Manage your thoughts

I quote from the Slice of Life:

So today, let's talk about how we can stop passively entertaining these thoughts, crystallize them, take action to resolve them and say "bye bye" to them forever.

Your first tool is your attention. Sure, most of us know how to focus our attention on something when required, like when pouring the boiling hot contents of a kettle into the small opening of a pot. Tangible tasks are easy enough. But what about when it comes to non-material things, like the unresolved worries in your mind. Do you know which ones to focus on and how to do it?

Most of us don't even bother with trying. As long as these concerns are not in our face threatening to tear our life apart, we're quite content to let them squat around noiselessly most of the time in our heads.

Well, take that first step - stop for a minute, and focus actively on your thoughts - concentrate. Despite what some people might tell you, you are not your thoughts. You are one having thoughts. These thoughts are not you and cannot control you. When you concentrate actively on your thoughts, you're separating them from you, assessing whether they're worth holding on to (in which case you'd want to take actions to resolve them), or whether you should let them go.

One good way to catch your thoughts is to use words to give them some form and shape. Verbalise your thoughts, better still if you can record them; or write them down. Think of it as exorcising phantoms. As ghosts, they can weave through the hallways of your minds undetected and in disregard of physical laws. But once you transform them into material incarnations, you can arrest them in any given place and time and destroy them if need be. If you're not the violent type, you can simply tell them "Thanks for sharing but I do not want you in my life anymore. Please leave, thank you very much!"

I think the problem is that sometimes, the conclusion of focusing on the thoughts require a certain action to be taken. And taking this step is not easy. The first step out in defending your actions is also important. If you lose this battle, bad thoughts would have a firmer foothold in your mind because you lack the willpower to banish them. This would cause un-necessary stress for yourself.

Its hard to do but like what some always say, "When there is a will, there is a way".