Your Thinking Is Not Your Thoughts ... And Vice Versa!

I like to think of myself as well read in self growth, well dabbled in philosophy and well lectured at many many courses. Despite doing all that for many years, sometimes an idea that you know 'intellectually' jumps out and smacks you around when you realise you 'knew it' - but you never really 'felt it'. In relation to all the fears we have : I have spoken before in this column about our subconscious misguidedly protecting us from failure, hurt etc by looking at past behaviours and previous thinking patterns. That's great when we are about to cross the street and it reminds us to look both ways, but what about when we were less than average at something, so our subconscious blocks us doing 'anything' else in the future outside of our comfort zone to protect us from that hurt again. It will tell us we are not capable, not smart enough, we are too busy (such a common statement), lack funds, lack experience, don't deserve it etc.

Lately I have been over-thinking about things a little and some old negative beliefs were rearing their head. (Thank you Rick Cowley from VysionQuest for helping me clear them!)

I had a great reminder today that these beliefs come up from 'thinking'. Follow me closely now. There is a huge difference between thoughts and thinking. Thoughts come unbidden to us and are often fleeting and more often positive in nature. They may come before sleep or just as we wake in the Theta stage, in the shower, on a walk - and usually when we are not expecting them. They often solve problems for us and lead us to new goals, people or behaviours. But thinking on the other hand often comes from a negative bias, and now the subconscious has more time to throw up reasons not to do something.

This was an exercise I was asked to do which I’ll share. Before I ask this question get ready to say the first thing that comes to mind super quickly. Do NOT take time to answer it. Ready….go! How much would you like to earn a year? OK then …..that was a thought. Now, repeat the same exercise but this time ‘think’ about it for a minute. You will now find your mind starts rationalising how much you could/should earn, based on past evidence, beliefs etc. If you said say $500k the first time, once you think about it you may well come up with a much lower figure for many reasons. If you didn’t – well done!

It’s a case of be careful about thinking, or more correctly over-thinking. It generally leads to lower expectations or goals, higher stress, disappointment, fear and an array of other less than desirable ‘feelings’. It’s super hard – but just be aware of it over time and listen a little more to your ‘thoughts’ and less to your ‘thinking’.