But what are, in fact, thoughts? Refining your inner dialogue-
You think. You ponder. You replay your experience & revisit it, multiple times.
Thoughts are but an intangible reverie that may or may not hold any substantial value, and mind you, they continue to be so unless you act on them. Ironically, here I am, thinking about the intricacies of thoughts! And hey, in my defence, I’m putting them to better use by penning them down!
Are these thoughts helping you? In most cases, I’d say not. Well, you might want to look back on the several times you caught yourself in a downward spiral, whether it is by curling up in layers of anxiety or simply procrastinating important tasks because of this and we can all agree there is absolutely no good that comes out of it. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
There is definitely some skill involved in transforming the borderline futile castle-building into an impressive, structured thought process, and it can be mastered. Here’s how you can go about it:
- The cataclysmic potential of disorderly thoughts-
Somebody caught you off guard with an offensive remark at work today. A seeming to be friend made a snide comment about you in front of your peers. Or you said something 3 years ago in a presentation that may have made others think of you as half-witted. Or it’s a who-said-who.
If you often find yourself unduly reminiscing on past experiences- good or bad, or brooding over situations that do not hold any definite value, it is imperative to recognize the vanity of this tendency.
There is never any real outcome from these thoughts. Such thoughts can keep layering, and it is duck soup to find yourself stuck in this loop. A pattern like this can make it extremely toilsome to step out of anxiety or see reason, and most times such situations can have catastrophic results.
- Identify & eliminate the thoughts that utterly have no ‘real’ consequences-
Just a thought, by itself, is powerless. It cannot materialize and hence should start by pulling in the reins to a free flow of such thoughts. Identify which of them are futile and then practise keeping them in check.
One way that made this fairly simple for me was by promptly deducing the aftereffects of my worries or the possibility of those thoughts. It helped me disengage all the power from those thoughts.
Once you begin eliminating all that does not serve your mind well, you leave room (& time) for worthwhile reflections, ideas, theories, notions and more!
- Begin by articulating the thoughts that are potentially constructive-
By discarding vain notions and getting a knack & willingness for only focussing on whatever is constructive, it gets easier to look for the thoughts which prompt some promising action within you. This process of segregating ineffectual thoughts from productive ones decides your mindset. And need I point out how many notable personalities owe their success to nurturing a great mindset? History is replete with eminent luminaries who have confirmed the same. Following through on this can actually help you to remain grounded & preserve a clear sense of identity.
- Integrating a structured thought process in your lifestyle-
Focus on those thoughts that you can act on, and those that will have actual benefits for you, in both tangible terms and otherwise- basically, nurturing an idea that can enhance your career and likewise is one aspect, it is the tangible result in the context. But zeroing in on the thoughts that can alleviate your mental make-up is just as important, just as beneficial. Start practising this routine, make it a point to utilize it in your daily life as frequently as possible, be it to wade off inertia or to make decisions, and it will be your refreshing harbour, guaranteed.
- Ascertain a systematic course of action to substantiate the good thoughts-
When you sally forth & act on these thoughts, like implementing the idea, or making that painting, or speaking up in a meeting, or read that book you keep thinking about or visiting that person/place that you keep contemplating on, basically carrying through with a brave decision that could have ended up as a fleeting thought, you are letting life surprise you, and unravelling possibilities. You’ll find yourself being your most productive, energetic self and that, as we know, can snowball into a fulfilling way of life. So put your mind to actually gear up and fuel action into productive thoughts.
- Observe your modus operandi & wield finesse into it-
I cannot lay enough emphasis on how important this is for all that is personal development. Observing and analysing your modus operandi — your inherent style of work- in this context it would be your fundamental mindset and pattern of thoughts, which ones you disregard and which you single out to focus and act on. Establishing an understanding of how your mind functions, is the only ideal start to the process of getting better at filtering your thoughts correctly. Anything you do consciously for a prolonged period of time becomes a subconscious habit. And before you know it, you’ll have mastered the art.
- Attaining the “flow state” :
The ‘FLOW’ or zen- ample bloggers nowadays are all over the concept- (I’ll take the opportunity to sheepishly admit of a write up in the making for the very same concept) but don’t get me wrong- the concept is not overrated. It is the zone of being fully immersed in your activity, being the most involved one can be into an experience. I recently read about autotelic activities in a blog post by positive psychology, and it talks extensively about how hobbies are an accurate example of it, the activities in which you are so absorbed, you tend to lose track of time. These activities are of course, subjective. So an ideal thought process can nudge you into the right mindset and that can help you attain a flow state a lot more frequently, and at your convenience.
Your inner dialogue is what defines your decisions, your interactions, your journey, success and your reality, and since I’m a decisive flag-bearer of a fulfilled mind, I’ll continue to put out write-ups about & around work, life & mind. Well, for my part, that’s all vis-à-vis refining ‘thoughts’! I would love to know if this helped!
