Excerpt

Thinking Anew has been called a composition book, a black book, a work book, a sketchbook, a scrapbook, and a powerful self-improvement book.

Thinking Anew:

Harnessing the Power of Belief

By Eugene F. Moynihan &

 Richard F. Quis

 

Introduction

I help people to think anew. My approach is unique and effective. I love being a part of a person’s healing process, especially when a client “gets it.” Thinking Anew is a simple process but it’s a mystery and therein lies the challenge. Mysteries, by definition, can’t be explained. Fortunately, humans are capable of experiencing and observing a divine event. It takes imagination, creativity, faith, and a change in your belief system.  This is a journey to your core, your wordless center where you do your heavy thinking. It is a place where the barrage of information we receive daily is combined with our intellect, will, emotions, and dreams to create the mystery of who we are. Written goal-focused therapy is about the most powerful thing you can do to change your behavior. This document, your Book of Intentions, will become sacred to you. You will unearth powerful memories, dreams and desires. Be respectful of these thoughts and don’t become afraid. Courage is an important part of this journey. The courage to think anew, to try again and again.

Remember, help often arrives when we least expect it. So be willing to work-out by writing, writing, writing. When you get tired, put it down. Be willing to try again tomorrow.  Your Book of Intentions is your written record of your conversation with your inner voice, your psyche, your sixth sense, a power greater than yourself and your soul. Any changes you make as a result of your writings will alter who you are and how others think of you. These changes to your operating system are permanent and best done with the help of a good counselor, your best and oldest friend and your Higher Power. Every change you make should be well thought out and of your choosing. 

This is a learning process. What does it mean to be human with all its  strengths and weaknesses? How do we accept that humans are predictably irrational? This is not a simple “if all else fails, press the default button and your operating system will roll back to the day you were created.” What you seek to learn is how to think anew.

Bring all your baggage. Few enter this process without major issues. They are often scared, depressed and petrified. They are at a crossroads. They are exhausted from trying to change themselves. They know they have lost control of their lives. They have tried everything they know, and it hasn’t worked. They have wallowed in denial for months, even years. They are tired of being angry, depressed and bewildered and blaming others for their actions. They know they are isolated. They want a fresh start. If any of this is you, this book is your gift.

What is unique about this gift is that you are giving it to yourself. You have demanded change and you are willing to entertain new ways to make change stick. Mental health experts like to say an addiction is broken in three or four days and it takes twenty-one days to break a habit. I will tell you it might take ninety days to rid yourself of negative thinking and start Thinking Anew. These are goals. It takes however long it takes. This is not a lot of time unless you are the one doing it. However, what you can’t ask on this journey is when is this going to happen or how is this going to happen. 

Pain Is Your Friend

Think about how you got here. I would guess not much of what used to work for you is working now and that a new approach is needed. There is a lot of pain in your life. You have been playing hurt, shamed or you just don’t want to do this anymore. Perhaps some event has shaken you to your core.

Fortunately, you have options. So don’t turn away from your pain. Face it. Feel it fully. Feel it �" but don’t think about it. You’re going to be okay. It will all work out. Many others have walked this path and have done just fine. This approach works. It is so simple, but remember, simple is hard to execute. I guarantee if you write for a week you’ll get an a ha! moment. 

The best is yet to come. What you get out of this is the understanding, a belief that you can do something you never thought you’d be able to do.

Keep in mind, in order to start, you need to ask and focus on these questions:

• Why are you reading this book?

• Why are you here?

• What do you want to see happen?

• What do you expect? 

The Human Condition

Our understanding of the world is subjective. All that we know is partial and incomplete. Facts are hard to come by. Everything is constantly changing, and no one knows the future. Man has learned to do the best he can under these difficult circumstances. It is the human condition. Therefore, we develop subjective ways of thinking which we call perceptions, probable beliefs and emotions, which strongly influence how we see the world.

However, we must realize our beliefs are not facts.

Much research has been done that shows half of what we think we know today will be disproved in ten years. Folk lore, superstition, hearsay were tools our ancestors used to explain their world. Today, we use science which is based on observation. However, even with this base of knowledge, none of our theories are regarded as indisputable knowledge. New observations continuously demonstrate inadequacies in existing theories. The only thing we can be certain about is that we will continuously discover new information that will change us.

Finding and Trusting Your Higher Power

We must begin this venture by establishing the foundation. This foundation supports the success or failure of discovering the unbelievable power of thought, and its influence on attracting its corresponding realities into our lives. The mind is the builder. Thought is the parent to the deed in every aspect of our life experiences. We truly do get what we think about, and the power that enforces this attraction is something bigger than ourselves.

I am careful here to be inclusive. Words are powerful! Many believe that a power higher than ourselves refers to the God of their understanding, or the God of their religion. Sadly, for many, religious references close the door to receiving any information, and shut down the possibility of experiencing our creator, universal source energy, prime mover, or ultimate power.

Let us begin by agreeing upon an unbranded term, Higher Power, as being a phrase which describes a power greater than ourselves, and move on to the application of the term to our process. For some of us, finding a Higher Power is difficult, almost impossible, mainly because of the power of our preconceived notions of a religious nature, but mainly because of the dilemmas and life problems which plague our human experience. Let’s use a neutral, pure, inclusive and unbranded name that sufficiently identifies the cause of just how we will believe this simple process works. Higher Power it is for my teaching. You use your term in your writings!

Now, you need to learn to trust this Higher Power. How do we learn to trust something? Trust is built by evidence, evidence that someone, or something will behave in a consistent manner, in a way that “proves” we can rely upon it. In interpersonal relationships, trust is “earned” by the consistent, supportive behavior of one individual towards another. In a religious context, trust in one’s God is proven by the positive results of one’s worship, rituals, petitions or prayers.

In our context, the daily discipline of consistently writing down what is wanted, in positive language, and in a way which focuses our thoughts each day, begins to produce results which can be almost predicted, anticipated  and relied upon. Remember, trust influences belief, and belief responds to evidence. Stay with this concept for now, and proceed to our next thought. 

You Must Turn Your Will And Your Life Over To Your Higher Power

Everyone has direct access to their Higher Power and there are ways to activate this force. This is about setting up the context that will allow your Higher Power to take possession of you. Who turns their will or their life over to anyone, or anything? As difficult as this seems, it is a critical step in producing the belief, the motor, which drives the mechanism of manifestation in getting what you truly want. The change in your belief about how you get what you get, revolves around the concept that “thoughts become things,” and that it is your Higher Power that makes it happen.

Sometimes, in our past, we wanted something badly, and we got what we

wanted.

At other times, we wanted something so badly, we began to worry about NOT getting it, and, sure enough, we did not get it! We did not realize that we had access to something more powerful than ourselves that we could lean on to accomplish the mission of achieving our desires. Once recognized and acknowledged, this power becomes part of our belief system, and there are things we can do to activate it. We also begin to trust that this power has our best interests at heart. As with all change, time and practice produce the trust and belief that as we think, so we are. Again, please keep this simple. Ask for your Higher Power’s help and allow the process of daily writing to convince you and make you a believer.

The Secret Is Me…What I Am Meant to Be

The issues that brought you here are solved. Whatever trouble and effort was needed to get you here, it was well worth it. Listen and obey what is best in you. Challenge your pre-conceptions. Get your ego out of this process. Do what you truly love to do. Determine what you don’t want.

The goal is to become what you are meant to be, the vision of your Higher Power. Understand you are unique, an attractive mystery to others. Dare  to dream. Dare to imagine. Dare to Think Anew. Use these powerful words frequently: imagine if, maybe, just maybe, wouldn’t it be nice if. Concentrate on being what you are meant to be. Achieve your childhood dreams. Accept that much can be done with little. Let the details go. Remember, you are trying to get access at a conscious level to your inventive, intuitive, imaginative powers.

Stay Out of Your Life, It’s None of Your Business

Your Higher Power is going to give you a gift of passion to learn who you-are-meant-to-be. Understand, we don’t MAKE anything happen, we LET IT HAPPEN! If you can accept that statement at this stage of the process, you are already way out in front of the pack, in producing your desired results. Most of us are action people. We are conditioned from childhood towards competitive beliefs. Go after what it is that you want, wrestle it to the ground, and MAKE IT HAPPEN! Fight for what you want! Never give up! Please don’t misunderstand. I am not advocating doing nothing. What this suggestion means is that we put all the effort needed into identifying what it is that we want. Visualize, fantasize, flesh it out mentally, daydream and anticipate with great excitement. Just don’t try to make it happen! 

Yes, this is much easier said than executed. Most of us will never have any trouble putting energy into any venture, if we really want it. Many of us will experience great difficulty in letting go. Here is where you find out how much you truly do believe. The guidance here is: think about what you want and identify it. Write it down each morning in the most positive manner possible. Rein in your ego and free will. Then, allow it to happen.

If you fail to resist the temptation to leave it alone, and you set your fine hand to it in an effort to manipulate it in the slightest way, it will most likely fail or turn into something totally unwanted. Remember the saying: “Be careful what you pray for?” Then you are likely to get what you think you want! When we let go, and trust this Higher Power, and ALLOW it to happen, it has been my experience, and also the experience of countless others I have worked with, that amazing things happen. Most folks report outcomes better than they, themselves, could possibly have imagined. So please trust me on this. Stay out of your life, and what you want. Trust your Higher Power, and LET IT HAPPEN! Most of all, accept what is but don’t be afraid to arrange the opportunities that come to you.

Eugene F. (Gene) Moynihan, Jr. is a street-wise psychotherapist in private practice.  He had the contract with the New York City Police Department for ten years helping cops deal with the dark side of their profession, as well as 9/11 first responders.

 

Richard F. (Dick) Quis is a writer, fine artist and an investment banker. After a near death experience where Dick was asked by his surgeon to help with his survival, he became intrigued with Gene’s uncanny ability to help people get through rough times. He helped document Gene’s highly successful written self-improvement methodology.

 

Learn more by visiting www.helpthinkinganew.com.