What is a Thought?

I know what you’re thinking, what kind of nonsense is this, isn’t that obvious? Well in this article, we’ll investigate how powerfully unhelpful they can be, and what we can do about that.

Reading time: 4 minutes

I’ve been doing a lot of work recently on mindset - what it means, how it’s created, how I can stop it running away from me at every single moment.

I LOVE talking about, investigating, trying out new tricks on my mind. And it’s one of the most common areas that comes up in my 1-1 coaching clients.

I hate to poo in the pool, but I have to tell you…it’s the work of a lifetime, mostly because our mind is so unruly and mostly it doesn’t do what we want it to.

That’s all thanks to evolution in a sophisticated system called, “let’s not do that and get eaten”. Our mind's primary function is survival, and so everything it’s learnt, experienced, reacted to, creates meaning which only function is to keep us safe. Even though we don’t need to worry about getting eaten for lunch so much these days, we are still meaning making machines just in case.

As the words that compose it explain: mindset is how you set your mind, and it uses all the assumptions and beliefs and theories it has accumulated to do so.

So, a thought can seem very powerful and real, they are firing constantly all day from the moment we wake to the moment we sleep, about the past, about the future, about what we should do in that present moment based on everything it knows, the absolute truth it believes, but thoughts can be dangerous depending on the content and quality. For example…

“Don’t do that because…you’ll fail / look stupid / are unlovable / will cry / are running out of time / not good enough / will fall over”.

And like going to the gym, our mindset builds stronger every time we throw something into it so those thoughts become what we believe as irrefutable fact because we’ve heard it so many times before.

But hang on a minute…

What if a thought was just an opinion?
Your opinion based on some things you’ve told yourself before?
That these opinions are just observations of the world because this thought looks similar to something you’ve seen in the past?
What if there were things you could do to stop that thought in its tracks?
And tell it some new things, some positive things?

I’m going to share with you a secret that blew my tiny mind. It only takes 90 seconds physiologically for an emotion that's triggered by a thought to pass - the chemical & hormonal reaction - that’s it!

So in those moments where your mindset is tested, when the stories rush in, the trash talk, create the space to manage what’s happening to allow the thought to process and pass so you can react in a way that is more beneficial to you.

Bring yourself back to the moment, all that matters is this moment.

Mind-Doughnut

What’s a Mind-Doughnut I hear you ask? It’s taking a few minutes to slow down, reboot your mind, and maybe even have a mini-insight. In dreams, doughnuts are said to signify making peace with your identity and appreciating the sweeter things in life, so we’re going to do just that.

Try this to steady and let go of stressful thoughts…

Come to find a comfortable seat wherever you are and close your eyes
Sit tall, relax the shoulders, drop the chin so the back of the neck is long, let the jaw relax, the eyes in their sockets, the space between the brows
Notice the breath, the rise and fall of belly, nothing to do, nowhere to be
Inhale fully, exhale fully
Imagine you’re by a beautiful river, with clear waters, and peaceful good vibes
Acknowledge the unhelpful thought, thank it for what it’s trying to tell you, let you know that you don’t need it in this moment
Imagine leaves are falling from the trees near you and into the river floating on by
Then place that thought, that experience on a leaf and send it down the river
Let it go
Breathe and come back