Track Your Thoughts

Why track your thoughts?

Thinking seems like a natural process - but is it? We all seem to understand what thoughts are, that others have them, that we should listen to them, that its part of life to listen to your thoughts like they are your very own righteous special powers. 

But are they?

And should we listen to them at all? 

How can you tell an old thought from a new thought; an inherited thought or your very own unique thought?

Are your thoughts helpful or a hinderance? 

Do you know how many positive or negative thoughts you actually have in a day - and not even notice how they impact your day to day life?

The existential contemplation of thought is ancient and has been philosophised, debated, studied, researched, meditated upon and argued. There is an abundance of literature on thought and if it is helpful or hurtful to us.

Personally I find this topic very interesting and the most impactful on my own healing journey was when I realised that my thoughts/my thinking - does not have my best interest at heart. My thoughts don't even care how I feel, what I want, who I am or how to help me get where I want to be. And I trusted them my whole life.

The day I realised my thoughts aren't to be trusted, my view of life changed and I began to discern my thoughts from what was actually going on before me in my life. I started to see life a lot more clearly.

"It is not the problem that causes our suffering.
It is our thinking about the problem." Byron Katie

An  Invitation? 

Track your thoughts that activate you, collapse you, cause you stress, bother, agitate or that you simply repeat as verbal comments without even knowing how they affect you. Every thought affects you - whether you realise it or not. 

You can make this more fun and like a game by asking a friend to track those subtle comments (such as per example above) that you utter in a usual conversation. Often a trusted friend can offer us feedback on what we say more than we can ourselves. 

Thoughts & Belief Bubble Tracker:

This exercise is to help you track your thoughts and beliefs. Often in our self-talk or talking with others, our thoughts and beliefs are habitual and we often overlook how they accumulate and define our view of ourselves, others and life.

By tracking your thoughts and beliefs and writing them down, you can begin to see how many thoughts and beliefs are leading your life.

Each thought or belief can be enquired into with The Work and a Judge your Neighbour worksheet. 

1.   Track your thoughts and beliefs – either when in a conversation with someone or when alone and thinking. Notice any reoccurring thoughts and beliefs and write them down. You may like another to help you with this – when they are listening to you, request of them to write down any thoughts or beliefs in your verbal communication that you may not notice.

2.  For each thought or belief that causes you stress or emotional activation – or collapse, this is a clue to deeper inner work required.  

3.  Complete a worksheet for The Work – either a Judge Your Neighbour or One Belief at a Time (for the self).

4.  Repeat this process - as many times as you need.  

Take your time, be honest. 

Until you have questioned every thought,
your thinking may be telling you want to do, instead of you. 

Once you get into a helpful habit of tracking your thoughts and inquiring into them, you may begin to notice how many thoughts just keep flowing around in your mind and how many unhelpful thoughts you may be having. 

They can become swarm like, restless and intrusive and take over our lives. It is my opinion that the growing epidemic of mental health is partly due to the overwhelm of trusting our many unhelpful thoughts and lack of, resistance of inquiry into them. 

The more you keep questioning them - they eventually realise 'you are onto them' and what they are up to. 

Ultimately, if you wish to go further, the study of consciousness teaches us that our thoughts are not what offers us peace, joy, love or freedom etc and in fact learning to have 'no thought' is the state of bliss. 

I myself have noticed that I am now able to experience moments where no thoughts are present or telling me what to do or not do and internal peace becomes louder and more expansive. It is very liberating.