The Mental Diet

This Mental Exercise Will Change The Way You Look At Things.

Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at changes- Wayne Dyer

One of the most fascinating things that I have ever studied was the brain. Although, this topic is sophisticated and often times can go over my head I’ve learned to respect it and take it for what it is. You see the human brain is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We have the ability to do something that no other creature can do- and that is THINK! You see humans actually have 3 brains (sort of ) instead of just one. There is our old brain (the part of us that gives us the ability to fight or flight). We have an emotional brain (the part that gives us the ability to feel). And we have the thinking brain (the part where our mental faculties live). This means we can think of what we want to think of. We can daydream, reason with others and set goals for our future. Or we can worry, hold resentments or think of negative thoughts.

Is your thinking out of control?

Well, it turns out that when we asked people to name one thing that seemed to be out of control in their life, most people said- their thinking. This answer really made me curious as to why this one gift that we were given to use to our advantage was being used against us. You see no matter how hard you try sometimes you just can’t help but think those negative thoughts or worry for the future. I’ve learned that the reason we do this is because it’s almost as if we are conditioned to think like this. In other words, you have probably been thinking about your problems the same way for a very long time. And I am willing to bet that your way of thinking is not really working any more. And that’s why I want to propose a new way of looking at things.

The 7 Day Mental Diet:

I read a great book called The 7 day Mental Diet. In this book the author states how he challenged people to go on a mental diet from negative thinking. So, for 7 days you would just think positive thoughts and picture positive outcomes. Now when I first read this I thought to myself this is nonsense. Everybody knows that not only is this impossible, but it is probably unhealthy to look at our negative thinking or feelings as bad. But then I kept reading and he stated it’s not that you are not going to get the negative thoughts. It's that you are not going to keep them. You see negative thoughts and negative feelings are normal. We all have them. In fact, that is what makes us human. So the challenge this week is not to totally eliminate the negative emotions but to allow them to come and immediately let them go. In other words, instead of holding on to the resentments, worry and dread -we see them for what they are and allow them to keep moving.

Today’s Action Step:

Starting right now I want you to focus on just positive things (optimism, abundant thinking, confidence,etc). When a negative thought comes to your mind (pessimism limited thinking, resentments, worry, anger,etc) realize it is negativity and let it go. You can say things like-”I’m not entertaining you today or pick one word to keep repeating until the thought or image goes away. Now remember You are going to have negative thoughts and negative images run through your mind. But it’s not the first thought that we really have control over, it’s the second. And that is what today’s lesson is about. In others words, we don’t want to DWELL on the negativity.

So go now and do this! Every negative thought or image that enters your mind- Let it go and focus on a positive way to overcome your circumstances. Do this for the next 7 days. Take it one day at a time.

Keep Learning: Read 7 Day Mental Diet- Emmet Fox