“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
Thoughts are like virus floating through the air. One must be careful what you pick up and take into the mind.
All suffering is caused by the mind. When you can step out of the “I” self, which is the small self, you can witness how the mind plays games to make you suffer. You are not your mind and as you become an observer of the thoughts that flow through your mind you begin to see how you attach yourself to ideas and become them. As you come to understand this, you now can allow thoughts that disrupt your peace to travel through your mind without reacting to them. For example: I once heard a story about two friends that were cheating on their partners. As I listen to the story I witnessed my thoughts creating stories and situations to fuel the conversation. It was a delicious piece of gossip and the thoughts were tempting like a just grilled BBQ chicken leg- hot and sticky. It was a great negative train of thoughts in my mind going around and around creating conclusions.
Why is it when we encounter a problem our mind goes to the negative ideas first? Because of fear, loss, jealousy, greed, etc. Mind can play dirty tricks on you. Not accepting ideas and thoughts that cause you suffering is to constantly be aware of where your mind goes. If you want to keep your peace it is important to watch your thinking. You can imagine the mind functioning like a radio with many stations. Thoughts are the music playing on different stations. As thoughts randomly come into the mind you decide which thoughts you focus on. As the controller of the dial you have the ability to turn or tune into the thoughts that serve you.
Thoughts follow along as a train: Imagine a train with different carts attached to it. Each cart is a type of thought that attached together. Negative thoughts can only attach to negative trains. Just as positive thoughts only attach to positive trains of thoughts. Next time you start to experience negative trains of thoughts start to think positively. Disqualify the negative train of thoughts instantly by breaking them apart with positive thoughts about your situation.
Watching your thoughts is an important aspect to powering your life. When you consider the quote at the top of the page you can see how you co-create your situations. Many young people unknowingly get caught up in a train of thought that lead them down a path they regret later on in life.
It is natural for the mind to generate thoughts – that is its job, like it’s the job of the heart to pump blood – but when we habitually identify with thoughts we generate a relentless self-obsession which becomes the main source of our suffering. Observing our thoughts is a great way to move from gossip, stressing and worrying.
So when it turned out later that nothing was going on between the two people in question I simply laughed, within myself, knowing many of my friend’s thoughts were not his mind but the influence of others and his imagination. Thankfully my experience and awareness of mind kept me from embarrassment and destroying good relationships with great people.
Below are ways to block negative trains of thought;
1. Ask yourself; is it true? Disqualify ideas that can make you suffer by demanding proof from your inner dialogue.
2. Look for the positive in your situation; think about the relationships you have in a positive way. Don’t mess up good friendships for trivial gossip and material concerns.
3. Don’t dwell on thoughts you cannot conclude. In other words, tell yourself you don’t know and accept that for now.
4. Do your best to keep it to yourself. Don’t speak negative thought that are not true.
5. Let go. Give up your egos. Until the truth comes to surface, realize there is much more to life than what is in your head.
Excerpt from “Secrets To Life Book” by Chris Emmanuel
Book available at Chris Emmanuel Art Gallery (Sunbreeze Hotel) and Pages Book Store
