60, 000 Thoughts is Out of This World
The influence of thoughts on the way we behave is one of the most significant developments in psychology in recent years. Research has shown that our minds are never still, with about 60000 thoughts coming our way every day. 95% of these thoughts repeat themselves daily and 80% of them are negative. Through understanding this impact, we can learn how to manage these thoughts and make better decisions and increase our energy. Don’t your thoughts tire you out?
We have natural tendency to hold onto the negative thoughts and brush off the positive ones. Rick Hanson, happiness expert and the author of Buddha’s Brain and Hardwiring Happiness, refers to this as the Velcro/ Teflon syndrome. Thoughts are a combination of past, present and future and are usually emotionally charged. Thoughts of the future could exude feelings of enthusiasm, anxiety or fear. Thoughts of the past may fill you with longing, regret or blame. Either way neither the thoughts of the past nor the future can energize you! It robs you of your energy and your happiness!! It is only when we become present in the moment that we are actually able to take any meaningful action.
There is further science that reveals why negative thoughts stick around longer. The amygdala signals fight or flight and when this happens your body immediately increases your heart rate, releases floods of adrenaline, and sends other stress hormones cascading into your bloodstream. That adrenaline, according to a recent study conducted by Dr. Jim McGaugh of the University of California–Irvine, creates stronger memories in the brain than pleasure hormones do. This means that your disturbing experiences are “chemically supercharged” to stay with you far longer than your happy ones.
What makes this an even bigger problem is that many of us have amygdala’s that are overreactive: they trigger the release of adrenaline too easily and often. Scientists call this having a “hot” amygdala and say that it’s a major obstacle to being happy. This is usually what gives rise to our tendency to have a short fuse, panic easily, and generally make mountains out of molehills. People with the hottest amygdala’s are the drama queens, rage-a-holics, worrywarts, and chronic complainers!
When the amygdala gets stuck in overdrive, it widens the negative neural pathways in our brain. Our minds become overrun with negative thoughts, and we worry, picturing over and over what we don’t want to happen, creating anxiety and unhappiness in our lives. We tell ourselves stories based on our Stuck Old Beliefs
Managing Thoughts: Strategies for managing thoughts that do not help us reach goals
It’s not all doom and gloom! There are simple ways for us to start changing the 80:20 play of our thoughts.
• As a first step, how about you start observing your own thoughts. You will be amazed at what you find. Check in with yourself and question the amount of time you spend blaming others, shaming yourself and just generally complaining and worrying.
• Catch the repetitive thoughts and question how true they might be.
• Ask yourself if the thought is supporting you in moving forward or not.
• Continue observing the thoughts and when you find the 20% that supports you feeling great – hold onto these for longer – savour the good.
In conclusion, thoughts have been proven to influence our behaviour. It is said that we are a sum total of what we think! In order to be able to manage all of the 60,000 thoughts that come our way every day, it is important to understand the power of our thoughts and how they can be transformed to energise you and transform the way you feel.
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