The "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 everyone's reality is unique, is what makes us interesting to each other, not locked in conflict.  The common ground is that we think, not what we think.

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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.

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There'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.

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As 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 place.

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Therapists 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 off the hook, and therapy is hopeful and uplifting as clients start to have insights.

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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 clients learn to trust quiet moments of wisdom, they see how to navigate the ups and downs of life.

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Most 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 confident.

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Sydney 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 special; everyone has the same beauty, resiliency, and power to change from within, and infinite potential.  Being the ordinary human being we each are is extraordinary.

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Understanding 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 feeling states as a guide to whether to take our thinking seriously, or allow it to pass.  The Principles explain that the power to think is the power to live the life we want.  We know to quiet our minds and look towards positive feelings.

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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 hiding fear behind braggadocio -- positive or negative.  If people calm down enough to just be in life and not worry about themselves and their image, the "disorders" fade. 

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