A Teaching On The Power Of Thought

A 17-minute talk on how worry thinking arises from anxiety and stress and leads to sleeplessness. But more than this, I lead you through simple demonstrations that you can do in revealing the 'power of thought', and what can be done to alleviate those anxieties and stresses by dealing with worry thinking, and the thoughts that arise.

Transcript

A teaching on the power of thought.

I can't sleep and things keep going over in my mind.

It's what we call the chattering mind.

It's what the Buddhists call the monkey mind.

As if you are surrounded by monkeys all chattering away at you and you have no control over them.

It's brought on by stresses and anxiety and leads to worry thinking.

It's like a record player needle stuck in a groove and once you start you can't stop.

You go around and around looking for answers and solutions but not getting any and so go around again and again not being able to find the answer.

Then something else that is worrying you cuts in and you spiral off onto that groove as well trying to make sense of that worry and so it goes on and on.

It ends up being so exhausting.

So much so that our energy levels drop and drop.

If you are employed then you have to go into work and struggle through the day.

Then we get home,

Have our dinner,

Try and watch some TV,

Then go to bed.

But we can't sleep due to our chattering mind and or we wake up in the small hours and immediately the chattering mind starts and we cannot get back to sleep.

All the while our energy levels drop because we haven't been able to get a restful night's sleep.

But you have to go to work again the next day so you get up and push yourself into work but this time it's different.

Everything seems like you are moving through treacle.

Things that would have been like water off a duck's back before now seem twice as hard to deal with.

You become forgetful and start making little and stupid mistakes as you turn inwards and allow the chattering mind to overwhelm you.

Sounds familiar yes?

Have you ever wondered what worrying is for?

What is the purpose of worry do you think?

To continue with worrying doesn't seem to get us anywhere other than stressed out.

To my mind the only useful purpose of worry is that it is an indicator to us that something is wrong.

But to keep on worrying just hypes us up to becoming more stressed out and can bring on symptoms of panic attacks and lead to low moods.

Worrying is like trying to fit all the pieces of a jigsaw together only you don't realise that whatever the situation is that's troubling you,

You probably don't hold all the pieces of the jigsaw.

Other people may hold some of the pieces and they may hold some very large pieces.

Yet you are still trying to piece the jigsaw together not realising that you don't have enough to finish the whole picture.

What to do?

Well instead of using your mind towards endless worrying use your mind to go into problem-solving mode.

You will find it a better use of your time and energy.

First off if you can simply fix a problem when it happens then you stop it getting out of hand.

Deal with it in the moment then you will not be likely to go into endless worry mode about it.

Nipping things in the bud is always the best way.

Failing that go into problem-solving mode.

Ask yourself some questions like what do I have to do to fix this?

Can I sort this out myself?

Do I have to read up about it and do some research?

Do I need help?

Who can best advise me?

Of course the chattering mind,

Anxiety,

Worrying is made up of thoughts and thoughts as and of themselves have no power.

They are just thoughts.

We don't tend to think much about thoughts as a subject of study do we?

And it's certainly not the talking point you have in a pub or around the kitchen table.

Some experts say we can have up to a hundred and fifty thousand thoughts going through our mind in a day.

All sorts of thoughts.

Serious ones,

Silly ones,

Sexy ones,

Inappropriate ones.

But they are just thoughts and in and of themselves they have no power.

Yet we tend to believe that they have such importance that we must listen to them and pay them great attention.

I can actually demonstrate that thoughts as and of themselves have no power and I do a demonstration on this in real time with people.

You can do the demonstration for yourself.

All you need is a very light feather or a very small piece of light tissue paper if you cannot find the feather.

Place that down on the table in front of you and in a quiet and calm room.

Now purely with the power of thought get that feather or tissue paper to move.

Jest by using nothing but your power of thought.

Try it on the count of three,

Two,

One.

Are you trying?

Use just your power of thoughts to move the feather or tissue paper.

Okay,

Stop.

What happened?

Nothing happened,

Did it?

The feather or tissue paper didn't move.

So thoughts as and of themselves have no power.

They cannot even move the lightest of objects.

So what has to be aligned with the thoughts to actually get that feather or tissue paper to move?

Yes,

Physical action has to be aligned with the thoughts.

That's right.

So let's try that on the count of three.

One,

Two,

Three.

Use your thoughts towards intending the feather or tissue paper to move.

Then physically move it with your hand.

Job done.

Okay,

Sometimes the simplest demonstrations are the best lesson.

You have just proven that thoughts as and of themselves have no power.

They cannot move even the lightest feather or piece of tissue paper.

So why do we give our thoughts so much importance and power over us?

Of course thoughts are useful.

We use them to build bridges and hospitals etc.

We also use them to build weapons.

But why do we make ourselves slaves to our own thoughts?

To the point where they cause us so much stress and trouble.

Shouldn't we be in charge of them?

Is that possible?

Well,

Try this demonstration.

I will say a word and you repeat that same word inside your mind.

Just deliberately say that word to yourself inside your mind.

The word is carrot.

Okay,

I'll say another word for you to say in your mind.

Say in your mind telephone.

Now you choose a word and then deliberately say that to yourself inside your mind.

Good.

So we can summon any word we want to and say it in our mind and that is a thought.

And more than this we can actually observe that thought as we deliberately bring it to our mind.

With practice we can capture and see the thought as it arises in our mind.

Here then is the $64,

000 question.

If we can see our thoughts then who is doing the observing?

And does this therefore mean that we are not our thoughts?

We shall leave that question hanging to the signature tune of the Twilight Zone or some other creepy and mystery music that you may know.

So here we have been believing that our thoughts are all powerful and we must listen and take heed of them.

When it is the reaction we have to our thoughts because of that belief that then leads to our fear,

Anxiety or low mood which in turn causes our emotional responses.

We can deliberately summon a thought inside our mind and the importance of this is that it shows us that we can be in control of our thoughts if we so choose.

That we no longer have to be a slave to the thoughts that arise.

That in fact we can be in charge of them if we so choose.

Isn't that good to know?

It means that with practice we can recognize and capture our worrying thoughts and change them from endless worry into something more helpful and practical for us.

You can change them anytime by asking what I call one of the big questions in life and you can do this any second of the day.

That question is,

Is what I'm doing or what I'm thinking enhancing my life?

Taking me forwards towards how I want it to be for myself or stopping me or worse than stopping me taking me backwards and down to where I don't want to go.

By deliberately asking yourself this question either out loud or inside your mind changes your thought.

Ask what are you doing?

Does it seem and feel right?

Is it a wholesome positive action?

What are you thinking?

Can these worrisome thoughts be shaped and put into problem-solving mode?

How do you want it to be for yourself and are your actions and or thoughts leading you towards achieving that?

Have you come to an impasse where you can't see the wood for the trees?

Do you hold and are you in charge of all the pieces of the jigsaw?

How come you are letting your thoughts take you backwards to places that cause you fearfulness and anxiety and can lead towards negative emotion and negative actions?

Given that you have normal mental acuity remember that you are responsible for two things absolutely.

Your own thoughts and your own actions.

Me for mine,

You for yours and everyone else for their own.

Remember there will always be circumstances in life all of the time.

It is not then necessarily the circumstances but rather how we perceive things to be and what we do about it that matters.

So why not resolve to take charge of your thoughts?

If necessary ask the big question of yourself and remember the feather.