MUSIC: “Heart’s Song.mp3” by Alexander Bell.

“Thinking”
(An extract from HOW TO LIVE IN LOVE
The new book by Alexander Bell, downloadable here.)

Do you think a lot?… Are you thinking now?… Can you imagine a life free of the endless thoughts, opinions, judgements, beliefs and conceptual understandings that occupy our mind on a daily basis?

Do you believe that thinking is compulsive, meaning that we have no choice whether we think or not? For many people, negative thought feels like a compulsion, and if they were given a button to press that would instantly end all negative thinking forever, they would press it immediately. Wouldn’t you?

Many people get stuck within negative cycles of thought and feel like they have no other choice, that they cannot be positive. They cannot even find reasons to be positive – they only see reasons to be negative. Many people, when a negative thought enters their mind, simply have no idea what to do about it. Yet they usually ‘do’ one of two things.

Firstly, they may engage with that thought and begin thinking more about it, adding to it and building it up with further negative thoughts, related to the original one. By doing this, they create a negative scenario in their mind that seems very real, and creates strong negative feelings in their body, which is simply responding to the thoughts as if they were a real situation. This is the worst of the two possibilities, because we have created an unpleasant and tangible experience for ourselves on many levels of our being. Once this has occurred, what can we do? 

The first step is to realise that we created this experience ourselves, through our own thinking. We can then disengage our mind from the negative thoughts that created it. How do we do this? We bring our attention out of our mind. Where does it go? Into our body. We must become aware of how we feel, even if it is not pleasant. With our awareness now on how we are feeling emotionally, we are in the right place to restore a sense of harmony to ourselves. We can do this simply by breathing gently, and calming and relaxing our body. 

In response to negative thinking, our muscles always contract and tighten, so by relaxing our body this tension is released, allowing us to feel more at peace. As we continue to relax, emotional activity subsides and we are able to return to a state of inner calm once more. At this point, we must remain vigilant of our mind attempting to do the same thing again – to spoil our peace. The mind is always ready to do this if given the chance, so it is good to remain aware of what our mind is doing and where it is trying to lead us, while keeping our awareness grounded in our body, in our physical sense of being. This is the only place we can experience the feelings of harmony and peace that we all enjoy and benefit from so much. 

Another highly effective way of restoring harmony to our body and mind is to go outside and walk (or meditate) in nature for a while. The energy of nature is deeply harmonious, and when we are surrounded by it we are influenced immediately. The longer we spend in nature, the deeper it’s harmony permeates our being. Mother Nature can help us solve most of our problems very quickly, if given the chance…

>> Download the full eBook (PDF file) for only £5 / €7

Book Chapters:
(1) Welcome (2) Thoughts (3) Emotions, Guilt and Forgiveness (4) Punishment (5) Why People Do ‘Bad’ Things (6) Power (7) Love and Healing (8) Kindness (9) Choices of Consciousness (10) Fear and Worry (11) How to be Happy and Healthy (12) Meditation and Gratitude (13) Time (14) Habits (15) Finding Compassion (16) Habitual Choices (17) Dreams (18) Food and Digestion (19) Healing Foods (20) Addictions (21) The Perfection of Being (22) Death and Longevity

www.AlexanderBell.org