Thoughts and pain

How we think affects how we feel both emotionally and physically. How and what we think affects the choices we make. We know today that how we think can increase or decrease our experience of pain. Working with thoughts is a lifelong process.

We actually have 70-90,000 different thoughts every day - and we think up to 90% of the same thoughts every day. We can call this mind-spinning. Can you identify what your thoughts are about? Maybe you feel irritation, frustration, anger or everything you should and should have done or what you don't get to do. Others may feel a guilty conscience, demands on themselves, have patterns such as being a good girl or a people pleaser. Thoughts about being able to do something, master something, have hope and opportunities create a green landscape and reduce the experience of pain. Worse-fall thoughts and thoughts of disaster create a red landscape and increase the experience of pain.

Are you consciously aware of your inner dialogue and how you think and speak to yourself? Are you aware of whether you judge and criticize yourself or others? Imagine your inner voice is your best friend. Would you want to spend time with her if she spoke to you in that way?

Visualization Exercise

Imagine a sky with clouds. Your thoughts are like clouds that come and go. Some days, they might be like a thick fog. Visualize yourself standing at a bus stop on the E18 highway during rush hour. Buses, cars, trucks, and motorcycles pass by, going both north and south. Picture these vehicles as your thoughts. You can’t ride along with every car or truck that passes. It’s the same with your thoughts. Allow yourself to be aware of your thoughts and then let them go. We can’t go along with every thought that rushes through our mind.