Most people believe thoughts and emotions are something they have little control over. They just land on us involuntarily like the randomness of the wind. Most humans start their day something like this:

  • Wake up, and while still in bed the thoughts start rolling, you find yourself grabbing onto some thought, some problem, some concern, or worry you most likely had from yesterday.
  • You replay what could happen, what did happen, what should have happened in your head and it circles around.
  • You get out of bed and the thought loop continues interrupted by other necessary thoughts like work and kid running.
  • You purposefully distract yourself through your phone, the car radio, TV, alcohol, food, social media, etc., but the same thoughts are still there in the background reminding you that you’ve not yet solved these thoughts.

Humans are the only species that can create the environment of stress through thought alone and knock themselves out of balance with only their thoughts.

Stress has a purpose and the purpose is for us to be aware of our bodies and our environment so we can identify danger. It can be a physical danger or emotional danger. This was very handy when we had a threat of getting eaten by lions. But what we do in the modern day is we create false danger with our minds and the mind doesn’t know ‘this is just a thought’.

To the mind thoughts and memories are the same as it actually happening.

So, when you think about what if my child died in a car accident or what if I have cancer or what if I lose my job you are voluntarily pushing genetic buttons that trigger stress hormones in your body.

Our bodies can handle stress hormones in small doses because we are made to go into fight or flight on occasion to remain safe. We aren’t made to live our entire lives in fight or flight.

We reaffirm our emotional states when we relive the same thoughts day after day. Our cells have neuron cell receptors and they are quite happy when you produce the same static environment as yesterday. One of the rules of the brain is to keep things the same. You lived through yesterday, so if we can reproduce yesterday all is well.

So, if yesterday you were angry or depressed. Your cell receptors are literally craving, looking for the same hormones they handled yesterday as that feels safe to them. We made it through yesterday alive so if we keep everything the same all will be well. This is how you become addicted to the same thoughts. This is how you relive the same day, day after day and nothing seems to change despite the fact on a conscious level you are craving change, desiring change, working for change. Your subconscious and your body is craving and creating the opposite for you. And the subconscious so much more powerful. It is 95% of your brain vs. your conscious is only 5%. It’s like we are working on just the tip of the iceberg, not even seeing everything below the surface.

Think about your subconscious and its power – if I told you to walk different or have a different posture think about the history, the minutes and hours of programming you are up against to try to change that behavior, that habit, that action of sameness.

When we have certain feelings repeated for years we start to believe that is who we are. I am insecure. I am depressed. I have anger issues. Each time we think this thought we reinforce its power in our lives.

How long is your Refractory period? The refractory period is the space between an event in reality and when you release its effect on you.

Some of us live in a refractory period of days – this can be a bad mood, we get into a funk and finally your partner asks what’s wrong and you say, ‘well 3 days ago….’ So, something happened 3 days ago and you’ve been living there, stuck back in that moment just on replay.

 

A refractory period of days is called a bad mood.

A refractory period of years is a personality trait.

 

This story gives a wonderful depiction of the refractory period.

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side.

The two monks glanced at one another because they had taken vows not to touch a woman.

Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on his 
journey.

The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and an hour passed without a word between them.

Two more hours passed, then three, finally the younger monk could contain himself any longer, and blurted out “As monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”

The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?”

Science also shows that 50% of our past memories are not even true. We made them up. Altered them over time based on our own filters and personalities. So, what we are cycling around recirculating and living in is not even true!

What is true in all of this? That you are not living in NOW. Anytime we are attached to thoughts, addicted to our thoughts, repeating our thoughts we are not in our NOW. We are throwing precious instances down the drain instead of being present.

What if we could create distance between our thoughts and ourselves? What if we could have a space to be able to see the thoughts, witness the thoughts and decide on if they are helpful or not and not just react to them? If your thoughts can make you sick, can different thoughts make you well?

Thoughts are not bad. They aren’t even personal to just us. Talk to any friend and the thoughts you struggle with are likely similar to thoughts others struggle with. They just are. Our goal is to learn to witness them more objectively, not to push them out or repress or resist them. When we can witness them without the emotional cyclone attaching to them they become harmless.

If you enjoyed this information and know you could benefit from a better mindset in your life, let’s talk about how I can help. My training and certification are related to unlocking the limiting beliefs in your subconscious mind. Click the below link to fill out an application for a free Discovery Call with me. At the bottom left of the form is a button to schedule a call on my calendar.

https://livetrainingnow.com/dawn-hafner/schedule-a-breakthrough-session/

Dr. Joe Dispenza is the thought leader on much of this area and a resource I used for the blog post above. Below is a video of him talking about his research in his area.