1 result for (book:ecs2 AND heading:"esp class session juli 21 1970" AND stemmed:indulg)
[... 13 paragraphs ...]
A negative thought alone would be followed by a more positive one. Remember what you were saying earlier about cycles. Thought patterns and emotional patterns, left alone, would change one into the other as stormy weather changes into sunny. It is only when strong negative patterns are allowed to flow unrestrained and indulged in so that they become a barrier holding back positive thoughts that you run into difficulty. You get into a habit and you do not realize that you have done so, where predominately your thoughts about yourselves and others are all negative with very few positive ones in between and then the positive ones have no chance to grow. This is where the difficulty comes in. I am not telling you to be so frightened of a negative thought that you want to run into a corner or hide under the bed or say “Oh, this is a negative thought, I must change it at once” and half-terrify yourselves to death. I am telling you that when you indulge in such thoughts for a period of time so that they become habitual then you must change them and no one can do this but yourself. There is no one else that has control over your own thought patterns and you would be very upset, indeed, if anyone else did.
[... 10 paragraphs ...]
There is a difference between this, you see, which is a healthy acknowledgment of feeling and an indulgence, exaggeration of feeling that dulls you to everything else. Do you see the distinction? Do not, therefore, be afraid of emotional feelings, accept them. They are healthy and spontaneous. It is only when you refuse to accept them that they build up charges so that if you have been in the habit of refusing to accept them there may be charges that have been built up. If so, in your first attempt to get along with the expression of emotion you may find some exaggeration. If so, physical activity is a good way to work this off, if only pounding the bed. Do not put your hand through walls, it is bad on the wall and bad on the hand. Even your astral knuckles may hurt.
[... 16 paragraphs ...]
Stop indulging A) in self-pity. B) Stop indulging in bitter and negative projections into the future. Stop seeing yourself as helpless. Stop reminding yourself of how bitter your present experience is. Stop telling yourself that you are powerless and that there is nothing you can do to change your mood. Stop luxuriating in negative thoughts and emotions. You do this by stopping now. Each time you find yourself thinking, how can I bear this; instead you say, many people have many more severe problems than I.
[... 13 paragraphs ...]