All barriers to the functioninig of the Automatic Innovation Machinery (AIM) arises from the "I" (the conscious level of mind).

One of the biggest barriers is : Your fears, doubts, frustrations, inability to handle uncertaintly, and all those negative, creepy, crawly feelings on the earth. Like a car with a powerful steering mechanism that responds to the slightest turn in the steering wheel, your AIM will respond to every thought that I "holds on to". If your hands are firm on the steering wheel, the car goes where you want it to. If your hands shake, you go hither and thither. The journey becomes jerky, unpleasant and tiring.

One of the biggest leaps you can take forward towards become very innovative and efficient at problem-solving is the ability to banish all the doubts, fears, frustrations, etc. Once you are able to handle all the negative feelings, you will be able to steer your AIM in the direction you actually want. You will be able to jump into the task of innovation or problem-solving whole-heartedly, with full belief on yourself and a complete confidence that sooner or later, you will reach to the solution.

Bad News : YOU CANNOT BANISH THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. Definitely not so easily.

Good News : You DON’T HAVE TO BANISH THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. The negative feelings derive power from you. Stop identifying with them, stop giving them power and they will be no more powerful than a diffused bomb.

There are ways in which you can handle these thoughts and feelings in such a way that they would have the least effect on you. Later in the TENEX course, you will learn a lot of how to get rid of the negative beliefs about yourself. In this newsletter, we will make a small beginning in that direction.

The first step is to realize that – YOU ARE NOT THESE THOUGHTS. You are not the one saying "I cannot do it". This thought springs from somewhere and you believe it.

The most powerful step you can take towards eradicating negative thoughts is TO RECLAIM THE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR MIND. Your Mind belongs to you and you will think what you want to. Any negative thought present there and hampering your work is a nuisance and needs to be dealt with.

Consider the following scenario :

A group of hooligans enter your house. One of them opens the referigerator and picks up a coke bottle to drink. One of them goes to your bedroom and just lunges on it. One of them goes to your child’s room, asks him to get out of the room and starts playing with her computer. They stay there, create all nuisance and ask you to remain huddled in a corner and prohibit you from using your own resources, while they have a ball in your house.  

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?

Let us coniser the worst case –  you are too weak to handle them and unable to ask for external help. One thing you will definitely do is to be fully aware that this is an intrusion into my property – YOU WILL BE ON A CONSTANT LOOK OUT TO DRIVE THEM OUT !!! And you might end up doing that at the first available opportunity.

The first step for handling negative feelings is to simply create a distance from them. You don’t know them. They are intruders into your property. They need to be driven out. How ? Keep asking yourself and you will know. TENEX will teach you very effective ways to do that later in the course.

Everytime you want to accomplish something and a thought comes – I CANT DO IT, IT IS SO DIFFICULT, IT IS NOT FOR ME, I CANNOT INNOVATE, NO POINT TRYING – just tell that thought – "SHUT UP AND GET LOST. LET ME DO MY JOB."