Written by: Edi Matsumoto, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Before midnight on New Year's Eve, people line up to ring a bell at many temples in Japan. Each bell ring will symbolically "ring out" humanity's sin, such as greed, envy, and anger. In the Buddhism tradition, there are 108 "evil passions." Most visitors are there for the fun experience to strike a giant bell with a suspended beam and probably not thinking about their sins.
Out of thousands (some say tens of thousands) of thoughts, we have each day, a study says that 90 – 95% of them are unconscious and repetitious. Moreover, 80 – 87 % of them are said to be negative. Therefore, the number of heresies may be underestimated.
Why do our brains produce so many negative thoughts? They say it is our built-in system in our million-year-old brain when we had to be vigilant to fend ourselves from saber tooth tigers. However, the time is different now, and our stresses do not require fight or flight responses. We typically respond to the source of stress by talking, sending emails, or other actions that do not require fighting or fleeing.
This default mode of our brains is causing so much negativity, fear, and aggression in people. With the advent of the internet, haven't we made some progress gathering wisdom from all traditions, sages, and teachers who have studied to quiet our minds and tame the negativity? We have so many books, videos, and workshops that teach us how to cope with stress. We also have the brain scan (MRI), EEG, heart rate variability monitor for biofeedback to see the efficacy and progress.
The negative voice in our head has many names, Mara, gremlin, the peanut gallery, the critique, the judge, etc. Whatever you call it, quieting this voice has been the wish and goal for many people I know. I have read books, listened to audiobooks, taken classes, gone to retreats, and talked to friends, teachers, and elders. In this article, I chose five examples that I found helpful for myself and my clients to help deal with the habitual unconscious negative thoughts. Of course, there are many others, and I hope this may serve as a starting point or a supplement.
1. Meditation, whether it is Vipassana, Zen, breathing technique, or mindfulness, the point is to quiet the mind to observe the thoughts one by one as they arise. We learn to monitor our thoughts without reacting, respond without emotional attachment, or let them go. We will start to realize our thoughts as impermanent, impersonal, fleeting, and we don't have to chase or act upon them. One of the tools that I recommend to my students is https://insighttimer.com/ to make it more accesible.
2. Don Miguel Ruiz talks about four principles to live by in his book The Four Agreements. The agreements are: 1) Be impeccable with your word; 2) Don't take anything personally; 3) Don't make assumptions; and 4) Always do your best. I was particularly interested in the methods of taming what he calls the "parasite." He lists three ways to fight a metaphorical "monster with a thousand heads." 1) to face each of the monster heads (our fear) one by one; 2) to gain control of the source – our emotions, and stop feeding the monster (fueling the emotions that come from fear); 3) to go through "the initiation of the dead," which is found in many traditions. "This is a symbolic death which kills the parasite without harming our physical body." https://www.miguelruiz.com/the-four-agreements
3. In addition to the meditations, the Silva Method, created by Jose Silva, suggests saying "cancel, cancel" out loud or to ourselves each time we have a negative thought. After saying cancel, cancel, we will dismiss the ideas that do not serve us or replace them with a more positive perspective. The most challenging part of this method is recognizing our unconscious negative thoughts. The negative thinking pattern is so embedded in our minds that it sneaks into our minds without being caught. Some recommend using a visual reminder such as sticky labels, a rubber band around the wrist, a random timer on our smart device as reminders.
https://www.silvamethod.com/
4. Lester Levenson, the creator of the Sedona Method, was sent home to die by his doctor at the age of 42. While he was waiting to die at home, he reviewed and examined his memories one by one. Then he discovered that he was happiest when he loved someone or something. He started switching any negative emotions he felt in the memory into love, and as a result, he rediscovered the joy in life and physical health and lived to be 84.
https://www.lesterlevenson.org/
5. Joe Dispenza, provides lectures and workshops around the world. In addition to a series of meditations, he emphasizes why it is so critical to "change" our personality to become a different person to create a new future that we truly desire. The central premise of his framework is that we are electromagnetic beings in the unified quantum field. Our thoughts create the energy that affects the energetic field. Since energy follows what we pay attention to, we need to pay attention to what we truly desire, not what we don't want. https://drjoedispenza.com/
The common thread of all these methods is:
Recognizing and facing our negative thoughts.
Learning to observe without reacting.
Realizing that we always have choices of what to focus on, how to perceive it, and what action to take.
The response does not come from a place of lack but the point of view of understanding and wholeness. Therefore, there is little to no suffering in observing, recognizing, and responding to the negativity.
We are a creature of habit. If life is not working out the way we want, perhaps we need to change how we think, feel, and behave. As Einstein says: Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. The human species has accumulated enough wisdom, success formula, and mindset. I hope they will become part of the curriculum in school and workplaces to help people better cope with unnecessary fear, defensiveness, and dramas.
I attached links to each method, and people can seek out coaches who are familiar with these or similar methods to benefit from traditional and modern wisdom.
My coaching website is www.happinesscoach.info.
Edi Matsumoto, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Edi Matsumoto is an experienced health, wellness, and spiritual coach. After working with Mother Theresa in Kolkata, India, while she was alive, Matsumoto devoted almost 30 years to healthcare, helping thousands of patients with physical and mental wellbeing. She is the founder of the Satori Method based on her experience as a nurse practitioner, certified wellness coach, and facilitator of a spiritual course. Satori is a word for awakening or enlightenment in Japanese. Unlike the traditional spiritual methods in which one devotes decades to one discipline, she combines positive psychology, meditations, the law of attraction, theory, practicum, and modern technology all in one program to meet the individual needs. She is a bilingual speaker, author, and an accomplished artist. Her mission is to help people uncover the state of fundamental well-being they were born with and unleash their creativity.
