The 3 Principles Youth Group

By: Sanjana Karthik

The 3 Principles of Psychology is a concept taught by Sydney Banks, a Canadian broadcaster and producer. This is a concept that is showcased across the globe; supporting more people in experiencing a richer life. The 3 Principles Youth Group is a free opportunity for youth to have meaningful conversations once a week about the 3 Principles. These conversations were introduced and facilitated by Shenan Charania, a Transformative Coach who works with executives, business owners, leadership teams, and other such groups to help them access more creativity, efficiency, and productivity in their work. He created the 3 Principles Youth Group to support youth’s understanding of their mind, and live an enhanced and enriched life. This program is designated towards supporting youth, as he finds that we youth are able to pass along these teachings, and learn with an open mind and heart: “The youth have a young and vibrant mind that is not bombarded by the social life of an adult. If they can be pointed to their own wisdom early on, they can have more chances of succeeding in their own lives. They can have healthy relationships with themselves and others, and have prosperity in every element of their lives: self-care, leadership, finances, health, and so forth.”

Ketan Notay, who is one of the members of the 3 Principles Youth Group, has been exploring this concept for 2+ years. He recognizes the concept to be “a way of living life to its fullest.” According to Felix Valariyil, who has also been studying the concept for 2+ years, it is a “manual to how our human mind works.” He elaborates, sharing how the 3 Principles refers to the “Mind, Consciousness and Thought”, which according to Shenan Charania provides “an understanding of the fundamentals that describe how our reality as human beings is created from the inside out.” Learning about the 3 Principles allows us to navigate our own minds; which is integral for our mind and body’s well-being, and the world we contribute to. The 3 Principles allow us to understand that we are all simply living in a thought-related world, where we experience our perspectives and not reality. Our perspectives and thoughts hence do not carry much merit with them. Our thoughts and perspectives also are what cause the feelings and emotions we experience, including stress, anxiety, depression, etc. Hence rather than attempting to change our thoughts, we can simply embrace them, allowing us to not act on our thoughts; allowing us to not define ourselves, our lives, or people based on that. The 3 Principles also help us recognize our intuition, higher energy, or what we may consider God. Through clarity, we are able to recognize the warmth that comes with our intuition and follow this gut feeling to help resolve our issues, as opposed to being stuck in our thought-related world and attempting to resolve things.

Furthermore, understanding The 3 Principles of Psychology can alter our overall outlook on our lives, and breed a sense of everlasting peace and clarity. Notay found the concept to “alter the image of the world he had in his head.” Through the Principles, we begin to realize we are simply experiencing our thoughts and not reality. These notions hold true for Valariyil as well, as the concept lends himself to feelings of curiosity, and self-reliance: “It’s taught me that I don’t need to seek things outside of myself in order to feel happy or content. The biggest thing I’ve noticed in my perspective changing was my curiosity. When you understand that a lot of what’s happening is happening inside of you and not on the outside, it allows you to put your guard down. Personally, putting my guard down has allowed me to explore many new things. I’ve explored many new hobbies and seen many new insights which I never had in the past before learning more about this understanding.”

Additionally, with regards to mental health, the benefits The 3 Principles of Psychology bestows us are tremendous. Charania states that the 3 Principles help him recognize that “[his] mental health is absolutely perfect, and always was – it just looks like it isn’t when I think myself out of the perfect mental health.” The Principles lend itself to an awareness of how our mind works. It allows us to experience life in a more meditative state of mind. We are permitted to simply let thoughts come and go, knowing that they are simply self-created and not the reality. Valariyil finds that the Principles grant the opportunity to “experience every feeling” and has shown him “that no feelings can truly bother you no matter how much they may affect you at the moment.” The 3 Principles allow us to explore concepts like grief and anxiety, without becoming the state of mind or becoming a victim of it. Valariyil then ends with how “having a clearer mind allows you to make better decisions in every way possible. This, in turn, made me have a much wider lens into seeing the world in neutrality.” ‘Intuition’, ‘wisdom’, ‘God’, or ‘Original thought’ automatically support us if we allow a sense of quiet and peace to take over us, which is what the understanding of The 3 Principles allows us to do.

Lastly, The 3 Principles also provide the opportunity for us to nourish better relationships through this simple and effective understanding and practice Charania states that “my relationships with myself and others have been enriched with more curiosity, love, intimacy, compassion – and I have been able to see others for who they really are, and not for their thinking patterns or behaviors they might temporarily display.” Notay has similar views on the impact of the Principles as he shares how this understanding enables compassion and forgiveness towards himself and others. Understanding that we are simply experiencing our intellectual thoughts, and not our wisdom/original thought/the reality of things, helps us understand that perspectives and thoughts about people do not define them, and vice versa. This allows us to feel more confident about who we are; recognizing people’s perspectives are not equivalent to who we are. It helps omit the labels, boxes, and categories we place people in and simply experience our relationships.

Overall, the 3 Principles as a concept has lent itself to a significant change in the members of the 3 Principles Youth Group. As shared by Charania “ The 3 principles Understanding – first articulated and brought to this world by Sydney Banks – gives human beings the opportunity to experience life again from their true essence, instead of their past experiences – which then allows them to live a life that is fulfilled with depth, meaning and truth. It helps people live and relate to each other with more value, inclusiveness, and understanding.” The introduction to the 3 Principles of Psychology has brought us the gift of life in itself; being able to experience all of the things life has in store for us with curiosity, light-heartedness, and security. In the words of Notay, the experience has taught us “the difference between existing and living.” We are truly grateful for the gifts this understanding has brought to us, and encourage more people, and institutions to adopt this understanding and support humanity through it