Healing from Within: The Process of Transforming Negative Thoughts
The quality of our thoughts have a profound impact on our cells, organs, tissues and the entire physical body. A positive mental attitude can improve our state of physical well-being drastically. That’s why true healing is always “esoteric”, that is, “Healing from within”. Rather than looking far away for answers to our problems, we first need to look within, where most of the answers lie.
For healing to take place, the transformation has to happen inside-out. But first we need to know what the transformation is about. The transformation is about changing our own way of thinking, so that we are more emotionally in control and subsequently healthy.
In this article, we will understand the process of transforming the way we think.
True healing happens when we have the capacity to be aware of what we need to release from our energy field and what we need to replace it with.
The Racing Thoughts
An average person has approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. Some of them just appear for a flick of a second and vanish before our consciousness even registers them. However many deeply ingrained, repeated thoughts cause our mind to lose track of the present, the here and the now, and get carried away. When the mind is over-thinking, it is either in the past or the future. A mind that is in the “present” cannot be over-thinking.
In fact, 95% of our thoughts are repeated, and they are the ones that actually influence how we feel. If our thoughts are toxic and harmful, we start feeling bad, and subsequently think more negatively, ending up in a vicious circle.
We will discuss the step-by-step process with which we can come out of the repeated negative thinking pattern, replace it with more positive and wholesome thoughts, be cheerful and transform our health.
Our Attitude towards Our Well-being
Ultimately, we are responsible for our own health. So, before diving into the process of transforming of thoughts, let’s first discuss some of our own attitude traits, which keeps us away from this transformation.
“Just fix it for me!” Attitude
Whenever our body is out of balance, it generates tonnes of signals in form of pain, discharges, sounds, vibrations, sensations, emotions, etc. But either we ignore all of these and move on, or make it someone else’s problem, telling a doctor or a therapist – “Just fix it for me!”. This keeps happening till it cannot happen anymore. When we do not take responsibility and address the issue holistically, the body breaks down some day.
Our human mind does not easily get into esoteric healing (inner-healing) mode, because that is a lot and lot of work at all levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. It is far easier to pay someone and become well.
The Blame Game
Whenever we get sick, we look for something outside, “exoteric”, to blame: germs, parasites, toxics, pollution. If it’s an emotional issue, we put to onus on broken-relationships, over-stressed work, betrayal by business partners, and the list goes on and on. Perhaps, we would not have fallen from haven, if it was not because of “them”. As if the universe has nothing better to do then make us pitiable and miserable.
We have been conditioned by our environment with belief systems which affirm that the causes of our health problems are outside, and they have to be viewed as such and solved from an external pedestal. If we solved it internally, all on our own, the world would not benefit from our disease in any way.
The Fire-fighting Mode
As a human nature, we generally don’t give due importance to our health, till the situation gets out of control. If the extent of damage done by a disease is irreparable, then we definitely need help from an external agency (medical fraternity or some alternate therapist) in fire-fighting mode. But precaution is better than cure.
It is better to take charge of our thoughts before they transform into diseases – nip it in the bud. So, let’s discuss the process.
The cloud of thoughts and emotions in the aura is like a thick hard shell. It clouds everything that a person sees, just like wearing dark glasses. This keeps people from thinking clearly.
-Master Choa Kok Sui
The “Mind over Mind” Process
To live a harmonious life, we first have to free ourself from social conditioning and inherited beliefs. A majority of our mental programs are inherited from parents, relatives, care takers, teachers, medical professionals, education system, religion, customs and traditions.
Although most of these do not belong to us, they are so deeply ingrained in our consciousness, that we even don’t know their source, or when we made it our own. May be we acquired it when we were in the womb, or the first few years of our live.
Until unless we are conscious of our own thoughts, how will we be able to identify whether they are ours or someone else’s.
Being the Watchman
Identifying which though patterns are were created by us and which do not belong to us is the most difficult part. Sometimes, the moment a thought pops up in our mind, we start feeling uneasy. And it keeps going round and round in a loop. We don’t feel comfortable but are still not able to get it out of our head. We have to be aware of our thought, acting like a watchman. It is a bit difficult initially, but with practice, it becomes our second nature.
Who Owns it?
Our thoughts stir up all sorts of emotions within us. When we bring conscious awareness to our thoughts and process them, we understand the root-causes of our feelings.
Whenever a thought arises in our mind which does not seem easy and comfortable, we need to process it rather than drowning in it emotionally. We must ask ourself, “Does it belong to me?”. The ability to find its point of creation (source) and the knowing that it is not mine, that itself is freedom, half battle won.
Naming it
The next step in being aware of our thought and emotions is to name them. The understanding of our own state of being can increase when we keep questioning ourself, “What is causing me to feel ____ (name of emotion)?”
Spending a few minutes daily deliberating upon how the day went by and understanding why we are feeling the way we are feeling is very important. If we cannot name it, we cannot deal with it. This is specially so for all the harmful, negative thoughts and unwholesome emotions which affect our physical well-being. The moment we are aware of our thoughts and emotions, we are able to regulate them. We are able to see them from a higher level of awareness. Or expressed esoterically, our consciousness raises!
Naming the difficulties we encounter brings clarity and understanding and can unlock and free the valuable energy bound up in them.
Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart
Erasing It
Once we have identified the source of negativity, the next step is to eliminate the toxic, negative thoughts. We may write is on a paper, burn it, flush it or bin it. Or we may write it in an imaginary board and imagine the board burning away in the sun.
Whatever be the technique, the very act of disintegrating the toxic thought releases it from our system and initiates the process of re-programming our sub-conscious mind. Moreover, after doing this act, if the thought appears again, we are more aware of it, and know how to deal with it rather than flowing along and getting into the whirlpool again.
Keep doing It
A thought pattern which has been in our consciousness for years and years and is deeply rooted in our mind cannot be disintegrated in a single day. Like layers of onion, it has to be eliminated again and again, till there is no charge left in it. It has to be done till either the thought does not arise anymore, or even if it gets triggered somehow, we do not undergo the same old emotional turmoil on facing it.
Weaknesses have layers like an Onion. They must be disintegrated again and again until they are replaced with Right Thoughts, Right Words and Right Actions.
-Master Choa Kok Sui
Don’t leave the Vessel Empty
The above steps help us in identifying and disintegrating the negative thought patterns (hopefully) and our mind is starts feeling lighter. However, if a vessel is empty, some unwanted stuff from the surrounding will begin to settle in it. Similarly we cannot leave our mind empty. We have to fill it with clean, positive, healthy and wholesome thoughts. This is an activity which has to be constantly done along with the above steps of disintegrating negative thought patterns.
We will discuss some simple practices to ensure that we do not revert back to the same old patterns.
Being Mindful
Mindfulness is the practice of being constantly present in our surroundings and being aware and sensitive to any input coming from our sense perceptions. Being mindful helps us to stay “here” and focus on the “now”. This helps us in letting go of the past regrets and the future anxieties.
We have to be mindfully present to be able to identify the underlying thoughts that create the emotional patterns. And not let such thought get a grip of us.
It is the opposite of being “absent-minded”, when our mind is somewhere else, and does not register what our body does. For example, we absent-mindedly lock the door, and then don’t remember whether we locked it or not. Being absent-minded often leads to worry, anxiety and sometimes obsessive compulsive disorders. That is all exactly the opposite of what we want.
Realise deeply, that the present moment is all you have.
-Eckhart Tolle
There are many mindfulness techniques available that help us stay focused and prevent our mind from the constant chatter.
Gratitude
The attitude of gratitude raises our vibrations and makes us feel joyous and compassionate. Rather than complaining, if we need to be thankful to the universe for all our blessing, even for the blessings we are not aware of. This is the simple secret of getting more of it.
The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.
-Norman Vincent Peale
Affirmations
Some simple statements, repeated in a loop daily have the power of re-programming our sub-conscious mind, shifting negative thought patterns into positive ones. They are based on the “Law of Attraction”, manifesting the intention behind the affirmation. Affirmations, as simple as “I am happy”, are capable of transforming our life.
Under the Law of Attraction, the complete order of the Universe is determined, including everything that comes into your life and everything that you experience. It does so through the magnetic power of your thoughts.
-Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed how our thoughts affect our emotions, which in turn affect our health. We also went through the step-by-step process of transforming the way we think. the process of identifying the toxic (harmful) thought patterns that impact our health negatively and discussed simple techniques to replace them with the opposite positive thoughts. We harnessed the power of thoughts for healing from within, inner-healing, leading to holistic wellness.