This week while I was in the bathroom (of all places) at my day job, I began to receive insights. I actually receive a lot of insights in bathrooms, and the one at my office is a private bathroom that’s completely tiled from the floor to the walls, which I’m pretty sure creates a conducive space for thinking. While in there, I began to recognize an unwanted thought scenario play out in my mind where I was arguing with someone over something work related. It was an unwanted thought scenario, like an act I made up in my head involving a conflict with others. It was an imaginary scenario that hadn’t occurred in real life, and instead something purely constructed in my mind.
I noticed what I was doing, and then made the choice to follow the unwanted thoughts I was having. Meaning I noticed the thoughts as I was having them, and instead of simply letting them go, I questioned the source of the thoughts. Where was that scenario stemming from, where did it begin?
I also recognized I wanted to stop doing this.
In the past, I’ve become aware when I’ve done something similar and will stop, but I decided to take it further, and question why I would have that thought (and by doing so, distinguishing myself from it). The more we question our own thoughts the more we realize that we are actually separate from them (and we don’t have to identify ourselves as the thought we’re having).
I also wanted to know where that thought scenario originated from. Particularly because it wasn’t the first time that I’d envisioned myself arguing with someone. Was it a past life issue? Did it start at some point in this lifetime? If so, when? Why was it showing up here now, in this way?
The beautiful thing about questioning our thoughts is that as soon as we question the thought, the energy of it subsides. It starts to unravel, and lose its grip.
The scenario I described is something I notice I’ve been doing. Maybe you run other types of scenarios in your mind. We all have these things we do. The good news is we can change these patterns. I’ll say it again, we can absolutely change these patterns!
When we create anything (like the scenario I did) it’s our mind producing thoughts and images and then there’s a feeling that goes along with it. So when I’m creating these situations in my mind where I’m imagining conflict, I’m simultaneously feeling resistance (or in other words resistant energy). I’m creating that. I’m giving energy to it. And I can choose to change that—because I don’t want to create that.
Instead of just stopping the thought in its tracks I wanted to take things to the next level. So what I decided to do is to create a scenario where I felt the opposite of what I had just created. And the opposite of resistance is ease.
This is how things work. Our seemingly negative emotions and thought patterns, etc. are really just showing us what we can “flip,” or pay greater attention to.
This is a great example of how so many things in life aren’t inherently good or bad, rather it’s our perception of them that makes them so. For instance, I could have just labeled the scenario I was making up in my mind as bad, but upon looking at it closer, I realized it was an invitation from somewhere within me, inviting me to run new stories—ones of ease. Being made aware of that was actually a good thing.
I could only stay in the bathroom so long before I had to make my way back to my desk. I sat down and chose to imagine a new scenario, where I found myself lounging at a hotel on the beach with a fruity mixed drink, and a friend lounging alongside me. As I was visualizing this I had my hands folded behind my head (in real life), and I was in a relaxed position. I imagined/visualized ease. I had feelings of ease, and my thoughts were all about ease.
I began running that new story that felt good in my mind so I could create and attract what I actually wanted in my life—not what I didn’t. Try it for yourself. Next time you have reoccurring unwanted thoughts, question them, examine them. Pay attention to them and notice where you also might be able to flip the script on unwanted thoughts.