Archives: IQTuneUps

Read all these instructions before beginning the first step. Each step should be begun about ten to twenty seconds after the previous step’s beginning. This exercise will be too difficult for some readers, but every reader should be able to master the skills needed with a few practice sessions. One session should take about two minutes. If you “get off track”, that’s okay, just get back on track and get to the end of the exercise.

Even the first time of doing this exercise, to whatever extent it can be mastered, will create mental experiences that will support the asking of the follow-up questions. The goal of a session is to build the skill of simultaneously performing mental and physical actions and also savoring the difference between intent and attention.

Step One Listen to some music playing that has someone singing words that can be understood easily by you. While listening to these sounds, start counting inside your mind from one to one hundred. This exercise ends when you reach one hundred. Count at a leisurely pace, and take about two minutes to complete this exercise.

Step Two While you are counting and listening to the sounds, tap your right hand on the side of your right leg in time with your counting. Each time that you tap, think the next number. Note how the music is still heard and does not interfere with your mental counting or hand tapping.

Step Three Now add a tapping of your left hand on your left leg so that it alternates with the taps of your right hand. Now the odd numbers are tapped with your right hand and the even numbers are tapped with your left hand.

Step Four Begin to look back and forth from one side of your view to the other. Do this in time with your counting and tapping so that your eyes are looking right when your right hand taps and left when the left hand taps.

Step Five Begin to favor the left side of your nervous system. Make it important to pay attention to the feeling on your left leg and the feeling of the left hand tapping, the odd numbers being thought, and the sounds entering your left ear. This might also be expressed as “pay especial attention on the left beats”.

Step Six While all this is happening, note the words to the song that is being sung.

Step Seven As you finish counting to one hundred, note that in only the faintest way do you feel that you are “doing” most of what is happening. Note that almost everything continues by itself.

Ask yourself,Who is doing all this activity within me? How big is “me” that it can contain so much?

Where is “me” located while all this activity happens?

Do I find that “me” appears and disappears with how clearly I note my “intention to act”? Where is the sense of “me” when I forget to intend and I experience moments when everything just happens without “me” “really doing” anything?

What is “me”? Is it always the same? Am I sometimes the doer and sometimes only the watcher?

Who is listening/watching all this when “me” is busy doing, intending, noting or just watching the activity?

Who continues activities when I am almost fully attending to something else? How often during my daily life am I on “automatic pilot” instead of paying close attention to my experiencing?

If I refused to do anything, who would do ALL THIS?

What is the difference between watching and being the watcher?

Can I stop everything? Can I stop watching?

What kinds of mental actions do I have to do to just be?

Imagine that you have been on a small deserted island for TWENTY years with only meager amounts of food from the few fruit trees in the jungle. You will NEVER be rescued.

Your years have passed without the slightest signs of civilization-even your clothing long ago wore to threads. All you have is what an ape in the wilds would have. You have no artifacts whatsoever-no paper, pen, bottle, book, photographs, nothing. Nothing has floated up on the beach.

The island has no resources whatsoever except for fruit and rainwater and warm temperatures. You have fashioned a small hut and coconut shell cups, and you have discovered how to make a hat of leaves, and that’s about it. There’s really no need for anything elaborate. Even your dreams are built of faded memories of civilization. Like remembering your childhood, lots of dreams just are not filled in with “things”.

The years have taken their toll upon you. You went though the Robinson Caruso stage, the hopeful stage, the fear stage, the “nutzoid” stage, and finally, you have given up completely. You do not even think much about rescue now; your pile of driftwood to which you planned to set fire to if a ship is seen on the horizon is overgrown with jungle plants now. Your days are spent simply. You really have given up and surrendered to your fate.

Now, imagine yourself on the beach gazing outwards and noticing something glinting on the waves nearby. SOMETHING is out there that is not natural, but instead is almost certainly something made by a human being. It is SOMETHING!

Luck is with you, the current will bring the object close enough for you to easily swim out to get it. You dive into the waters and swim out towards it. You lose sight of it as the waves obscure your view, but you see it often enough to keep your efforts targeted and finally you get to the object, and yes, yes, yes, it is indeed something manufactured by human beings.

You grab it and swim one-handedly back to shore. Your mind is flooded with thoughts about the object.

It is a ________________.

(If you haven’t already done so, decide what the object would be, and then continue reading.)

You are on the beach with the object. Take some time, dwell on this moment, and consider the following aspects of your perceptions and reactions to the object as you note: colors, shapes, edges, exquisitely precise/intricate workmanship, origin of materials, imagined steps of manufacturing, kinds of persons who would use it, how it might have ended up in the ocean, the typical emotions associated with its use, words and numbers on it, its heft, its texture, its smells, the importance it once may have had in your life -the memories you have of this kind of thing, the emotions you have felt in situations where this object was somehow more foreground than background, its overall aesthetic impact, and what you will now do with the object.

Ask yourself,What was the object that floated into my view? How did it feel when I realized that I would be required to decide upon the object’s identity? Before I knew I would have to choose, had I already speculated on what the author might decide the object would be? Did I choose that as my choice?

How do I ordinarily respond in daily life to a “call for creativity?”

Why was it so easy for me to put myself into this story? Do I sometimes feel like I am the only person in my world? How often do I feel lonely, separate, and/or isolated?

What feelings did I have while reading this story? Did a part of me LIKE the idea of solitude and simplicity? Did I touch upon a longing inside me for peace?

If not, why? If so, what can I do to support peace coming into my life?

Is the object I chose easily associated with any of these words: hope, despair, cynicism, comfort, usefulness, beauty, safety, and entertainment? What one word sums up my most noticeable feeling towards this object?

Is this object symbolic in any way of my present feelings about the world’s or God’s support for my welfare? Does it in any way sum up my feelings about my future, my problems, my issues, my destiny?

In that situation, how much impact would I expect an object to have on my nervous system? How much would it trigger the thoughts and feelings that I imagined having in the story? How much would it symbolize to me all that I had lost, all that the world once meant to me?

Is the world around me the contents of my mind? When I am looking around, am I seeing my thoughts? Does the input of all my senses always trigger me, or do I have a choice about the meaning of my experiences? Can I see something as only an area of different colors on my retina? Am I overwhelmed by the meaning of things?

When I gaze out into the night sky, are those stars my thoughts? Am I that “far out?”

As I place my attention on various things, is it just like I am on the beach with them? Am I triggering all the memories, feelings, and associations, but this set of reactions are blended with the impacts of all the other objects in my environment?

Is life a huge rush of thoughts that I am “forced to endure” and handle with the tool of my isolating attention? Do I use my attention for protection, control, or creating peace of mind by reducing the impact of everything else?

When I close my eyes, how much does that feel like an increase in “peace?”

Can I imagine always feeling peaceful even in the midst of dynamic activity?

If I had, for a single second of time, a moment when I had no thoughts, no feelings, no sensations, just me-being, would “peace” be a word for that?

During all my thinking, feeling, sensing, processing, reacting, can I still be me too?

Consider all the following “truths” that most people believe without much questioning.

Few people today would consider an oxygen atom, a water molecule, nor chains of molecules as being alive. All these “systems of small parts” are dynamic and orderly, but few would say there is any “true life” within them.

With this knowledge alone it is easy to see that ALL of your body is made of “nonliving parts”. Some of your body parts might be replaced with nonliving parts like metal hip “bones”, heart valves, tooth fillings, etc.

A favorite concept of science fiction writers is that a human body could eventually be entirely replaced by small manufactured parts, and the system of how the original parts interacted could be preserved and maintained by the replacements.

This might even be acceptable in the more “sacred areas”. For instance, if doctors commonly “cured” a migraine headache by replacing a single nerve cell inside the brain with a small electronic chip, in theory, most people would agree to the substitution, just as they might agree to a hip replacement.

Such systems can be described, quite faithfully, as a group of methods for messages to be conveyed. Yet no single message that is sent is considered to be a living entity.

Clearly your body is made of nonliving parts that follow rules of nonliving processes of interaction, and it is only the entire system of how they interact that is commonly called “alive”.

Ask yourself,Am I dead? Am I mostly dead? Why are these questions so absolutely silly to ask? Why am I so smug and merely entertain the questions as “goofy diversions?”

Are all my thoughts messages? If so, who sends them? To whom?

Are my thoughts “raw code?”

Or, are my thoughts more like the “noisy artifacts” that arise from my “parts keeping the system going?” Does my “wiring” “hum” with thought?

Where do I live in this machine?

Why do I live here?

Am I the sum total of all these interacting parts and the history of how they have interacted? Is that all?

Is God a robot maker?

For the rest of the day, turn on your emotional radar and be especially alert to even the slightest negativity you may feel. Whenever you discover yourself having an “attack”-no matter how mild, take the suggested “evasive” actions below. For today’s exercise, this is for negative emotions only, but you may want to keep this knowledge “handy” for experiencing overpowering positive emotions too. Keeping a score pad for this activity will help you maintain your intent to do the exercise.

Evasive actions to take:

Note any strong physical sensations in your body. Place your mind briefly on each area that is active.

Sit up or stand up straight. Assume a powerful posture.

Take three deep breaths.

Write down a name for the emotion.

Write down a number from one to ten that rates the emotion’s strength.

Write down about how long you’ve been having the emotion BEFORE it showed up on your “radar screen” and was then categorized intellectually as a negative experience worthy of being recorded on the pad.

Note what your “talker” is saying and see if you are thinking words that brings the mind’s focus to the emotion itself instead of the “triggering event” that “caused” the emotion. If not, do so. Think words about the emotion instead of the “cause”. Ask yourself, “How am I feeling? What am I feeling?”

Mentally speak words that indicate that you see that you do not have to do anything to continue the emotion, and that it is not something you wish to be doing on purpose. Mentally speak words that indicate that the emotion is unwanted and that you would rather put your attention on other aspects of your life.

Mentally speak words to the effect that the cause of the emotion and the emotion itself are two distinctly different aspects of life that require different strategies to effectively handle them.

If possible, “turn the face of your spirit” towards a more positive or, at least, a neutral direction.

Ask yourself,Did this work? Am I more empowered to reduce negativity’s impact on my nervous system?

How is it that something so simple as sitting up straighter can change my emotions? What would my life be like if I had a habit of always keeping my posture “emotionally correct”?

If I am going to make a decision, no matter how unimportant, would better posture help?

Do I always broadcast how I feel with my body? Are my body and mind usually an integrated unit?

When I am having a negative feeling, how often do I “help it out” to “keep it going”? Why do I do that? Can I stop that?

What works better for me: “talking myself out of” an emotion or simply putting my attention on other experiences open to me at that time?

When I am having a negative emotion, does anyone else get hurt?

If I were a saint, what would I have felt like during today’s challenges?

If I only have two choices, which would I prefer to be: a person pretending to be a saint or a person who indulges in emotions and really “lets them rip?”

Did I start even one emotion today on purpose?

Can I make life happen for me instead of letting it happen to me?

Take two identical objects, place them before you, and have them in physical contact with each other. Two paper clips, two pencils, two whatever, but they should be small. Innocence helps here, so do the exercise before you look at the follow-up questions.

Now, while looking at the “pair”, say these words mentally several times, “Two pencils” (Substitute with another name for the objects if you do not use pencils.)

Now, move them about a hand’s width apart from each other, and again mentally repeat the same phrase several times.

Separate them to two hands” width, and repeat again mentally several times.

Separate them to a shoulder’s width, and repeat again mentally several times. Do not “move back” to see them both comfortably, and instead move ONLY your eyes (not head) so that you scan from one to the other as you are mentally repeating.

Separate them about as far apart as your outstretched arms (but do not remain in contact with them with your hands), and repeat again mentally several times. Again, do not move back, and this time, move your head (mostly) so that you scan from one to the other as you are mentally repeating.

Finally, move the objects to as far apart as the room’s width, and repeat the phrase while you move your head (mostly), so that you scan from one to the other as you are mentally repeating.

If you have the motivation, move them to a “much greater” distance apart than the room’s width. Have one of the objects in your view but the other one out of sight. If this is “too much to ask” then put one of the objects out of sight (in a drawer perhaps), and this time just stare at the visible object while you mentally repeat the phrase.

Ask yourself,What is “two” for me?

What is “space” for me?

How do I use space to define values? How did the concept of “two-ness” change for me as the space between the objects increased?

How does the “volume of space” that “contains a distance” change my opinions? If I take a “quick peek” through an open doorway into an otherwise empty room and see two persons who are on opposite sides of the room, would I probably assume they are “together”? How does this “opinion” change if I imagine them the same distance apart in the middle of a desert?

When I saw the two objects together, did the concept of “a set” or “a pair” dominate the experience, and then a more abstract definition of “two” became operative as the distance increased? Did they ever stop being “two” for me?

What does the distance have to be between myself and someone before I feel we are a “couple”, “a pair”, or are “relating with each other” in the eyes of others who may view us at a party? How do I adjust such spaces as a way of communication to others about my relationship with my partner?

How close emotionally do I have to be, before my loved one and I are a “couple” in my own eyes? What do I mean by “close emotionally”? How big is the “emotional space” that I have us in? How big do I want it to be?

Are my relationships in “rooms” or “outdoors in the wide open spaces”?

How do I feel when I become one of a twosome? Do the unifying aspects that define our “set” “overcome” my individuality, or is my definition of myself expanded by the unity?

How far do I feel from my inner spirit? Are we a twosome?

For “homework,” see if my below poem has meaning for you.

Two is but an echo seenOnly something caught by mindLaughter heard from photographSound for mental ear designed

Two is but a shadow castSuch as seen inside a bookWhen a cloud though only inkGives to vale a darker look

Two is but the thinnest filmSalted trail of tear that’s driedLeft upon a mother’s cheekWhen she’s viewed her child with pride

Two is but a memoryWhen compared to what was doneOh it seems an age agoOur two hearts became as one

Try to score has highly as possible in this “game”. Here is the one rule:

If you have two distinct emotions before you finish reading this sentence, and if one of those emotions has at least three times the intensity of the other emotion, give yourself ten points, but only give yourself half these points if half the intensity of the stronger emotion is twice the intensity of the emotion you had just a few seconds before you began to read this sentence, but if you have more than two distinct emotions then divide the total intensity of all the emotions by the intensity of the least intense emotion, and give yourself seven and three quarters points if that amount of intensity is half or less of the intensity of the most intense emotion.

Ask yourself,How many points did I just score?

How did I just now feel? What is my typical reaction to impossible requests?

Why would I possibly ever care about such a seemingly worthless fact or put forth the effort needed to acquire it? How much of life is like this for me? How much is my life affected by me hitting similar walls of boggling complexity and quitting any analytical processes?

How much minutia do I personally need to know about a person to be “comfortable” in a relationship? How much do I really have to know about someone’s history and typical behaviors before I feel I can “compute” that person’s value or meaning to me?

How intimate do I have to be with a person’s emotional experiences, before I feel I am relating to that person? Can I ever really be confident that I know how another person really feels at any given moment?

Why am I so unscientific about just about everything that matters most to me?

Am I unscientific? Or, do I somehow know “stuff” about others that cannot be indicated by qualities that might be incredibly hard to measure or analyze? How much time, effort, and thinking do I avoid by trusting my intuition?

Am I a fool? Or am I a “trusting soul?” Or, am I a sharp eyed, intuitive psychic who rarely sizes up anyone wrongly?

In all this immensity, this universe, this fabulousitudiosity, how much do my facts add up to? Are my life’s total points only available in a sub-note within a mind-busting, science killing, eternity swallowing intellectual analysis that will never be concluded?

When last I fell in love, what value did the minute flecks of color in my love’s eyes have for me? Why was I so sure of the total?

While gazing into my eyes, what DOES God do with all that is seen?

Consider this sentence: “I know you.” Speak it aloud. Note the meaning it has when you say it in this noncommittal way.

Now say these three words again aloud only this time use the tone of your voice and facial expressions to make these words mean this: “Oh no you don’t, you little rascal. You can’t fool me, but it was a nice try, you sweetie pie.” Practice this until you “get it right”. It’s okay to add “special effects” to your intonation like lowering pitch, smiling when you speak, etc.

Now say these three words again aloud and make them mean this: “I don’t trust you and never will. You betray me every time.”

Now say these three words again aloud and make them mean this: “Who are you? Have we been introduced before? I don’t think so?”

Now say these three words again aloud and make them mean this: “Yes, yes, I see that it’s true. You ARE my soul mate. I’ve been searching all my life and have found you at last. I am absolutely certain of this.”

Now say these three words again aloud and make them mean this: “Don’t deny it. I saw you rob that bank and got a very good look at your face. You’re the robber. I’m certain of it.”

Now say these three words again aloud and make them mean this: “Why would you insist that I know you? Everyone here definitely knows you, but not me. I’ve never met you in my whole life!”

Now, this time, mentally only, think these words again (and again) and mean all the above meanings, one at a time. Do this as if the person you are speaking to can hear your thoughts telepathically.

Ask yourself,What part of me tracks context? How do I know what words mean when they are “merely” printed on paper?

However fleeting or subtle, did I feel the “proper” emotions that “go with” the various ways I spoke? Did I FEEL the meaning I was conveying? Can I mechanically produce any emotion in this manner by simply “acting the part”?

Could I read the telephone book aloud and pretty much tell anyone how I was feeling?

Can I determine the emotional state of someone if they are speaking in another language?

How often do I “guard” my voice in social situations? How does that feel when I do this? What percentage of the time do I “really get away with it”?

If I were to write down a detailed exposition of all the subtle nuances of voice inflection, facial muscles, body posture, etc. that I use to convey meaning when speaking, how thick would that book be?

When I “listen” to my thoughts as if they are words spoken inside my head, do I typically hear a “tone of voice” that is being used to convey meaning, or do I “hear” the words spoken but instead of having mental intonations I feel the meaning directly without bothering to symbolize it with intonations?

What would my thoughts be like to mentally listen to if that “talker” was smiling?

Can I make my talker smile?

Find a viewpoint from which you can see a “good distance”. The greater the distance the better, and if it involves looking out a window, that’s okay. If you can see the horizon, that’s ideal. Daytime is best.

Pick an object that is moving and that is one of the farthest objects from you. This may be a leaf on a distant tree, a boat on the lake, a crop circle forming, whatever.

Now stare at this object and note how little of your field of vision it takes up. Decide an approximate percentage.

While you are watching this object with your physical eyes being focused upon it, note that other objects are also quite clearly delineated by your mind as separate “entities” which are not the object of focus but nonetheless discernible.

While still focused on the distant object, mentally note at least five other objects that are at varying distances from you. Note that these objects, especially the nearest of them are not as “in focus” as the distant object.

While still focused on the distant object, note that this “trip” that you take is done without moving your eyes to focus on the other individual objects, but instead it is a mental adjustment of your attention-in that your eyes stay fixed, but your mind can know that the other objects are “there” and have definite qualities of color and shape and distance that are easily observed.

Note that these other objects have emotional value to you that is also separately distinguishable.

Note other moving objects within this same field of view. Note how these and other objects are “alluring” to the eye which “likes” to shift its attention to moving objects and colorful objects.

Note that there are at MANY objects! Estimate the number.

Note that each object in your field of view, must necessarily be represented within your physiology by individual processes; for instance, the moving leaf, the bird that flies by, the cloud, UFOs, etc. are ALL happening simultaneously within your mind as separate “events” albeit seamlessly integrated into a single “picture”. Note that this must mean that your nervous system is able to maintain a huge number of separate “hunks”, and yet effortlessly the scene “makes sense”.

Practice “traveling around” your field of view while remaining focused on the one distant object.

Ask yourself,What is a separate thought? How do I have so much going on in my mind and yet it seems like everything comes “one at a time”?

Can I have more than one thought or emotion at a time? What would be the payoff if I could “skillfully use” two thoughts or emotions at once?

When I am having an intense emotion, is this like a part of me focusing on an object? Can I learn to “travel around” my “emotional field of view” when I am having an “emotional attack” that predominates? What would be the payoff to becoming skilled at this?

WHO decides where my attention goes? How do all these things get sorted out, and then spontaneously my attention is directed from one to the next? Why does my intellect and heart so seldom complain about the choices?

When I put my attention on something within my body, how far is it from where I am? What’s the farthest I can “see” out/into the world of inner sensations? Would the horizon within me be recognized as such?

If I focus on the faintest sensations, is that strengthening my skill to do so?

What would the payoff be to be able to amplify my awareness of everything subtle?

When God speaks to me, can I hear the whisper?

Another retold tale.

A proud and successful son visited his father-a simple man who lived in the country in a very modest farm. The son wanted to show his father how much he had achieved, and so he persuaded the father to return with him to the city and stay with him for awhile.

>From time to time, the son would speak about his possessions to his father and point out their values. And, indeed, the son had many fine things: lots of food, a dog with a pedigree, a big house, garden, and yard with a strong fence around it, a marble patio, a swimming pool with ornate lanterns to light it, and his many servants.

One day, the son could not help but notice that his father was melancholy, and asked, “Father, why so sad? Here we have so much?”

The father replied, “I miss my farm. I think it’s time to go back.”

“But why? Here you have everything.”

“No, my son, here I am always seeing how poor you are.”

“What? This place is much better than your farm!”

“No, my son. Here you have a dog, but I have four at home. Here you have a swimming pool, but my creek is clean, warm, and fresh all summer and has many wonderful pools, and all of them are lit by the stars and moon at night. Here you have walls to protect you, but all around my farm I have my friends to look out for me. Here your patio reaches a few feet, but my backyard seems to go to the horizon. Your large yard is small compared to my fields. Here you buy food, but there I grow it. Here you have servants, but there I am able to serve. You are simply too poor for me to live with you.”

Ask yourself,Do I buy this? Am I more like the father or the son? Was the father really much richer than his son?

When I consider how two persons can view the same things as having opposite values, does this give me a sense of freedom in choosing my own values, because “everything’s relative,” or do I feel I should “dig deeper” to find values that are more universal?

What would a universal value be to me? What do I value in the exact same way as everyone else? Anything? Is there anything with an absolute value that all persons share?

How have my values evolved since early childhood? Are my feelings about life, death, happiness, wealth, spirituality, love, community, etc. “finally locked in,” or are they all going to change as time passes?

Do MOST persons on earth place identical value on “staying alive” or other “deep values?” Is there any way to tell if two persons sharing the same apple are getting the same (or even nearly so) amount of pleasure from it? How are my values quantified?

If the world’s largest diamond is placed into my hand while I am sleeping, does my state of consciousness set a limitation on how much value it? Are all values entirely dependent upon my ability to be conscious? Can I wake up in the morning and say, “Wow, I, for hours, I held a fabulous gem in my hand-I’m so lucky?”

When I am asleep and someone touches my nose (and scientists assure us that a signal is sent to the brain from the nose’s receptors-even in deep sleep) do “I” have that experience? Is my “soul” a gem in the hand of a sleeping person? What precious aspects of life have I traded for a marble patio? When I held my “youth” in “my hands,” was it a fabulous gem mostly snored about? How would I go home again?

Is it true that my mind changes constantly, but yet “the real me” persists as the unifying thread that connects all my experiences?

If all memory of a particular experience of mine is entirely “erased” or “irretrievably forgotten,” then did that experience ever happen to “who I am now” or not? What is my definition of “me,” if “I” am not always “on duty” for my experiences?

Is it possible that ALL THIS is happening to one single awareness that is wearing all the world’s “masks” (individual nervous systems?) How would I know if that were true or not? If I somehow were “having” all the experiences of the world, then what is this “me thing” that is NOT having those experiences? Can I give up being this “limited me?” Do I have to?

What would I believe if I believed that I could believe anything?

Do this exercise, step by step. Innocence is helpful here.

Step One: Look around your room by turning all around, and in about 30 seconds take in the view. Mentally name a lot of things. Note the many separate items like desk, wall, floor, pencils, keyboard, basket, several dozen Beanie Babies, Amazonian poison darts, velvet Elvis, stuff like that, and only then continue reading this.

Step Two: Now look around the room again at all these things, but this time, in addition to the naming process that you did previously, also continually insert this thought during the scan: “A stranger is coming here at any second who I want to impress.” Do this, and then continue to read.

Step Three: Repeat your naming and scanning again and have this thought repeatedly during the scan: “I just won the lottery, and I want to upgrade this room and the stuff in it.” Do this, and then continue to read.

Step Four: Repeat your naming and scanning again and have this thought repeatedly during the scan: “The building is on fire. Grab something and go.”

Ask yourself,

Why do the values I place upon objects and my emotional response upon seeing them vary so strongly with only this little “twisting” added to them?

If this technique is so powerful that it can change how I perceive my environment, what SHOULD I be thinking when I look at anything?

What happens to my perceptions when I am having a big emotion? Is an emotion a little, a lot, or absolutely like having a repeated thought?

Could I “pull off” purposefully going through my daily life and trying to have “good thoughts” or “supportive thoughts”? How long could I keep that sort of thing going?

What would happen if while I was having a negative emotion, I manufactured the opposite kinds of thoughts? Could I “tone myself down”? WOULD I do this?

What is it about anger, hate, envy, sorrow, depression that is so delicious? Why do I cling to them? What power do I give them to continue when I indulge them so?

All things considered, in general, if my intellect decided to have happy thoughts while I was having a strongly negative emotion, “who” would “win” the tug-of-war?

If I am not angry, but I purposefully have a thought about something that “makes me angry”, do I get angry? Do other thoughts rapidly then begin to grow along those “lines?”

How tough am I? Are my emotions hair triggered or can I take a “pretty good punch” before I am “really set off?”

If a friend in a bookstore handed me a book and said, “Don’t read this. It is the most evil book I have ever read in my life. Every single page has the most vile concepts. I felt dirty reading it.” would I open the book? Would I want to?

What do Pandora and I have in common? What’s “in boxes inside me” that I keep opening up for a peek?