This weekend I listened again to a few talks given by Eckhart Tolle that have been posted on YouTube. His messages made me realize that the biggest reason we may not be living soul-prospering lives is because we think too much!
We should stop thinking!
I don’t mean that we should shuffle along in a catatonic state; we need to realize, though, that our thoughts are generally negative and limiting.
We probably have recognized some of our default thoughts when we’re faced with difficulties or when we confront something new are ones such as:
I can’t;
It’s too hard;
It’s too much;
Ill never be able to learn;
It’s always one problem after another;
Why bother because nothing I do ever makes a difference….
But what about those thoughts that run through our minds that are just below our awareness? While you may not be aware of them, you can tell if they’re positive or negative by how you are feeling.
For instance, if you’re feeling frustrated, tired, worried, sad, anxious, and other feelings along those lines, then we’re probably thinking something along the lines of:
I always get stuck with the awful jobs;
This is too hard for me;
My boss looked at me weird; am I going to get laid off;
It’s only 9:30 am; I can’t wait for this day to be over;
I’ll never make enough money….
What can we do about this, though?
It’s impossible for us to stop thinking and it’s probably unrealistic to think that we can completely eradicate our negative thoughts.
What we can do is to periodically check in with ourselves and notice how we’re feeling. When we find ourselves feeling negative, we should understand that we’ve allowed something to get under our skin and discombobulate us so we’re now feeling sad, angry, worried….
This week we’ll talk more about thinking and how to get a handle on ours. Come back tomorrow for the next installment!
Your Friend and Pep Pal,
Lauren
