The Power of Your Thoughts
Your mind is probably the most powerful tool you have on this earthly plane. Your can think, dream, imagine, and literally bring ideas into physical manifestation. You can change the way you feel, support how you heal, elevate your mood, strengthen your immune system, switch the way you perceive the world all with the power of your mind. Now of course if we can do such miraculous, positive things with our mind, we have the capacity to go in the opposite direction of negativity.
Our negative thoughts can wreak havoc on our health, our confidence and relationships (with others and ourselves) in many ways. Usually we have a pattern of negative thoughts that play through our minds, and they actually start to become an addiction. These negative thoughts don’t come from our heart or a place of truth. They are born of our ego, and our egos literally feed off of them and get stronger and stronger. If we let them have free reign and take over our minds, they will continue to surface at any opportune moment and we will start to feel like a victim of our circumstances, rather than an empowered creator of our life.
becoming aware of your negative thoughts
The trick to creating change with negative thinking is you first have to become aware of your thoughts. If you’ve developed a meditation practice, you might be familiar with the concept of the “mind behind the mind”; it’s the part of our mind that is aware of our thoughts. The only way we can stop negative thoughts is to first be aware that the thoughts are happening as they are happening. This is not always easy, especially if you are spiraling out in your thoughts. I have found that meditation is the best tool for developing mindfulness and reprogramming our thought patterns.
Mindful Meditation
A very simple, non intimidating way to start meditating for awareness is this: simply sit, close your eyes and breathe in and out consciously. As you breathe in, repeat in your mind “I know I’m breathing in”. As you breathe out, repeat in your mind “I know I’m breathing out”. That’s all. It gives your mind something to do while you consciously breathe and slow down. Do this for 5-10 minutes. As soon as a thought arises (which it will), just bring the mind back to “I know I’m breathing in… I know I’m breathing out”. It has helped me personally during times when my mind is so wound up I could barely sit quiet for more than 30 seconds. It will help develop mindfulness you can carry with you throughout your day, as well as develop the skill of connecting to your “conscious mind” or the “mind behind your mind” that perceives your thinking.
Stopping Your Thoughts When They Arise
Once you start mastering this skill- which you will! It’s easier than you think! You will develop the skill to STOP YOUR THOUGHTS AS THEY ARE HAPPENING. This is a game changer! You know what happens when you allow your thoughts to run wild and take you down a dark, dark path. Oh the stories our thoughts can spin! It literally has a physiological effect on us; our heart races, stress hormones are released, our digestion is jeopardized and our immune system is compromised to name a few. That alone is proof at how powerful your minds is!
Switching the Narrative
When you’re able to stop those thoughts, the conscious mind can say “Hey, wait a second, let’s put on the breaks. This is going to take us down a path that is not of service to our highest good. We want to feel good! We want to feel elevated! We want to feel empowered!” And then you switch the narrative; you literally start thinking the opposite of what the negative mind was saying. For example, "I'm an imposter trying to build a business- I know nothing about business and nobody cares what I have to say". Stop the thought and flip it: "I am so worthy of building a business. Not only will I run a company with heart, but I will help uplift and serve my community so they can live a more empowered and elevated life!" Ahhhh. And then you can let your beautiful mind travel down that path and think all kinds of wonderful things about yourself!
rewiring the way you think
This new habit will become just that; a new habit that helps to create new synapses in your brain and rewire the way you think. How incredible is that? The mind is amazing! (If you want to listen more about breaking the addictive negative thinking, this recording of Eckhart Tolle is so eloquent and lovely. True story- I used to fall asleep listening to his recordings because I found his voice so soothing!)
When we start to utilize the power of our mind, and rewire the way we think we start to live a life that is truly empowered. We have more space in our minds to think about and create the kind of life we want. We stop becoming a victim of circumstance where life happens to us, and we live a conscious, intentional life where life happens for us.
Try a 7-day challenge for yourself where every morning or every night you set aside 5-10 minutes and practice the mindful breathing meditation. See how you feel at the end of 7 days, and if you’re able to change the way you think- stopping those negative thoughts and flipping them as soon as they arise. Start today! There’s no time like the present!