Do you have unhelpful thoughts?

We all experience unhelpful thoughts from time to time. But when they seem to be in the drivers seat it's good to have some go to techniques at hand. The ancient sages of Yoga and Ayurveda knew where it's at. 

This is what they have to say. 

When you notice you are being negative towards yourself of others, stop yourself and say quietly to yourself, "I'm thinking unhelpful thoughts". Just acknowledging what is actually going on and locating yourself is a very powerful step to getting out of this spiral. 

Once you've located yourself, you could do some self-inquiry by exploring how these current thoughts are making you feel, for example, these thoughts are making me feel, angry, afraid, anxious, sad, overwhelmed, alone. See what feelings arise for you and name them. 

You can try and suggest some ideas to the mind to see if you can shift your state. Maybe try saying, "these thoughts represent an old story, or these thoughts are bringing me down, or these thoughts are just not true, or what about, these thoughts no longer serve me, these thoughts are not mine, or you could offer yourself this affirmation. 

I can think better thoughts, I can think clearly about this situation, I can think lovingly towards myself, or maybe an idea is coming up in you now as you practice. Offer those to your mind and see if you feel a release or a sense of ease. 

If you've developed a habit of allowing negative thoughts to permeate your mind you could try this wonderful practice where you notice what satisfies your mind. 

This is from an ancient text called the Vijnana Bhairava 

yatra yatra manas tustir manas

tatraiva dharayet

tatra tatra paranandasvarupam sampravartate

Wherever the mind of the individual finds satisfaction let it concentrate on that. In every such case the true nature of the highest bliss will manifest.

Vijnana Bhairava: Dharana 51

You might find, being in nature brings incredible calm to the mind, it can take in all of nature and fall in love.

You might find repetitive tasks like washing dishes makes your mind very calm and satisfied, super mundane, everyday tasks surprisingly ease our agitated minds. 

These are just a few samples of how you can be empowered to work with your mind and develop a robust meditation and self-inquiry practice.

For more information and to connect with Rabia, please see our Self-Inquiry or Sacred Living offers that are open at the moment. You can book one session or a series of 5.