Directing the power of conscious feelings - Clinton Callahan

This book is about feelings, and the ways that we, as individuals and as a culture, have numbed ourselves against them. It is about unleashing the possibility of conscious feelings to re-make our lives into what really matters to us. The book introduces readers to the concept of the "personal numbness bar" -- a measure set high by modern culture as a way of keeping everything "cool", under control, and consequently out of touch. This book provides the insight and the means for lowering that numbness bar. "You can feel more" the author asserts. You can regain the intelligence and energy of your feelings, so long denied and dressed up to appear acceptable. "Being cool" Callahan states, "allows you to look the other way about torture, invasion, pollution and injustice", and to accept the generic malaise that characterises so many relationships. The central framework of the book is built with the Ten Distinctions for Consciously Feeling, including: Learning the potent difference between thoughts and feelings, which most people confuse; Sorting out feelings (based in present) from emotions (based in the past or in somebody else's life). Fully allowing that feelings are absolutely-neutral energy and information, neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative. Each chapter is enriched with THOUGHTMAPS-clear diagrams of ways we presently think and ways we could possibly think-and supported by an abundance of practical experiments to try. The book is so much more than a book of self-help or inspiration. Ultimately, it is about our connection with and responsibility for the fate of the Earth. When we are no longer numb, we are freed from solitary confinement in our private world of thoughts and beliefs. We emerge, already connected with other human beings, connected in the world of feelings we all have in common. This book actually guides the reader through four distinct evolutionary stages: from Personal, to Relational, to Transformational, to Cultural, in showing us how to use our adult feelings as the fuel for living our destiny as creators of sustainable culture. Choosing numbness was probably unconscious for most of us. But, Callahan is committed to showing us, step by step, in this moment, how we can change the mind and learn to consciously feel.