photo credit: Sergio Tudela
What can we do to feel better?
We can question the unhappy thoughts we are believing.
Why doest that help?
Because it is the unhappy thoughts we believe that generate the painful feelings that make us feel bad.
Although we cannot make painful thoughts disappear by challenging them, we can step back from them, investigate them, and plant a seed of doubt between us and them which allows us to stop blindly believing them!
As we explore and question our negative, unquestioned beliefs, we are able to stand back a bit and witness the thought being investigated. We move into the role of the Observer, into an Observer's Consciousness.
This shift from total identity with the thought into the Observer-Self helps us loosen our unquestioned, blindly believed convictions so that we can come more fully into an acceptance of life, as it is. We accept (not, “give in to”) Reality. We are at peace with life as it is, which frees us to think about how we might move towards something better. We see Reality as a friend that mirrors our present place on the journey of life. We learn to accept ourselves where we find ourselves on the path of life, as being just that … a place on the path that is ever unfolding us, revealing us to ourselves and the world.
Stepping back from unhappy beliefs, through questioning them, releases us from the insane compulsion to act them out and reap the painful harvest of that. Tapping into the Observer role that sees, without resistance, what is.
This is what it is to be really free. Free of unhappy story … free to align with Reality and find peace.
Blessings,
2 Responses
I can relate Tracy, I’ve done what you are describing here too. We think we are protecting ourselves from more disappointment by visualizing these “worse case scenarios”; what we don’t realize is that our negative thinking is creating its own state of chronic disappointment! I suggest you write these negative thoughts down, find the underlying belief and take it through Byron Katie’s four questions and turn around process. Thanks for commenting.
Blessings,
Lynne,
I do feel that i have harbored so many negative beliefs in my mind and i feel overwhelmed and scared most of the time.I realized that when i was young i framed this negative thoughts because i was scared of disappointment.I had suffered so many disappointments that i felt it was better to always think the worst that way i would always be prepared for the worst.As a result i began to doubt even my own abilities and looking back even when i received compliments,i never acknowledged them and felt that the person was exaggerating.
Whenever i have to ponder or wonder about something my negative thoughts shoot up and i end up seeing the visualizing the negative aspects of the situation.This has cultivated self doubt,Low esteem and Jealousy within me…I see it now…
Its good to know that i can change this and encourage peace in my mind and my way of thinking…
I am still uncovering my past,and following back my thoughts and beliefs to try and uncover their source as i do so long to attain that peace of mind….Thanks for pointing this out as it has helped me on my journey.
Tracy