Conscious Feelings

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 using your conscious feelings to re-shape your life around what really matters to you. CONSCIOUS FEELINGS 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 wisely and effectively," 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 schooling, prescription drugs, corporate wrongdoing, corruption, pollution, injustice, your life purpose, your love life, and your job," and to accept the generic malaise that characterizes so many ordinary 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. Sorting out feelings (based in the present) from emotions (based in the past, on cultural or religious beliefs). Experiencing how feelings are absolutely-neutral energy and information, neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative, yet extremely useful in your adult life. Each chapter is enriched with THOUGHTMAPS—clear diagrams of ways you presently think and ways you could possibly think—supported by an abundance of practical experiments to try. CONSCIOUS FEELINGS is ultimately about your connection with and responsibility for the fate of the Earth. Every page enhances your capacity to take practical actions. When you are no longer numb, you are freed from solitary confinement in your private world of thoughts and beliefs. You emerge, already connected with other human beings, (even animals and nature); connected in the world of feelings we all share. Choosing numbness was probably an unconscious survival strategy. But, Callahan is committed to showing you, step by step, how you can change your mind, upgrade your "thoughtware," and learn to consciously feel.