Do We Choose Our Thoughts?
by
The answer may surprise you. The average person has over 50,000 thoughts a day and the vast majority of our thoughts are not conscious. They flit through our brain without us really choosing the thoughts. Meaning most people, including you, are not consciously aware of what they are thinking.
So where are these thoughts generating from?
Your conscious mind is a sum of your experiences influencing your thoughts. Your experiences come from your culture, family, demographics and a host of other things. There are studies that show how easy it is to influence people’s thoughts. If you want to dive more into how that works Morsella’s Passive Frame Theory is a great place to start.
Most of these thoughts impact how you feel regardless of whether you are conscious of them or not. Since the average person has over 50,000 thoughts a day and most we aren’t aware of, how does that affect who we are?
Can you change your thoughts
The good news is yes, you can begin to become more mindful of your current thoughts by recognizing when you are having negative thoughts.
Some common negative thought patterns you can recognize and change:
1. Blaming yourself – Yes we all need to take responsibility for our actions, but if you are using negative words and absolutes that are not healthy. An example would be “I always ruin everything”
2. Looking for the negative – Do you look for and dwell on negative conversations, events, people, etc? Take a step back and try to find a positive slant.
3. Assuming unhappiness– We’ve all done it. Decided something bad was going to happen before it happened. Instead, tell yourself another happier story.
4. Exaggerating the negative – Do you use absolutes to describe a negative situation. Saying or thinking things like, the entire day was ruined, or I always say the wrong thing. Instead, try today I said something I didn’t like and next time I will say x, y, z.
When you decide to change your thoughts, your old patterns will want to creep back. The key is to practice, practice, practice.
The Bottom Line
Changing your thoughts can be done. It is a work in progress but is well worth the results. Remember no one solution fits all but you have taken the first step if you are aware your thoughts need to change and you are willing to work on them.
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