Breaking Out of Your Old Way of Thinking

Breaking Out of Your Old Way of Thinking

Einstein purportedly said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, and expecting different results.” Couple that saying with the New Thought adage: “Change your thinking; change your life,” and you have an interesting juxtaposition: We keep thinking or doing the same things over and over again, and we expect different results in my life.

Yet, things don’t change … and we keep getting the same results. We keep carrying the same attitudes, but expecting things around us to change. Negatively stated, these attitudes are our biases, prejudices, fears, naiveté, opinions, and parochial mindsets. They are our memes: fundamental cultural or family learnings we believe are true, and that guide our actions. The result may be thoughts, a life style, or situations we don’t like.

There are many ‘external’ events happening around us that weigh on our minds: the economy, family, jobs, or the environment, to mention a few. Some people allow these externalities to dominate what they think about. However, it’s usually the ‘internal’ things that bother us more – our mindset on certain things. We’re supposed to be able to change our thinking about how we see the world, yet often we can’t seem to make the transition.

Thinking about the past two years of Circle meetings, I propose a list of the major ‘thinking areas’ we've struggled with:

Our spirituality – and integrating what we learn into our daily lives
Love and our relationships – including intimacy with others
The power of prayer, meditation, and awareness
Spiritual healing
Law of attraction and allowing goodness into our lives

So, here are some ideas for ‘breaking out’ and dealing with some of these important areas (and many others as well).

1. Watch whom you hang out with. If you spend time with people that complain, whine, berate, and who hold negative attitudes about what you’re trying to do, I guarantee it will rub off on you. Their attitudes are contagious! Listen – really listen – to what your ‘friends’ are saying to you. Do they encourage you, promote love in the world, believe in spiritual power, and advocate allowing the laws of the universe to work in our lives? Or are they skeptics and cynics that promote a dharma or belief system that is incompatible with what you hope to achieve. You won’t find love with those that seek advantage or hate. You won’t find healing listening to those that doubt. You won’t ‘attract’ by heeding the advice of those that mistrust. You can’t walk a spiritual path being led by someone that does not also quest the same path.

2. Put your attention on the ‘right’ things. If we are consumed with the trials and tribulations around us, we will certainly experience difficulty in shedding our anxieties when we wish to be more loving, more spiritual, and more receptive. One article I read suggested setting a timer to go off randomly throughout your day, suggesting that you examine what you were thinking at each alarm time. Were you thinking loving, harmonious, and spiritual thoughts, or had your mind allowed some violation to how you really want to be. If not, use that not so subtle reminder to adjust your thinking or your activities to have the focus you want.

3. Ask the right questions from the right frame of reference. If you believe the way you think is not part of the problem, you will start looking for blockages and problems ‘out there.’ If you are willing to be more open in your thinking, more willing to challenge your own thinking on a dear subject, you may find some insight and a new path to follow. If Love is not mine, whom do I blame? If I am not allowing the law of attraction to work in my life, what needs to change? What do I do that promotes my own suffering? Conversely, what do I need to do to put into practice being the person I want to be? Or, what must I do to get the reaction I want? Once you get the ‘right’ questions, you need to come with answers and take action.

Old ways of thinking and behaving are hard to break – they’ve become addictive, like a vile narcotic. We’ve learned to use them automatically, in a knee-jerk kind of way. We’ve grown tolerant of less than ideal reactions to what we think and do. We accept mediocre responses, rather than challenge ourselves to think and behave differently so that we get what we really want – happiness, love, and self-actualization.

New ways of thinking and behaving need to be created to replace the habits and thinking that doesn’t serve us. In order to do this, you have to articulate how you do want to think – what kind of reactions you do want. If you created an affirmation of what you wanted, you might start with an “I am …” or “I believe …” and finish those sentences the way you want then to be.

Namasté

This website is to stimulate your spiritual thinking in the hope that it will contribute to your spiritual growth. The author invites your comments and critiques by reply e-mail to bob@futuremoons.com.