I’ve been getting really good at curbing useless thoughts and focusing on ideas that are worth consideration and effort. I’ve noticed now that if there’s a random thought that typically causes problems or is less than desirable, I will ask myself whether it is worth my time or not and then it will disappear.
Example: Maybe I have a thought of doubt when jumping into something new and exciting like… “Not many people have been successful with this, you would have to dedicate many hours and put serious effort in to do something like this and that’s definitely not you right now” and I will quickly ask myself within the same frame “Is this useful? Do I want to think, feel, be this?” and I’ll also answer “no” and continue on with why that thing WILL work or how I can make it work.
This is useful because I never have to dwell on things anymore and it also allows me to place proper focus where it’s needed. Now, this wasn’t always the case and obviously, it’s a lot easier said than done. I had to strengthen my ability to separate myself from my thoughts… which took some time. Meditation helped out a lot with this.
The more I strengthen this ability the happier I seem to get, and I would recommend this to anyone. It’s almost crazy to look back on how I use to feel and think on a regular basis, I forget how far I’ve grown from time to time.
If I had to start over again from scratch, here’s what I’d do:
- Start Meditating. It’s going to feel uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks even though at a surface level, it sounds super easy to sit down and do nothing for 5 minutes and beyond. Being uncomfortable and thinking you’re not doing it right is you doing it right. Like everything, it will get easier and easier until there’s nothing to it and you look forward to sitting down and being present. There’s many proven benefits of how this helps you, but to state one of the reasons for starting would be that it slows down your racing thoughts throughout the days the more you do it. So much so, that this alone would make you a more peaceful and happy person.
- Start Noticing When You’re Having Thoughts. This may make you feel uneasy when you first start to understand this, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Anything new that you’re not used to has that effect. But it’s nothing scary! It’s actually just very helpful and helps to give you control of your thought patterns so you can think more pleasant things. When I first started learning about this it gave me anxiety and I stopped trying to learn for months lol. Just remember this… If you have the ability to notice that you’re HAVING a thought… then you are NOT the thought. That’s just a fact. Anyway, here’s an example of how I would go about noticing a thought. “I noticed I’m thinking of *blank* that tends to make me sad” or “I’m noticing that I am very excited after thinking about *blank*” Even if you’re thought is what you would consider to be the worst of the worst, don’t worry about it. Just notice that you had it, that’s all. Do this as often as you want, but don’t label whether it was “good or bad” just let it be what it is, a thought. You’ll come to notice that it gets easier and the best part is… anything that you don’t typically like to think about will naturally disappear when you bring it from the dark to light. Which is precisely why there are therapists and counselors. Their entire job is to get you to bring to light the issues you’re dealing with, which is super helpful to have someone like that… but you can do this for yourself as well! Which is an amazing feeling. Once you learn how to do this, you’ll become free and never forget it.
- Set A Huge Goal. The sole reason for this is because the more you speak your goal out and remind yourself of it, the more plans that you start to build around it… aka, useful thoughts start coming in and taking over your mind instead of useless/negative thoughts that typically do. On top of getting rid of most of the negative thoughts, you’re also starting to work towards something worthwhile and that means, by Earl Nightingales definition… you are officially successful! “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal” and I couldn’t agree more.