Negative Thoughts

I love this comment from The group about negative thoughts:

You have no control over the thoughts that enter your mind. You do have complete control over which thoughts you allow to stay there.
 
Do not worry about keeping all negative thoughts from your mind. Let them go through, as they are a needed part of your human experience. Just know that they can travel through your mind without attaching, and choose to hold and keep only the thoughts that add to you in some way—and do not judge yourself for having difficult or negative thoughts.

I think for a long time—years—I was kind of afraid of negative thoughts. I didn’t want to have them, but I did. I sort of kept a watchful eye out for negative thoughts, trying not to think them. If you’ve tried that, you’ll know that it doesn’t work so well. In fact it seems to have the reverse affect.

Back then I didn’t know about Law of Attraction, didn’t realize we were all part of the Universal Mind, didn’t know that, depending on all sorts of things that we don’t necessarily have any control over, just about any thought could show up in my mind, bidden or unbidden.
 
Sometimes I’d have what I considered to be some pretty bizarre thoughts. I’m a fairly even tempered person, not at all prone to suicidal tendencies, and more than once I found myself thinking “wouldn’t it be fun to just run my car right over a steep embankment?” I pictured this scenario in my mind, and it scared me. It was like I wanted to feel the thrill of flying through the air in a several ton vehicle, wanted to experience the out-of-controlness of it, and I didn’t seem all that upset that I might crash and burn—hard. 

It shocked me to find that thought wandering around in my mind. Knowing how powerful our thoughts are I wanted to do a computer-like “CANCEL CANCEL” before it took root and I found myself sailing over a guard rail someplace, with only the road crews around to pick up the pieces. I didn’t know what to do, how not to have a repeat of a thought like that. You may laugh, but I was more than a touch concerned about having thoughts like that, thoughts about things that didn’t seem to fit at all with who I am.

Now that I know more about what it takes for thoughts to become manifest, more about the time lag that protects us from our every whim and fantastical thought, more about how each of us have a dark side and that it’s nothing to be feared, more about the Universal Mind and mass consciousness, I don’t worry so much about negative thoughts anymore.

I still examine my thoughts, probably more so than I ever did. But they no longer frighten me. I know that my thoughts don’t control me. Nor do I control my thoughts. What I do control is what thoughts I agree with and which I don’t; which thoughts I focus on and which I don’t; which thoughts I will pursue with more thought, and which I won’t.

By carefully selecting which thoughts I follow and which I let cruise by, I’ve found that the Law of Attraction really does work. (As if we thought it didn’t /snicker). I’ve found that I think weird thoughts far less often than I did. I think thoughts that disturb me far less often that I did, I think thoughts that upset me far less than I did. I still have weird thoughts, angry thoughts, upsetting thoughts, frightening thoughts, but they don't come as often, they are easier to dismiss, and often I even find myself laughing at or about them.

It isn’t always easy to just let a really negative, derogatory, or upsetting thought go. I still find myself occasionally wanting to make something of those kinds of thoughts, have them mean something, particularly have them mean something derogatory about me for thinking them. But I continue to work at it. I’m pleased with my results and looking forward to even more freedom from my thoughts.
 
I have discovered a fun way to get rid of thoughts that I don’t want. It works for me anyway. If you’ve ever used a Macintosh under OS X you’ll be familiar with the Dock. The Dock allows you to easily access favorite application icons. To remove an icon from the dock, you drag it to the desktop and release it, at which point the icon disappears in a cute little animated puff of smoke. I started doing that with thoughts I don’t want to keep around: I envision dragging them out of my mind into the ether and releasing them, at which point they disappear in cute little animated puff of smoke. For the more annoying thoughts I might add something verbal while I’m mentally performing this action, the specifics of which I won’t share with you, but it’s something like “adios amigos!” only generally not that nice. ;)

Suffice it to say that it is possible to filter your thoughts by taking advantage of the Law of Attraction. Abraham calls it selectively sifting, and if my experience is any indication, it really does work. That is, the more you focus on the thoughts that serve you, allowing the ones that don't serve you to wander through and be gone, the more the kind of thoughts that you like will visit you, and the less other thoughts will. The Law of Attraction starts doing the sifting, so you don't have to. It’s kind of like anything else that you work on—once you start seeing success it can even be fun.

And there's a side benefit: more space for creative thoughts, intuition, inspiration, and joy!