“I think and that is all that I am.”
~Wayne Dyer~
Thinking is a form of mental exercise. We think so we act. But ask yourself this question- How often do you actually think before you act?
Did you think before you shrugged at someone the last time?
Did you think before you thought judgmentally about someone you didnt like?
Did you think before you blatantly lied about some mundane thing?
Have you truly been thinking???
Ok, lets say, you have been thinking before you do everything in your life- Have you then been thinking positively or negatively?
Your thinking is who you are. Its what makes or breaks you.
When I was a little girl, my mum often corrected me from using bad language or saying something rude. She often got very cross if I was rude to a guest. I often got upset with her corrections, but today I know those corrections have kept me in check.
But that was then, I was a little naive girl who didn’t know anything about the intricacies of life. Today I’m a grown woman, having a child of my own. I am independent, and have so many credentials – Who dares to come to correct me today? If no one is correcting me, does that mean I am perfect?
NO, Far from it. I and no one else is perfect, but we think we are. Our thinking makes us feel perfect. We refuse to correct ourselves, cause well ,we are all grown up and know better, isn’t it?? We are doing all the things good and responsible adults do. So, why bother??
If we choose to live in oblivion, then where is this life truly taking us? Our purpose of living should not be just to acquire material pleasures at any cost, there has got to be more to life than that.
Whats the cost of not thinking or thinking negatively?
If we refuse to truly think, we are not only harming ourselves, but the universal plan as well. Everyone must have read or heard about how when you think positively, everything positive happens and comes back to you ten folds. Its the same for not thinking or thinking negatively too. If you choose to be judgmental about another person or choose to hurt another person, just cause you feel like it- youre giving out so much negativity into the universe. Now imagine if that negativity comes back to you ten folds…….Not a pretty sight huh?? Thats the ripple effect of thinking or Karma !!!
Free yourself
Free yourself from the trap of automatic negative thinking. Its easy to just let your thoughts go vary, but its far more courageous to tame those thoughts.Try every-time you think, to think consciously. Be aware of your thoughts. When you become habituated to being aware of your thinking, you will stop living and thinking in auto pilot. Thereby controlling the negative thought process.
Dont lie to yourself
Every time you smile at someone, but in your mind cant stand the sight of that person- youre lying to yourself. Dont portray what you dont truly think. Rather think beautifully, so all you radiate and portray is your true Loving, Humane and Compassionate self.
Make your thinking a catalyst for positivity and happiness inside yourself and outside in the world too.
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Great post! It is really important that we don’t become judgemental about people and their actions. Thinking objectively is essential to see the reality as it is. Otherwise our self interests and pre-conditionings cloud our thinking.
HI Vijay,
Such an insightful comment!!
You know….we forget when we are being all judgmental…that we are infact sending out so much negativity..which can seriously come back to haunt us.
Think before you act and think before you think !!! is the best approach.
Hey Zeenat,
interesting post you have here 🙂
Although I do agree with you with what you say about how we have these automatic negative thoughts that trap us in never-ending misery. I personally do believe that in order to clean off those automatic thoughts, is simply to have…no thoughts.
To be able to access something inside of us that is deeper than thoughts. As long as the mind is the dominant voice within, our emotions will become dependent on wherever our thoughts go.
If we have positive thoughts, then we have positive emotions. As we have negative thoughts, we have negative emotions. But is that all? Doesn’t that mean that the emotions we experience are not of our own but of our compulsive thoughts (whether positive or negative?)
I guess what I am trying to say is that from a personal opinion, mind and thoughts do not define who we are and we shouldn’t seek identity from them.
Anyways, thank you Zeenat for this rather philosophical post, you’ve brought me to think again…:)
HI Steven,
Am glad atleast my posts make you think 😉
We are all good and positive inherently. Notice when a child is born, he know no negativity….he is pure …full of love ad amazement for this world. BUt as he starts growing up and absorbing his environment….he learns to use emotions as a catalyst for getting what he wants. Thats how we all tend to stay when we grow up…cause we are still caught up and influenced by our environment.
The minute we start thinking positively which is our true nature our true self will shine. And that is our positive side.
Hi Zeenat, you are so right in this post. We often think that we are better than others when in reality we are all equal, we are all one.
I truly believe that judgements and negatvity toward others come from us not loving ourselves in the first place. Once we truly love and accept ourselves, we’ll be able to love and accept others.
And I am not speaking of the kind of love that separates or makes you think you are perfect or better. Not ego-based love.
But true love that unites you with others, love that accepts and forgives. Find that kind of love toward yourself and you’ll be able to find it toward others as well.
HI Lana,
Youre absolutely right…when you can love yourself….automatically that love radiates to others.
No ego no judgments…just pure positive love does truly unite us.
so true and very well written!
u know, many are afraid to think. they feel it leads to complications ..thus they refrain themselves from thinking. its just really terrible
u lose out on discovering parts of yourself in this way!
HI oRange,
Its called comfort thinking….isnt it. You dont know so you cant act accordingly !!! I suppose in their mind they think, ignorance is bliss. But quite the contrary…..You do truly lose out on finding yourself .
This is great, Zeenat! I think a lot of people go through life without really thinking. It’s like they are on auto-pilot, and they just drift through their day. They have been thinking negative thoughts for so long that they don’t even realize they are doing it anymore! Thank you for writing about this. I hope it will help more people to “wake up” from their negative thoughts.
HI Jay,
Wake up is the exact term that needs to be focused on with our inner self. That dormant autopilot state isnt good for anybody.
Thank you for your lovely comment 🙂
Zeenat, I love this line:
Rather think beautifully, so all you radiate and portray is your true Loving, Humane and Compassionate self.
Totally validates a “special” project I’m working on right now… which I hope to involve you in as soon as I get a few of my ducks in a row (and this line of yours is EXACTLY why).
🙂
Hi Lisis,
That line just poured out…couldnt hold my fingers…nor could I bring myself to edit it..weird na!!
Ahh special project you say….me all curious now 🙂
Glad you liked the post sweetie 🙂
It’s a thinking kind of week, Zeenat! Positive thinking saved me from myself, frankly, and for the last eight years, my life has been spectacular because of it.
I like how you said we have to police ourselves, though, to initially break out of the negative thinking mode. It’s true; I find that (still) whenever I have a negative thought, I instantly recognize it as such, and turn it around. Very powerful!
I also think what you said at the end about being honest with ourselves is important. If we smile at someone we don’t like, rather than not smiling, maybe we could take a deeper look at why we don’t like that person. I know for me, it always goes back to something about myself that they’re reflecting back to me. I see parts of myself that I don’t like in their actions, or in who I perceive them to be. That lets me work on myself more, which I always appreciate.
Love and joy to you!
HI My Joyful Angel,
See why i call you my joyful angel…cause always you can find just the right thing to enhance my thoughts 🙂
Youre right ..that whenever we dont like something about the other person..it is infact a reflection on our self. View others as mirrors to yourself…and you can never go wrong with yourself or with others. Ahh me going to write a post on this topic soon 🙂
I am so glad positive thinking has helped you to become who you are today….it is a miraculous and powerful feeling!
Big hugs and love to you!
Hi, this is a challenging post! It does brings up many thoughts (!) for me.
Having had problems with anxiety and depression, I struggle to quiet my mind and not imagine that strangers are thinking the worst of me. What helps is to remind myself to view them with compassion as best I can, thinking that I don’t know their struggles and pain specifically, but generally I would recognize it as applicable to all human beings. It is a frame of mind you have to work at, and it may not be easy. It does seem strange that as you put your most open presence forward, it is like a mirror, or somehow others are inclined to synchronize with it in a positive way. This only reinforces your efforts. I have seen this work in reverse, too. I was kicked in the jaw when I was 4 years old which led to structural problems, and also have strong allergies. Together these sometimes combine to work my facial expressions into some odd contortions, and I may be in some degree of pain or discomfort as well. If I am out in public, a passing stranger may give a dismissive, or frightened look. As things go in public, there is no time to stop and relieve the stranger of any false impression they have. This may continue, and accumulate, with subsequent stranger’s reactions, leading one to a very confused sense of self. I feel it is important to slow our pace, even if just for a beat or two, to offer some words or a gesture to indicate that you are not threatening, and also acknowledge their humanity. A lot of human misery would seem to be from the accumulation of frequently being misunderstood.
As for thinking, I recently began studying Tai Chi, and my teacher is sometimes an inscrutable presence. I believe this is her way of countering the students’ need for immediate answers as to the why’s and wherefore’s of the art that commonly accompanies the racing thoughts of so many western minds. We feel a need for even a superficial answer right away to assuage our doubts, but we really are not ready to understand at the deep level that is actually required. In class she often encourages us to perform movements without thinking. This presumably has multiple reasons, two of which I imagine are to help ingrain the movement deep in the sub-conscious mind, and on a meditative level, to rid ourselves of what she often refers to as “monkey-mind.” In a greater sense of attempting to integrate lessons from Tai Chi into my daily life, I work at being more relaxed, aware and flexible enough to not over-think thoughts and reactions, nor to allow for obsessive thought. Regular exercise and getting a good night’s sleep help greatly with this.
Having written all of that, I think we are all going through refinement of our being, some at a different pace or rate as compared to others. We can make the effort to be patient with ourselves and with others. After all, many people are struggling just to be self-aware enough of what their true thoughts and feelings are, like from “that still small voice within.”
Sorry this comment is so long. Thanks for this blog entry!
HI John,
And thank you for taking the time to share so much of yourself here. Its an honor for me to read your thoughts and know about you.
Youre so wise and already know so much….Strangers reactions shouldnt effect you. What you say about how strangers react…its cause somewhere within themselves they feel their own instability and lack of compassion coming forth..and are too weak to admit it.
Be strong in your self and your thoughts…and see the world around change their course for you!! It will happen..the acceptance….but it takes time. If it were so easy for people to recognize their negatives and change them into positives-the world would be a much more peaceful place than what it is now..right!
I cant begin to tell you how glad I am you wrote this comment….youre a wonderful person and i hope i see you more often on the Blog. I would love to hear more of your beautiful thoughts.
Thank you again for your beautiful and heart warming comment 🙂
Hi Zeenat!
Oh good medicine here! (well, there ALWAYS is!) but I love this post.
This negative thinking thing is one of my favorite topics – only because we ALL do it, some consciously, others aware, and by golly don’t we know we shouldn’t! (there’s a negative right there creepin in!)
You know what I’ve found about this whole thinking thing? When I think positive thoughts I have energy. When I have negative thoughts, that energy leaks out of me, depletes me, flattens my perspective like a balloon losing its air!
Now I’m all for conservation of energy – on all levels! Sometimes I may not be immediately aware I’m slipping into negative thoughts, but I can FEEL my energy before my head figures this out – and if its going down, it is an immediate signal to me (my head!) that my thoughts are negative. It is amazing effective!
Keep shining your light! It’s bright and warm! We all benefit!
Hugs,
suZen
HI SUzen,
Your comment is just such a wonderful reminder of how we can be our own guides. Superb how you can tell by the energy if its negative even without actually realizing it first. I usually have the same experience, but being human and especially being a mother to a little hyper girl..i tend to lose my top…but I have been learning to keep my cool…and just breathe before I take action on that anger. Usually it goes away…sometimes it doesnt even come….but for me what works..is keeping my thoughts in check. My energy usually follows 🙂
Thank you darling Suzen for such a wonderful comment. 🙂
Big Hug!!
I am on autopilot to a point, with some people as I push away the negativity often venting about their life in general. I have friends who have changed drastically, since college.
They are unhappy and venting while they take control of a conversation that was intended to be happy and friendly.
My reaction is to withdraw from the issues because I can’t relate to them.
In return I get told, I am a Stepfordish wife which I consider the single women saying this. I believe they either, love to have complication and misery in their life and blame it on past relationships that have gone sour.
They need to learn to let go and move on.
I really like what you say here. You reach me in a variety of areas on this article. I am working on patience and what I call “sifting the size of matter.” This is a thinking exercise for me NOT to over think something into something bigger then what it actually is.
xoxo
HI Sweetie,
I get what youre saying…friends especially from college and school…even other people who are unhappy in their lives, tend to spread their negativity everywhere. For one, I try to mentally be stronger by not putting my emotions into the conversation but still listening compassionately. I have to listen, its just me, cause of my profession and well I feel like its my thing…so I listen. But i know in my heart that I have a plan to make the other person feel positive and happy again. So that works for me. To look forward to something after they have finished venting. This way negativity doesnt get to me as often…and I am able to listen without judgment.
I am glad you liked this article…
Lots of xoxoxox
Hi Zeenat
Thoughts become things, we better be careful what we think, is what Mike Dooley always says.
Lucky for us we can only hold one thought at any time, so if we observe we can simply replace them with loving ones and it is not more complicated than that. Only one thing as you point out, we need others to correct us at first and show us what to replace our destructive thoughts with. We need other people to do this LOVINGLY. Spot on and you are one of them.
Love Wilma
HI Sweet Wilma,
Youre such a pleasure to read always. 🙂
Yes we need to be corrected cause none of us is perfect….but what works better than self realization…..but the key to self realization is intervention I think…whether that loving intervention comes form our own self or from others…it should be welcome and accepted and finally worked on.
Thank you for such an insightful comment.
Lots of love
I’d like to think I’m more than my thoughts or maybe anything but my thoughts!
Yes I do believe all comes back at us, our thoughts, words and actions.
The crazy thing is that statistic about how we all have 60,000 thoughts per day and 90% are the same we had yesterday! No wonder I have days I feel I’m not getting any where!
Seriously having a positive state of mind is a top priority for me. I’ll immediately do what I need to do to change negativity when I catch myself. I also do preventive stuff like pray, meditate, go to a support group etc. Because I do these things I’m less likely to speak, think or act negatively in the first place.
Great and well needed post!
Hi Tess,
Its so nice to see youre doing such wonderful things in your life to keep the negativity at bay. It does make a lot of difference if we make a conscious effort.
Those statistics…are simply difficult for me to digest….I dont want to think I am wasting my thoughts 🙂
Glad you liked the post 🙂
Oh what a fun post and a good reminder about thinking before we speak. And not lying to ourselves – wow that is a big one.
I did a whole write up about Dr. Amen’s ANT’s program about changing Automatic Negative Thinking, it is a practice that truly works wonders – lots of children who are hyper active or disabled seem to have ANTs on their minds and that does not help them learn to control themselves or their behaviors…
Thank you for sharing…
Sorry it took me awhile to get here…you got moved and my computer started to give me fits and starts…seems we finally connected again – good news for me.
Hi Patricia,
Nice to see you here after so long…and wow I need to go check out that write up. Sounds interesting.
No need to apologize …Youre welcome to come visit anytime you can 🙂 Youre always a pleasure 🙂
Big hug.
Zeenat — It must been awhile since I’ve been here because you’ve been doing so really cool things to your site:~)
This is a great “thinking” post. After reading it and thinking about my own thoughts, I realized that I have to work on catching my negative thoughts when they happen. If I do this, most of time I can turn them around into a more positive thoughts.
Also, when I’m feeling judgmental or negative about a person, I ask myself why I feel this way. Is it because I’m angry at them, hurt or jealous, etc? By identifying the FEELING that’s behind my judgment, it’s much easier to acknowledge it and let it go, which helps me be less negative about the person.
I really liked this post. BTW I LOVE what you’ve done to your KindLike.Us page. I recently visited and it’s really well-done:~)
Hi Sara,
Nice to see your smiley and oh so Diva avatar back on my blog 🙂
You have really found a great way of handling negative emotions….most of the time when we think ill about another person its because we have those same vices and are unable to face the truth. More like a mirror. Other people are mirrors to yourself. So its great that youre able to correct your feelings instead of being judgmental.
Glad you liked this post..and the KIndlike us Page. I do love the community there. Such great people 🙂 Thank you for introducing me.
Oh and happy you like the new blog tweaks I have made 🙂 My little baby needed a makeover 😉
Hi Zeenat,
Great post. One thing that I often find funny is how people like to think that they are perfect and how they always want to give such an image. The irony is that no one is perfect. We are all here to grow and learn.
With that in mind, we also have the power to make a difference in the world by how we choose to be. We can either add to the beauty or to the misery. The choice is ours and ours alone. We can act out of love or out of fear. May more and more of us learn to act out of love and realize that only love is what will heal the world.
Hope all is going well in the new home!
Hi Nadia,
The fake illusion of perfectionism that people are running after seriously needs to be checked. Once that curtain moves life will become so much more clearer and full of love.
Things are great at home..thanks for asking 🙂 Only my laptop died on me..so had to wait for the new pc to arrive..then set up..hence the late replies to the comment 😦
Hope all is fine at your end too 🙂
Hi Zeenat .. absolutely – we need to think & often don’t. Especially think before we speak .. it is the Power of Now – now it’s gone! I liked the sentence .. Rather think beautifully, so all you radiate and portray is your true Loving, Humane and Compassionate self.
Let’s hope we can all do that .. A Sunday Thought from you and me .. Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
Hello Zeenat!
I absolutely love this article!
This statement you made is so awesome “Free yourself from the trap of automatic negative thinking”. That is a quote that should be on everyone’s wall and embedded in our minds!
You have given such solid advice and instruction in this article and I am so happy that there are people such as you that are putting this sort of wisdom out into the world.
Thank You
sALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAM