Hadeel El Deeb | On 28, Jan 2015

Do you notice how children easily let go of their momentary anger, frustration and sadness just as soon as their attention is driven elsewhere? That’s how all human beings are innately made to function, but as we grow older, we learn the art of complicating thoughts and dwelling on them.

This is where The Three Principles come in.

There is no one-liner to wrap up the concept despite how simple the idea is; it is so blindingly obvious that most of us end up missing it.

The Three Principles revolve around:

1. Universal consciousness
2. Mind
3. Thought

Through regaining insight of these three, we can constantly remind ourselves that we create our own feelings and reactions regardless of the outside world.

In his five-day-Three Principles retreat in Gouna, Ian Watson aimed to help the retreat’s 10 participants achieve the ability to reach within themselves for wellbeing, happiness and peace of mind.

Ian Watson is a published author, trainer and consultant who has worked in the field of natural health and personal transformation since 1988. Watson has published four books and led various seminars, courses and retreats around the world.

Watch the first part of our interview with Watson and Neveen Hashem – Integrative Psychotherapist, Three Principles Facilitator, and founder of Insight Counselling and Integrative Health Centre – as they introduce us to the Three Principles. 

“I will ask you to do two things before starting our sessions, one is probably more difficult than the other; switch off your phones – that’s one,” he said, “and leave everything you think you know behind and listen to me like you’ve never heard any of this before. Once our mind listens to something it has previously heard, it instantly recognises it then shuts down and stops hearing the rest.”

Doing the latter was difficult for me as it was for almost everyone else in attendance.

I attended a total of three sessions. The very first was intimidating and utterly confusing, to say the least. Why? Well, let’s just say that Watson’s words wiped away everything I’ve heard in my psychology classes along with everything I’ve been accustomed to think of and react according to throughout my past experiences. I was surprised to find that at least four of the attendees were life coaches with a psychology and human development background and wondered how everything they will be hearing will affect their practice and approach with their clients.

We constantly hear about stress management, anger management, emotional release, reliving traumas and phobias to get over them, venting it all out and analyzing our thought process to logically and emotionally manage different problems and solve them. But there he was telling us all of those theories are based on a “misunderstanding” since simply “whatever we feel is a reaction to what we’re thinking at that very moment.”

Watch: How the Three Principles come in when dealing with traumas and special needs:

Throughout all sessions, one simple notion is repeated in different incredibly eye-opening ways; that human beings create experiences within themselves and not as reactions to the events that occur around us.

When we feel unhappy, we tend to blame it on the country we live in, the job we spend hours making an effort for, our relationships or our surrounding negativity.

The truth of the matter is however, that we are feeling this way because of all the “layers we add to our thoughts” that end up turning one simple event into a snowball of complicated thoughts resulting in the feelings we have.

It then ceases to be an issue of a job or a living setup anymore but rather how we think about that one variable and bring everything back to it, making up more stories about it and attaching all reactions to that made-up story that our own thoughts are responsible for.

“Deceptively simple, these principles transcend traditional self-help and psychological methods, and enable you to realise the truth of the statement: What you seek lies within you. Whether you would like to find peace of mind, harmony in your relationships or a greater sense of ease and fulfilment in life, the wisdom within can bring you all of this and more once you know where to look,” Watson summarises it.

I found myself signing up for his next retreat, which will take place in El Gouna from February 18^th to the 21^st. The four-day retreat costs LE 4,700 for early bookers and LE 5,700 if booked after February 2^nd. You can find more details about the retreat’s schedule and accommodation options here:

The retreats are sponsored and organized by Insight Counseling and Integrative Health Center and the last one took place at Fanadir Hotel.