7 Types of Thinking to Give Up Immediately
Have you ever met
someone for the very first time and seconds later you cannot recall their name?
Or maybe you have had the all too common experience of arriving in your garage
with little recollection of the journey home. All these everyday common occurences
indicate that the average person is spending a large portion of their lives
lost in thought.
It's often been
referred to as the monkey mind and many people can probably relate to the
analogy of a playful child. The truth of the matter is that your brain loves to
play. It is "on" every moment of the day. And if there is nothing
entertaining in the outside environment it often resorts to playing indoors.
But what's it playing
with? You might be surprised to know it's largely negative and useless
thoughts. There are seven typical thoughts that commonly capture attention and
steal it away from the important things in life.
1.
What If's (or living in the future)
"What if"
thinking sucks your attention down a dark hole. Your life experience shows that
you cannot predict, control or anticipate the future. So why do you do it? Your
brain is like a threat detecting machine constantly scanning the external
environment for potential harm. The trap comes when you create stories around
these potential threats in the mistaken belief that thinking about them will
protect you from them. In fact it does the opposite. You can invest so much
time and negative energy in something that is not even real. When you are
inside your head planning a future you can't control, you have less attention
to give to the things unfolding right in front of you.
2.
Reruns (or stuck in the past)
Have you ever had a
conversation that's just gone around and around in your head? The more you
replay it, the more confused you get, the more you "see" in the
conversation, the worse you feel. Punishing yourself and for what ? Something
you can't change. Reflection is useful to learn the big lessons in life.
Re-running becomes destructive when you keep going over things well after that
lesson has been learnt. So many people find themselves stuck in the past. Going
over and reliving something that they can't change and in the meantime
depleting the attention that could be given to something that could create
their future.
3.
Habits (or stuck in a rut)
You may not be aware
of this fact, but every person has been training their brains since the day we
were born. Once you have practiced something over and over again, your brain
lays down pathways. That's how you learn but that's also how you create ruts.
Your brain will always take the path that requires less energy. It does not
know what's right or wrong for you. It just practices what you've told it to
do. And it gets very, very good at it. So if you worry on a daily basis or get
frustrated on a daily basis, you will quickly become a master of your own
misery.
4.
To dos
Let's face it so many
people have a "to do" list running in their brains from the moment
they wake up to the moment they go to bed (and sometimes it wakes you up too!)
But the list is what you think "should" be happening today not what
really "is" happening. And that's where stress arises. You are rarely
stressed about the one thing you are doing in this moment. Stress is created
from the things you think you haven't done, should do, or are doing next. And
the result is that you usually end up overwhelmed and do nothing!
5.
Fears
Fears have steered the
brain since the earliest of times. The fight or flight mechanism has been alive
and well since our ancestors dodged predators and had to compete for resources.
In today's modern world your challenges are different but you still have the
same brain. It will try to stop you from taking opportunities when you might
fail. Even though failing is the precursor to learning and success. It will
convince you that you need to control the future. Even though you know that you
can't and letting go is the more effective option. It will persuade you to
blend in and stay with the crowd. Even when standing out, being authentic and
finding your voice are your truth.
6.
Negative self-talk
Chances are your inner
critic is alive and well 24 hours a day like a radio station that plays softly
in the background. And while your attention is hijacked with this script, the
negatives are all you will ever see. By focusing on this radio station of
negative self talk, confidence is slowly depleted. What you focus on grows. And
the more you focus on "I'm not good enough" the more you become just
that.
7. Viruses
If your own negativity wasn't enough, you also catch the negative thinking of others! Negativity spreads like a virus. And conversely happiness is contagious! And thanks to neuroscience research there is a scientific explanation to why this happens. Every person has a set of mirror neurons whose role is to detect thoughts and emotions in others and experience them as if you were experiencing them for yourself. So be aware and don't let your attention be hijacked by someone else's problems.
If your own negativity wasn't enough, you also catch the negative thinking of others! Negativity spreads like a virus. And conversely happiness is contagious! And thanks to neuroscience research there is a scientific explanation to why this happens. Every person has a set of mirror neurons whose role is to detect thoughts and emotions in others and experience them as if you were experiencing them for yourself. So be aware and don't let your attention be hijacked by someone else's problems.
Your attention is
limited and when it is soaked up with destructive or useless thinking, there is
little left to give to the things that really matter. Give up these seven types
of thinking patterns and see how your life benefits
from living in the present moment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-pearse/7-types-of-thinking-to-give-up-immediately_b_8130848.html?ir=Healthy%20Living?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-pearse/7-types-of-thinking-to-give-up-immediately_b_8130848.html?ir=Healthy%20Living?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
No comments:
Post a Comment