Clean Mental Trash Out of Your Mind
Monitor your thought patterns to increase positive thoughts and decrease negative ones.
By Leland E Pulley
Every day we are exposed to many things. We interact with others in person. We text one another or talk on our cell phones. We do business. We listen to the radio or view television. We are bombarded by advertisements and solicitations. We read various things. We hear different opinions about various issues.
It is not enough that many external influences operate in our lives. We also have our own observations and thoughts. We think about different topics. We daydream at times and ponder at other times. We plan things out. We try to make the best decisions we can. We allow feelings to get mixed in with some of our thoughts.
Yes, our minds are continually turned on, unless we purposely slow down the pace of mental activity in order to relax or regroup or take a break. This is important because we can become too much in a hurry. We are not careful enough in policing our own minds. We dwell on things that do not deserve much attention. We can get hung up on things that should not interfere with our daily living. We can have too many repetitive thought patterns and end up with a limited mental landscape. This contributes to less learning, boredom, and usually we become more pessimistic with time.
One activity that helps us to recognize thoughts is keeping a journal. We can write less important things or significant things over time. A consistent journal effort over time helps us to monitor thought patterns and improve them.
The real issue with mental trash is what to allow in our minds. First, let us realize that we are shaped by our thoughts. Our behavior is a reflection of our thoughts. Ultimately, our reputation is a by-product of thought patterns. You should monitor what you think about, especially on a repetitive basis. Positive thoughts should be reinforced and negative ones eliminated. Dwell upon good things and not bad things. Use your mind’s capabilities to come up with new ideas that can be used to help yourself and others. Do not tear down yourself or criticize yourself too much or you will lower your self-image. Avoid blaming others unless this can be justified for specific problems or situations. Do not plot against others. Do not carry around negative feelings towards them. This is a losing strategy.
The next issue is what do you do with what is already in your mind. Whatever is good, wholesome, uplifting, or useful - keep such thoughts, memories, and the feelings associated with them. Whatever is bad, non-edifying, impractical, or false - recognize such thoughts and then contain them or limit their increase or expansion. Strive to eliminate them from your active thinking patterns each day. With time and effort such thoughts will diminish from your mental landscape. They will have less impact on your life. Mentally you will be freer and feel better too.
Just as spring cleaning in a house means getting rid of things you do not need or use, you should have spring cleaning periodically for your mind. It can become cluttered over the months and years. You can collect junk or mental trash. This trash can be thoughts that are negative, crude, no longer useful or out-of-date, or unimportant in your life today. Label what you use and do not use, what you need and do not need. Then begin to throw things out mentally. To do this, merely disregard some thoughts, lower their importance, replace some with newer ideas, or repress some permanently. Keep your mind free to function as it should.
As you make progress in cleaning your mental house, slowly but surely begin to fill it up again with the best mental food you can. Absorb new and worthwhile thoughts that are relevant for living today and your individual needs. These efforts will reinforce your mental house cleaning. This is how to enlarge your mind over the years.
Think about specific times in your life when you had positive thoughts about something or someone. Contrast this with times when you had negative thoughts. How did you feel with positive periods versus negative periods? What did you do in each situation to sustain positive thoughts and feelings or increase their frequency and strength? Likewise, what did you do to decrease negative thoughts and feelings? Recognizing actual incidents in your life will train you to do better thought management in the future.
I challenge you to eliminate the mental trash in your mind. Remember, good mental health contributes to good physical health. They reinforce each other. Both contribute to your happiness and well-being.
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