— continued from previous page
Now let’s go back to the process of shifting from one thought pattern to another, and we’ll use the example of “I am unworthy” as the thought you no longer want to accept as true. You may recall that, in last month’s article, I said that there are two common responses people have to unhelpful thoughts: either they attempt to paste over them with helpful ones or they actively engage with them in some way – usually through analysis - neither of which are effective. Let’s look at the “paste-over” first. Regular readers of this column will probably recognize this term I’ve coined because I’ve written about it before, but hopefully within the context of thoughts as vibrations it will be even more clear. In the paste-over scenario there is a recognition that the thought “I am unworthy” is untrue and tremendously unhelpful, and also a corresponding concern or fear that if the thought continues, unwanted things will happen. So there’s an urgency about “getting rid of it” (which actually can’t be done in a vibrational universe where every thought that has ever been thought is still vibrating), and the person with the thought quickly comes up with another thought to obliterate the damaging one, and focuses strenuously on it. The new thought might directly counter the damaging one, such as, “I AM worthy!” or it might be a little softer, such as, “I choose to believe I’m worthy.” Either of these, or many other alternative thoughts, could be helpful in redirecting focus toward something self-loving and
supportive. What makes them unhelpful paste-overs, though, is that underlying urgency I mentioned. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever caught yourself entertaining selfdiminishing thoughts, then remembered that the way you think creates the kinds of experiences you have, and then became worried about what you were in the process of creating? You may have wanted to stop those thoughts immediately and felt almost anxious to do so. If you’ve had that experience (and trust me, you’re not alone if you have), what you may not have fully realized is that you were letting yourself become afraid of your own thoughts! Fear is certainly not the foundation of the kind of life you want to live. That sense of urgency usually reflects either a fear that you’re kidding yourself and you really aren’t worthy, or a fear that you’re somehow wrong for still thinking a thought that isn’t helpful but you can’t seem to stop it, or both. Either way, fear is the dominant vibration and so the new thought isn’t fully accepted. I’m sure many of you have recognized this dynamic, and so you may have moved on to the other common response to unhelpful thoughts: you pause to analyze them. You may ask yourself questions such as, “Where did this belief come from?“ or “Why am I still thinking this?” (Or even worse, “What’s wrong with me that I’m still thinking this?”) — continued on next page
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March 2019
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