Episode 102
How the Thought Funnel Shapes Your Reality
Why does a small thought turn into a whole afternoon? Because it goes up a funnel, and the funnel widens as it climbs.
Everything starts at a single point. One thought. Then a feeling gets added, then a story, then another story, and by the time you notice it, you are living near the top of the funnel with everybody else's stuff poured in too. You cannot do anything with a thought that is already three storeys up. But down at the point of origin it is just a thought. Four seconds of silence on a podcast is nothing, and by the top of the funnel it is a broken radio and a career ending.
One thing to try: When you catch yourself halfway up, name it. That is a story. Then go back down to the thought it started as.
In this episode
- (4:09) Why a funnel, and what widens as it goes
- (5:12) One thought, then feelings, then the 3D printer
- (6:27) Everything starts from a single point
- (7:36) Living near the top with everybody else's pressure
- (8:56) Halfway up the funnel and back to the point of origin
- (10:16) The emotions near the origin are different
- (11:21) Four seconds of silence and the story it becomes
- (13:51) How you get back down: you watch it happen
With gratitude to
Laurie
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
- Donate paypal.me/stevenwebb or Coffee stevenwebb.uk
- Steven's courses, podcasts and links: stevenwebb.uk
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Stillness in the Storms. On today's podcast, I'm talking about how the thought funnel
Steven Webb:shapes your reality and how to reshape it. But just before that, I just want to say thank you to
Steven Webb:this week's donators, Laurie and there's a couple of others anonymous. So thank you guys. I don't have
Steven Webb:a sponsor.
Steven Webb:You make this podcast possible. It's as simple as that. So thank you very much. And if you want to
Steven Webb:donate, if you want to support the podcast, you can go to StevenWebb.uk. The link's in the show notes. But
Steven Webb:also I'm asking this week for questions from you. You can also go to a link in the show notes,
Steven Webb:StevenWebb.uk. It's the same link. I want you to submit your questions and I will answer them all in one
Steven Webb:podcast. If you're having trouble with meditation, if you're having trouble silencing your thoughts or trying to
Steven Webb:calm that overthinking mind or anxiety or anything doesn't matter what you're having trouble with,
Steven Webb:what you're struggling with. Send the question to me with some contacts. You can also say whether or not it's
Steven Webb:anonymous or whether you are okay me saying the name on the podcast. And also you can send me a
Steven Webb:private question. I won't answer on the podcast. I might answer it in a generic way, but I certainly won't
Steven Webb:answer it in the way that you ask. But you can ask me anything as well. So ask me some,
Steven Webb:I don't know, things about private life, things about my disability or things like that. Anything at all that you've
Steven Webb:just been curious about me and the way I do things, feel free to ask those questions as well. So
Steven Webb:I want to put a podcast together and... The most embarrassing thing is if I come here in two weeks
Steven Webb:time and go, no one sent me a question. So there's no dumb questions. If you've got a question, you've
Steven Webb:got something in mind, anything at all you think I might be able to help with or shed some light
Steven Webb:onto it, please message me. Just go to StevenWebb.uk and you can message me. Anyway,
Steven Webb:that's enough about that. Let's get on with today's show.
Steven Webb:Today's show is another way of telling you the same similar things. And the reason why I do it
Steven Webb:in so many different ways is because very often my teacher, Jun Po, would frame it in a different way.
Steven Webb:The similar way to Alan Watts does. A similar way to other teachers and all that. Just frame it in
Steven Webb:a different way. And I like analogies or metaphors. I'm not sure if they're analogies or metaphors. But I like
Steven Webb:to see something in a way that... Makes Sense to Me. And this funnel of thoughts makes
Steven Webb:sense to me. Now, I don't think it's a new idea I certainly don't think it's anything that I've come
Steven Webb:across in a way that I explain it, but that doesn't mean other teachers and other people don't
Steven Webb:explain it in a similar way. It just helps me to think of it in this way. So, the way
Steven Webb:the funnel works, and I want you to visualize this because it will help you to understand how things happen
Steven Webb:and how we end up in such a mess sometimes. And that is, the
Steven Webb:funnel is like, right at the very bottom is you got your point of origin. It's just a little small
Steven Webb:point where nothing's happening. But that's the whole point of, in that point, everything is possible.
Steven Webb:Every thought, every feeling, every emotion rises from that point. And that's right at the bottom. That can be in
Steven Webb:the bottom of your head. It can be anywhere. It really doesn't matter where that is.
Steven Webb:And then out of that comes up all the thoughts, comes up all the feelings and emotions.
Steven Webb:And it's like a funnel structure because the higher it goes, the more complicated, the more things we add to
Steven Webb:it, the bigger it becomes. There's one example I can use and you can do this experiment with me
Steven Webb:now. While you're listening to the podcast. And even if you're driving, you can do this. It really doesn't matter.
Steven Webb:Just be be a little bit careful. But if you look around you now and look at any objects around
Steven Webb:you and don't dwell on them, just look at them long enough to recognise what the object is and then
Steven Webb:move off. So I'm looking around. I've got a fan. I've got a light. I've got a Buddha there. I've
Steven Webb:got a 3d printer. I've got a mic in front of me. I've got a computer. I've got a camera.
Steven Webb:And they're just objects when I look around. But if I stop on them and I look at the camera...
Steven Webb:And that if I stay on it for a minute and then the cameras look at me, it's filming. And
Steven Webb:now I feel nervous. And now I feel and I moved to the Buddha and I look at him and
Steven Webb:he's cold when he's sitting there. And then feelings arise. My meditation wasn't very good this morning and he's doing
Steven Webb:better than me. I'm not doing very well. And I moved to my 3d printer. It's like, oh, I've got
Steven Webb:so many projects that I need to print out. And so instantly. When we dwell on anything, when a thought
Steven Webb:arises, when we see a subject, we
Steven Webb:automatically, within a few moments, instantaneously almost, it becomes a story. It becomes a
Steven Webb:feeling, an emotion. And the more we stay there, the higher, more complex, the more things we add to it.
Steven Webb:So with the camera, I... It's a camera. And then I add what it does. It films me. And then
Steven Webb:I added how I'm feeling about it out of nervousness. And then I start adding the story of what I'm
Steven Webb:not doing and I should be doing more to my YouTube. And before I know it, I'm in this like
Steven Webb:a soup this wonderful pea soup that's so thick and gluggy that I can't move and I'm
Steven Webb:paralysed and I'm... And it's near the top of the funnel and you've added so much to it that you
Steven Webb:cannot think clearly. You cannot do anything with the current thoughts. And that's the reason why I like
Steven Webb:this funnel analogy so much because all of our thoughts come from the single point. Almost everything starts with
Steven Webb:a thought or starts with a view of something And then that
Steven Webb:thought turns into what the thought is. You know, you're recognising something you're You're seeing it as
Steven Webb:a subject. You're seeing it as an object. Then we jump to a feeling with it. And we add that
Steven Webb:to it. And then we jump to a story with the feeling, with the object. And then we add more
Steven Webb:objects to it. And then we add more stories then we add stories from our past to it. And then
Steven Webb:stories from the future to it. And before you know it ah just give me a break and the problem
Steven Webb:is most of us are not living In the point of origin, near that point of where everything comes out
Steven Webb:of, ah, that's a fresh idea. This is the first time I've seen This is a new thought. We're living
Steven Webb:somewhere near the top of the funnel with everything going on, with everything that people are
Steven Webb:giving to us, the boss is giving to us, you know, in work or our family, our children, our
Steven Webb:parents. All the pressures of life, the time, the constraints of the money and the history of the
Steven Webb:past, as well as the future. Just even saying that is just overwhelming. And
Steven Webb:that's where we're to. We're trying to get out the top of the funnel rather than go to the bottom
Steven Webb:of the funnel that
Steven Webb:makes any sense. We're trying to avoid the...
Steven Webb:Pea Soup or the lake that we've so clouded with different emotions and thoughts.
Steven Webb:And just imagine each thought and every story and is adding a colour to this wonderful, peaceful lake.
Steven Webb:Now then what we can do is in meditation is we go back to the point of origin. And
Steven Webb:the more we go back there, the more we see a thought arise. And then do we go with the
Steven Webb:thought or not? Do we go with that feeling of the story? Suddenly, sometimes we find ourselves in story halfway
Steven Webb:up the funnel and we go, no, let's get back to the point of origin. It's just a story. It's
Steven Webb:just a thought. And then it happens again and it happens again. And this is what life is doing. Life
Steven Webb:is a constant arising after the point of origin in the funnel. Nothing you can do about it. That's what
Steven Webb:the mind does. That's what you've evolved to do. If you didn't do that, you'd probably, well,
Steven Webb:you wouldn't have done because you don't live in a forest with bats. But humans would never have evolved if
Steven Webb:we didn't evolve this ability to have thought, have feeling, have story.
Steven Webb:If we didn't do all those things, if we didn't have the imagination to build the funnel, we wouldn't
Steven Webb:have survived and evolved like we have done. It simultaneously kept us alive and kept us moving forward
Steven Webb:while also creating more complex and more thick pieces like
Steven Webb:I can't think of another analogy. I just love that analogy of just trying to wade through, like, I don't
Steven Webb:know, alphabet soup or something like that it's just It's just too much sometimes. And
Steven Webb:what is really interesting is... The emotions that come up closer to the point of
Steven Webb:origin, the point of concept, the point that this moment arises in every single given moment.
Steven Webb:Because it's always here.
Steven Webb:What's really interesting with the funnel is everything in the funnel comes and goes. What doesn't come and
Steven Webb:go is the point of origin.
Steven Webb:Just that underneath the funnel. Just pure awareness before the thought.
Steven Webb:What is there before the thought? If
Steven Webb:I slow down my words now and I just
Steven Webb:just make you wait just a moment between each word, if I leave it at the
Steven Webb:right gap, it makes you
Steven Webb:just be awareness because
Steven Webb:you're waiting for the next word but you it's not long enough for a thought to creep in. Then if
Steven Webb:I leave it too long...
Steven Webb:Then it becomes awkward and thoughts are coming in and stories. And it's like you've left four seconds on a
Steven Webb:podcast. It's like that's silent. That's not right we is Is the radio broke it's really a break Like you're
Steven Webb:listening to this on an old Fm radio in a car. Maybe you are. I don't know and you
Steven Webb:You just wonder if the phone's gone wrong. Is it still playing the Mp3? Is the internet broken? Things like
Steven Webb:that. So we jump into all these thoughts constantly. But what is really interesting is, I keep saying that phrase,
Steven Webb:one of the main points I'd like you to take away is...
Steven Webb:Everything in the funnel comes and goes. The stories may not necessarily be true or real.
Steven Webb:They certainly aren't real, but they may not be true in regards to how it happened or what happened. The
Steven Webb:feelings come and go. They vary. They change. They get stronger and more solidified the higher
Steven Webb:in the funnel we go. The higher into this drifting into... Beyond reality. See, we
Steven Webb:think the reality is sitting on top of a funnel with all the thoughts, all the stories.
Steven Webb:We think that's the reality. And the reality isn't. The real reality is just pure awareness
Steven Webb:before the funnel starts creeping in.
Steven Webb:That's the real reality. That's the permanent. That's always here. You may not be always aware that the awareness
Steven Webb:is always here, but it's always here. Always was. Before you had the story, before you had thoughts, before you
Steven Webb:had complex emotions when you were just, I was hungry or cold or I was uncomfortable thing. You know, you
Steven Webb:didn't know all the other complex emotions you could have at that point. You didn't know all the desires that
Steven Webb:you could have. You didn't know what mint chocolate chip ice cream tastes like at the age of two weeks
Steven Webb:old. You know, you didn't know you could desire that at that point. So that wasn't an option in the
Steven Webb:funnel. So your funnel was much simpler.
Steven Webb:And can you see what I mean by when I say it comes and goes, all these different things in
Steven Webb:there? So how
Steven Webb:do we get back to the beginning of that funnel? Well, you meditate, you sit down, you take time out,
Steven Webb:and you observe the funnel happening.
Steven Webb:That is the key, is observing the funnel happening. So
Steven Webb:you observe when the thought comes and you go, ah, here it is. And
Steven Webb:you can, it's almost like you're watching it. You're experiencing it. You're aware of it happening. And then the thought
Steven Webb:turns into a feeling or adds a feeling to it, adds a layer, adds some substance to it.
Steven Webb:Just like you're adding sugar to a cup of tea, you have the water. At that point, it's just water.
Steven Webb:Then you add the heat. Now it's hot water. And then you add the milk. It's now cloudy water.
Steven Webb:Now you add the coffee. It's now milky, murky, dirty clouded water. But now it has
Steven Webb:taste and Then you add the sugar. It's now sweet, murky, dirty clouded
Steven Webb:hot water.
Steven Webb:And as you can see, the more layers we add, the more things we add to it, the more joy,
Steven Webb:the more joy it may give us. The more... Hassle or
Steven Webb:anxiety or stress it may give us as well. It may overwhelm us. It may make us overthink too
Steven Webb:much because we're suddenly then stuck in this, adding more and more to it. Do
Steven Webb:you notice how coffee years ago was okay? Now you go to a coffee chain you've got all the cappuccinos
Steven Webb:and lattes and cold coffee. What? What is it with cold coffee and cold tea?
Steven Webb:What
Steven Webb:are you guys doing to the world? See, I'm jumping into the funnel now.
Steven Webb:So going back to the awareness in the funnel, the very interception of when thoughts
Steven Webb:arise right at the base of the funnel,
Steven Webb:what's the first feelings that comes in? Well, the first feelings are almost always loving and caring because
Steven Webb:you care about the thought. And then the feelings get more complex and then the guilt and the
Steven Webb:shame and the um hating and I'm not liking, the aversion and pulling and the desiring. All those things come
Steven Webb:in later. But initially, the first emotion is nearly always caring.
Steven Webb:First of all, you care about the thought you care about the story and care about the person or item
Steven Webb:or whatever it is. And then the complex story comes in and it becomes way more complex and But
Steven Webb:we don't have to make everything complex. See, you can choose to go on a storyline in the funnel. You
Steven Webb:can choose what is added to it. And when you get really good at playing this game of awareness in
Steven Webb:the funnel and awareness of mind, you see the joke behind the hole. You see that maybe
Steven Webb:everything that in the past or certainly the future, it hasn't happened yet. Yet we're thinking about it like as
Steven Webb:if it has happened.
Steven Webb:Fascinating. So
Steven Webb:there's my podcast this week is think about the funnel and think about how often you get in the funnel.
Steven Webb:And if you're struggling with something, how high up are you in this funnel? Are you at the peace soup
Steven Webb:level at the top or alphabet soup that you're wading through something that you cannot even enjoy
Steven Webb:anymore because now you need a boat and then you need oars and then you need... Yeah. Oh, God. Just
Steven Webb:the thought of it is just... Yeah.
Steven Webb:Take time out. Just go to the base of the funnel and simplify everything to
Steven Webb:here's a thought. Do I add a feeling? Do I add um a story to it?
Steven Webb:Really interesting.
Steven Webb:Anyway, that's my podcast this week. Again, thank you to Laurie. You guys are awesome. And there's a few other
Steven Webb:anonymous donators this week um You do make the podcast happen. And don't forget the questions. But
Steven Webb:you can do all this by going to StevenWebb.uk.
Steven Webb:You can also sign up to the Weekly Calm newsletter. Just go to StevenWebb.uk.
Steven Webb:The links in the thing. You can do everything from there. And take care.
Steven Webb:You're awesome. Have an awesome week. And I love you.
