Guide your mind: 4 levels of thought

What effect are your thoughts having on your life? Would you like to take that in a more consciously positive direction?

Most of us spend our days swimming through a non-stop stream of mind chatter. That current of thoughts can have a positive or negative effect on how we experience the world, but often we're largely unaware of the impact it has.

A great place to start moving that mind chatter in a positive direction is simple awareness. In Learn to Meditate by David Fontana, PhD, the author talks about noticing different levels of thoughts to help guide and direct them.

The first and lowest level is negative thought, which includes feelings of anger, fear, sadness, regret and unease...The second level is wasteful thought, when we waste our time worrying about things that might not happen, or things that are outside our control. The third level is necessary thought, such as "I must not forget to pay the electricity bill," or "I must remember to send a birthday card." The highest level is positive thought, which encourages peace, harmony, creativity, love and happiness.

Fontana suggests that being aware of the various levels of thought and categorizing them as they come up can be helpful in guiding your thoughts to the higher levels. While he is referring specifically to meditation, that can be a valuable approach in every day life as well.

Why? Because it gives you a way to be conscious about what's going on in your mind. It lets you group and sort (and your brain is a grouping and sorting machine!) and be more fully aware of where your attention is going.

When you are more fully aware of where your attention is going, you can start to make choices about it. If you're operating on autopilot without that awareness, you're at the mercy of whatever those thoughts happen to create, like a puppet on a string.

Try this: For one day, pay attention to your thoughts. Categorize them as negative, wasteful, necessary, and positive. What do you notice? Where is your focus? What reality are you creating?

The more awareness you have, the better equipped you are to sculpt a positive experience in life.

--

Need to re-energize your career?
Get started with 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work!

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Comments

[Aarthi]

Very well written and thought provoking.
thank you so much

[Curt Rosengren]

Thanks Aarthi!