An out of control negative mental chatter can play havoc in your routine life. It immediately degrades the quality of your attention. If left unchecked it begins to spoil performance, relations, and health.
The first thing you have to understand is that thoughts will always cross the mind; you can’t stop them. In fact, thoughts are not the problem, the uncontrolled train of thoughts are. In order to take control of the mental broadcast, you have to learn to dissociate from it.
How can you do it? The answer lies in raising the level of conscious awareness or mindfulness in the daily life. It means “knowing” what we are doing or what is happening inside us.
A funny thing happens when you become aware of your thinking process – thinking ceases! Yes, it is true try it right now.
Tap the Power of Detachment
The moment you become alert or consciously aware, activities cease to be mechanically anymore. Now you “know” what is going on. You feel being present “here and now”.
This presence is like “stepping outside the mind” and “watching” it as someone else – it is distancing from mental activities. You watch a thought arising – say, Paul is a smooth talker – acknowledge it and let it pass. The thought comes, you notice it, and it goes. That’s all – no involvement with it.
Whenever you catch yourself getting carried away with the useless conversation, disassociate yourself. The ability to disengage from the happenings in the mind is a powerful tool – it is power, it is freedom and control. It provides you space to maneuver.
It is your attachment to the thoughts that fuels the mental chattering. Once you become disinterested the mental talk loses power. It is like switching off the ignition of the running car – it is going to stop sooner than later!
By refusing to get involved in the mental conversation you see things from a neutral perspective and tend not to lose your sense of balance and objectivity.
How to Develop Detachment
The most ideal way is to regularly practice Vipassana meditation – it is an art and science of “mere observation” and “bare observation”. It can be learned by joining a 10-day intensive meditation retreat anywhere in the world. It is offered free of cost. This is the ideal tool to break the habit of obsessive thinking. It works because of a simple truth about the mind: the moment you pay attention to it its activities tend to stop. It is like a thief; and can function only when you are not paying attention to it.
If you have difficulty practicing regular meditation you can take the help of brainwave entrainment audios. They can help anyone meditate and are becoming popular very fast.
If you have never heard about this well researched technology, please read Brainwave Technology for detailed information.
You may also like to read Mindfulness – Did You Really Eat That Apple?
More Resources
Mindfulness – Described in 12 Ways for Beginners |
