The universal human need for mental control disrupts our quality of life.
Mankind needs an off switch because this could promote healing, but our minds evolved to be constantly aware of danger, so the harder you try to banish negative thoughts, the more they come back, and in chronic situations, it can kill you. The system can go wrong, but the way to healing is through hobbies and things to do.
The inability to escape from unpleasant thoughts has a major impact on many people’s quality of life. Much energy is spent in attempting to control or suppress them. It turns out that they arise from the unconscious brain as a reflex, and they are much more powerful than your conscious brain. Rational interventions cannot and do not work.
David Hanscom MD - The Curse of Consciousness: Trapped By Your Thoughts,
I once explained it this way to a person who complained about bad thoughts:
ReplyDeleteIt's like when you have stale air in a room. You open a window and the fresh air drives out the stale air.
It's the same way with bad thoughts. You can't fight them because that makes you think about them and that makes them stronger. What you do is focus on good thoughts, and that leaves no room for the bad thoughts. Thankfully, we can only think about so many things at one time.