How can I change my thinking? How can I change my thoughts? Can you change the way that your brain thinks? How do I change and transform my thoughts instantly? How do I change my thoughts to be more positive?
by Robert Farmilo
(special bonus waiting for you at the end of this lesson)
These types of questions are asked by many people every day. One of the reasons people want to know what to do with their thinking (and their feeling of feelings) is because they are overwhelmed with the stream of information they have coming into their minds (and bodies) from the outside world they live with.
To top all that off, there is the mental clutter streaming through your mind that is being generated from inside your own mind. This includes all the random thoughts and feelings popping into and out of existence in your mind.
Some of this stuff is in the form of recycled memories that feeds on itself and leads from one thought construct to the next. It is often difficult to impossible to trace one such stream back to the start-off that got it all going in the first place.
Whew!
In the first part of this series on "How To Catch A Thought" we learned a simple and immediately practical three-step method to deliberately choose what you think and/or feel next.
If you want to take a look at this method, here is the link:
Here is the next simple, mental technique that works:
How to stop thinking thoughts and enter into a simple state of awareness.
One: Sit with your eyes closed.
Two: Begin to notice what you are thinking.
Three: Begin to notice being aware of what you are thinking.
Four: Begin to be aware of being aware of what you are thinking.
Five: Sit with your awareness of being aware.
Six: Let the thoughts come and go while you are aware of being aware.
Seven: Let your awareness of being aware continue.
Eight: As you are aware of being aware, consciously stop thinking the next thought.
Nine: Be still inside your own mind.
Ten: As you sit quietly inside your own awareness of being aware of your own awareness (whew!), thoughts may come in and out of this quiet, simple state of awareness.
Eleven: When you become aware that you have become lost in thought, bring yourself back to your awareness of being aware of your awareness.
Twelve: Rinse and repeat, continue the process.
What you are doing with this process is deliberately entering into being a quiet witness to your own mind's activity.
And you are practicing the simple skill of being aware of your own current consciousness.
When you get lost in thought and are no longer consciously aware of what you are thinking, as soon as you become aware that you are once again submerged in thought, at that moment you can return to the witness state.
When you do this, you are strengthening your natural ability to enter a state where you are NOT thinking thoughts while still being aware.
So you are not blanking out and losing awareness when you do this. It is not a form of self-hypnosis.
The presence of one thought to the next is spread out. The time between the arisal of one thought to the next is longer. When a thought does come up, you can watch it come into your mind. And then you can let the thought dissipate.
As you get more practice, the time between thoughts will increase. You are going to be able to enter into the simple state of awareness for longer periods of time.
Why bother doing any of this stuff?
Well, the benefits of doing continue to be the subject of scientific research.
There are a lot of groovy gurus waiting to give you ways to become one with the universe.
Obviously, I have some sarcasm on display. And a healthy dose of cynicism, too.
But...I know that if you practice the method as described in this article, and if you keep at it, even when you don't seem to be getting any witness state going on --- even if you get bored --- you are going to start to get some space between your thoughts. And the silence inside your mind is going to increase.
Take it from me, this is a sweet relief from the grim slog to the
endless abyss.
You will start to "get it."
All that is between you and that wonderful time when you are able to watch yourself watching yourself --- being aware of being aware --- is sitting down and practicing the simplest darn thing you ever have done.
I'd start with the first exercise of becoming aware of the fact that you are having a thought, that your are thinking thoughts.
This exercise is nicely covered in this video. So watch it. And then start the practice. Once you get some ability doing it, then you are ready to move on to catching your awareness and sitting inside your own mind, and witnessing your self.
Here is the video. Watch it. And then do it.
Here is a link to some metaphysical mumbo jumbo explaining some of the old-school ideas about what the witness state of awareness portends for you:
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