The Cycle of Repeat Thinking and Associations
Topics:
“The Cycle of Repeat Thinking and Associations”
“Allowing Flexibility With Attention During Meditation”
“Pushing the Energy of Associations Out the Door”
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 (Private/Phone)
Participants: Mary (Michael) and Karen (Turell)
ELIAS: Good afternoon!
KAREN: Hello, Elias. (Both laugh) It’s so great to be talking to you physically.
ELIAS: And you also. (Laughs)
KAREN: So, I just wanted some feedback. The session got canceled a couple of times in the past week, and I felt that the reason it was being canceled was that I wanted extra time to sort of experience things, work things through, before you and I actually talked on the phone. Is this correct?
ELIAS: And calm yourself.
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: (Both laugh) I would express that that would be the most significant aspect.
KAREN: Yeah. (Laughs)
ELIAS: Not to be in a panic, but to be more calm and therefore generate the ability to actually converse with myself and listen. (Laughs)
KAREN: Mm-hm. Yes. There was a lot of terror: “Elias is going to tell me something, and he’s going to freak me out so badly I won’t be able to listen anymore.” So, yes. (Both laugh) I’m not in that place anymore.
ELIAS: (Laughs) I am aware.
KAREN: Well, the first thing I wanted to talk with you about is… and I didn’t see a lot of information on this in the digests of your sessions with other people, but I did see a little bit. I’m currently doing a type of therapy where I’m working with my brain waves. I know my intent is to explore expansion in the physical dimension, and I think one of the reasons why I’m so interested in working with brain waves is that this is actually working with my brain, which is pretty fascinating to me. Part of this therapy is actually accessing your theta and your alpha waves and various parts of your beta, and I saw in the session when you spoke with a man a while ago that you said that when you’re accessing your theta waves or when you’re kind of into that, you’re able to see the choices that you’re making a little bit more clearly.
And what I’ve been noticing since I’ve been doing this is that my automatic responses, maybe, or the habitual ways of thinking that I have which cause me a lot of anxiety have begun to soften. They’ve begun getting a little more mushy so they don’t make as much sense to me, so I’m able to sort of step away from it and say, “Look at that! That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” instead of getting as hooked in to the habit. (Elias laughs)
And I’m wondering if you can just give me some feedback or some commentary about what I’m going through right now.
ELIAS: (Laughs) I would first express to you, congratulations!
KAREN: Thank you! (Both laugh)
ELIAS: Thinking is an interesting action, and it is one of the most commonly misused functions.
In this, what very commonly occurs with individuals, for you are very accustomed to relying upon thinking, is that it becomes distorted – significantly distorted.
Now, in this, as you are beginning to notice, attention can become very fixed in relation to your thought mechanism. And therefore, as you already rely and depend upon thinking so very much, it can become a destructive cycle.
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: For it can move in a direction in which you create a situation in which you hold yourself in this trap of thinking. I have expressed many times information in relation to repeat thinking, but I would also express that other than obvious situations, many individuals do not yet quite understand that cycle of repeat thinking.
KAREN: Mm-hm.
ELIAS: They THINK (laughs) that it is merely a matter of generating a specific thought and repeating it over and over, but repeat thinking is much broader than that, for repeat thinking is also involving recalling associations.
Now, this type of thinking can be very similar to what you are describing when you are expressing that your thoughts become fuzzy or mushy.
In this, repeat thinking in relation to associations are not actual, clearly defined complete thoughts, for they are, in a manner of speaking, flashes of associations. The associations are complete, but the translation of them is not. They are merely quick flashes of translations of associations, but they occur over and over and over.
KAREN: This is really interesting, because you are describing a phenomenon. I mean, not just what I’ve described to you around the mushy thinking, but I’ve been plagued for many years by these flashes, where I’ll be feeling very good walking through my day and then there’ll be some flash. I’ll see a coat on a chair or something, something very innocuous.
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: And then I’ll just be pulled down.
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: And that’s exactly what you’re describing.
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: And I understand that it is not of the here and now.
ELIAS: Correct. But the difficulty with this type of cycle with repeat thinking is that it triggers feelings.
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: For it is directly related to translating an association, but only a partial translation; it is not a complete translation. Therefore, it is a partial recall or replay of an association, and the association is very tied to feelings. Therefore, once you engage the thought mechanism in relation to the association in this repeat thinking, it triggers feelings. And in that, you have an incomplete thought.
Therefore, you do not actually recognize or even understand what is occurring or what triggered this feeling that appears to be random and that appears to be being expressed from no source, or no reason – that you are in one direction and you are neutral and you are functioning, and suddenly you incorporate this flash and your mood changes, and it changes dramatically, and you begin to incorporate this feeling.
And another difficulty is that once a feeling begins, that automatically triggers the thought mechanism again, for now the thought mechanism actually has a subject to translate. Now it is not engaging recall or partial information; now it is focused upon translating: “What is the feeling? What is occurring?” And therefore, they build upon each other and it creates another cycle, which can be distressing and disturbing and destructive.
And the genuine destructive aspect of this type of cycle is that the attention becomes very fixed, and it is difficult to move the attention away from these two aspects that are vying for it very strongly, feelings and thinking. And therefore the attention becomes caught in this cycle, which merely exacerbates the situation and continues it.
In this, let me express to you: Have you ever incorporated an experience in which you have been perhaps listening to a song and not quite understood what the exact lyrics were in a part of the song?
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: Now; generally speaking, when that occurs, an individual will want to replay that part of the song to understand what the actual lyrics are. Now, what can occur – although it does not usually with most individuals – is that an individual could, in your terms, become somewhat obsessive and repeat and repeat and repeat playing that part of the song to attempt to interpret the lyrics over and over and over.
Now, in that situation, what would occur or what WILL occur, if the individual is engaging that type of action, is that the words become more and more blurred. Therefore, the more the individual re-listens to those lyrics that they want so very much to understand, they become more and more difficult to actually hear what the actual lyrics are.
For what occurs is, certain words become lodged in the thought mechanism, and therefore the thought mechanism continues to repeat certain words that interrupt your ability to actually listen to the words that are actually being sung. Therefore, the individual becomes more and more frustrated.
Now, if that same individual STOPS and diverts their attention and engages some other action, and returns at a later time to that song, it is likely that they will hear the actual lyrics. But the more they continue to repeat, the less they hear it.
This is what occurs when individuals become fixed in repeat thinking. And, as I expressed, repeat thinking is not necessarily repeating one thought consecutively over and over. It is not necessarily “I must water the lawn. I must water the lawn. I must water the lawn.” – no. It is what you would term to be random thoughts that are being repeated, not necessarily individually consecutively, but they are being repeated consistently.
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: And in that, there are many of them that occur in a one-day period. There may be hundreds of them that can occur in one day, and this is very disruptive. The attention becomes fixed in that, and you are no longer present. You are too busy paying attention to what is occurring with the thought mechanism and attempting to un-convolute it, and attempting to understand it, or becoming distracted and fixed in feelings that are merely exacerbating the thought mechanism.
And in all of this, the individual is so distracted and so fixed in their attention that they are not paying attention to being present, they are not paying attention to what they are actually doing, they are not paying attention to their own communications, and that creates a situation in which all manners of direction of chaos and confusion can occur.
KAREN: I wanted to ask you, Elias: I’m doing, in addition to the neurofeedback with the brain waves, I’m also starting a new meditation technique. Because over the years I have heard you talk about the fact that when we’re in the physical dimension we tend to hold our attention very tightly, and I never really knew what you meant. And then I started doing this meditation which is called “Open Focus,” which is about diffusing your attention and teaching a person how to hold their attention simultaneously on all of their bodily feeling, tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, while holding attention softly on their visual component, and very softly holding focus on their feeling component, so really not letting any one channel predominate. [1]
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: I’ve just begun in the past week, and I’m thinking this might be very beneficial for me. Is this sort of what you’re talking about, staying in the here and now and not becoming fixed on one particular aspect of the here and now, but more of a soft overall focus?
ELIAS: Yes, very definitely. I would express I would be very advocating of this type of action, and this is very similar to what I expressed in offering the clarity exercise, in focusing attention upon your senses. [2]
And in that, your attention cannot be held in only one direction, for you do not incorporate only one sense. And therefore, it is necessary to allow that flexibility with your attention, to allow it to move and to flow rather than being fixed and rather than holding your attention, which most of you are very familiar with and very accustomed to, for this is what you have been taught. You are encouraged from the time framework of being a small one to focus your attention in one direction – which is contrary to your natural being!
There is so much information and so much stimulation that is occurring continuously in every moment, and you as a physical individual are actually designed with the ability to take all of it in.
KAREN: Without freaking out. (Laughs)
ELIAS: Correct. Correct! You are DESIGNED in this manner to generate naturally the ability to take in, process, assimilate volumes of information in many different directions simultaneously.
KAREN: You know, suddenly I’m understanding, Elias, that fixed attention is a form of opposition.
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: You’re basically saying, “I’m fixing very tightly on this one area. Screw you, all other senses!” And then you set up an energy opposition, which drains you!
ELIAS: Yes. Congratulations! You are correct.
KAREN: (Laughs) Oh my god!
ELIAS: And in this, you can see how simple it is, and how much energy it requires to block out your natural flow.
KAREN: And it’s also a symptom of mistrust of self.
ELIAS: Yes. Very much so.
KAREN: So, “I have to hold on tightly to this one way of seeing this, because I can’t trust myself to be relaxed and have this diffused thinking because I might miss something.”
ELIAS: Yes.
KAREN: But in actuality, it’s very relaxing to be kind of in this diffused state.
ELIAS: Yes. And it is very important to be on your guard, for if you are not on your guard, that will be the moment that the monster bites you – (Karen laughs) – except for the factor that the monster only exists in your interpretation, therefore in your THINKING!
KAREN: Yes. (Elias chuckles) Oh boy.
ELIAS: I express to you, my friend, in this day: One point!
KAREN: YAY! (Laughs)
ELIAS: Congratulations, this is a significant revelation, and I am VERY much acknowledging of you.
KAREN: (Laughs) Oh Elias, I thank you.
ELIAS: And I am greatly encouraging you in your directions in these exercises that you are engaging, for they are very beneficial. And, as you are beginning to notice, all of the repeat is superfluous, and it is not actually important. And in that, you begin to generate much more clarity, and in the clarity, you begin to see the simplicity rather than continuously complicating.
KAREN: But I will say I come to clarity and then I fall back in the uncomfortablity, and I am…
ELIAS: Which is very understandable, and that is temporary.
KAREN: All right. So I will assimilate.
ELIAS: Yes, for you are generating a new direction. It is unfamiliar. You are engaging a process, my friend, to begin to create the automatic expressions of the clarity and of being comfortable. But to generate any action that becomes automatic, it, in a manner of speaking, must become habit.
KAREN: Yes.
ELIAS: You are accustomed to the habits that are uncomfortable and destructive. Therefore, it is a matter of practicing and replacing those habits with new habits. But to develop a habit, it must be generated often and be engaged frequently enough and for enough time framework that it no longer requires you evaluating it any longer.
KAREN: The man who developed this recommends doing it for at least two half-hour periods a day, and he says three half-hour periods is even better. Would you concur?
ELIAS: I would.
KAREN: All right.
ELIAS: For it allows you also to develop a routine, which is also very beneficial. For I would express that, for the most part, in varying degrees all of you are creatures of routine. You are more comfortable if you are generating consistency and routine. This is the reason that habit is so very easily developed, for this is a very comfortable expression for almost all of you. In this, it creates a feeling and a sense of safety, for if you can express predictability, you feel safe.
Therefore, it is a matter of changing your predictability and your safety to a beneficial one, and one that allows you clarity and comfort rather than the predictability of safety that is uncomfortable.
[The timer for the end of the session rings]
KAREN: The timer is going off right now, and I wanted to just ask you one last question before we go: How can I best lighten up? (Both laugh) I’m feeling very heavy lately, and I don’t like it.
ELIAS: (Laughs) Very well. I will express to you that when you feel heavy, allow yourself to pause. Recognize that that heaviness is associated with this repeat cycle. Whether you are actually engaging thinking that you notice or not, the heavy feeling is an indicator that you are engaging that repeat cycle. Therefore, it is merely a matter of pausing for a moment, acknowledging “I am repeating associations.” And in that moment, you acknowledge that, you engage a few physical steps, walk to your door – regardless of what door it is – and you generate an action with your hands, pushing out from your solar plexus into the air. And in that action at your door, what you are doing – and you may express this in words – is “You, this association energy, are being placed out the door. You must leave.”
KAREN: I’m writing this all down. (Laughs)
ELIAS: You open your door, you push from your solar plexus and you express, “You, energy of associations, are being put out the door.” And you can turn and close the door and walk away. That energy has been expelled.
And let me express to you, my friend, quite literally, engaging a simple action, a simple physical action such as this, is all that is necessary. It does not require analyzation; it does not require some elaborate ritual or an extended time framework. A moment is all that is required, a definitive moment in which you are generating a statement, “No. I will not hold you. You are now out of my door.”
KAREN: Thank you, Elias.
ELIAS: You are very welcome, my friend,
KAREN: I appreciated our session today.
ELIAS: And I am tremendously encouraging and acknowledging of you in your progress.
KAREN: Thank you.
ELIAS: You are generating very well.
KAREN: Thank you. (Both laugh) And we will be talking soon again.
ELIAS: Very well. And perhaps in our next conversation you will not be so fearful that I will express to you in a manner that you do not want. (Laughs heartily) UNLESS –
KAREN: You got me, Elias! (Laughs)
ELIAS: Unless you do not want me to acknowledge you. (Laughs)
KAREN: Ooh! (Both laugh) Maybe I don’t. I have to think about that – but not too habitually. (Laughs)
ELIAS: Yes! (Laughs)
KAREN: Thank you again, Elias.
ELIAS: You are very welcome, my dear friend. Until our next meeting, in tremendous affection to you, au revoir.
KAREN: Au revoir.
(Elias departs after 34 minutes)
[1] https://openfocus.com/home/
[2] Session 122, “Exercise in Clarity”
Copyright 2010 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved.