Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to be at peace even while living a world of constant chaos? Well, I can tell you from personal experience, it is possible because I’m living that kind of peaceful life right now, even with the chaos of the world whirling around me.

No, it has not been like that my whole life. In fact, for many years I lived in a hell created by the constant presence of oppressive fear, manifesting itself in various ways, one of which was regular panic attacks.

The good news is that God blessed me with the opportunity to learn how to manage my fear and thus have the ability to obtain peace and joy. Yes – even as I live in the chaotic world that we are now experiencing – I am at peace. If you are interested in the full story of my journey from a life of fear to a world of wonderful peace, I’ve shared it in detail in my latest book, “Reclaiming my Life: My Journey Back to God.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/096560201X?tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

 To be clear, neither the book nor these blogs are about religious doctrine. The information contained herein goes much deeper. Rather, it is about our spiritual connection to God through the emotion of love. 

In this and subsequent blogs, I’m going to share insights, techniques and tools that I learned and continue to use on my incredible journey. It is important to note that, for several years, I worked with a Christian counselor whom I refer to as Coach. What I will share with you is a combination of what I learned from him and from my personal life experience, which includes a near death experience in which I walked into the light. The peace, calm and love I felt at that moment is indescribable. Therefore, I say to you do not be afraid of dying because the next destination is wonderful and beautiful beyond description.

One of the key things I learned was that all of my life I had mistakenly believed that anger, frustration, compassion, caring and other feelings were emotions. Bear with me. This was a revelation for me and might be for you also. There are only two emotions: love and fear.

All of the rest are feelings connected to one of those two emotions. I learned that all decisions are made emotionally first. In fact, in the 6^th century BC, a Greek philosopher said the same thing, that all human behavior is motivated by emotion. What I learned in my journey to peace verifies the words of this Greek philosopher.  

Everything starts with thought energy which will be either positive or negative. For example, if you think about offering to help your neighbor clean his garage, that is a positive thought. Conversely, if you are agitated thinking about another neighbor who constantly irritates you, that is a negative thought.

The good news is that you cannot have two different thoughts at the same time. So, when you think about helping the neighbor you feel good.  That feeling, of course is, connected to the emotion of love. On the other hand, when you think of the nasty neighbor you feel angry, frustrated, stressed, etc. These are obviously negative feelings connected to the emotion of fear. Now you are probably in a bad mood. If so, I can share with you how to switch the negative thought to a positive thought thus changing your negative mood to a positive one almost immediately.

Let me give you an example. I was working with a client who has  a very stressful job. In our conversation, he was very stressed and overcome by negative feelings and fear. So, I asked him if he could please share a previous event in his life that left him feeling excited, happy and positive. After a moment of thought he related this story.

He is French Canadian and took his wife on a fifteen-day vacation to France where he speaks the language fluently. However, instead of visiting the normal tourist spots, they immersed themselves in the everyday activities of the local population. He concluded by saying it was one of the most exciting trips they ever taken. I asked him, “So how do you feel?” His reply was, “fantastic, in fact, my stress is nearly gone.” I then had him reduce the joy of the trip into one word so that every time he said the word it would trigger the memory and emotion of the trip. The word was Paris.   

In addition, he bought a miniature Eiffel Tower, which he moves around his desk so that every time he catches himself thinking negatively he looks at it and just says, “Paris.”

Simply said, thoughts generate feelings, feelings are connected to emotion and the emotion, positive or negative drives our decisions. In turn, those decisions manifest themselves in either a positive or negative action.

I realize that this may be contrary to what you have been taught. But all I ask is that you consider what I have to say. This is one technique. I will show you others in the future.

Through my personal experience and my experience as a life coach, I’ve discovered that this technique will enable you to manage your negative thinking that has made it difficult to experience the peaceful life you desire and deserve.