Trying to sort out and label the contents of one’s consciousness can be extremely confusing. Equally difficult is trying to assess one’s mood. Am I depressed, angry, anxious, sad or a combination of these feelings? Do I feel good today, or just not bad? What events in my life currently are effecting my feelings, if any? These are questions that everyone asks himself or herself periodically. This issue – trying to get a clear picture of one’s experience- begs the question: is there a way to build a map to help find one’s way, to get the contents of our mind clearly into focus so as to make one’s experience understandable. The answer is yes but, to state the obvious, this isn’t easy. And the reason for its difficulty is that we need the map most when things are most intense and confusing, when we’re “red lining” emotionally.
So, the idea is to build a cognitive map, a strategy for understanding how internal and external events effect our experience, at the only moment in time that actually exists: NOW. And we will begin this mapping process by focusing on some practical areas, since keeping ourselves alive is a useful place to begin. Later on we will focus on the more complex interplay between feelings and thoughts as well as conscious and unconscious processes. There’s a lot of territory to cover, but we have a lot of time. If my reading of astronomy is correct, it will be 5 billion years before our galaxy, the Milky Way, crashes into Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy. That should be enough time.
But before…….you drift off……to another task…….or… experience changes…in a pattern..it might be worthwhile……to think…….slowly… and comfortably……about what your developing map…….your internal thoughts…and images….becoming more focused…..on the screen…….inside your mind……an awareness…….that wasn’t there before……..will begin……without your having to do anything at all……the part of yourself……that is reading this……….outside of your conscious awareness will……..use your power……..in a constructive way……to get the map building…….the internal organization that you need……into the flow of your experince…..sooner than later.
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