Does meditation take care of my negative thinking

[Omario]

Hi, I am a complete newbie to meditation and as you can guess by the title i am a professional negative thinker.

My question is simple. Does  persistent meditation eliminate my negative thinking patterns?

If yes how? How can sitting down and clearing my mind fix that. 

Thanks for your response

[LaucherJunge]

@Omario
This is very difficult to answer accurately.
In general it does make thinking more positive overall and this is because of many reasons, meditation has too many positive effects to even start typing it down, but when it comes to the negative thinking I think it is mainly because of the resilience you develop over time trough meditation. Another important factor is also dependent on how you really meditate, if you dive into your shadows and don't try to repress anything it might even make your thinking worse for some time untill you finally manage to light up those shadows, then you should come back with a way more positive thinking overall and of course not only the thinking.

[cirkussmile]

Yes! Of course you will change your negative thinking by observing your mind! Of course you will burst out in laughter when you see how it works and after that you have no more interest in engaging with small things like negative thoughts.

The question is. Will you do the work and see for yourself? 

Much love

[pluto]

Most of our negative thinking comes from our (subconscious mind). Around 95% of most thoughts are from the subconscious so most people are actually on auto-pilot mode without even being aware of it. The subconscious mind picks up everything! Literally whether you listen to whats going on around you, tv, people, noises, ect.. or not the subconscious picks up everything.

Now sadly, we live in a highly focused negatively driven society, mainly due to media manipulation but there are quite a few other factors too. Now what meditation and spending time in nature and similar practices do is they re-program the subconscious mind. The more you spend time doing these things that teach your mind to focus and be more in the present moment, the less room there is for thoughts to occur.

Eventually the more you do these mindfulness practices and surround yourself in a more natural environment or in the silence the more these patterns of no-thought will replace old patterns of too much thought. Eventually you will be free in a way that cannot be descried through words but only experience to be had. 

From that moment on we are no longer 95% on autopilot instead it becomes the complete other side of the spectrum. We are in full if not almost in full control of our lives and what we think on a day to day basis as meditation will help you become hyper-aware so you are aware before the thoughts even occur. This is the old saying of "Being the Watcher or Being the Observer".

Hope this helps

[Omario]

@LaucherJunge @pluto @cirkussmile well said.

[Nahm]

@Omario Practicing awareness will certainly ‘cure’ negative thinking. You are on the right track! (IMO) You’re openness is commendable. I am really curious, do you find mostly negative outcomes in the ongoings of your life? 

[Omario]

@Nahm

" I am really curious, do you find mostly negative outcomes in the ongoings of your life? "

Yeah, i do but let me tell you this, when ever I'm not engaging in negative thinking everything seems to work out.

• My self esteem sky rockets
• My daily goals get achieved
• Conversations become fun and playful. I become sociable
• School is overall much easier and i feel relaxed, passionate, free ... the list goes on

How ever all that seems to go down hill when ever i think negatively, its as if the thoughts manifest them selves. 

The thing is i am 100% aware of the effect negative thinking has. But I've been doing it for so damn long its become second nature to me.

 

[Nahm]

@Omario Awareness cures. Become more aware of your thinking and talking (and typing). The effect isn’t as rewarding as the feeling of positivity. The effects are the icing on the cake. Do you notice, in your previous comment, you started with a double negative, positive in the middle, then negative ‘downhill’, then specifically noting your awareness of negative, “100%” even, then justifying continuing the habit based on your past? 

[Omario]

@Nahm  I don't think the way  I worded it matters that much but what does matter is when i say I'm 100% aware of it. I literally mean that when a negative/destructive thought pops up, I'm aware of how i am emotionally and physically influenced by it. I am also aware of the fact that the negative thought has a way of attracting another negative thought and another and another, creating the famous snowball effect. Maybe its just a matter of time for me to stop engaging in thinking that way, since being aware of how shitty these thoughts make me feel i would subconsciously lose interest in continuing to entertain them. But I've done it long enough, for more than a year now. So if that were to happen it would have probably happened by now, don't you think?

Its habitual, I've been negative/self destructive for as long as i remember. Its the only way i know to think.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom, would like to hear more from you

Edited January 16, 2018 by Omario

[YaNanNallari]

Yes but it will take time. Don't require meditation to always be pleasant. It will also make you go through things. The less you hold on the easier you will advance. To put it simply it will allow you not resist negative thinking while allowing you to see how negative thinking or especially shaming/fear/powerlessness etc isn't as necessary as you deeply assume right now.

[star ark]

Yes but you learnt this negative thinking and you have to unlearn it. It's just a habit you form and can be broken. For some reason it feels like more than a habit, it feels like you yourself, but really it is just a habit. The real you is not the bad habit or even the awareness of the bad habit.

[Jamie Universe]

@Omario There's also Affirmations, which Leo has a video on. Meditation is definitely something you can keep up with, and it might be better to keep up with meditation instead of affirmations. But Affirmations take about 1-3 months to change a belief/negative thinking, meditation might be quicker I honestly don't know, but you might want to consider it

[cetus]

5 hours ago, Omario said:

The thing is i am 100% aware of the effect negative thinking has. But I've been doing it for so damn long its become second nature to me

@Omario  I don't see a problem. Except it, don't try to change it. When the time is right you'll shed it like and old pair of worn shoes that only serve to hurt your feet.

[Nahm]

4 hours ago, Omario said:

@Nahm  I don't think the way  I worded it matters that much but what does matter is when i say I'm 100% aware of it. I literally mean that when a negative/destructive thought pops up, I'm aware of how i am emotionally and physically influenced by it. I am also aware of the fact that the negative thought has a way of attracting another negative thought and another and another, creating the famous snowball effect. Maybe its just a matter of time for me to stop engaging in thinking that way, since being aware of how shitty these thoughts make me feel i would subconsciously lose interest in continuing to entertain them. But I've done it long enough, for more than a year now. So if that were to happen it would have probably happened by now, don't you think?

Its habitual, I've been negative/self destructive for as long as i remember. Its the only way i know to think.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom, would like to hear more from you

We aren’t ever complete, or finished, or done, and we’ll never have all the awareness. On one side you’re thinking you’re completely aware of the thinking, on the opposing side you lack the awareness to change the habit. That’s a stress producing situation, a mind arguing with it’s self, and stress feeds into unwanted outlooks. Awareness isn’t a ‘lucky matter of time’ thing for most of us.  You gotta think different if you want to feel different. The right book at the right time can be a game changer for this. Listening to positive speakers can help build our library of positive words & thoughts.  

Meditation every morning will help slow your thinking down and give you lots of ‘space’. Twice a day is better. You’ll become free from habitual thinking, making it downright fun picking better thoughts, and seeing the moment as it is, without projection of the past or future added, without the monkey mind. The joy of working through this habit, is you’ll simultaneously discover much more of yourself, and that’s a beautiful thing.

The way we word things, the way we talk, what we talk about, it matters a whole lot if we’re trying to become more aware of positive thinking habits. It’s looking in a mirror. Just observe these things without judging yourself. You’ve got to keep elevating your thinking. It won’t just happen. Things in life will change, but you will be you, and it will always be now.  The biggest slice of time you’ll ever have to deal with, is the exact same size as right now. Just this moment. That’s as big as it gets. Right now, we can always pick a little bit better thought, and then another. You are not a professional negative thinker, you’re anything you want to be!