Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

I still remember the day I learned I wasn’t my thoughts. I was listening to a podcast and the host pointed out that we are not our thoughts and that we could control them.

I felt gross. Freaked out a little bit. Probably scared. Because if I wasn’t my thoughts, who the hell was I? 

I think it was a couple of weeks before I had the courage to explore this idea thoroughly. I picked up Michael A. Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul, and the journey of learning who I really was began in earnest.

The way we know that we are separate from our thoughts is that we can observe them. We are a separate entity from the ideas flying around in our brain. A consciousness that exists separately from our body.

The idea of consciousness, or a soul, is being studied by scientists right now. Tim Ferris has an excellent discussion about this concept in his podcast episode, Professor Donald Hoffman — The Case Against Reality, Beyond Spacetime, Rethinking Death, Panpsychism, QBism, and More (#585). But all we need to know for now is that we don’t have to believe every one of our thoughts. We can evaluate each and every one we have. We can decide if they’re true. And if they’re valuable.

We get to decide how we think and feel about our lives. So many of our thoughts come pre-programmed by our families, friends, teachers, and society. It can be a scary thought that you need to reevaluate everything. You don’t. You can simply start with the thoughts that are holding you back. Holding you back from bigger dreams. New ideas. Loving yourself.

The start to a mindset shift is questioning your thoughts. Evaluating what is serving you and what’s not. From there you’re free to think new thoughts that will bring about changes in yourself, your relationships, and your life.

It may sound too simple or scary at first, like brainwashing yourself. But you’ve already been letting the world around you tell you what to think so far. It’s brought you to this point. And if you’re happy here, great! But if you’re starting to question things and feel yourself wanting more. It might be time to think about those thoughts in a different way.