Module 2
The Universal Truth For How Life Works
THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH FOR HOW LIFE WORKS
The Universal Truth For How Life Works is the foundation of my methodology and provides a basis for living the purpose you choose.
The Universal Truth is elegant in its simplicity.
The Universal Truth is that all Circumstances in Life are neutral (objective) and out of our control. Circumstances are the events that occur in the world; everything in the present moment and the past, including what other people say and do.
Circumstances trigger our Thoughts, which is where our subjectivity, choice, and process of creation begin.
Our Thoughts create our Emotions, which determine our Feelings.
Feelings drive human Actions. Human action is driven by the Motivational Triad of the Brain; increase emotional pleasure, decrease or avoid emotional pain, and become extremely efficient at both. This makes the human species an emotional animal, truly an emotional junkie.
Actions determine Results. This is the law of Cause and Effect. What we put into the world provides us with a consequence – we reap what we sow.
The Results we create with our Thoughts become evidence that re-enforce them until they become Beliefs.
Circumstance → Thought → Feeling → Action → Result
That’s the Universal Truth For How Life Works.
THE MODEL OF ALIGNMENT
The Model of Alignment is the primary tool I use with my students. I use it to reveal the causal relationships between one’s thoughts, feelings, actions, and results and put you in alignment with the Universal Truth. It doesn’t solve or fix problems—it reveals them.
CIRCUMSTANCE:
A neutral data point that has happened in the world; something about which everyone agrees. In The Model of Alignment, “circumstance” is abbreviated with the letter “C.”
THOUGHT:
An optional sentence in one’s mind about a circumstance; the cause of all feelings. In The Model of Alignment, “thought” is abbreviated with the letter “T.”
FEELING:
A one word description of a vibration in the body that is created by a thought and fuels all action or inaction. In The Model of Alignment, “feeling” is abbreviated with the letter “F.”
ACTION:
Something one does that creates a result and is driven by a feeling; it can also be an inaction. In The Model of Alignment, “action” is abbreviated with the letter “A.”
RESULT:
The effect of our actions or inactions and always the evidence of our original thought. In The Model of Alignment, “result” is abbreviated with the letter “R.”
COMMON MISTAKES:
Putting a thought in the C line. A circumstance is a fact that everyone would agree on. It doesn’t have any adjectives that are ambiguous or any kind of judgment or description
Putting a question in the T line. Always answer the question and use that as the T.
Putting more than one thought in the T line. It’s most useful to isolate one thought per model so that they can determine which thought creates which emotion.
Listing multiple or even conflicting feelings in the F line. Try to limit to one feeling.
Making the R line about someone else. It should always be the result we create for ourselves.
Mixing models. In a model done properly, the result always proves the original thought. Often mixing models happens when a student has a new thought and doesn’t realize it.
REMEMBER THE EXAMPLE OF THE MODEL OF ALIGNMENT FROM MODULE 1:
C: Purpose
T: I have to become more worthy by winning a championship
F: Inadequate
A: Work at mattering
R: Always needing to be more worthy
C: Purpose
T: I am complete and want to win a championship
F: Complete and excited
A: Work hard from abundance
R: Win or lose, I am complete already
Notice, the Circumstance (C-line) does not change. The only thing you need to change if you want to change your results is your thoughts.
CIRCUMSTANCES ARE NEUTRAL (C)
Circumstances are neutral data points that have happened in the world; something about which everyone agrees. There are no adjectives or judgments. They are things that are out of our control and include the past, the present (like traffic and the weather), and other people (everything they say and do).
SOME EXAMPLES OF CIRCUMSTANCES INCLUDE:
The sky is above us.
There is carpet on this floor.
I have a father.
She said, “I don’t have time.”
I weigh 195 lbs.
A year is 365 days.
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ARE CIRCUMSTANCES:
I am 50 years old.
9/11 was one of the worst days in recent American history.
My son is failing math.
She is rude.
I am too busy.
My kids are mad at me.
I am in debt.
I’m underpaid for the work I do.
THOUGHTS ARE ALWAYS THE PROBLEM (T)
Thoughts are sentences in our mind, things we think about, neutral circumstances.
There are many ways to look at a circumstance, and when have an opinion or choose a perspective, we are choosing thoughts. Thoughts are not right or wrong; they just are. When we think a thought long enough, it becomes a belief.
For most of us, thoughts seem like circumstances, and we can struggle to tell the difference. This is why an important part of cognitive mastery is learning to question everything we believe is a circumstance, to make sure it’s not actually a thought. And then we want to question our thoughts using the Model, which helps us reveal the results we are creating with those thoughts. Once we understand the impact of a thought, we can determine whether it serves our desired result and whether we would like to keep it or replace it with a more useful thought.
As a rule, when we notice that we are experiencing something we would consider a “problem,” we can always find the cause of that problem in the thought line.
Thoughts are also important because they create our emotions. And because emotions fuel actions and actions create results, we want to always remember that we are in the driver’s seat because we can always choose our thoughts. Our thoughts literally create our reality – they are the first step in the creation process.
WHY YOU AREN’T TAKING ACTION (F)
It’s important for you to understand that the reason you aren’t taking the action you want to take is because you haven’t created the feeling needed to drive that action.
All actions are driven by feelings, and all feelings are created by our thoughts. It’s common for people to expect feelings just to happen to them. Motivation is a great example. Students have said to me when I was a fitness coach that they didn’t exercise because they just weren’t motivated, not knowing that motivation is something they create for themselves with their thoughts.
Anytime we are not taking action, we must decide what feeling we need to feel to fuel the desired action and then choose a thought to think that will give us the feeling we’re after. THEN we’ll have what we need to fuel our desired action.
What action would you like to take today?
What feeling would you need to feel to fuel that action?
What thought could you think to create that feeling for yourself?
MASSIVE ACTION (A)
Massive action is action we take and continue taking until we reach our goal. Massive action includes the process of anticipating obstacles and being willing to fail repeatedly and try again until the goal is reached.
Most people try, fail, stop, try something else, fail, and give up. We test something once and then quit if it doesn’t work out. That is action, but not massive action. Massive action is when we keep our sights on the goal and we are willing to do anything to get there. We try different ways, we fail, and we continue tweaking our actions until we hit our desired result. We are willing to feel uncomfortable and keep taking action anyway.
Passive action is all of the things that are done in preparation for action. All of the studying, courses, masterminds, listening, practicing, and reading feel like action, but they keep us from reaching our goal. They do not get us the results that we’re after. Passive action has to do with consumption. Massive action has to do with creating.
You will know whether you are taking massive or passive action based on the number of times you’ve fallen on their face. When you are taking passive action, there is no risk involved. You are hiding, planning, and avoiding failure. Massive action typically involves embarrassing moments in front of a large audience. You will fail where everyone can see you, which I highly encourage.
Where in your life do you think you are taking passive action or consuming instead of taking massive action?
In what way do you imagine massive action would be more useful to you than passive action?
What is an example of a massive action that you could take toward one of your current goals?
YOU CAN PUT ANYTHING YOU WANT IN THE R LINE (R)
Any dream you have can be put in the R line of The Model of Alignment. Whatever result you want, whether or not you currently believe it can be accomplished, can go in the R line.
There are no exceptions. The only reason you don’t currently have the result you want in your life is because you don’t yet believe the thought required to create that result.
DAILY SELF-STUDY
Every day, do a thought download and 2 Model’s. This will take you 20-30 minutes. The more your practice, the better and faster you will get.
HOW TO DO A THOUGHT DOWNLOAD:
A Thought Download is simply writing all the thoughts you are thinking on a piece of paper without judging, editing, or censoring them. Thought downloads help us create awareness of the thoughts we are thinking. Just like a fish is unaware of the water in which it swims, we are often unaware of the thoughts we are thinking. A regular practice of downloading your thoughts onto paper helps you begin to see why you are getting the results in your life that you are getting and increases your awareness of the optional thoughts that are causing these results.
A thought download doesn’t need to take more than five to ten minutes and can be done any time of day – although at first it may take up to 30 minutes. I recommend you establish a regular habit of doing it once a day at a time that is most convenient for you. There is no right or wrong way to do it. If you don’t know what to write, you can write, “I don’t know what to write.” Just start writing without stopping until you have filled up the page.
STEPS TO DAILY SELF-STUDY
1) COMPLETE A THOUGHT DOWNLOAD: As explained above.
2) UNINTENTIONAL MODEL: Pick a thought—any thought will do. Put it in the T line.
Now, when you think that thought, what emotion do you feel? This must be a one word feeling. Put the feeling in the F line.
When you feel that feeling, what action or inaction do you take? Put that in the A line.
When you do that action or inaction, what result do you create for yourself? Put that in the R line.
Always go back and check the validity of your model by validating that the R line proves the original thought.
(See the Model’s in this Module for an example.)
3) INTENTIONAL MODEL: Start a new model with the same C. DO NOT CHANGE THE CIRCUMSTANCE! Remember, the circumstance is out of our control and never needs to be changed for us to get a different result in our life.
Next, moving to the bottom of the Model, and keeping the letters in the same order, write down your desired result in the R line.
Working up the Model, list the actions you would need to take to create that result. I will teach you more about actions (math vs. drama) later in the course. For now, just list everything you think you need to do to achieve this result.
Continuing up the Model, list the feeling you would need to drive the actions that support the result (the actions in your A line).
Finally, list the thought you would have to believe to create that feeling.
Remember that chances are you don’t currently believe the new thought from your Intentional Model, and that’s completely normal. But now you understand WHY you are getting your current results and WHAT you would need to believe to get the results you desire. In the Academy, I will teach you how to build a ladder to this desired—but currently unbelievable—thought.
Consider the following as you begin this daily practice:
What surprises you about the Model?
How do you imagine you can use it in your life?
What do you think will be the value of a daily self-study routine for you?
How are you feeling about what you’ve learned so far?
You can print and use the worksheets below to do your Daily Self-Study or simply get a notebook – just be sure to do your Thought Downloads and Models on paper or a computer (not in your head).
WORKSHEETS
(Click to download)
