Yes, you can choose your thoughts. And yes, to a certain extent, it is a learned skill set but one anyone can acquire if the desire exists. Simply redirect your thoughts elsewhere, pick up a new task, engage your mind and energies in a more productive way. As with anything else, the more often you do it, the better you get.
One of the many benefits of meditation is the ability to both still the monkey mind and also direct it elsewhere, hence the frequent use of a mantra; personally I just count my breathing and if my mind strays, I begin counting again.
Worrying is nothing but repeatedly mulling over negative affirmations. Thoughts held in mind attract in kind. Does this thought serve you? Strengthen you? Are you attracting what you want? Or what you don’t want?
The knowledge that you can master your thoughts is tremendously liberating. Metacognition, thinking about thinking, is a powerful tool in developing self-awareness, in developing Emotional Intelligence, EQ.
Closing Quotes:
“What you focus on expands.” – Adage
“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about it tomorrow.” – Scarlett O’Hara, ‘Gone With the Wind’
“So few people are really aware of their thoughts. Their minds run all over the place without their permission, and they go along for the ride unknowingly and without making a choice.” – Thomas M. Sterner, The Practicing Mind
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier