"This Week"
Bahrain Meditation Centre
NOVEMBER 12TH 2006
How do you think?

In seeking your opinion you have most likely been asked many times, ““What do you think?”. But how often have you been asked, “How do you think?” Do you know how to think? It seems a somewhat irrelevant question as we are thinking all the time. Yet no one teaches us how to use our mind, no one teaches us how to create thoughts, how to choose the thoughts we will give life to and how to discern the quality of our thoughts. Everything in your life begins with your thoughts, everything you do in your life follows from an image or an idea on the screen of your mind, however fleeting.

Signs that we are not consciously creative and discerning thinkers include the appearance of certain thoughts merely out of habit or the recognition that the thoughts we are creating are not the ones we would like to create. Habitual thinking can fall into a number of categories – positive, negative and neutral.

Positive thinking is empowering and affirming and seen in a ‘can do’ and ‘can help’ attitude. Neutral thinking is necessary thinking which organizes and orders the practicalities of daily life. It’s the negative thinking that can cripple our ability to act creatively and proactively.

Habitual negative thinking is stressful. It is where much of our stress begins. It is not the event or the person that makes us stressed but the thoughts that we create about them.

Our negative mental habits become are our inner rulers and shapers. We put them on the throne of our consciousness and allow them to shape our lives, but we can take them off at any time. The first step in restoring your inner sovereignty is our old friend ‘awareness’. Be aware of the habitual thoughts that are causing your stressful feelings, and vice versa. Then learn to detach from them and to destroy them. You are a creator, sustainer and destroyer. When you exercise your power over your own thoughts in this way then you, and not your thought habits, are back on the throne. Typical habitual thought patterns that create stress

include:
Critical Parent
Somewhere in the past a big person criticized you, probably with some frequency, and you being little, believed them. The voice stays with you until you a) become aware of it b) realize you are recreating it and sustaining it c) cancel and replace it with self affirming thoughts

Obsessive Thinking
This is often the pattern that interferes with sleep at the end of the day. The mind is tired and weak, and one thought just goes round and round. So ‘snap’ yourself out of it. Think of something more relaxing.

Refocus your mental attention on something positive. Practice easy concentration exercises to strengthen your ability to maintain focus.

Worry Thinking
This is the most common type of habitual thinking. Worry is ‘fantasized catastrophizing’. When you worry you create images of the worst possible outcome, and then we use those images to frighten yourself. When you notice yourself starting to worry be aware that you are creating a fictional story. Hollywood is in your head. So, to break the pattern, say the following phrase to yourself, “This story may never happen”.

Controlling Thinking
You will hear this in your self talk as, “You should… they must…why can’t everyone … they shouldn’t have done that…” Remind yourself that you cannot control anyone. It just seemed that way as you watched your parents and teachers behave as if they could. Everyone falls under this illusion to some extent. Remind yourself that all you can control is your self.

Question: Why do you think no one formally teaches us how to think and what effect does it have on our life?

Reflection: If someone asked you to teach them how to think … how would you teach them?

Action: At the end of each day this week write down the main negative thoughts you had during the day. Crush the paper and throw it in the waste bin.

Om Shanti
(I am a peaceful soul)

 Tel: +973-17-712 545, meditate@batelco.com.bh, www.bahrainmeditationcentre.org
Bahrain Meditation Centre is administered by B.K.W.S.U. (visit: www.bkwsu.org.uk)