Hello everyone! I’m starting a new type of post called Mindful Mondays! Each Monday, I will share a quotation about mindfulness and what it means to me.
“Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that – thoughts.” – Allan Lokos
Ever lost your wallet? Or your car keys? Your first thoughts may have gone something like… why did I have to do that? I’m such a loser. I’ll never get my s*** together.
This type of negative self-talk isn’t helpful. It can even be harmful, especially if you really believe what you’re telling yourself. But this self-deprecating inner monologue gets entrenched in our thought patterns when we’re kids or teenagers. Negative self-talk probably won’t go away overnight… and it may never go away.
The good news is, you can cope with negative self-talk just by developing awareness of it. You can begin to watch thoughts cross your mind, non-judgmentally, like you would watch leaves float down a stream. You can think to yourself, huh, I’m having that thought again. That’s interesting. No need to judge yourself for having the thought. No need to analyze why that thought is coming up. Like Allan Lokos says, thoughts are just thoughts. Just notice them and move on.
Another way to cope with first thoughts is to challenge them. Have second thoughts! It might look a little something like this…
First thought: I’m such a loser.
Second thought: Losing my wallet doesn’t make me a loser. Everyone’s done it once or twice. This one incident over the span of my entire life doesn’t define me as a person.
Now you try!
First thought: I’ll never get my s*** together.
Second thought: _______________________________________________
How did you challenge that second thought? Let me know in the comments section. And as always, please feel free to comment or email me at rebeccaaogle@gmail.com with questions or feedback.
Thank you for reading!
-Rebecca