You are not your thoughts

By Kimberly Englot

Our brains think constantly. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Now, if you’re anything like me you’re not very good at meditating. It’s very difficult to train yourself to empty your mind of thoughts.

I have tried. It takes a lot of practice. Some are able to do it. Some aren’t. I don’t bother any more because I’ve found an alternative method that serves me just as well, if not better!

My way to quiet my mind and notice the negative thoughts is to simply be aware of what is going on. You see, you are not your mind and you are not your thoughts. You are the being that can recognize your thoughts. Before you go…”I don’t have any thoughts in my head that I’m not aware of” I want you to realize that you’re thinking that very statement. That is the voice I’m talking about. I call it the inner critic (I also refer to it as the ego-mind). Use your conscious mind (the part that lives in the moment) to recognize your negative thoughts, and simply let them be. You don’t have to buy into them.

I used to have a very damaging inner critic. It was constantly saying things like, “Why do you even bother speaking. No one cares about what you have to say.” Then I discovered that people do care about what I have to say and I started to speak up! This obviously turned into my passion and career as an Authentic Life coach. Because I was able to notice that my inner critic was thinking that, I gained back control and was able to NOT believe it.

You are not your thoughts. You can’t control your thoughts either. At least not for any realistic time frame. You will only drive yourself crazy trying to control them. I like to believe that our brains are tuned into a higher frequency of the universe and thoughts pop in and out, and we have no way of knowing where they came from…much less be able to control them! I know I have some pretty crazy thoughts that come from out of no where! And many of my best ideas come to me when I least expect it. Actually as I am writing this blog entry I have no idea where the words are coming from. They are just popping into my head as fast as I am able to capture them by typing….I wouldn’t want to control that for the world.

Be conscious of your thoughts, but don’t try to silence them or control them. You are not your thoughts so you don’t have to be afraid of them anymore. Set yourself free!