“Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your unguarded thoughts.” – Buddha
Automatic negative thoughts can keep us stuck in place, unable to move forward in life, and has the potential to produce depression. By paying attention to our thoughts, we will be able to recognize our own automatic negative thought patterns. You can begin to gain freedom from these negative thoughts by placing them in your conscious awareness and writing them down. Then, when they occur again in the future, your new awareness and perspective will help bring your attention back to present moment awareness. With repetition of this new practice, you can create a sense of compassion and kindness towards yourself.
Positive thoughts and emotions are preferred and encouraged over negative ones. Even though all our thoughts are temporary and appear to be “devoid of inherent existence”, negative thoughts and emotions lead to suffering and painful experiences while positive thoughts and emotions lead to happiness. We need to consciously try to bring more things into our life that produce happiness and simultaneously overcome causes of suffering.
Habitual fear-based thoughts produce upsetting emotions, not the actual event that takes place around us. Old fear-based attitudes, assumptions and beliefs may be behind these habitual thoughts. When our thoughts originate from outdated or distorted beliefs, negative emotions can surface. We do have the ability to shift the content of our thoughts and lessen chronic thoughts. Cognitive therapy can assist individuals suffering from chronic negative emotions to recognize the recurrent thoughts that initiate these negative emotions and reframe them towards more positive and realistic ones. National Institute of Mental Health funded studies several years ago, and various subsequent studies, have shown “without question” a direct link between chronic negative thoughts and the resulting anxious feelings experienced as negative emotions, physical stress, and general discomfort. In other NJ-NPI studies, it was concluded that if we purposely focus our attention on two or more distinct bodily sensations at the same time, such as our breath and heartbeat, all thoughts stop. However, when only focused on one bodily sensation, the negative thoughts continue. The learned ability to refocus our mental attention in certain ways can slow down the flow of thoughts.
So start exterminating those ANTs.
The Pink Panther (Dead Ant) Song…