Becoming Less Paranoid

Start by seeing that we function and think at varying levels that reflect our feeling state. Here’s a diagram.

Illustration is from “Discovery Mode” by Phil Kromka. When our spirits are high, our thinking broadens and brightens. As a consequence, the world we see appears more favorable, we’re more at ease, and odd matters tend not to disturb us. On the other hand, if our spirits are down, our thinking narrows and darkens resulting in an unfavorable view of life. We tend to be more on edge and on the lookout for problems or danger. When we’re in low spirits, it makes sense to be on the lookout since the world we see seems to be a bit threatening. Our mind may also spin quite a bit as it searches for ways to secure ourselves. This is because we have fewer thoughts available to us (see the dark circle), but we feel we must keep thinking, so we visit and revisit the same thoughts repeatedly. Now, I hold the rank of 6th degree black belt in Matsubayashi-ryu karate which I have been studying and teaching for 56 years at this point. My training has shown me that a busy mind is a serious obstruction to self-defense. Being pre-occupied with our thinking, causes us to be less aware of threats and less capable of responding well should an actual threatening situation arise. So, what helps is to find greater peace of mind. When we feel better, we have fewer knee-jerk reactions to life’s events. Because we’re more at peace, we’re able to dismiss scary thoughts. There have been a bunch of scary movies on TV now since Halloween just passed. When we watch the movies, we sometimes get really caught up, but at some point, we know they are not for real and we can regain our composure. Thoughts that run through our head can be like that — we can get really caught up. But, like the movies, thoughts are not real, well they are real thoughts, but that’s different from a reality. We get caught up in the thoughts and innocently MISTAKE them for reality (ever seen something in the street you THOUGHT was an animal but turned out to be a small tree branch and leaves or part of a box, etc.?). So, if we know our thinking is bouncing around, but don’t let it scare us because we know they are just a bunch of thoughts, we can gain some emotional distance from them. Don’t even try to manage it, because it thrives on attention. Go about your life regarding paranoid thoughts like someone left the TV on while you’re busy making lunch. “Oh yeah, Dracula. Scary dude. Now where’s the chicken?” Now the peace we all desire is a deep feeling that is found beyond our thinking, “There’s a light within us that never leaves and can never be taken from us. It is not contingent upon any external circumstances or what has happened in our lives. Evidence for this is the fact that without a troubling thought on our minds, we naturally and effortlessly become positive — we experience peace, mental health and feel the warmth of the love within. We don’t have to do anything or think anything to make it happen. It is just the way we are built. This is our human consciousness — the light of our world.” — from “Shooting Arrows at the Moon” by Phil Kromka. Someone may tell us to just relax and leave our thinking alone for a bit. As we do so we find we naturally feel better without having to do anything to produce that feeling — we’re actually doing less and getting the reward we’ve always sought. “We have the power to take on thought and in doing so, life will take on whatever form is provided by that thought. The thought could present a pleasant experience or an unpleasant one and if we take the thought seriously, we’ll have whatever kind of experience is contained in it. But it is just a shadow play. For as soon as the thought passes, the form changes as well to some new form. We’re like patrons in a movie theater who have taken their seats and engaged with the movie. The scenes on the screen change, but we remain the same watcher — outside of the time and form of the movie. We can gain a similar perspective on our experience of life and our thinking. The important thing to see is that we, who dwell in timelessness, remain whole and undamaged regardless of what kind of transient experiences we have in life. If we think we’re damaged, it is only because of the thought onto which we are holding. Memories, scenes, which are no longer on our minds have no effect. As we learn to disengage with thoughts in a manner similar to the way we disengage from a movie, we leave our sense of time behind, experience the warmth, wholeness and stillness within and wake up to a new life.”