Canned Ideas
Most of us go through our days recycling ideas that we had from the day before. That’s what it means to be unaware. You go through your day largely doing, and thinking, the same things you did before, and fail to see that your thinking is the thing that you could change. Being aware means you are present for, and can see, your own thoughts, which then sets you up to improve your life because noticing is the first step to changing.
Noticing the thoughts that you replay, over and over, is a good way to see your patterns of thinking. These patterns are important because patterns can trap us into one way of being, when what our souls want is the freedom to grow, change, and have more fun. Not yours? Well, that’s what my soul seems to call for.
When you can begin to notice where your thought patterns repeat in an unhelpful sort of way, you can see that your pattern is not supporting you. Which also means that you are now aware that a positive thought pattern could be created, and could support you better.
This awareness is step one. Actually changing your pre-programmed thoughts is step two. And it’s easy, if you put a little effort into it.
A new idea can be learned in days, if you put your heart into it. By this I mean, set an intent that you are going to add the new idea to your experience and really let it sink in. I do this when I am trying to learn new things. Often, my first (pre-programmed) reaction is to feel tense as I am thinking, “I don’t know how to do this. I can’t do this. I can’t figure this out.” I am often not aware of those specific thoughts, but I do become aware of the tension when I do new things. And when I feel the tension, I can now easily see that I am thinking thoughts that limit me, which is my cue to start affirming thoughts that benefit me. For me that means I begin to talk to myself, saying, I can. I can figure this out. It’s easy. I bet there are many resources to help me learn this new thing. With just a few sentences, I ease my tension, and then I go do the new thing I want to do.
This sort of practice is now second nature to me, but it didn’t start that way. At first, I had to be deliberate about practicing new ideas, and saying them out loud. I do this anytime I am working on some new ideas that feel like a stretch. I write them out, read them out loud, and let the ideas wash over me until they sink in. If we can have negative thoughts on auto pilot, then we can have positive ones too. The key is to practice.
If we can have negative thoughts on auto pilot, then we can have positive ones too.
If your canned ideas are serving you, keep using them. But if they make you feel tense, anxious, or afraid, try practicing a new idea that is contrary to the idea that makes you tense. If you can stay aware for most of the day, soon you will easily see where you feel stress, or when you want a distraction, and these are great moments to say, I have the opportunity to change my thinking. What new idea will I try?