Thoughts
How To Control Your Mind
How our Thoughts Make Us The Person We Are
How we think has the ultimate bearing on our life. We can interpret and think about ourselves and the situations we are in in any given way.
Why do we think the way we do and what can we do to alter our thoughts to bring us more happiness and peace in our lives?
What are Thoughts?
Our thoughts. Our ideas, concepts, opinions, memories & feelings.
Thoughts come from a variety of places; previous experience, our subconscious, general feelings about ourselves and what others say.
They can be things we think long and deeply about or those that just pop into our head for no apparent reason. They can be conscious or something that is ingrained in us and so over time sub-consciously affect the way we think and feel.
Nobody can ever truly know them aside from ourselves. We are all constantly thinking about various things whether we like it or not.
Our thoughts can drive us to extreme emotions from motivation and excitement to upset and despair. Gaining control over them can bring a peace and happiness to us.
How Our Thoughts Shape Who We are
A thought starts off as just that, a passing thought. When thoughts are persistent and recurring they start to shape the person we are and go from being a thought to a characteristic of our personality.
When we think, “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good at that”, this is us telling ourselves these thoughts. These can come from experience however they are also just our perception of a situation. They can become ingrained in us so much so that they alter the person we are and we believe them as gospel.
If we think we aren’t confident about a certain situation or even life itself then we won’t be. We will immediately on the back foot.
Our life revolves around our thoughts. If we have mainly positive thoughts (an optimist), our life will be positive and we believe that we will be able to achieve the things we want. If we have mainly negative thoughts (a pessimist) our life will inevitably be negative and miserable.
Only we have the ability to decide how we are going to feel about any given situation. Will you make yourself happy or sad, scared or excited? There are genuine happy or sad moments in life. There are also many irrelevant moments which plague our thoughts and are not worth of the time or energy we spend thinking about them.
15 Ways To control Our Thoughts
Being the master of our thoughts is not easy. They take time and effort to understand and take control over. Controlling your thoughts ultimately controls your level of peace and happiness.
- Take a step back when a situation triggers thought and emotion in you – Ask yourself why you are reacting in the way that you are and if there is a better way to react. Try the process below
- Understand that you have power over your thoughts. Question yourself and why you are thinking the way that you are
- Reframe you’re thinking. A very basic concept of therapy – change the way you look at a situation and how you are perceiving it. It is very difficult to look at the situation in the same way again
- We tell ourself how we are reacting to the situation in front of us. Challenge the thinking.
- Let go of negative thoughts
- Look at the patterns of your thinking – the things that trigger unwanted thought processes. Watch them. Learn from them.
- Meditation – Meditation and mindfulness can change the way brain processes thoughts and bring calm and peace to us. Give it a try (here)
- Don’t beat yourself up over negative things that have happened – the past is the past, you cannot change it. Know in yourself that you have learnt from it and it will make you grow as a person even if it may take time
- Practice breathing exercises (try here)
- Make a thought journal or log. Write them down to help understand them
- Talk to others if the thoughts are too much
- Document actions to help your thinking process
- Don’t try to control others and do not worry about what they think of you
- Understand that you cannot control other people thoughts or actions
- You can only control your own thoughts and your actions
- Nothing is set in stone – You can change a situation or the way you think about something at any time, it’s up to you
Further Exploration - Articles & Media
Article: 7 Ways to Deal With Negative Thoughts
Psychology Today Article looking at ways that we can deal with unwanted and negative thoughts
Book: Happy by Derren Brown
A book written with a lot of love. The entertainer Derren Brown looks deeply into the philosophy of happiness. With some amazing insights into thought processes and thinking
**This is one of the few affiliate links on Peaceful Soul**
Article: Neuroscientists Have Followed a Thought as It Moves Through The Brain
Science alert looks at an experiment completed by scientists tracking a thought as it moves through the brain
Video: Self-Realisation with Tony Robbins & Russell Brand
Russell Brand's "Under the Skin" video discussing how we need to push ourselves in order to see what we are capable of. Mind over matter.
Forum: Deep Thoughts
Sub-reddit on Reddit providing a place to share thoughts that you have throughout the day or week for discussion
Quotes: Inspirational Thought Quotes
Brainy quotes provide food for thought with a number of inspiration quotes around controlling your thinking
Article: Controlling Your Thoughts
Michelle Goldsteine from Lifehack.org has put together a guide for different types of thinkers and how to then take control over them
Article: Can We Control Our Thoughts? Why Do Thoughts Pop into My Head as I'm Trying to Fall Asleep?
An article from Scientific American looking at how a lot of our thoughts are unconscious and why thoughts just pop into our heads
Video: Tony Robbins on How to Break Your Negative Thinking
A video from Tony Robbins focussing on how posture, stance and positive thinking can break the cycle of negative thoughts
Video: The 5 LESSONS In Life People Learn TOO LATE
Not strictly further media on thought processes however here are 5 interesting areas and principles to live life including commentary from some of the most successful and forward thinkers of our time
Article: 8 Tips to Change Negative Thinking
A Verywellmind article giving 8 tips to change negative thinking ranging from understanding thinking styles and coping with criticism
Article: This Is How Your Thoughts Become Your Reality
Article from Forbes explaining how our recurring thoughts end up shaping our reality
Video: Where Do Our Thoughts Come From?
The legendary Eckhart Tolle discusses where our thoughts come from. From personal awareness through to the collective consciousness/mind of humanity. Eckhart explores a range of emotion from anger to happiness.
Article: How to Control Your Thoughts
13 steps from WikiHow covering taking control of your thoughts and staying in control of them
Article: 30 Inspirational Thoughts For The Day
Some thoughts from keepinspiringme.com to inspire your day including thoughts about altruism, kindness, chasing your dreams, taking control and truth
Video: CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS BY DOING THIS! Simple Technique to Attract Success & Happiness
A video from Be Inspired and Steve Maxwell explaining how we tend to manifest negative thoughts and what we can do change our way of thinking.
Book: The Power of Now
Powerful book from Eckhart Tolle discussing how there are no problems in the present moment only problems in the mind about past and future experiences
***This is one of the few affiliate links on Peaceful Soul***
Article: 6 Ways Your Mind Tries to Control Your Life
Tiny Buddha looks at how the mind tries to control our life including ignoring natural inclination & constantly checking phone, email or facebook status
Where to Go Next on Peaceful Soul
Meditation
Meditation is training for the mind. It's free, helps us be in control of our thoughts and keep life calm and peaceful. Everything you need to know including a free practice here
Loving Yourself
Loving and treating yourself well brings the ultimate peace and happiness to life. Find out why and how to treat yourself well here
Past Experiences
How do past experiences shape and make us the person we are today? Find out more here
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