How often have you ever felt like your thoughts rule you and not the other way around?

Your not alone. It does not have to be this way. You can learn to make your thoughts work FOR you rather than AGAINST you.

Your mind, your thoughts. Master them, and you master yourself. Happiness, character, external success – they all begin in the mind. As the famous saying goes – “As within, so without.”

The moment we begin paying attention to our thoughts we discover how unruly they are. We don’t really beat our heart, it beats itself. Neither do we control our thinking – WE ARE BEING THOUGHT.

In the beginning you may feel as though your thoughts are impossible to tame, It can be frustrating, it can also be the most rewarding skill you ever learn. Taming the monkey mind can be looked at in two parts:

PART 1: Stop thinking you and your efforts are never good enough:

Reflect on the positive counterpart. If you look closely, you’ll see that negative thoughts stem from negative emotions. They feed off each other. Negative thoughts cause negative emotions, and negative emotions cause more negative thoughts. They feed off each other in a vicious cycle.

If we change one part of this cycle our thoughts slowly begin to change as well. Try to think about the opposites of what you are feeling. What is the positive counterpart to the emotion in your cycle? Hatred has Love. Cruelty has Compassion. Desire has Non-clinging. Agitation has Harmony. I personally use this for annoying thoughts or memories. For example, I sometimes get bored with tedious work or irritated by rude clients. In that case, I take a short break, go for a walk, and drench myself with harmony before stepping back in.

PART 2: Reflecting on the Misery:

If the thoughts persist after an earnest effort at the preceding level, you should try reflecting on how much misery these thoughts are causing you. Reflect on how much misery these thoughts are causing you. Don’t just think it through, feel it. Take as much time as you need, sit there, and feel as deeply as you can how much misery and pain these thoughts cause. I cannot stress the feeling portion of it enough – Go as deep inside yourself as you can let your heart answer, not your mind.

Finally ask yourself one last question. Who are you without these thoughts? Imagine yourself without the thoughts on both levels. Let yourself know that you are perfect just as you are, that these are nothing more than thoughts and you can put them down any time. Your thoughts ARE NOT YOU unless you give them the power to do so. Rest on this and hold it close until it’s meaning sinks in. Take your time, no mind is trained overnight!

I apologize for the lengthy post, but then this is not an easy subject so let me summarize it this way:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Peace and love, Jim