Let go of your thoughts for more liberated living
By Sandy C. Newbigging
Peace of mind is possible without having to still your mind. Hard to believe, I know, but let me explain why. How many thoughts pass through your mind on a daily basis? Incredibly, it has been said that the average person has around 100,000 thoughts every day. That’s a lot of thoughts! The challenge we face however, is the number of these thoughts that are negative and thus have a potentially harmful impact on your body, your mood and your life. So how can you turn this around?
The Myth Of Positive Thinking
Now I’m a believer in, and promoter of, the benefits of being positive but the sheer quantity of thoughts makes any attempts to change your mind so that you only have ‘positive thoughts’ an almost impossible task. So if you’ve done your best to think positive, but not mastered it, be easy on yourself.
A Very Appealing Solution Indeed
Rather than attempt the task of changing or stopping all the thoughts that pass through your mind daily, I recommend that instead you do one thing: change your relationship with your thoughts. The goal: to experience a sense of serenity irrespective of the kinds of thoughts in your mind.
Stop reading, close your eyes and then, whenever you become aware of a thought, give the thought a number: one, two, three and so on. Count your thoughts for the next minute. Having done that, how many thoughts did you count?
It doesn’t matter if you counted 2 or 202 thoughts! What is important is that if you can count your thoughts, it means that you are not your thoughts. They came and went, but you didn’t! You are the conscious awareness that is aware of your thoughts. And that awareness is already still, silent and serene.
You are that which is aware of your thoughts, but you are not your thoughts! What a relief.
Stop Giving Away Power To Your Thoughts
No thought has the inherent power to negatively affect your mood or life success. The only way you can give thoughts power is by identifying with them through the act of thinking. To help you get your head around this, let me share an amazing analogy taught to me by my meditation teacher.
Imagine you are outdoors with your best friend on a nice sunny day, sitting at the side of a busy road. You have been given the simple task of counting all the red cars that drive by. As you relax at the side of the road, a few cars come by – one blue, another black and then a red one, which you count. A little more time passes and more cars drive by. You continue to sit safely at the side of the road, feeling quite serene and happy as you enjoy the scene.
Then, as a red car comes by, your friend jumps up, runs after it and, with a spectacular leap, manages to grab the car’s rear bumper, at which point they start being dragged up the road. You can see very clearly that they are getting hurt and are confused as to why they are holding on so tight. So you shout after your friend – “Let go!” – to which they shout back that the red car is hurting them. You shout back “The car isn’t hurting you; you are getting hurt because you are holding on to it. Let go! Let go!” The same is true for your thoughts.
Let Go Of Limitations for a More Liberated Life
Thoughts have no power to hurt you or hold you back from being a success in life. What hurts and limits you is holding onto them through the act of thinking. As you learn to change your relationship with your mind, you can learn to let go of your thoughts, so that they lose their power to negatively impact on your life, for good.
Sandy C. Newbigging is the creator of Mind Detox and Mind Calm, Find out more at www.mindcalm.com
