How To Master Your Thoughts, So They Don’t Control Your Life

Photo by Rebe Pascual on Unsplash

You Are Not Your Thoughts

“Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not remain so if you only perceive an ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still without.” — James Allen

What were you thinking a moment ago before reading this article? Was it a positive or disempowering thought? Can you recall the feelings generated by the thoughts. Were they pleasant, neutral or disagreeable?

If you can recognise the emotions produced by your thoughts, congratulations, you know how to ride the wave of a thought. What do I mean by that? If you observe a surfer on a wave, you’ll notice the wave will eventually turn into a large swell.

With enough momentum it surges into a larger wave, carrying the surfer to the shoreline. Thoughts come and go from our mind like ocean waves. New thoughts enter our stream of consciousness every second. This means thoughts don’t last, unless we direct our attention towards specific ones.

We live in the feelings of our thoughts, not the outside circumstances that influence them.

This was the theme espoused by author and philosopher Sydney Banks who taught the Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought. External conditions impose upon our thinking if we allow them to, however they produce an emotional response if the stimuli is strong enough.

Have you noticed that some days your thoughts produce negatives emotions while other days those same thoughts seem insignificant. Why? What has changed apart from the day?

We may react to our surroundings on those occasions for unknown reasons, i.e. tired, moody, hungry, etc. At that time we’re ruled by our thinking more so. Our mind doesn’t differentiate between a positive or negative thought.

It doesn’t register them in this manner — but we do, as the observer. When we label thoughts, we assign them importance over others, so they occupy space in our mind.

I want to be clear: You are not your thoughts, because they appear and dissolve from your mind and…