You may not be used to watching your thoughts, but this simple practice can transform your mental space. It can open a new door to the internal world. By watching your thoughts and understanding them, and by implanting seeds of the thoughts you actually need—with proper care and nurture—these thought seeds will eventually turn into the big tree of success you actually want to have.
The title seems a bit awkward, doesn’t it? Yes, it may be, but rest assured, I won’t ask you to do any hard tasks.
You just need to sit in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Now, begin to relax. Just be sure not to fall asleep. It’ll be helpful if you take a pen and paper in front of you.
Now, give yourself some time. No need to do anything special, nothing to think about. Just feel your aliveness. Watch your mind; observe your thoughts.
You love yourself, so you are giving the best gift to yourself.
Thoughts are flowing through you. Emotions of pain, joy, and embarrassment are engulfing you.
Are you trying to resist your discomfort? Just stop trying for a moment. Now, pay attention to what is discomforting you.
Write them down one by one.
It might be your to-do tasks, which are about to cross the deadline.
It might be a past memory, a feeling of regret. Maybe it’s a thought of happiness, bringing a sudden smile to your face. But maybe, just for a while, that happiness is no more, leaving you with a feeling of loss or sadness. Whatever the thought is, let them all come and flow through you. Allow all your thoughts to come and go.
Thoughts flow, and emotions come and go.
Maybe thoughts of worry, fear, or anxiety are arising in your mind. Don’t worry; let them come and go through you. Your thoughts arise and disappear after a while. Sometimes, it may be a very strong thought that takes too long to disappear, becoming stronger over time. Whatever it is, don’t push any unpleasant thoughts, and don’t try to pull any pleasant thoughts. They are like uninvited guests, and they will go whenever they want to go. The more you push them, the stronger they get.
Thoughts are associated with emotions. Strong thoughts can generate strong emotions. Thinking generates emotions. Don’t worry—whatever the thoughts or emotions are, they will change. Trust in the nature of change.
Imagine your thoughts as a bathtub full of dust in the water. The more you try to push or pull the dust in the water, the more it becomes polluted. Give some time to your mental bathtub, and all the dust from your thoughts will settle at the bottom. The water will be clean again.
Streams of thoughts keep coming to you. Maybe this time it’s a thought of a wonderful idea that could change the world overnight. You feel excited, wanting to wake up and change everything. Just wait for a moment. And the next moment you realize, nothing happens overnight. You write down your idea and decide to think over it later. Become ready to take the next thoughts.
Maybe you are analyzing recent conversations. Maybe you are preparing for a future meeting. Whatever they are, they can wait for this short time.
Wait. Look again into your mind. Are you still watching your thoughts, or have you been swept away by the stream of your thoughts? If you’ve been swept away by the stream of your thoughts, just come back to your task: watching your mind. Come back again and again.
You can also use your breath to help you. Observe your breath—inhale and exhale.
Watch where your absent mind goes. Come back to your anchor, your breath, and write down where your absent mind went.
Our mind has three parts: the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind. They are like monkeys jumping from one branch of a tree to another. Our mind jumps from one thought to another. Sometimes we have thoughts in our conscious mind, and after a while, we lose our conscious awareness and get lost in our thoughts. Our mind begins to run on autopilot. Sometimes we call it “absent-mindedness,” and sometimes it’s called the “flow state.”
The subconscious mind is created and shaped by your beliefs, deep desires, and fears. Sometimes these beliefs are so deep we don’t even know where they came from. Perhaps they come from the unconscious mind, formed due to evolution. Watching your absent mind and catching it when it runs on autopilot is key. Coming back to the conscious mind repeatedly and recognizing the patterns of the subconscious mind is essential. The subconscious mind plays a very important role in your day-to-day actions.
Watching your thinking mind and thoughts is not as simple as it seems, but on the other hand, it is not as hard as it seems. Give your mind some time for non-doing. Watching your mind requires consistency, a regular habit, and a logical span of time. It may take ten minutes every day for one or two months.
Let’s assume that after your honest effort, you have found a list of thoughts that often come and go in your mind.
The list may look like this:
- To-do tasks (official, personal, business, family)
- Phone (constant distraction, maybe a necessary call you need to make)
- Concern for a family member (especially when they are out of the house)
- Thoughts of an idea (as if it could change everything overnight)
- Sex (if I am performing well or not)
- Planning (repeated planning over and over)
- Trying to fix everything (thinking about it)
- Habit (whether good or bad)
- Judgment of self (if I am becoming successful or not)
- Judgment of others (if he is surpassing me)
- Past memories (gives you the illusion or actual events that happened)
- Future projections (if this happened in the past, this may work in the future too)
- Calling someone (maybe a necessary call you need to make)
- Ego-hurting comments from office colleagues or family members (your mind is thinking repeatedly)
- Future conversation analysis (imaginary thinking)
- Thoughts from YouTube or social media (maybe something you have watched or read which has no relation to you)
- Fear (your future projection of any bad things may happen based on your past memory)
- Desire (deep down inside you created your desire based on the demand of your surroundings)
- Any favorite sport (you just watched the Premier League, and you cannot push away the pain you felt as your favorite team got defeated)
- Movies you’ve watched or want to watch (maybe it’s a feel-good movie and a simple happiness is flowing through you)
- Finance (maybe you are going through some financial crisis or an opportunity of investing is wandering around you)
- Health (you are trying to make yourself fit but cannot control the craving for sugar)
Maybe your list is different from the one above. Whatever your list looks like, preserve it for future use. You don’t realize it, but you have created a valuable asset for yourself. You can change yourself based on this list. Closely monitor the list. Where are these thoughts coming from? They are not coming from nowhere. They are coming from your beliefs, desires, fears, and experiences.
The journey of self-observation is just beginning. With patience, your mind can become your greatest ally. By watching your thoughts and understanding them, and by implanting seeds of the thoughts you actually need—with proper care and nurture—these thought seeds will eventually turn into the big tree of a successful mindset you actually want to have.
So, you now need to understand your list of thoughts you have created. Then, the next step is clearing your mind and implanting thoughts of happiness, health, and wealth growth.
We will learn those in the upcoming articles.
