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Changing Thoughtscapes
"We have our brush and colors--paint
Paradise, and in we go."
~Nikos Kazantzakis
If someone painted a
picture made up of all the thoughts you entertained in a day, what
would your thoughtscape look like? Would the sky be clear and
light-filled or laden
with heavy storm clouds? Would it portray a clear path,
leading to a bright destination? Or would it show a tangled
jungle?
 Your
dominant thoughts are the colors with which you paint your
experience of the world. To paint Paradise for yourself, all
it takes is learning to create the thoughtscape filled with the
elements that match your ideas of the optimal life.
Every day, 60,000
thoughts sweep through our minds. Few of them are new to us.
Instead of novelty, our brains tend to run familiar themes, some
focused on planning the near future, many replaying recent events,
some based in our pet worries, self-criticisms, hopes, fears and
fascinations. And we tend to color each of these themes with the same
palette of emotions.
It gives our world a
comfortable feeling of familiarity--even when the colors we use are
drab or limited in hue. We identify with the feel of them, and
assume they tell us who we are. But all they really tell us is
what's habitual about ourselves; they say nothing of our potential
to experience alternative tones or a more expansive range of
perceptions.
In this section of the
Magical Mirror Machine, what you will find are the keys to the paint
shop, an assortment of
creative tools you can use to apply new thought-colors to the
interior of your mind, and
guidelines on how to use them to produce the thoughtscape you want to
see reflected in your experience of the world.
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What's
Belief Got to Do With It?
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Most people tend
to think of the word “beliefs” as describing a set of opinions
of a religious or political nature. But the beliefs we’re
talking about here are more subtle and fundamental; they’re
constellations of thoughts that define how you think about
yourself, other people, and the nature of the world . . .
More...
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Changing Your Self-Talk |
One of the most
valuable tools at your disposal for changing the way you
experience yourself and your life is the ability to notice and
shape your own self-talk.
Self-Talk is that
stream of inner chatter that runs ceaselessly through your waking
mind. It's all the things you tell yourself about yourself,
about the world, about other people, about how you feel and judge
things. Because it runs on automatic pilot, we rarely give it
much conscious attention. But it is the stuff that colors our
world, so it's important to eavesdrop on ourselves and see what's
really going on in there.
One of the simplest
ways to start noticing your self-talk is to intentionally introduce
a new color of thinking to your daily thought stream and then see
what kind of response it generates. One of the most common
techniques of doing that is to use affirmations. But they're
often misused and misunderstood, and consequently, they're often
underrated.
The first article in
the series linked below will show you why--and how to use them in
the most powerful way. The next two give
you some new variations on them that produce some amazing results.
Try all three. Use them in a series of experiments, trying
each one alone for awhile, and then combining the ones that get the
best results for you. If you use them regularly as part of
your daily practices, you will see changes. Keep a log
or journal as you play with them, noting once a week or so the
results that you see appearing in your life. It will inspire you to
continue practicing and to develop ever-more pleasing and satisfying
colors of thought as you go.
Self-Talk, Part I: Do
Affirmations Really Work?
Self-Talk, Part II:
Affirmations Revisited--The Choice Method
Self-Talk, Part III:
Question Your Way to Success
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