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June 30 - August 22, 2025
A problem can only exist in the past or in the future. And where do the past and future exist? In your mind.
thoughts exist in time, not in the present moment.
A problem needs to be labeled as a problem to actually exist: A problem exists only when you interpret a...
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most of your emotions are self-created. They result from the way you interpret thoughts or events.
Our bodies change our minds, our minds change our behavior, and our behavior changes our outcomes.
“Failing to exercise when you feel bad is like explicitly not taking an aspirin when your head hurts.”
Your thoughts define who you are and create your reality. That’s why you should channel your thoughts towards what you want, not what you don’t want. As the success expert Brian Tracy says, “The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not things we fear.”
As you meditate, you become aware of the incessant flow of thoughts popping into your mind. With practice, you learn to distance yourself from thoughts, reducing their power and their impact. As a result, you’ll experience less negative emotions and feel more at peace.
you can trick your mind by simulating desired experiences through visualization. The more details you visualize, the more your brain will interpret the experience as real.
Your words have more impact on your thoughts and behaviors than you might realize. Because your thoughts, words, and behaviors are all interconnected, they influence each other.
Positive affirmations are sentences you repeat to yourself on a regular basis until your subconscious mind accepts them as true. Over time they help you condition your mind to experience positive emotions such as confidence or gratitude.
Some examples of powerful affirmations: I love being confident. I am independent of the good or bad opinions of others. I am beneath no one and no one is beneath me. I love you …. (add your name and say it while looking into your eyes in the mirror, e.g. “I love you, Thibaut”). Awkward, isn’t it?
Eight breathing cycles per minute: Relief from stress and increased awareness. Four breathing cycles per minute: Intense feelings of awareness, increased visual clarity, heightened bodily sensitivity.
One breathing cycle per minute: Optimized cooperation between brain hemispheres, dramatic calming of anxiety, fear, and worry.
the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer.
the more you are able to honor and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering—and free of the egoic mind.
The second type of negative emotions are the ones you create in your mind by identifying with your thoughts. These emotions aren’t necessarily triggered by external events—although they may be.
A random thought arises. You identify with that thought. This identification creates an emotional reaction. As you keep identifying with that thought, the related emotion grows stronger until it becomes a core emotion.
Your tendency to identify with negative thoughts repeatedly is what allows them to grow stronger. The more you focus on your financial challenges, the easier it will be for related thoughts to arise in the future.
The point is, when you give thoughts room to exist, they spread and become major points of focus.
This simple process of identification allows seemingly inoffensive thoughts to take control of your mind. This identification with your thoughts, and more importantly, how you choose to interpret them, creates suffering in your life.
Interpretation + identification + repetition = strong emotion
Interpretation: is when you interpret an event or a thought based on your personal story. Identification: is when you identify with a specific thought as it arises. Repetition: is having the same thoughts over and over. Strong emotion: is when you experience an emotion so many times it has become part of your identity. You then experience that emotion whenever a related thought or event triggers it.
for an emotion to grow in intensity and duration, you must first interpret an event or a thought, then, you must identify with that thought as it arises, finally, you must repeat the same thoughts again and again—and identify with it.
In short, for negative emotions to arise, you must add your interpretation to a specific event. The event in itself cannot trigger negative emotions without your consent.
you keep experiencing negative emotions? I believe it’s because reality fails to meet your expectations. You want reality to be one way, but it turns out to be another.
Your interpretation of reality creates suffering in your life. Reality in itself can never be upsetting. This is worth repeating.
For an emotion to survive long term, there must be a process of identification. Emotions cannot persist unless you give them your attention. The more you focus on your emotions—and identify with them—the more powerful they become.
They fail to realize one of the most important truths in this world: you are not your emotions. Your emotions will come and they will go.
Nobody has ever been sad, because your emotions are not who you are. They can appear to be you, but they will soon disappear, like clouds in the sky.
You are not sad, you merely experience feelings that you may call ‘sadness’ at a given point in time.
An emotion in itself is powerless. What gives it power is your conscious or unconscious identification with it. That’s why an emotion given no attention will eventually fade away.
if you keep repeating that process, you’ll condition your mind to experience these specific emotions (positive or negative).
They waste time holding onto negative emotions that serve no purpose just because they can’t let go of them.
if you disengage from your thoughts of resentment and simply observe them, over time they will lose power and the associated resentment will fade away.
In itself, an event or a thought has no power to alter your emotional state. What generates emotions is the way you choose to interpret the event or thought. This is why two people can react differently to the same situation. One will see a problem and blame external circumstances, while the other will see an opportunity to be embraced. One will get stuck, the other will grow. The way you interpret events is closely linked to general assumptions you hold about life.
Most complaining is a play of the ego and is not constructive. It doesn’t help you and doesn’t change anything. The only thing it does is strengthen your ego and offend people. Try to spend an entire week without complaining and see what happens.
the past exists only in your mind? And do you realize you can’t change it no matter what you do? Learning from your past is useful, dwelling on it isn’t.
Happiness is a choice you need to make every day. You must practice it since, as we’ve seen before, external factors won’t significantly affect your happiness.
what differentiates people who live a happy life from people who are miserable is often how they choose to interpret their lives.
Emotions are just emotions. They are not you, they are not facts, and you can let them go.
E-motions are energy in motion, but what happens when you prevent the energy from moving? It accumulates. When you repress your emotions, you interrupt the natural flow of energy.
If you’re like most people, you spend the majority of your time living in your head. As a result, you’re largely out of touch with your emotions. To start letting go of your emotions, you must first become aware of them by becoming more in touch with your body and the way you feel.
1. Observe your emotions with detachment Whenever you experience a negative emotion, simply observe it with as much detachment as you can. That means getting in touch with your body. Realize that each thought or image crossing your mind isn’t the emotion itself, it’s only your interpretation of it. Practice feeling how it feels. Try to locate the emotion. Think of the way you would describe the emotion to someone else. Remember don’t: Engage in a story revolving around that emotion, and
Believe in whatever images or thoughts that arise when you experience that emotion.
2. Label your...
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Notice how you instantly identify with your emotions. However, this is factually incorrect. The emotions you experience have nothing to do with who you really are.
Rather than saying, “I’m sad,” a more accurate way to describe that emotion would be: “I feel sad,” or “I experience a feeling of sadness.”
It gives you more space to distance yourself from your emotions. The more you become aware of your emotions, the more you can label them and detach yourself from them, and the easier it will be to let go of these emotions.
3. Let go of your emotions
