How To Stop Racing Thoughts (Life Changing)

Summary

In this insightful video, the presenter shares personal strategies for managing racing thoughts, a common mental health struggle. They introduce a unique mind model that distinguishes between conscious and subconscious thought processes, emphasizing the importance of awareness over identification with thoughts. The video offers practical mindfulness techniques, such as focused breathing and counting, to help viewers detach from intrusive thoughts and achieve mental calmness.

Takeaways

• 🔄 **Racing Thoughts Defined**: Racing thoughts are repetitive internal dialogues or monologues that revolve around the same subjects, often distressing and hard to stop.
• 🚫 **Thought Resistance**: Trying to stop thoughts can actually give them more energy; resistance perpetuates their existence in the mind.
• 🤔 **Overthinking Clarified**: Overthinking is different from racing thoughts; it involves overcomplicating situations or seeing more complexity than necessary.
• 🧠 **Mind Model**: The mind can be viewed as having two main parts: the conscious and subconscious, with a third aspect being the point of awareness.
• 👁️ **Point of Awareness**: The point of awareness is who we truly are; we are not our thoughts but the observer of them.
• 💭 **Subconscious Thoughts**: Passive thoughts that we don't actively create come from the subconscious mind, which controls most of our mind's processes.
• 🌊 **Mind as Water**: The mind can be likened to a pool of water, with thoughts as ripples; to calm the mind, stop adding 'water drops' of thoughts.
• 🧘‍♂️ **Mindfulness Practice**: Observing thoughts without judgment is a mindfulness practice that helps in managing racing thoughts.
• 📝 **Writing Thoughts**: Writing down racing thoughts can help in stopping them, as it tells the mind that it won't forget the thoughts or problems.
• 🌀 **Judgment Loop**: Avoiding self-judgment for having certain thoughts is crucial to breaking the cycle of racing thoughts.
• 🔄 **Persistence Over Perfection**: Stopping racing thoughts is a practice that requires persistence; it's about unlearning old mental habits.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on how to stop racing thoughts in one's head and introduces a model of the mind developed by the speaker to help understand where these thoughts come from.

What is the difference between racing thoughts and overthinking according to the video?

Racing thoughts are repetitive internal dialogues or images that continuously loop in one's mind, often causing distress. Overthinking, on the other hand, involves excessively analyzing a situation, believing there is more to it than there actually is, or overcomplicating things.

Why does trying to stop thoughts often make them continue?

Attempting to stop thoughts gives them energy by resisting them. This resistance is what keeps them going in the mind, as it's a form of mental engagement with the thoughts.

What is the mind model presented in the video?

The mind model presented in the video consists of the conscious mind and the subconscious mind, with a third aspect being the point of awareness, which is the true essence of who we are.

How does the subconscious mind contribute to racing thoughts?

The subconscious mind contributes to racing thoughts by automatically and passively creating thoughts that we did not actively generate, such as habits, background processes, or spontaneously arising ideas.

What is the role of the point of awareness in managing racing thoughts?

The point of awareness is the aspect of our mind that observes thoughts without being them. It is crucial to recognize that we are not our thoughts but the observer of our thoughts, which helps in managing racing thoughts.

Why is it important to not judge our thoughts when trying to stop racing thoughts?

Judging our thoughts can create a feedback loop where we become emotionally attached to the problem, perpetuating the racing thoughts. It's important to observe thoughts without judgment to allow them to naturally subside.

What is the significance of focusing on breathing in managing racing thoughts?

Focusing on breathing helps to shift the point of awareness from the mind to the body, giving the mind something to do and reducing the focus on racing thoughts.

How can counting help in stopping racing thoughts?

Counting creates neutral, active thoughts that do not engage with the racing thoughts. It serves as a tool to redirect the mind's focus away from the racing thoughts and towards a simple, repetitive task.

What is the purpose of observing surroundings when dealing with racing thoughts?

Observing surroundings helps to further redirect the point of attention away from racing thoughts and towards the external environment, which can aid in calming the mind.

Why is writing down racing thoughts suggested in the video?

Writing down racing thoughts can help to externalize them and reassure the mind that they won't be forgotten, which can alleviate the pressure to keep thinking about them internally.

How does the practice of mindfulness and meditation relate to stopping racing thoughts?

Mindfulness and meditation practices involve observing thoughts without engaging with them, which can help in letting go of racing thoughts and achieving a calmer mental state.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Understanding Racing Thoughts and the Mind Model

The video begins by introducing the topic of racing thoughts, which are repetitive internal commentaries that can be distressing, especially when trying to fall asleep. The speaker clarifies that they are not referring to overthinking but to the continuous loop of thoughts. They propose a model of the mind to understand these thoughts better. The model divides the mind into the conscious and subconscious, with the conscious mind being where our traditional thinking occurs, and the subconscious controlling habits and automatic processes. The speaker also introduces the concept of awareness as a third aspect of the mind, which is the observer of thoughts. They emphasize that we are not our thoughts but the observer of them, which is crucial for managing racing thoughts.

05:00

🌀 The Subconscious Mind and Passive Thoughts

The second paragraph delves into the role of the subconscious mind, which is responsible for our habits and automatic processes, making up approximately 95% of our mind. The speaker introduces the concept of passive thoughts, which are thoughts that we did not actively create and come from the subconscious. They explain that these passive thoughts can perpetuate racing thoughts when we start judging or engaging with them. The speaker also discusses the importance of awareness, stating that we are the point of awareness observing our thoughts. They stress that we should not identify with our thoughts, as this can lead to mental health issues, and instead, we should observe them without judgment.

10:01

🌊 Observing Thoughts to Stop the Ripples

In this paragraph, the speaker uses the analogy of a pool of water and ripples to explain how thoughts create mental turbulence. They suggest that actively creating thoughts is like adding drops of water to the pool, causing ripples. To stop racing thoughts, one must stop adding drops, or thoughts, and instead observe the existing ripples. The speaker emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and meditation as practices that help in observing thoughts without judgment. They recommend focusing on breathing as a starting point for this practice, as it can be controlled by both the conscious and subconscious mind, providing a point of focus for awareness.

15:03

🔢 Counting and Observing to Redirect Attention

The speaker continues by suggesting techniques to redirect attention away from racing thoughts. They recommend counting breaths or numbers as a way to create neutral, active thoughts that do not engage with the subconscious's passive thoughts. This practice helps in not paying attention to the racing thoughts and instead focusing on the counting and breathing. The speaker also suggests bringing awareness to the surroundings, such as sounds and sights, to further divert the mind from racing thoughts. They advise gently bringing the focus back to counting and breathing when the mind wanders back to racing thoughts, akin to training a muscle to let go.

20:04

📝 Writing Down Thoughts and Practicing Non-judgment

The final paragraph discusses the practice of writing down thoughts to alleviate racing thoughts, as it reassures the mind that the thoughts will not be forgotten. The speaker emphasizes the importance of patience and persistence in these practices, as it is more about unlearning old habits than learning new ones. They describe the practice as one of 'being' rather than 'doing,' where the focus is on existing without engaging in mental activity. The speaker also advises against judging one's own judgments, to avoid a negative feedback loop. They conclude by stating that through daily practice, one can gain control over their mind and reduce the impact of racing thoughts.

Keywords

💡Racing Thoughts

Racing thoughts refer to the experience of having continuous, repetitive internal commentary or mental images that revolve around the same subjects. In the video, it is described as a distressing mental state, particularly when trying to fall asleep. The speaker emphasizes that attempting to forcibly stop these thoughts often gives them more energy, which is counterproductive.

💡Overthinking

Overthinking is differentiated from racing thoughts as a situation where individuals believe there is more complexity to a situation than there actually is or when they over-complicate simple matters. The video script uses this term to contrast with racing thoughts, indicating a different type of cognitive behavior.

💡Conscious Mind

The conscious mind is the part of the mind that is awake and aware, responsible for traditional thinking processes such as internal dialogue, recalling memories, and calculating. The video script explains that the conscious mind is what we experience most of the time, except when we are asleep and dreaming.

💡Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind is depicted as the larger, hidden part of the mind that controls habits and bodily processes that happen automatically. It is also the source of passive thoughts that pop into our heads without active creation, such as a song that keeps playing in our minds.

💡Point of Awareness

The point of awareness is introduced as the third aspect of the mind, separate from the conscious and subconscious minds. It is the aspect of the self that observes thoughts, whether they are actively created or passively received. The video emphasizes that we are not our thoughts but the observer of them.

💡Passive Thoughts

Passive thoughts are those that come into our mind without us actively creating them, originating from the subconscious mind. The video gives examples such as music that plays in our heads or images that突然出现 without conscious effort, illustrating how these thoughts can contribute to racing thoughts.

💡Active Thoughts

Active thoughts are those that we deliberately create or focus on. The video suggests that by becoming aware of the difference between passive and active thoughts, we can manage our mental state better. It encourages observing these thoughts without judgment to reduce racing thoughts.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness is presented as a practice of observing thoughts without judgment, which is key to managing racing thoughts. The video likens the mind to a pool of water, suggesting that mindfulness is like observing the water without adding more ripples by thinking.

💡Meditation

Meditation is mentioned as a practice that can help calm the mind by focusing on observation and letting go of active thoughts. It is described as a way to achieve a state where the mind is no longer controlled by racing thoughts, aligning with the video's theme of mental control.

💡Observation

Observation is a central theme in the video, referring to the act of noticing and acknowledging thoughts without engaging with them. It is used as a technique to break the cycle of racing thoughts by simply watching them without adding to them.

💡Judgment

Judgment is discussed in the context of creating thoughts about our thoughts, which can perpetuate racing thoughts. The video advises against judging our thoughts or our judgments, to prevent a negative feedback loop and to maintain a state of observation.

Highlights

The video introduces a method to stop racing thoughts by understanding their origin.

Racing thoughts are internal commentary that revolves around the same subjects, often causing distress.

Attempting to stop thoughts by force can actually give them more energy and perpetuate them.

The presenter differentiates between racing thoughts and overthinking, explaining that overthinking complicates situations.

A model of the mind is introduced, dividing it into conscious and subconscious parts.

The conscious mind is where traditional thinking occurs, while the subconscious controls habits and automatic processes.

The presenter introduces a third aspect of the mind: the point of awareness, which is who we truly are.

The importance of recognizing that we are not our thoughts but the observers of our thoughts is emphasized.

Passive thoughts are those that come from the subconscious mind, often without our active creation.

Racing thoughts are perpetuated by our active engagement and judgment of passive thoughts.

Mindfulness practice is suggested as a way to observe thoughts without judgment, leading to a reduction in racing thoughts.

The presenter uses the analogy of a pool of water and ripples to explain how thoughts create mental turbulence.

Meditation and mindfulness are presented as practices to stop feeding racing thoughts by observing them.

A step-by-step process is outlined for managing racing thoughts through focused breathing and observation.

Writing down racing thoughts can help to externalize them and reduce their mental presence.

The video stresses the importance of daily practice for managing racing thoughts, comparing it to learning a new skill.

The presenter discusses the unlearning process of letting go of mental habits and the importance of patience.

The video concludes with a reminder that we are not our thoughts but the observers of them, and the importance of self-observation.

Transcripts

in today's video i'm going to show you

exactly how i learned to stop

racing thoughts going around in my head

i'm also going to introduce

a model of the mind which i developed

myself

which can help us in understanding where

these thoughts come from

[Applause]

hi and welcome back to mental health

power

so racing thoughts is something that i

think we've all experienced at some

point

this is usually the experience of

noticing that we have

internal commentary going around and

around in our head over and over again

and usually this is revolving around the

same

subjects so let's say there's a

situation we have and we're finding it

difficult to accept or to overcome

or a problem we can't resolve now we may

find ourselves having thoughts that go

around and around over and over again

trying to either figure things out

or just non-stop commenting on the

situation

and this can be distressing especially

for example this usually happens let's

say

when we're falling asleep and we find

that we can't sleep because these

thoughts go round and round in our head

and no matter how much we try and stop

it they don't stop

and the truth is you can't actually

stop these thoughts and that's where i

think a lot of the information about

stopping thoughts comes from

because every time you try and stop a

thought

what you are doing is actually giving it

energy

and every time you give energy by

resisting it because that's what

stopping is

every time you resist it you are

actually

making it continue in your mind and this

is where i think a lot of the

traditional information

can sometimes miss out on where there's

a lot of good information

about managing thoughts but really

this is the way i believe to approach

and this is what worked for me for many

years now

so i also need to point out that when i

refer to racing thoughts

i don't mean overthinking i would see

overthinking as

when there's a particular situation and

we believe that there is a lot more to

the situation than there actually is

or when we're over complicating

something when the answer is really

simple

and that's what i would refer to

overthinking as

which is not what racing thoughts are

racing thoughts is the act of your

internal dialogue or monologue

or images that come up for intuitive

impressions

going around the loop over and over and

over again

and they just don't stop so

to understand how to stop racing

thoughts really i should put this in

quotations a bit misleading

first let's have a look at a model of

the mind now i understand that this

model is very general

and i also accept that not everyone

thinks in the same way

so this is very much based on my own

thinking but also based on my

conversation with other people and how

they think

so it's interesting that there are about

five different ways people think

so you have as i mentioned the internal

dialogue or monologue so commentary

going on

and we also have images that come up so

when people say they're using the mind's

eye

they're seeing images in their mind

that's another way of thinking

sometimes we can have these intuitive

feelings and impressions

and some people may not call that

thinking but i will still see it as a

way of thinking because we use it to

make judgments

and essentially it's information that we

are being given just in a different form

to understand how we stop

racing thoughts because i know we don't

really stop them

let's have a look at a model of the mind

so

this is essentially how i see the mind

it is based off

half of it is based off a generally

accepted idea of how the mind works

the other half is my own idea so the

first half is to understand that the

mind is split into

two main parts or can be seen as being

split into two main parts

so the conscious mind and the

subconscious mind

so the conscious mind is what we

experience pretty much

all the time um except when we're asleep

and dreaming

so when we're conscious we essentially

means that we're awake

and our conscious mind is where our

traditional thinking happens so

when you notice your internal dialogue

or monologue when you notice images

appear

when you're recalling memories that's

happening in your conscious mind when

you're thinking of things

and calculating things that's all

happening in your conscious mind

and the subconscious makes up most of

our mind and it's the opposite so it's

actually

hidden from our normal from our normal

view so

when we sleep and we dream that's when

we experience a subconscious mind

directly

and the subconscious mind also controls

everything we don't have to think about

so all of your habits all of your bodily

processes you don't have to do

anything that happens automatically

that's being controlled by

the subconscious and the subconscious

makes up

apparently about 95 percent of our mind

so it's actually most of our mind

and it's what does you could say the

heavy lifting the back

processing the important thing also is

that there's a

third aspect and this is what i believe

is largely missed out in traditional

psychology or therapy or at least there

isn't the mass

awareness as i believe there should be

and that the third part is this here

which is the point of awareness

so we have thoughts that come into our

mind

or thoughts we create so we could say

thoughts that pop into our head we can

call passive thoughts

so we didn't necessarily actively create

them

and thoughts that we actively created

we can call those we can say that they

are active thoughts

and so this is this is the way i view my

own thoughts i don't think i've seen

anyone else come up with in this way

but i'm sure there are different models

about this as well

so the important thing to note is that

this

third aspect of the mind which is

awareness is that's actually who we are

and so the first problem most of us have

humans

that we have probably have is that we

have thoughts

and then we identify with your thoughts

so we have force

and then we believe that we are those

thoughts

so you can imagine how many problems

emerge from that

first issue but we have a large amount

of people

who are fully identified with whatever

thoughts are coming into their head

whether they've created it or whether

they've popped into their head

so the first problem is most of us

have been indirectly taught or just

never

or it was never realized that we are not

our thoughts and that's the extremely

important thing to remember that we are

not our thoughts what we are

are the observer of our thoughts so we

are this point of awareness

which can view thoughts and if you think

about it

the fact that you can hear your own

thoughts or view images in your mind

or you can identify and experience

intuitive impressions in your mind the

fact that you can experience it means

you're observing it in some way

which proves that you are not those

thoughts because you're able to

observe them so you at this point here

the observer

this is the first principle you must

always remember

because no matter what thoughts you

create

or where they come from it's important

that you remember that you are not them

because so many mental health problems

are perpetuated because whatever

thoughts come into our mind whether

they're negative or not

we believe that that's us so that's the

first point that

you are the point of awareness that we

use your thoughts

second thing is when you have thoughts

that you have not created

these come from your subconscious mind

so if you ever have the experience where

you're like oh i don't know why i've got

music going around in my head

and you know you didn't actually

actively create that in your mind

or you have images that just pop into

your head and you don't know how that

happened or ideas

that pop into your head and you didn't

actively create them

that's because they've come from your

subconscious mind

so it's you know the back processors

like if you have

your computer or your phone there are

things happening in the background that

you're not aware of it's doing

automatically that's where habits come

from

so those kind of thoughts these are what

i refer to as passive thoughts

so you didn't actively create them they

came

passively from your subconscious and

why that happens is a bit long to get

into so that will be

for a another video but just for now

understand that there are thoughts that

you actively create

and there are thoughts that

automatically and passively come from

your subconscious

and you are the awareness that can view

all of them

this means you don't actually have to

actively create lots of the force in

your mind

so when it comes to stopping racing

thoughts a big

issue is we have these passive thoughts

coming in

so that's the part that we're like that

we observe and we and we watch and think

we can't control it

the thing that keeps these racing

thoughts going these

and they are passive thoughts you didn't

create them

is that we start thinking and judging

these thoughts that are racing about so

we're feeding it

and then it keeps going it perpetuates

so what we need to do

once we firstly become aware of this

commentary because often

our mind is two things can happen we can

observe things happening like a

situation or a person

and we may find our mind is

automatically

judging that personal situation so it's

commenting on it saying things about it

and it's happening passively but

sometimes we can be actively doing it

so we can be actively creating thoughts

so it's important

that we learn to just observe mindfully

so this is essentially a mindfulness

practice

it's important we observe these thoughts

that come in

and identify how am i creating these

thoughts

or is it coming from my subconscious is

it passively being created

the moment you can identify it you want

to stop

creating thoughts if you want if you are

actively trying to

reduce racing thoughts then you need to

first stop the ones you are creating

and you do this by just learning to

observe

whatever thoughts are going around your

mind and

it's not easy it takes time but one way

we can look at it is that so this this

was meant to be my picture of a drop of

water

a drop going on water so the best way of

thinking about the mind one of the ways

is

if you imagine the mind being a pool of

water i

imagine the ripples being thoughts that

are going around it

every time you actively think about

something or you actively create a

thought in your mind

it's like adding another drop of water

so you add the water

drop and then it can make the ripples

continue the more you keep adding the

drops the more the ripples get more

turbulent and turbulent

so what you really want to do what

people are doing what i've done as well

for many years was

we're trying to stop the turbulent

waters by adding more water

and of course that's just going to make

it continue so instead how do you stop

the ripples in the water you just stop

adding water you just observe it and

eventually gradually

the ripples start to slow down the waves

start to slow down they get slower and

slower

and they get smaller and smaller until

eventually it calms down

that's the essence of meditation and

mindfulness where

you just from the act of observation

you stop feeding those racing thoughts

so the only reason why the subconscious

continues to create these thoughts is

because we're feeding active thoughts

into it over and over again and

and so by feeding it more and more of

these water droplets these thoughts

we keep it going so the way you stop

racing

thoughts is you practice just observing

the thoughts

and not adding more on to them so

this is the step-by-step process of what

i've done for many years and has always

worked for me

and i must point out that it is a

practice

it's something you do daily just as if

you wanted to learn to drive a car if

you wanted to ride a bike

learn a new sport want to learn a

language you know anything like that

you can't do it for a week and then say

oh i didn't get any results it didn't

work this is going to be something

that's going to take

time but it's 100 worth and i think

every human being

on the planet should already know this

and we told this at school

you know how to use your mind should be

the first thing that we're taught

but for whatever reason we're not so

the first thing you want to do is start

focusing on your breathing

and this is probably going to be the

first thing i say for most of the

solutions

and this is because when you focus on

your breathing

so your breathing is can be controlled

by both your subconscious and your

conscious mind so you can do it

automatically without thinking about it

and at that point your con your

subconscious mind is controlling it

or you can consciously do it so you can

manually take over and start breathing

the fact that i've said that now you'll

probably now start

consciously breathing right because now

that you're thinking about

it your subconscious mind goes oh well

no you take over

but later on you'll forget and you'll

realize you're breathing automatically

so you want to start focusing on your

breathing first and foremost

and this is because you're taking a

point of awareness from your mind

and putting it into somewhere on your

body and it's giving your mind something

to do you're giving a point of awareness

something to focus on

so while you're focusing on breathing

you want to gradually make them a bit

deeper each time don't force it

and there are many different breathing

techniques and timings you can look up

online

you can try different ones everyone's

going to have slight different slightly

different purposes

so once you've spent a couple of minutes

focusing your breathing

you then want to start counting in your

head so some people count the breaths

they're taking

typical one is to breathe in for four

hold for seven breathe out for eight but

you can do whatever version you want

i've done another video specifically on

anxiety and a breathing technique

where i go further into how you can use

breathing

to manage anxiety in the moment and so

you can check that out

but for now while you're focusing on

your breathing

and gradually breathing slower and

slower

you then want to start counting in your

head so you can count one to

hundred to one you're counting twos and

threes whatever you want

the purpose is that by doing this you

are creating

active thoughts that are totally neutral

and have nothing to do with the passive

thoughts that are being created the

racing thoughts

so this means while your subconscious

mind is creating

these thoughts of trying to solve the

problem or worrying about whatever the

issue is

you're just not paying attention to it

and you're for the time being creative

active thoughts

that are totally neutral so they're just

about counting

so you can be counting in 99 98 97

whatever you want

and you just focus on that and your

breathing so you can bring a point of

attention between those two

and naturally your mind will go back to

these passive forces are going around

and racing around

that's fine just let that happen and

then gently bring your point of

attention back to your accounting and

your breathing

so the more you do that do that for a

couple more minutes

and then you want to focus your point of

attention so your awareness on your

surroundings so

what sounds can you hear what feelings

can you feel um what colors can you see

what lights are there that kind of thing

and again when your point of attention

goes back to these racing thoughts

let it be bring your point of attention

back now to these three things so now

your point of attention is moving from

one

to three things so you can see what

we're doing is we're

training our mind to not keep going back

to this because that's what we've done

for probably most of our lives right

so this is almost like training a muscle

but it's the opposite you're not

training the muscle to contract

as in to do something that's difficult

like heavy lifting you're actually

training it to let go

so it's like reverse exercise almost

it's letting go

and so as this is happening as your

point of attention is moving between

these four things

your breathing your counting your

surroundings

and erasing thoughts inevitably

when your attention goes back to these

racing thoughts these thoughts

are coming in whether you're actively

creating them

or they're passively coming in just

observe it don't judge it

let it be almost like if there's just a

person talking to you

and you're just observing it but you're

not

talking back you're not judging it

you're just

observing that's it that's what you want

to do

and what you want to do is whenever you

notice yourself

creating judgments or thoughts about the

thoughts you're having or whatever

situation is

again just start practicing

not creating those thoughts and i know

that's a bit of a weird thing to say

because we're so useless thoughts going

around our head

but the more you try to do this you'll

notice that you'll have

gaps in between thoughts more you

practice it so you'll have

moments where there are no thoughts and

that's ultimately what you're doing

you're learning to let go

of thinking and

this is not a straightforward practice

at first because

nobody's really been taught this unless

they've gone to seek it out

or if they were born in a culture where

this is a normal practice

so you it's about persisting the success

will come from persisting

failure is normal as part of success so

you want to

keep persisting with this as a daily

practice now you might want to set aside

some specific time in the day or

maybe in the morning and the night to

practice this at first

so you don't have any distractions

because i know this can be tough to do

if you're doing it during the day

but eventually as you get better and

better doing it at these set moments

you may find your mind just

automatically starting to do these

things

because we have mental habits as well as

physical habits

so in the same way that you learn to you

know throw a ball really far by

practicing

this practice is a mental habit so the

more you practice

letting go of these active thoughts the

more you practice

just observing it becomes automatic

gradually over time

what can massively help as well to stop

racing thoughts

is just writing them down so i find a

lot of the times

if i notice my mind is racing it's

because it thinks it's trying to work

something out and it thinks if it keeps

thinking about it over and over again

but somehow it's going to solve it but

usually you know if it's been a couple

hours and it's still

doing the same thing over and over again

probably not going to figure out

and so what you want to do is if you

have all these thoughts going around and

if it

and if they're crazy anxiety just write

them all down

and i find that often that helps it to

stop because it's like it's told our

mind

well i'm not going to forget what i was

thinking about

i'm not going to forget the problem now

so you write it all down and

i find the more i did this in the past

the less these thoughts came about

because if i wanted to think about it i

tell myself well i can come back

and worry about this later by opening

this book and yeah it

you need to have patience with these

practices because

if we've been in the habit of doing the

opposite then this is not really about

learning it's more about

unlearning so you're essentially

overriding

overwriting the program that was there

before

and this is because you're not really

learning to

do something you're because you're

undoing what you've learned what you're

really doing is

being and i know that sounds a bit odd

but when we're not doing something if we

sat and did nothing

what we are doing is existing so we're

just a being

so by doing this practice more and more

you're not doing mental activity or

letting go of it

so you're really focused on being

so this is a being practice not a doing

practice

and this is because thinking about

things over and over again doesn't

necessarily resolve things

in fact i'm sure we've all had the

experience where we've forgotten about a

problem

and then all of a sudden just bam out of

the blue

the solution comes in our mind right so

you didn't you don't always have to

think about problems to resolve them

sometimes when we give our

we give our conscious mind a rest our

subconscious mind will figure out on its

own

and so when you let go often answers can

come to us

and as i mentioned at the beginning a

big part of the problem

of racing thoughts is our identification

with the thoughts so the belief that we

are those thoughts

so often if we are very emotionally

attached to a problem

then we want to keep it's almost like we

want to keep those thoughts going

because it's almost like we think if we

let it go it's telling ourselves we

don't care

and that's because of an identification

with the thoughts

so remind yourself and again through

these practices you learn you'll see

that you are not those thoughts you are

the observer of the thoughts

and another thing that can happen is

when you notice

the judgments that can come about of

your own thoughts

don't judge your own judgments so

there can be this issue where you end up

in a negative feedback loop where

you're observing your thoughts and maybe

there's something about them you don't

like

so then you judge you create a thought

to judge that thought

and then you start judging yourself for

judging the yourself judging the thought

which is a mouthful but that can happen

so

just learn to not judge your thoughts

and so with this practice and again it's

not something that will happen overnight

it can take a lot of practice

some people notice quite a quick change

it depends on you know your own mind

doing this as a daily practice

absolutely changed my life

because through doing this you control

your mind and it doesn't control you

and so that's today's video if you have

any questions please comment below

and thank you for watching i'll see you

in the next one take care

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