Insights into choosing the thoughts we want to focus on
For years I have passed an apartment building named Dwell. I would ponder the name thinking how we choose our homes and furnish them in ways which feel safe and comfortable. That led me to begin thinking about where we dwell in our minds and how we put much less importance on how we choose to dwell there. This blog will offer different insights into how we might want to make choices about what thoughts we want to focus on.
Becoming more conscious of our thoughts and emotions
Our thoughts and emotions come and go throughout each day and we are often unaware of how we end up stuck in some thought or emotional pattern. Our default often becomes the negative, critical, or even self-destructive thoughts because they make the most noise in our heads. Our mindset becomes influenced by these thoughts and emotions and we live our lives accordingly. By becoming more conscious of our thoughts and emotions we can begin to make choices about whether we follow a thought or just notice it and let it pass. We have thousands of thoughts every day, and just because we have a thought doesn’t make it true or worth dwelling on. If a thought keeps returning, we might ask ourselves several things. Is it true, and is it useful. We can then make a decision to let it go, or do something about it. By doing this, we take charge of our mind rather than our mind being in charge of us. We become mindful rather than mindless. We can decide who is in charge of our human biological home. Change only happens with awareness, and we will continue to contemplate ways to work on awareness, mindfulness, and choice each month as we consider where we thoughtfully dwell.
One of my favorite quotes states “Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” (unknown)
May you find calm moments this month.
