Emotional Freedom

Our guest this past Tuesday was Thomas Sterner. He is the author of recently published, It’s Just a Thought Emotional Freedom through Deliberate Thinking.

When he was young, Thomas claims he was extremely undisciplined and aware of the thoughts that went along with being undisciplined.

“I couldn’t see a task through, then. Whether I was learning to play the piano or gymnastics, I was going to drop out of it as soon as I burned up the initial enthusiasm.”

~Thomas Sterner

Thomas felt he was never going to reach his potential and that he needed to find a solution to his lack of discipline.

“When I was in college a close friend of mine gave me the textbook to his Philosophies of the World course. It went through all the different religions of the world, both Eastern and Western, and I ate it up. I couldn’t get enough.”

~Thomas Sterner

Within a few years Thomas was a completely different person. He went into sports, psychology, neuroscience, and he continues to study today.

“I learned about the relationship between our mind, our body, and the universe. A shift that’s taking place.”

~Thomas Sterner

Thomas soon went into piano technology, which was an in-demand profession. He had every credential available and worked 65 to 70 hours a week. It helped him focus on routine tasks.

“We spend most of our time being very attached to a goal and getting the job done. We want the kids picked up. We want the grocery shopping done. Well, I couldn’t have that mindset working on pianos because it just went on and on and on and on. I had to retrain myself to be in the moment.”

~Thomas Sterner

Thomas defines the conscious mind as the observer of everything else, and the language of the subconscious mind is feelings.

“The subconscious doesn’t pay much attention to words but to feelings and images of those feelings that are happening outside of you.”

~Thomas Sterner

Thomas adds that the subconscious mind is a very elegant, non-judgmental recording system which is  extremely accurate. The subconscious sees how you react to every situation, and the thought creates the feeling which is electromagnetic energy.

“We’re not actually the thinker of our thoughts. We’re being thought by our subconscious. Because we’ve always been doing it, it feels normal.”

~Thomas Sterner

We’re being stimulated by what we hear and see, by the task we’ve been given. Just because we don’t know we’re doing it doesn’t mean we’re not doing it. We’re either in control or we’re being controlled.

Whether we’re learning to drive a car, to sell, or to play golf, our mind becomes absorbed in the process. As soon as we become adept at it, the subconscious mind takes a load off the brain and we don’t need to focus on it anymore.

“There’s no decision making in it. It’s just a program that’s being run, and you’re either in control, or you’re the victim of your subconscious.”

~Thomas Sterner

Thomas writes in his book that the key to changing the program is getting outside of it. When you get outside of the process, you can say to yourself, “I don’t want to have this experience, so I’ll rewrite the program.”

“Today we are proving empirically what has been known in the East for thousands of years. They weren’t distracted by technology. They were always looking inside. They were looking at the internal world.”

~Thomas Sterner

It’s like electricity. Electricity has been here since creation, but we’ve only known it was there for about 150 years. Electricity was always there. It was always waiting to be used.

“We have the ability to control our thinking. If we use that ability we can change the environment our body is exposed to. This is important for health, happiness, and contentment in life. I think most people walking around today don’t feel like they’re in control.”

~Thomas Sterner

What’s the first step to begin controlling our thoughts?

“You should begin a simple, short meditation practice every day. You can’t do it wrong, but guided meditations are asking you to think. You should close your eyes to stop thinking.“

~Thomas Sterner

Sit quietly with your back erect and watch your body breathe. Your brain may get bored in about 10 to 15 seconds and starts to think about tasks to do.

“What you want is that moment when you catch the mind, leave the thought, and become the observer. Pulling it back in strengthens your willpower.”

~Thomas Sterner

Within a very short period of time, you start to notice that you’re not your thoughts. You start to feel outside of your thoughts. Now you have the privilege of choice.