With articles of “How to control your thoughts” and “How to stop negative thinking”, there is an abundance of information suggesting that you are 5 steps away from being the master of your mind. The reality is that our thoughts can be a very automatic response. It is not that you do not have any control over your thoughts; but chances are you have much less control than what you think/hope.
When we sneeze, we automatically close our eyes. We do not choose this response. Some of us may have tried to keep our eyes open when we sneeze….which is not easy and in my own experience, unsuccessful. Like our reaction to sneezing, we do not choose what thoughts pop up and it takes a lot of energy trying to stop them.
No matter who you are, you are going to experience a variety of thoughts. Thoughts are merely words, language and/or images. Often, we add judgments to them such as “positive”, “happy” “hopeful”, “funny” “negative”, “weird”, “strange” etc. These judgments can impact our feelings and mood. Sometimes this can be helpful; other times, it is not so helpful.
Next post will be about what things can help when experiencing challenging thoughts more effectively.
