Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I told my kids I ate all their Halloween candy
A Halloween Lesson
The reason I speak repeatedly about thoughts in presentations, workshops, retreats, and sessions, is because there is a mass unconsciousness about them. Practically the whole of society believes that…
- just because a thought arises it is true, and
- if a thought feels bad, it must be true.
So no scrutiny or questioning of thoughts, nor a close enough look at the true cause of pain. It’s just widely accepted, agreed, and acted upon that “our” thoughts are truth. Merely because they arise, thoughts are almost worshipped, unconsciously, even though we know, without a doubt, that thoughts have no direct association with reality. They come out of thin air, hang in thin air, and mysteriously disappear into thin air. I can think and speak the thought that the stove is hot, when it’s not. Or that it’s cold, when it’s hot.
Another strange thing about thoughts is the fact that they can be completely untrue and still hurt. The kids in this video are an excellent example of the truth of that, on multiple levels. How pleasantly surprising it was to see the drastically different reactions between children:
Ha-ha, okay, all funning aside, none of the candy was really eaten, but still, these kids suffered. What’s left is the parents’ thought I ate all your candy, but if that actually caused the pain, why did not all the kids hurt? You see, it’s not what the parents said that hurts, nor the fact that the candy is gone that hurts.
It was all the unspoken thoughts, believed in, that flashed through some of the kids’ minds, which hurt them. You can see the moment those thoughts arise and are believed in, just before their faces change expression. The thoughts probably went something like this:
It was MINE!
That’s not fair!
You are mean!
No candy for me!
All that hard work for nothing!
How could you do that to me?
A bad feeling does not mean a thought is true, it means what you are putting your attention on is a bad feeling thought. In fact, if it feels bad, it’s probably not true. There are many ways we can see that all the above thoughts are not true, if we question them.
With any one of these thoughts, the children experienced anger if the thought was an angry one, and sadness if the thought was a sad one. The children who were not upset put their attention onto thoughts that feel good. Like maybe:
That’s okay.
I still love you.
I’ll get more next year.
What wonderful teachers children are.
Let’s put thoughts in their proper place, as the options and tools that they are. Because if you believe #1 or #2 above, now that is a scary thought! ; – )
When you pass out the candy, please pass-on this learning and watch the video with your children. Ask them why they think some children hurt and some did not. Share that it’s not what happens that hurts, but the thought you believe about what happens that hurts. It’s the greatest treat you can give them this year.
Enjoy the joy, just because you can!
Cindy
Comments 2
The kids who feel the worst are probably the ones that really have the meanest, or perhaps uncaring-est parents. Nobody’s fault – it gets passed down the line, from parents to children. I would have been totally traumatized by my parents’ or older siblings’ enjoyment of seeing my pain.. And would never have trusted them again. In fact, something like that did happen to me, more than once. And the ‘comforting’ I received was either minimal, or insincere.
My point is not “poor me”. In fact, I take EVERY experience I’ve ever had as God’s perfect grace. I love seeing how my learning plays out. I am very interested in spirituality without the affirmation of success. Or any affirmation at all. I want to know Christ’s mind on the way to the cross, because that just happens to be the pointless journey some part of the Sonship is on.
Author
The happiness lie that generation after generation has been “handed down,” and which society is deeply emerged in, is enough for children to react the way they did; they do not need “mean” or “uncaring” parents. Regardless of your parents though, individuals can break free from the lie, discover truth, and establish freedom from attachment and the inner peace and happiness that comes with it, for life. Such detachment can lead to discovering Source/God/Divine/Truth/Absolute.