I Can't Switch Of Thoughts Can Someone Help Please

[Jared Gregory]

Hey Guys for the last week or so I have had thoughts from past movie images crazy i know and thoughts about past and future. My breathing keeps going weird too. Can anybody help with this. I keep telling the I that it's the ego creating fear and thoughts to distract me. previously I would accept and surrender and the thoughts would go but for some reason this time the thoughts don't go away. Maybe meditate for a while? please any helpful suggestions. 

[Schulzy]

Yes you can try meditating, can you give little bit more information. What do you mean by past movie images?

[Bob84]

@Jared Gregory From what you write i must conclude you are trying to get rid of a thought or prevent it from being.
When you try to get rid of a thought, what you are actually doing is giving it more attention and importance ("its sooo fucking important that i have to get rid of it").

Nothing is required of you, just be aware of the thought and if it causes a emotional reaction that's fine, be aware of that aswell.

 

[Xpansion]

Why do you think that you are supposed to switch off thoughts?   It's a misconception that meditation is about switching off thought. Meditation is about learning to accept what is. If your mind is busy then accept it and notice how much you don't want it. Just notice and accept everything.    Stop trying add somethin but instead let go of everything.

[kyle barnett]

Hey dude. I am in the same position as you. It is totally normal. You are not nuerotic or have any problem. Remember, you cannot stop thoughts. You can only get caught up in them or let them come and go. If you are constantly getting caught up in them. You are a big day dreamer like me. I love day dreaming but if you are dwelling on negative thoughts then you need to start adjusting your perspectives on life. Its okay to think excessively about movies and stuff and have lots of silly thoughts. Its okay to have negative thoughts or even any thoughts no matter what. The thoughts you have do not matter. However the thoughts you cling to do. I read a buddhist book by ajahn sumedho who spoke of a man saying he thought he was a bad person and should hang his robes up because his thinking was wrong. But it's not. You can't control the thoughts. They just appear. 

 

Your thoughts are creations of your ego and if you change your perceptions. Your thoughts change to. Now if it is a problem because you can't focus. That's different. Mediation will help you step out of the excessive thinking helping you focus more. But it will not get rid of the thoughts.

[Rocky]

I used to have similar issues, sounds like anxiety to me tbh through going through CBT you realize that your physical actions affect your thoughts, if your breathing patterns are going funny (which happened to me for months) its like heavy breathing when anxious, your body thinks your anxious so you feel anxious and have anxious thoughts and vise versa from thoughts to physical reactions. 

Think of the negative thoughts like a bully who gives you negative insults, they feed off reactions, by trying to reason with the thoughts or to try and not think of them you feed the problem the best thing you can do is to recognize it without fighting it like "its that annoying thought again" and let it have its say and dont react to it, like bullies they stop tormenting if they cant get a reaction.

[Psychonaut]

It would be way too fucking easy if you could just switch of your thoughts. It would be so nice if all the negative shit that haunts you, all the bullshit from the past and all fears about the future would be gone. You wouldn't have to deal with it and would be happy. But that is a fantasy. 

You have to work through it with awareness, acceptance and compassion for yourself.

[kurt]

@Jared Gregory Jared, don't worry about switching off thoughts.  Just don't dwell on them.  If you still have trouble then you have not done any psychological work that you need to do prior to a successful meditation routine.  You still have desires for the world, hopes, maybe old grievances.  Either way, you are conditioned to extrovert, so you need to resolve your desires by making your mind peaceful by taking back projections that project subjective values onto the objects - your likes and dislikes need to be neutralized.  Once that is done your mind should naturally rest in meditation.  Remember to scan your body, because although there are no real tensions in the actual body, you may experience them in your mind.  So scan and the body part should relax.  Head to toe, and this will stop the mind going to the unresolved tension in "the body". 

Once you have done all that and the mind can rest in awareness, thats when all the old stuff comes up.  The old stuff is not going to come up when youre preoccupied with the world.  It just wont, it will remain in the deep part of your mind and wait until you can handle it.  I think the nervous system is intelligent in this way, it does not give you more than you can handle at one time.  

Edited December 10, 2016 by kurt

[Guest SC GM]

@Jared Gregory Meditation is one way to find relief. But if it's something that sits deeper and causes server anxiety that effects your breathing, why not seek professional help. Some things need to be said, and be heard. Simple Psychology might be more effective at this time in your life, I've been there myself and it has helped.

[Kuba]

just a week ago I watched some scary shit on youtube and for 2-3 days I was thinking mostly about this, I was really nervous. And then I recalled that these are only thoughts, and they should be only observed, not judged  . Meditation is definitely a good option when it comes to dealing with situations like the one you described, but I would also recommend just doing what you like to do, watch something you would like to watch, read something you like, something that makes you calm, happy, etc. 

I hope it will help! 

Also, I think that videos like these will help.

 

Edited December 11, 2016 by Kuba