Drowning in Toxic Thoughts? Is Your Mind a Master or a Servant?

Mindfulness. Most people have heard of it. But what exactly is it and why would you ever want it? The image people usually associate with mindfulness is someone sitting off by themselves, shut off to the world, blissfully enjoying a mind devoid of thoughts. Not only is that not true, but it’s actually impossible. Our minds are “thought” generating machines. You can’t shut them down. But you can develop a practice of “not believing everything you think” and put your mind it in “its place” as servant, not master. Occasionally our thoughts are original and generated from our own thinking. However, many thoughts tend to be sound bites we’ve overheard or had drummed into us as kids. They get adopted by default. Ever get upset and found yourself on auto pilot reciting verbatim what was said in your family when you were a child? Parents experience this when they hear their parent’s words coming out of their mouths, even after they’ve vowed to never do that to their own kids. Autopilot. When we hear something over and over, whether in our head or from others, we get programed by this repetition to trust these thoughts and accept them as true. You know how you become used to something, like a new fashion trend or a song you initially didn’t like, after you’ve been exposed to it for a while? The more we repeat a thought, the more it becomes habitual and the more it sounds reasonable. And because we hear our thoughts in...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Family Habits Happiness Mindfulness Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Stress Monkey Brain Monkey Mind toxic shame Toxic thoughts Source Type: blogs