Here's something to seriously think about:
Recently someone told me that on average we think about 45,000 thoughts in any 24 hours.
That's a pretty large amount of thoughts and mind boggling in its own right.
However, what's slightly scary about this is that apparently 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts we had the day before... and the day before that.
And what's more disturbing is that between a half and two thirds of those thoughts are negative... you know, the judgments, put-downs, self-esteem underminers etc. - the stuff your inner critic loves to indulge in.
Most of these 45,000 thoughts happen on autopilot and few fully register in our consciousness to the degree that we can do anything about them. However, these are the sorts of thoughts that start to trigger off anxiety, worry and insecurity in our system, which in turn can trigger off the sympathetic nervous system (our fight/flight/freeze system), which, if it goes unchecked over time, undermines our immune system and can lead to all sorts of conditions such as depression and other sorts of problems, both physically and psychologically.
The other scary thing about all this is that the latest brain research shows that 'Neurons that fire together, wire together' and this means that our habitual thinking patterns tend to get more entrenched as time goes by. In effect the longer we let this state of affairs continue, the worse it will get.
OK. That's the bad news.
The good news is that we can definitely do something about this, and developing a regular Meditation practice is one of the very best things we can do.
In Meditation we take a little time each day to become more mindful. Mindful about what's going on on the inside, and one of the things we become more mindful about in particular is our thinking patterns and the content of our thoughts.
We also discover through Meditation, that we are not our thoughts, and through developing skills of witnessing we can learn to distance ourselves from our thoughts and thereby their content becomes less important and less impactful in our lives.
And, there are many other things we can do as part of our meditation practice that when used regularly will start to turn around the negativity cycle described above. These include deliberately creating space in our meditations for safety and generosity. This in turn causes new neural connections in the brain and which when practiced regularly over time strengthen themselves, support the parasympathetic nervous system (the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system) and ultimately lead to a happier and more fulfilling life.
How to do this is part of what we teach on The Meditation Course.
So if you think your future happiness and wellbeing is worth investing two and a half hours of your time on a Monday evening over eight weeks, why not come and join us.
After all, who do you want to be in charge of your future - you or your habitual thinking patterns?
All the best. StJohn
The next Meditation Course starts on Monday 30th August in Crows Nest. It's designed for both beginners and those wanting to re-establish their Meditation Practice.
For details, to download a brochure, or to register for the course, visit the The Meditation Course page on our website, http://circumference.net.au/public-programs/meditation/ .
