There’s a well known quote that goes, “Thoughts become things”. If you understand this, you’ll be able to see that everything in our lives is a reflection of the thoughts that we think. If you read the posts on “Being Stuck”, you’ll remember what I said about how our thoughts create the story that we end up acting out in our life. 
So what can we do when the thoughts we’re dominantly thinking are negative, or are manifesting themselves as things in life that we really don’t want? Keep reading…in this post, I’m going to offer a process that can help you change the thoughts and the story running in your mind.
The first thing we have to do when trying to correct the thoughts we’re thinking is to become aware of what we’re thinking. You can’t hit a target you can’t see, and you can’t change something you aren’t aware of. Don’t judge the thoughts as good or bad, just become aware of them. A great exercise you can do is to write down what you’re thinking. Again, don’t judge it, just write down the truth of what you’re thinking, so you can address it later and heal it. Meditation is also a great tool we can use to get a sense about what’s happening in our internal landscape.
The next step is to acknowledge what we’re thinking. This ties in to what I just said about not judging the thoughts. If we want to make any real change, we have to OWN the story we’re telling ourselves. I might not like the fact that I’m telling myself “You can’t do it”, but I have to acknowledge it. Trying to pretend like that isn’t what’s being said in my mind is textbook denial. Denial doesn’t make it go away, it just prolongs the inevitable. This is probably the first step towards seeing real change.
After we are aware of what we’re thinking and we’re able to acknowledge it, the next step is to accept what we’re thinking. Maybe it looks like “Wow. I keep thinking I don’t want to be alone,” or, “Wow. I keep thinking I don’t want to be broke”. If you’re dealing with an “I don’t/can’t (insert your thought here)” thought, here’s a teaching for you: the universe doesn’t register don’t, can’t, or any other negative thought. What you say “I don’t want to be hurt again”, the Universe receives it as “I want to be hurt again”. If you’re a chronic “I don’t want…” thinker, hopefully this makes sense to you if you’re confused as to why all of the things you say you don’t want keep manifesting in your life.
The thing with acceptance is that it allows us to keep the wild thoughts playing in our mind from taking root. If we deny what we’re thinking, that’s where things can get out of control. Just like in your garden, if you allow a weed to take root and do nothing about it, before long that one weed has grown into many.
Once we get to the space of accepting that we are indeed thinking the things we’re thinking, we can then take some action about what we’re thinking. There are many ways to do this, but I’ll offer you a simple trick you can try out. Whenever you catch yourself in a repetitive or negative thought, say in your mind “CANCEL!”. Say it out loud if you have to, but stop the thought right in its tracks. As I mentioned earlier, another thing we can do is to write the thought down so we can come back and investigate it at a later point.
Finally, a very powerful action we can take towards transforming our negative thoughts is to utilize the tool of prayer. Say a prayer to the universe, or whichever higher power you pray to and ask it to release you from the thought, and hand it right over. Additionally, ask for yourself to b!e open to receive a better thought to think!
In short, the mind is like a puppy—we need to train it! Try out this process the next time you’re dealing with a repetitive or negative thought, and let me know if you’re able to transform it into something higher. Remember that thoughts are energy, and that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but energy can be transformed!
