It’s not reality, it’s just the shit that we think

Each of us is compelled to do things by inner thoughts and feelings that may or may not be helpful.

As such, each day brings us a chance to either deepen our sense of inner peace by thinking thoughts that serve us, or deepen our sense of anxiety by jumping on the hamster wheel of rumination.

It all depends on what kind of relationship we have with our own mind.

Is your ego or your reptilian brain telling you stories that are only making you more anxious? You’re not alone. For many of us, it can seem like there is too much time to think, and too many disturbing thoughts on which to dwell.

And it can feel impossible to step out of the anxiety cycle.

If that’s the case for you, the key practice is learning how to use your gift of attention to just watch your thoughts floating by. Here are several visualizations that have been helpful for me over the years.

Pretend it’s an open door, let the thoughts come in and let them go.

Smile at your thoughts the way you would at the antics of a child.

Think of thoughts as weather patterns that have a beginning, middle and an end.

Imagine your thoughts as leaves falling trees, landing in the water and floating downstream into the ether.

There’s no one right way to do it. There are as many visualizations as there are anxious people to generate them. The goal here is not to suppress anything, but to become aware enough of your thoughts and emotions to see when there is a choice to be made.

This practice helps you govern your anxiety by noticing and naming it, but then turning away from it and refusing its seductive invitation to enter your dark interior.

But don’t expect it to work the first time, or even the first hundred times. It takes a while to unwind our maladaptive and faulty connections.

You have to think of it as making an investment in your future peacefulness. Trusting that eventually, you will accrue enough mindfulness credit in your account to pay those anxiety bills the minute they’re delivered to your inbox.

For now, just remember this. When you start using words like always and never, that means your mind is messing with you.

But it’s not reality, it’s just the shit you think.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will you err towards thinking thoughts that serve you?