Monday Thoughts 7/29/2019

“Every thought has the power to bring into being the visible from the invisible. It is absolutely necessary for us all to understand that everything we think, do or say comes back to us. Every thoughts, word or action—without exception—manifests itself (in some way) as an actual reality.” ~~Ann Wigmore

“Your thoughts are seeds, and the harvest you reap will depend on the seeds you plant.” ~~Rhonda Byrne

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” ~~Henry David Thoreau

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Statement #5
I am what I think.
I am a capable, competent, caring, compassionate woman.

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Recently, I was wondering about the different thoughts that we can have. I was interested in using Statement #5 to reduce worry, and I dove deeper into the thought process. What I learned was surprising. In particular, one publication was quite helpful, and I will provide a link to the full article, but here is an excerpt:

“Your brain produces thoughts, as a biological function, to serve you. And discovering that each of these types of thoughts happen in completely separate brain regions means that we can be trained to use one of these more than the other.

We need a lot of attention to the present when we perform tasks, and we also need problem solving. Those are very useful functions. What we don’t really need is the narrative component of thought, the useless, endless chatter—the part that makes us feel a bit crazy and keeps us trapped in suffering.

Specific elements may differ, but the endless stream of chatter is something we all share. It worries us about what is yet to come; it belittles us; it disciplines us; it argues, fights, debates, criticizes, compares, and rarely ever stops to take a breath. Day after day we listen as it talks and talks.” ~~Solve for Happy by Chief Business Officer for Google X

“Switching your mind into experiential mode of thinking is a more powerful alternative. By focusing on our senses, our breath, smell, touch, sound and sight we turn off the incessant thinking.

Dr. Ellen Langer, a social psychologist at Harvard University, is regarded as the pioneer of mindfulness in the West. According to her research, we can shift our focus by flooding the mind with things that it can’t evaluate, or judge — things it can only observe. Here’s how she describes it:

Direct your attention outside yourself. Observe the light in the room, pay attention to whatever is on your desk, catch that smell of coffee percolating in the kitchen, notice the wood grain on the table, or listen to the distant sounds of cars in the street. Don’t let anything go unobserved. Notice every tiny detail around you. This is what you used to do as a newborn child. Just observe.

I sometimes use a modified version of this approach where I start naming objects in my mind as I notice them:

Desk, coffee, kitchen, wood, table, car, air conditioner, cool air….

And before you know it, the incessant thought vanishes. Because the brain is terrible at multitasking, it needs to stop all previous thinking to absorb new information. If the new information is processed in a different area of the brain, it is unlikely you will fall back into incessant thinking.”

Using a form of mindfulness, we can reduce the chatter and create the life we desire.

Here is the link to the full article

Which ways do you find effective in managing your thoughts?

Hugzzz
Karen

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Hi 4C Women,

This reminds me of the workshop at the WFS conference a few years ago – Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life. It is amazing how our thoughts about ourselves can do so much damage to our self-esteem if we continue to believe all the negative chatter and input that is not our truth of who we are today. Our past can hold us prisoner until we begin to forgive ourselves by releasing the past and healing. If I looked at how I described myself many years ago, I would question, who was that woman? I didn’t work this hard and, gratefully so, to continue to demean myself in the present.

I urge you to stop and consider all that you have accomplished emotionally and spiritually at this very moment and every baby step counts! As they say, this is not a race, but a journey to a New Life of self-worth and self-love.

So, if you doubt that you are a 4C woman and want to eliminate those negative definitions of yourself, answer these questions:

Is this how I want to feel? Will this get me what I really want? How is this working for me? Is this my truth?

Bonded in knowing we are 4C women,
a 4C sister