is our default setting that renews our resilience once we quiet down in the midst of turmoil; we naturally return to balance and wisdom as we understand the...2022-03-0623 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 70: Living in Love vs. Self-LoveMany people think it is important to love yourself to understand love. We would say trying to love yourself involves a lot of thinking about yourself, and dealing with judgments. When we connect with the spiritual nature of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, the life power before the formation of ideas and judgments, the FEELING of love, a universal, non-contingent contentment and appreciation for life itself -- pure love -- fills us up and we feel a connection deeper than personal love. In that deep feeling, we forget about ourselves and just immerse ourselves in the moment. Love and understanding...2022-02-2723 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 69: Do You Really Need a Toolbox?Mental Health approaches often contain "toolboxes," collections of tips and techniques to help you get through various psychological situations. From the standpoint of the 3P, we are born with the only tool we need to regain and sustain our well-being and peace of mind: the power of Thought. Once we understand and own that power and realize that we are the creators of our own experiences, we recognize our changing states of mind as the guide to the quality of our thinking and we exercise our own power to allow thoughts that are unhelpful to pass. The content of our...2022-02-2024 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 68: Trauma-Focused Treatment vs. Health-Focused Treatment, Part 2Some treatments for those who have experienced trauma assume that past trauma manifests in people's bodies, and creates chronic pain or discomfort. From a 3P perspective, trauma is not a "thing" or a "condition;" it is a memory, images carried forward through time which come to life as feelings via consciousness when the thought is present. The brain and the body and our physical feelings are all part of the world of form; our thinking is a spiritual power, our way of using the formless energy of life to generate our own experience of our lives. So we may "...2022-02-1425 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 67: My Diagnosis Is Not Who I AmMental illness diagnoses are actually snapshots of times when someone is caught up in dysfunctional thinking, not descriptions of their character or being. People can become frightened by a diagnosis, as if it was a truth about them, and feel hopeless. As people realize their power to think and experience their thinking as real, they understand when to take thoughts to heart and when to allow them to pass. They see how quieting their minds allows wisdom to restore equilibrium. They know their innate resilience as their true nature, sometimes obscured by the insecure thoughts called diagnoses....2022-02-0523 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 66: Trauma-Focused Treatment vs. Health-Focused TreatmentMany therapy approaches are focused on trauma, based on the assumption that people who have experienced trauma must come to peace and move on in life. Three Principles practitioners assume people can realize that past trauma is a memory, a ghostly image from the past recalled in the present and re-experienced via Consciousness. It has no power but the power people give it as it comes to mind. We focus on understanding the nature of thought that allows us to recall memories and see them for what they are without suffering in the present.Support the show2022-01-2826 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 65: Insight vs. BeliefWe talk a lot about Insight; it is a truly remarkable gift, always available to all of us. We can't say enough about the freedom and depth we gain from living from insight, rather than chasing beliefs. The source of beliefs is the intellect, the already known. Beliefs are ideas we generate from reorganizing our memory -- our bank of knowledge -- to try to understand or decide things in the present. Insights arise out of the blue, from Wisdom, always relevant to our present-moment situations. When we are able to let go of churning through our thoughts and...2022-01-2126 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 64: Understanding Principles vs. TheoriesPeople have asked us whether it's arrogant to talk about the Principles as spiritual truths, rather than as someone's theory. Principles, in every field of endeavor, once discovered, explain everything, no exceptions. The Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought explain how the experience of life is created, why it is changeable, and why as long as we are alive, we have the power to change. It explains where beliefs and theories come from -- the power of Thought. Without Principles, there would be no theories. Once people discover Principles, they need no more theories; they understand how something works...2022-01-1524 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 63: Toxic Positivity?A term used in Psychology for people who have an optimistic outlook is "toxic positivity." The idea is that people who embrace life in good spirits regardless of external events are burying or denying reality, or refusing to "process" serious problems. A common misunderstanding among people learning about the Principles is that those who "get it" are relentlessly positive and dismissive of negative feelings. The Principles describe how life works; they do not prescribe how we will work out our own lives. People who see the Principles at work experience the full range of emotions and responses to life. An un...2022-01-0823 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 62: New Year's Inspirations vs. ResolutionsThis is the time of year when most of us come up with a list of things we must commit to do in the New Year. It has become a source of wry humor that most of us compare notes in February and realize we haven't kept up or aren't really committed to our "resolutions." For some, that's amusing, for others, it sets off negative, judgmental thinking. Yet, when we understand how thought works, it makes sense. We don't change because we "should" or we feel pressure. Change comes from moments of inspiration, when a change feels obvious and easy...2021-12-2825 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 61: Quiet Is Not the Same as Slowing DownMost of us take for granted that quiet arises from shutting off the outside noise in our lives, turning off the music or the TV, going to a quiet, peaceful space free from traffic noise or busy people talking, settling down without distraction. Finding quietude is much deeper than that; it is turning away from our personal minds and the thinking and analyzing they always produce, and turning towards nothingness, towards not knowing and wondering. External activity has nothing to do with that kind of quiet; it arises from the depths of our soul and is always accessible.2021-12-1725 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 60: Evolving Nature of Our WorkThe most fulfilling aspect of living and working from an understanding of the Principles is that it offers infinite deepening of our understanding, and thus our mental well-being. Sydney Banks said "There is no end or limitation, nor are there boundaries, to the human mind." He pointed us to continually remain open to wisdom, the fresh thoughts that arise in a quiet mind directly from the formless energy of life. As we quiet down and gain insights our faith in wisdom grows. Our work always points to the simplicity, joy, and endless possibilities, of looking beyond the limits of...2021-12-1026 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 59: [Rerun] Episode 2: Why Psychology Has It Backwards(This is a rerun of Episode 2.) Psychology has been treating all the outcomes of insecure, misunderstood thinking as though they were the problems. The one underlying problem is what creates insecurity.Support the show2021-12-0317 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 58: Focusing on Fixing What's WrongThe usual reason people seek therapy is to solve their problems, or try to fix what's wrong with them. In this regard, particularly, Principles practitioners are entirely different. We see the goal of therapy as assisting people to reconnect with their innate mental well-being, find their own common sense and peace of mind, and realize they are naturally whole and resilient. No one is broken, and everyone is able to solve their own problems once they understand that answers are always available when our minds are clear and we recognize fresh thought.Support the show2021-11-1923 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 57: Stress Is Not a Thing, Part 2Recognizing stress in ourselves is a matter of awareness of the feeling state we are in and which way we are going. If we are feeling more and more tense, that is a signal that we are taking negative, stressful thinking seriously and trying to analyze it or fight it. The antidote to stress is becoming aware of our changing feeling states and having the intention to turn away from tension and agitation. Rather than arguing with ourselves or trying to talk ourselves out of "stress," we learn to quiet down, allow our thinking to settle, and look for...2021-11-1226 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 56: Stress Is Not a ThingMost of us are taught that modern life is full of "stressors" and we are bound to get stressed out by things that happen in life — from traffic to trauma. We are told to develop coping mechanisms to help us deal with the stress we have to face. The Principles explain that stress is not thrust upon us by events, but created by the way we think about life events. Everyone responds to the whole range of life events in their own way. That's actually good news because, with an understanding of how thinking works, we are empowered to li...2021-11-0523 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 55: "Intelligent" vs. "Intelligence"The intellect is our personal library, the collection of all the thoughts, experiences and knowledge we have had. It represents everything we already know. "Intelligence," on the other hand, is wisdom, insight, common sense — new knowledge that arises in response to present moment curiosity. When we "don't know" what to say or do or how to respond, going to the intellect to "figure it out," or ruminating about it, will not provide an answer. If we know the answer, we'll have it right away. If we don't know, the answer is in the unknown. The unknown from quiet wondering, li...2021-10-2923 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 54: What About Boundaries?We've all been advised to "set boundaries" with others, or around our own behaviors. But does that mean that others will follow our "rules," or that we'll remember our own boundaries when we get insecure? We explain that boundaries that arise from insecurity are different from wisdom, or common sense insights, that occur to us in the moment and lead us to step away from situations, or step back from our own impulses or habitual thoughts and behaviors. We can "observe" boundaries without trying to manage others or make rules that won't be followed under pressure, and live at...2021-10-2224 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 53: How We Talk Ourselves Out of Doing ThingsWe frequently talk ourselves out of inspiration by trusting our insecure thinking. Then we can get caught up in analyzing an infinite number of reasons WHY we're doing what we're doing. In this episode, we bring it back to simplicity and discuss how learning to quiet down, listen to your wisdom, and trust the thinking that comes to you, helps you to follow through and get the things done that you really want to do.Support the show2021-10-1523 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 52: The Key To Letting Go of Hurt FeelingsMost of us have gone through a time in our life when we've had our heart broken or feelings hurt in relationships with friends and lovers. Misunderstanding of why things are happening comes from our own analysis of the events. We feel wronged and sometimes justified in holding onto grudges, feeling hateful, and obsessing about all the negative things that happened, but this only keeps us stuck in the past and personalizing everything. Finding peace and moving on comes not from analyzing the situation but from accessing our own innate health and listening to our wisdom. We c...2021-10-1025 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 51: Trying Is BackwardsPeople are told to fix what appears to be wrong with them in order to feel better and end up feeling hopeless, or broken because it doesn't help. Focusing on the problems we have or trying to change experiences we have already created does not bring us to mental well-being. "Trying" is a signal you are turned around and attempting to find happiness by managing thought or behavior. Turn around and look inside. Find the state of mind that provides security and let the answers come to you. It is so simple and easy unless you are looking at it backw...2021-10-0222 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 50: Thought-Body ConnectionWe've all had the experience of variable feelings of our own pain — for example, forgetting about an aching back in the presence of a laughing baby or a playful puppy. The way we experience pain is through thought. What and how much we think about pain determines how it feels to us. As our state of mind falls into insecurity, we tend to focus on what's wrong and it feels much worse. When we are distracted or our spirits lift and our thinking changes, pain moves into the background and we experience life in the foreground. Pain is a si...2021-09-2426 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 49: Searching vs. SEEINGEveryone has stories to tell about "searching" for experts, wise people, gurus, geniuses... anyone perceived as having special, deep understanding of life. Many people search for years, often finding interesting and helpful ideas along the way. But searching does not bring us our own answers, or peace of mind. SEEING, that is gaining our own deep insights from our own wisdom, is the natural guide to our own lives, and wisdom is within all people, always accessible, but not always understood or accessed. When we SEE for ourselves, we get the answers we need for ourselves.Support t...2021-09-1724 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 48: Dealing With "Problems"Most people come to psychologists or counselors with the hope that they can get help dealing with their problems. In traditional psychology, problems are real, and various approaches help people to understand them, address them from a new perspective, re-frame them, re-direct their thinking about them. Three Principles practitioners understand problems as artifacts of our thinking in lower states of mind; "problems" look very different to us depending on our state of mind and understanding the role of our thinking in finding solutions. When people find wisdom, they resolve their problems.Support the show2021-09-0725 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 47: Focusing on the Feeling, Part 2: SpiritualityWhen people hear "spiritual," they often think "oh, religion..." But spirituality, in the context of the Three Principles, refers to the formless energy of creation, the power of life itself, the pure feeling of being alive in the moment, without the intrusion of personal thought. Spirituality is to religion as electricity is to lights; it is the power behind reverence and appreciation that leads to religious thinking, but it is not the content of that thinking. Put another way, spirituality is a beautiful, deep feeling, the space before thought, the impetus for us to create our experience of living...2021-08-2723 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 46: Focusing on the Feeling of Innate HealthTraditional mental health approaches deal with the outcomes of our thinking, and put attention on what we think, why our thinking is making us feel bad, why we think it, etc. Three Principles practitioners address the fact that we have the power to think, and we can use a stressful, or any negative state of mind as an internal signal that we are holding onto negative thinking. We draw clients into their natural, innate state that is peaceful, calm, loving. From that perspective, clients start to have insights and resolve their problems. They learn to use their feelings as a...2021-08-2026 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 45: Mental Health Is Do-It-YourselfNo one can fix anyone else. Yet we have come to believe that if we just find the right advisor, or the right therapist, or the right self-help technique, or the right program, they or it will fix us. Clients even shop Three Principles programs eagerly taking notes and waiting for a magic bullet. Our work is really a roadmap to your own resiliency, insight, wisdom and peace -- the Innate Health that is our birthright and is always available to us. So the interaction between 3P practitioners and clients is meant to awaken the clients to what they...2021-08-1322 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 44: We Don't Have To Live up to Expectations Psychology Creates About How To React to Our ExperiencesBecause traditional psychology is focused on the contents of our thinking and the behaviors that result, there are many, many well-meaning books and articles offering advice about how we should feel in various negative situations. Thus people worry if they can't correctly follow the five stages of grief, or if they don't freak out if they are unfairly blamed for something, or if they remain calm during a traumatic event, or if they get over a bad event "too quickly." The truth is, we all access our own wisdom in our own way, and we have a natural guide...2021-08-0623 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 43: The Magic of InsightThe magic of working in the Principles is seeing how people transform via their own insights into life. The experience of insight awakened all of us to the power of change from within, and when we see it happen to others as we work to them, the experience is joyful and inspiring. No one can fix another person; intellectual insights don't really change people. But true insight, a beam of wisdom lighting the mind and bringing to life a new idea, is transformational. These "Aha!" moments emerge from a hopeful feeling and a quiet mind, and the more we...2021-07-3026 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 42: State of MindA crucial element of the Three Principles understanding is the recognition that things look different to people as their states of mind change. People in a low state of mind experience a lot of negative thinking that affects their perception of everything. If we take to heart what people who are upset say to us, we can be misled, either in our own response to friends or colleagues, or in our listening to clients, into trusting the details of the way life looks in that state of mind. When we realize how readily states of mind lift and life l...2021-07-2325 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 41: Mindfulness: Getting CloserMindfulness is increasingly recognized as a valuable mental health strategy. It moves the field closer to the Principles with a focus on awareness of the present moment, and acceptance of one's feelings and thoughts as they pass. People often ask us if our work is a form of mindfulness. It isn't because we do not ask people to think about their thinking or learn to accept their feelings. To us, that is still after the fact of the Principles, which focus people on their innate mental well-being and clear their heads, access wisdom, and continually experience higher quality thinking...2021-07-1625 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 40: Cognitive Therapies: Better But Still BackwardsThe most popular therapies today are Cognitive/Cognitive Behavioral approaches. They represent a significant movement towards focusing on thought as the primary issue in mental health struggles, rather than dredging up the past or looking for external causes that must be addressed. But they still are looking at an effect of the power of Thought, the thinking people do, rather than the nature of Thought, our power to think and change our minds. So they tend to focus people on examining or trying to change already-thought thoughts, rather than an understanding of how thought works.Support the...2021-07-0928 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 39: The Diagnosis Trap, Part 2Increasingly, we've noticed people feeling defined by their diagnosis, even in some cases seeing it as a "reason" for issues that arise in their life. Comments like, "It's my depression kicking in," or "My anxiety is really bothering me this week," or "I'm bipolar and lately I have more lows than highs." The general focus on labels for misunderstood thinking causes both individuals and therapists to focus on the problem, what they perceive as wrong, rather than finding hope for cure and relief from temporary distress.Support the show2021-07-0224 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 38: The Diagnosis TrapWhen we see diagnoses as conditions caused by events or people in our lives doing us psychological harm, both therapists and clients get trapped in diagnoses because we can't change the past. So life becomes about treating and coping with our mental health diagnoses, rather than finding peace and true mental well-being and being free of them. It's a matter of perspective; knowing we are the thinkers creating our experience of reality with the power to think frees us to use our power to change.Support the show2021-06-2522 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 37: The Simplicity of HappinessHappiness is a natural state for all human beings; when our minds are at peace, we fall into a state of happiness with no effort. When we have innocently used our own thinking to create turmoil and negativity and unhappiness, the intention to turn away from our circular thoughts and quiet down takes us effortlessly back to peace and contentment. People expend a lot of effort chasing elusive happiness in the external world, frustrated when they cannot achieve it. But we always already have it; it's like a hidden gem within us.Support the show2021-06-1822 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 36: Why People Do Things They Don't Want to DoEveryone, looking back on their life, can think of times they said or did things they regret, from hurtful remarks to physical violence. For some people, acting on their worst thoughts seems like a release from their own psychological pain and insecurity, regardless of consequences. Understanding the relationship between our ever-changing states of mind and thoughts allows us to maintain our bearings to keep ourselves safe and respond from common sense, rather than experiencing escalating rage or fear.Support the show2021-06-1124 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 35: The Myth of Problem-SolvingWe're in the habit of turning to "experts" to help us solve our "problems," yet we often find we can't act on others' "good advice." The Principles show us why. Problems look urgent and insoluble when we're insecure, in a low state of mind. When our state of mind changes, when we understand ourselves as the thinkers and know how to find our inner health and our own wisdom and common sense, we resolve things easily and enjoy the thrill of being our own expert.Support the show2021-06-0423 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 34: WisdomWisdom is universal intelligence, what we call "common sense." Everyone in the world is born into wisdom, the guidance and fresh ideas that flow through a quiet mind. It is natural to children; we learn our way out of it or start to second-guess it with our personal thinking as we grow up. Seeing the Principles leads us back to appreciation for wisdom, and the faith and confidence to recognize when it comes to us with a positive, calming feeling. We cannot go wrong following our wisdom through life; it is a faithful guide.Support the show2021-05-2823 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 33: The Ripple Effect of Our Personal ChangeWhen we begin to explore and discover the power of Mind, Thought, and Consciousness, we naturally change, sometimes to the amazement of our friends and colleagues. Old relationship habits and patterns of interaction fall away for us, leaving others confused or worried about us. As we become calmer, happier, more caring, less self-conscious, more confident, those around us may try to pull us back into old habits, may wonder what we're doing differently and seek to learn, or may drop away. In any case, as we approach others with love and understanding, all is well.Support the sh...2021-05-2123 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 32: Changing GracefullyAll of us face changes, large or small, throughout our lives. Change means getting comfortable with the unknown as our new realities unfold. If we overthink everything, and try to anticipate the details of change and plan ahead, we can become caught up in insecure, circular thinking and start feeling inadequate, overwhelmed, incapacitated by change. When we stay calm and focus on the present, taking challenges as they arise, change is a wonderful life adventure and our innate wisdom guides us through it.Support the show2021-05-1423 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 31: How Consciousness WorksConsciousness, the power to bring our thoughts to life through our sensory system, is what allows us to know the experience of life we are creating. As we think, we feel, see, touch, hear, smell and taste what we bring to awareness. But Consciousness is also our spirit, our connection to the energy of life and the power of wisdom. As we experience that spiritual sense more deeply, we quiet down and increasingly know unconditional love and understanding.Support the show2021-05-0724 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 30: Thought Content Is IndividualPersonal thought is the use we make, individually, of the Power to think. It is the content we create for ourselves, then experience as our separate realities. It is unique to each person, and has no life beyond our own attention to it. When thoughts pass through our minds, the attention we give them determines how vivid or important they seem to us. As we recognize ourselves as the thinkers of our own thoughts, we can let go of the unpleasant, unhelpful thoughts.Support the show2021-04-3022 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 29: The Power of Thought Is UniversalThought as a Principle refers to the universal power all beings have to create forms from the formless energy of life. It offers us unlimited potential to think, create, imagine, envision anything. It is the power that allows us to redirect our lives. When we talk about the Principle of Thought, we are not referring to the content of our thinking, but the gift we have to think whatever we want to think and change our minds. Thought is constant and the same for all.Support the show2021-04-2322 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 28: How Understanding Helps to Regain Balance After LossGrief is a natural immediate response to loss or tragedy. But grief is really more about us than about the loss we grieve. When someone or something dear or important to us is suddenly gone from us, we feel the emptiness of a space no longer filled in our life. The natural remedy for grief is allowing our own wisdom to show us new paths for ourselves, and allowing our minds to come to peace so that we can enjoy our memories without suffering. Suffering arises from thinking we "should" be sad for a certain length of time, or...2021-04-1625 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 27: It's More Than Just a Catchy Title, Part 2The more time we spend thinking about our problems, the more our spirits drop and the more "alive" our problems seem to us. With an understanding of how thought works, we recognize that spending time going over and over past distress or future worry is a surefire way to stay stuck in "mental illness." Principles practitioners get in touch with the innate mental health, always present in all people, and allow people to see how to put their minds to rest, come into the present moment, and find their natural wisdom.Support the show2021-04-0923 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 26: It's More Than Just a Catchy Title, Part 1People like the title of our podcast, but we want you to know we really mean it. The Principles represent a radical turnaround in the way we look at the assumptions underlying mental health treatment. The "mental health" field has been a "mental illness" field, devoted to identifying and treating the results of the innocent misuse of our power to think. The Three Principles describe the nature of thought, and the spiritual power we have as the thinkers to create any thought. That is our innate mental health; The Principles lead us to awaken to it and use it...2021-04-0224 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 25: Moods and RelationshipsMoods are like our personal, ever-changing weather. When we're gray and cloudy, others can feel the gloom. When we're stormy, people avoid us, or react defensively. When we're sunny, we brighten every interaction. Once we understand that feelings are the atmosphere in which people relate to each other, regardless of the words spoken, we see when to remain quiet until a mood passes, when not to take others' statements personally, and when we can talk about anything from a space of love and understanding. Awakening to our own and others' variable states of mind is the secret to keeping...2021-03-2623 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 24: Moods: Having Them Without Them Having YouOften, we feel like we are prisoners of our moods. We think our moods control our thinking, so we use a bad mood as an excuse for what we're doing or saying: "Don't mind me, I'm in a bad mood today." That is an innocent misunderstanding of how our own thinking generates our moods, and how we keep ourselves stuck in them by not realizing we are still thinking the low mood thoughts. Our moods are the barometer of our thinking. As our heads fill with upsetting thoughts, we feel increasingly upset. The answer to an unpleasant mood is...2021-03-1922 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 23: Self, Ego, and Other IllusionsWe use terms like self-image, self-esteem, ego easily when we are thinking about ourselves. With an understanding of the power of our own thinking, we can see that none of them has any reality outside of our own moment-to-moment thoughts. We generate all kinds of ideas about who and what we are or should be. When we realize that our thinking is constantly changing and our ideas vary depending on our state of mind, we realize we are making all of it up. It is all an illusion. Our "true" nature is our shared human ability to create ideas...2021-03-1224 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 22: The Power of Slowing DownThere's a "harder, harder, faster, faster" mentality that keeps people stressed and preoccupied trying to "figure out" everything in life. The faster our thinking goes, the more complicated everything looks. When we begin to recognize the power of leaving our frantic thinking alone and quieting down, the pace of life slows and we become more responsive than reactive. A quieter mind opens the door to wisdom, insight, common sense, and good feelings.Support the show2021-03-0524 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 21: BurnoutMany people in the mental health profession (and others, too) complain about "burnout" -- the feeling of exhaustion, frustration and hopelessness in the face of their work. As people come to realize that we can't "fix" problems after our thinking has made them real to us, people are stymied. With an understanding of the Principles, of the fact that we are creating reality, burnout disappears because the solutions to "problems" are always available from inner wisdom.Support the show2021-02-2623 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 20: Levels of ConsciousnessThis is an expression that describes where we are in our recognition that our experience of life events is created by our own thinking about them. As our level of consciousness rises, circumstances have less and less power to affect us. We know that we can look away from our personal, often insecure thinking about them, and quiet our minds to allow our wisdom to surface. As we come to count on wisdom, we gain confidence that we "know" how to handle our lives.Support the show2021-02-1922 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 19: Security and InsecurityInsecurity is a thought-created state of mind that creates feelings of self-doubt, suspicion, anxiety, alienation from others, discomfort... all kinds of negative feelings. It dissipates and resolves into increasing levels of security as our awareness of the role of thought increases. We all live in up and down feelings of security and insecurity, but as our understanding deepens, insecurity passes more quickly without engaging us.Support the show2021-02-1223 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 18: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?Looking at "fixing" the past, or behaviors, or outcomes to help people find happiness is really like suggesting to a sad dog that he just wag his tail and he'll feel much better. The Principles suggest a new direction; solve the underlying misunderstanding of how Thought works and how we function psychologically, and we don't need to fix anything. We see how to operate from understanding and leave the past behind to create from each moment.Support the show2021-02-0521 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 17: Reflection vs. Analysis Analysis is an overuse of personal thinking, and keeps us stuck with what we already think and know. Reflection is the opening for wisdom and insight, and allows us to rise above our past thinking and circumstances and create anew. Unfortunately, most of us have learned we need to analyze our problems to fix them, and we innocently hold them in place. Reflection brings answers and a change in direction. Support the show2021-01-2922 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 16: Forgive Yourself; Forgive OthersWith an understanding of the Principles, we can find forgiveness for ourself and others, and still maintain accountability. When we see psychological innocence, we see how people get trapped in insecure dysfunctional thinking that makes sense to them at that time. Once we understand that cycle, and learn to take such thoughts as warnings to slow down, forgiveness makes sense.Support the show2021-01-2224 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 15: Psychological Innocence: The Foundation of ForgivingOur thoughts always appear real and right to us, even when they are contaminated by an insecure state of mind. If we act on thoughts we have without any understanding of our state of mind or how Thought works, we are "innocent" because they looked like our best choice at the time. We can forgive people, and still not forgive deeds. That leads to accountability without suffering and blame.Support the show2021-01-1521 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 14: Transcending AddictionsAs we see the way we hold and use our own thoughts more and more clearly, we recognize addicted thinking sooner and sooner in the process. We find we have the power to let thoughts pass and the "need" to do something or use something to get relief from them disappears. We see that urges are just signals that we're starting to feel insecure. We're always just one thought away from dropping insecurity.Support the show2021-01-0821 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 13: Explaining AddictionsAddictions are a symptom of unrecognized, habitual, insecure thinking. When we think a lot about troubling things, we seek relief from the pressure and negativity of our own thinking. We become "addicted" to whatever we found that gave us relief — substances, food, sex, work, exercise — anything. When we catch on to our own thinking and the power of thought, we can let addictions go.Support the show2021-01-0121 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 12: Don't Let Anyone Tell You You Can't Get BetterThere are many diagnoses that are treated like inescapable conditions. Depression and Anxiety, for example. Once we understand Innate Health, we realize that nothing can break the human spirit. Our spiritual nature is untouched by the habitual thinking that we sometimes fall into that makes us feel hopeless or broken. Mental well-being is always at hand. Support the show2020-12-2526 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 11: Surviving the Holidays, the Pandemic, and Everything ElseIt's easy to get worked up, or bummed out at times when life isn't going the way we want it to. It's tempting to listen to bad news and predictions of suffering and take them to heart and lose our bearings. But it's not necessary. We have the innate resilience to make the most of anything, and find our way through change and challenge.Support the show2020-12-1819 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 10: Depression: You're Not Stuck With ItMany people consider a diagnosis of depression a sort of "character trait," a lifelong problem. But depression is a product of negative thinking taken seriously over time, and it passes. Like all misunderstood thinking, it's temporary.Support the show2020-12-1120 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 9: Isn't Everyone Anxious?Anxiety is a frequent mental health complaint that escalates in difficult times. It always looks like something "out there" is causing it and anxiety is the only and inevitable response. We address the question whether anxiety is a natural response to external events, or an outcome of the way we think about external events. Is it possible not to be anxious, no matter what is going on? We say yes.Support the show2020-12-0420 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 8: Can We Get Beyond Trauma?Many people think experiencing trauma dooms us to long-standing psychological pain. No doubt, trauma results in horrible memories that are distressing when they come to mind. But with an understanding of how the mind works and what the past really is, we can allow those thoughts to come and go, and move on with life.Support the show2020-11-2721 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 7: What Is a Diagnosis?When we feel mental distress, we seek help, just as we do when we feel physical distress. We get a diagnosis of our presenting problem. Is that diagnosis a long-term label, or just an observation about a temporary, misunderstood state of thinking? What if diagnoses are descriptions of the many ways we thinkers can get distressed and insecure and, without meaning to, start to use our thinking against ourselves?Support the show2020-11-2019 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 6: What Are the Principles?We've been referring to Principles underlying our work. Here's a deeper description of the three Universal Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought.Support the show2020-11-1319 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 5: What Is Innate Health?When people understand their power to think, and their capacity to allow thoughts to come and go, they get in touch with the Innate Health that is their essence, and they discover the wisdom that arises through their own uncluttered thinking.Support the show2020-11-0620 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 4: Listening and InsightThe essential capacities of mental health practitioners are the ability to listen, not for our checklist of symptoms but for the heart of our clients, and then to have no fear of speaking from our own insights and pointing out our clients' insights.Support the show2020-10-3019 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 3: How Do We See Psychology Differently?We see resiliency and mental health as our "starter kit," the essence of our being that cannot be lost, only obscured. We see our misunderstood use of thought as the way we obscure it.Support the show2020-10-2317 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 2: Why Psychology Has It BackwardsPsychology has been treating all the outcomes of insecure, misunderstood thinking as though they were the problems. The one underlying problem is what creates insecurity.Support the show2020-10-1617 minPsychology Has It BackwardsEpisode 1: IntroductionWho are we, and why are we so passionate about our work? We are mental health professionals and we have seen results for more than 30 years.Support the show2020-10-0916 min