Have you ever tried to fall asleep, and thoughts suddenly pop into your head? The average person thinks around 70,000 thoughts a day, but the truth is that we can control only a tiny part of these thoughts, as most functions of the mind are outside of conscious control. In this sense, learning how to control your mind sounds as an intriguing task that opens endless possibilities and with a great influence on the way we experience life.
What are thoughts and why are they important?
Thoughts are broadly defined by psychologists as “mental representations”. The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines thinking as “cognitive behavior in which ideas, images, mental representations, or other hypothetical elements of thought are experienced or manipulated. In this sense, thinking includes imagining, remembering, problem solving, daydreaming, free association, concept formation, and many other processes.”
While thoughts can be mysterious and intriguing, they can also be source of anxiety and stress. When left unchecked, the mind can take you to dark places of self-doubt that hold us back from experiencing the world. A famous saying attributed to Lincoln says people are just as happy as they make up their minds to be, because when we change thoughts, feelings transform as well, along with the triggers that create those feelings. In contrast to “autopilot”, when thoughts are conscious, they are not based on our shaped mindset but reformulate our beliefs and fears based on new input. But how can we learn to defeat the “autopilot” and become the master of our minds?
4+1 ways to control your thoughts
- Learn how to recognize the enemy: The very first step for solving any problem is to realize it exists. You can begin each day with a little game of paying real attention to as many as possible of your thoughts and recognize the undesirable ones.
- Break the limiting patterns and beliefs: It is proven that language has a vast influence in our thoughts and it is a sad reality that most people do not realize to what extent the negative self-talk in their heads is affecting their lives.
- Work on the mindset: Two basic mindsets shape our lives: Fixed and Growth. People of the first category see failures as setbacks, while those in the second category see them as a chance for self-development. In which category do you want to belong?
- Understand the mind-body connection: It is known that mind, body and emotions are interconnected, which is why there are mind-body techniques to bring greater cognizance to your thinking and thus, your feelings.
- Practice meditation: Meditation is considered a useful technique to reduce anxiety and focus your mind. The philosophy of meditation centers on the ability of being present and fully engaged with whatever you are doing at the moment. It is not easy; it rather requires repeating efforts to acquire this self-discipline, but it is a natural way to learn to control thoughts.
There are two thing you have to keep in mind in this process; that big change really comes from within and that you cannot change events, but you can change how you perceive them!
