When you observe your own thoughts for more than 10 minutes, you’ll likely find out that many of them are quite pessimistic.
There can be:
- worries
- fears
- anxiety
- hopes
- grief
- apathy
The human mind has been dealing with problems for thousands of years.
It’s so good at finding problems, it even anticipates them. In other words, it creates them.
Because knowing a problem, means being able to find solutions for it, right?
If you think ahead, you might not walk into a predator or you might gather enough wood for the winter.
To know the problems means better survival.
This is the basic formula of your mind.
In modern times, problems arise in different fields:
Will I perform well at work? Will they like me? Will my date go well?
Your mind still creates problems to save. Saving these problems means your survival.
Not physical survival most of the time, but social survival: status, money, admiration, and others.
Survival is a good thing, right?
But surviving is not thriving.
Problems don’t make you live an abundant life.
Just look at the list above. Your mind has to create more and more problems. From worries to anxieties to fears.
There are simply too many problems for your mind to solve.
The result? You think up 1000s problems, do nothing, and just go on living.
Living with a little less energy. Over time, however, this adds up. Depression, burn-out, apathy.
The core fault in the mind is the following:
It can’t control the world. Anticipating problems and solving them before they happen is a way of control.
It’s working with limited means (your thoughts) to control the unlimited universe.
It just doesn’t work.
The solution, however, is quite simple:
Consciously exchange each negative thought with a positive one. It takes two steps:
- become aware of a negative thought (This is mindfulness in action)
- Think something positive instead. (“All is well”, “I can”, “The world takes good care of me”, “Today is good, tomorrow will be even better”, ” I am harmonious, powerful, and happy”)
Do this consistently and it will become a habit.
The reason is simple: The natural state is one of abundance. That’s why you don’t lie to yourself when you do positivity exchange. It’s moving closer to the truth.
Have a great day,
David HiP