When we catch ourselves in negative or unhelpful thought, it isn’t always that easy to “just think positively.” It can sometimes lend itself to feeling inauthentic, as we strive to align with something we are struggling to feel.
What happens to us however is that what we attend to we bring to our experience. If we attend to the crummy weather forecast, for example, we run the risk of setting ourselves up for feeling blue if it isn’t what we hoped for. If we attend to judgement, complaints, injustices and weariness, we begin to feel the negative weight of those thoughts.
We begin by simply recognizing if our thought feels heavy, weighted. “Is it helpful?” “Can thinking this way create change? Growth?” If the answer is no, we move to more flexible thinking, something that will make the moment feel lighter. When we are able to create meaningful associations to thoughts, we are able to form a way of thinking that promotes self-reflection, growth and a more settled internal state.
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