(trying to) control conscious thinking

[John West]

I'm confused about consicous thinking.

I used to try "positive thinking" a year ago and it was one of the worst things of my life. I just did it on a conscious level (like "Oh yeah, this is great") and repeated these sentences over and over again, while in my subconscious mind all kinds of shit was still going on. I almost feared not thinking positive, which was not "positive". So there I learned, that trying to control conscious thoughts doesn't work. You cant "think yourself" happy.

The same goes for e.g. judgements. When I consciously say: "Oh, he is okay the way he is" ; "Oh, dont judge" ..., my subconscious mind doesnt stop judging just because of that, and so this is not a solution for stopping judgements.

But on the other hand, if I try to focus on something, dont I do exactly that? Controlling my conscious thinking? Guiding my thoughts in the direction I consciously want? Am I not supressing other thoughts while I do this (e.g. sex thoughts, which are quite intense because I started porn very early and I'm clean of it for 400 days now)? And isn't exactly this supressing creating suffering? But again, does this mean focusing is impossible without suffering? I feel like this supressing creates a fragmentation inside of me. It's almost as if there is the good part of me, and the bad part of me which I dont want when I do this. 

What are your experiences?

[purerogue]

Problem is that you did it wrong, it is good that you can at least tell see your emotional situation and are trying to change it, so it is not all lost!

You see you need to find root of the judgement, or any negative thinking, look at it from neutral side why you are doing it and try to understand why you are doing it, when you will see reason and how silly it is , it should be naturally easy for you to overwrite your subconscious mind with explaining your subconscious mind that he is a tad bit retarded.

That is not really only thing, it is also about controlling emotions, because emotions are very horrible thing if not controlled, they will escalate negative thinking to another level, but you have to look in it for yourself that is completely different topic. 

[aurum]

7 hours ago, John West said:

I'm confused about consicous thinking.

I used to try "positive thinking" a year ago and it was one of the worst things of my life. I just did it on a conscious level (like "Oh yeah, this is great") and repeated these sentences over and over again, while in my subconscious mind all kinds of shit was still going on. I almost feared not thinking positive, which was not "positive". So there I learned, that trying to control conscious thoughts doesn't work. You cant "think yourself" happy.

The same goes for e.g. judgements. When I consciously say: "Oh, he is okay the way he is" ; "Oh, dont judge" ..., my subconscious mind doesnt stop judging just because of that, and so this is not a solution for stopping judgements.

But on the other hand, if I try to focus on something, dont I do exactly that? Controlling my conscious thinking? Guiding my thoughts in the direction I consciously want? Am I not supressing other thoughts while I do this (e.g. sex thoughts, which are quite intense because I started porn very early and I'm clean of it for 400 days now)? And isn't exactly this supressing creating suffering? But again, does this mean focusing is impossible without suffering? I feel like this supressing creates a fragmentation inside of me. It's almost as if there is the good part of me, and the bad part of me which I dont want when I do this. 

What are your experiences?

Yes you don't want to suppress or resist negativity. That has the opposite effect as you've noticed.

Just do the work we talk about on this forum (meditiation, yoga, shadow work, etc) and you'll find yourself being naturally more positive.

Also, make sure you are generally surrounding yourself with positive influences.

[John West]

Ok thanks.

15 hours ago, aurum said:

Yes you don't want to suppress or resist negativity. That has the opposite effect as you've noticed.

Just do the work we talk about on this forum (meditiation, yoga, shadow work, etc) and you'll find yourself being naturally more positive.

Also, make sure you are generally surrounding yourself with positive influences.

Yeah I do meditation, Yoga, inquiry, contemplation every single day. How long are you doing it? I'm doing it now for 6-12 month, and in a certain way I feel like I'm not totally absorbed by my emotions and worries etc. anymore due to mindfulness skills, on the other hand I still suffer with this. Is this normal for someone who grew up in the typical western society? And will the suffering reduce when you are longer into this work? Leo always sais that, but I would like to hear more opinions about that ;).

 

[aurum]

8 hours ago, John West said:

Is this normal for someone who grew up in the typical western society?

Yes.

8 hours ago, John West said:

And will the suffering reduce when you are longer into this work? Leo always sais that, but I would like to hear more opinions about that ;).

Also, yes.

You can drastically change your emotional life by doing this work. I'm without a doubt the happiest I can remember in a long time.

But it often gets worse before it gets better. So just be aware of that.

[Nahm]

@John West Do you ‘trace’ the unpleasant thoughts? As in, look to understand the motives behind them? 

[Elysian]

All of the things mentioned like yoga, meditation, shadow work, are just aspects of a larger mechanism. The reason why you are noticing some behavior improvements is because these activities raise your vibration, i.e. vibrational healing.

You haven't noticed the significant results you were looking for because you don't understand that the major underlying mechanism of spirituality is vibration and vibrational healing. Spirituality is about letting go of what you are not, so you can recognize your self for what you are. When you do something like shadow work, what's actually happening is you face lower vibrational wounds you have, and by facing them you release them. 

When you release lower vibrations, you have a higher vibration, a higher resonate frequency. When you operate at a higher resonate frequency, your behavior changes to suit it. The changes in behavior outlined in SD are really just the effects of raising one's vibration.

If you want to see improvement in your ability to feel love, joy, and serenity, focus on vibrational healing instead of shooting randomly in the dark hoping you hit something enlightening. Enlightenment comes naturally to a higher vibrational being by the way, because you can't help but realize it after entering a certain vibrational range. Which means aiming for enlightenment when you are at a low vibration is futile, or at least extremely difficult.

It's like a child that's learning long division attempting algebra, it's just beyond you. It's because you haven't done the necessary healing to understand existence on a deeper level. 

Healing completely is the first step of spirituality, and if you do that you will be ahead of almost every human being on the planet, as in less than .1% of the population.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Elysian
Grammar

[John West]

23 hours ago, Nahm said:

@John West Do you ‘trace’ the unpleasant thoughts? As in, look to understand the motives behind them? 

I try it, but it is difficult for me. However, I realized with this technique that I was arrogant about things because I wanted to improve a certain aspect in myself, but I couldn't do it very fast. So I pointed it out in others in order to create a gap between us so that I could say: "Yeah, when he is down there and I can see it, I must be above him up there". Is this what you mean with "tracing"?

 

22 hours ago, Elysian said:

All of the things mentioned like yoga, meditation, shadow work, are just aspects of a larger mechanism. The reason why you are noticing some behavior improvements is because these activities raise your vibration, i.e. vibrational healing.

You haven't noticed the significant results you were looking for because you don't understand that the major underlying mechanism of spirituality is vibration and vibrational healing. Spirituality is about letting go of what you are not, so you can recognize your self for what you are. When you do something like shadow work, what's actually happening is you face lower vibrational wounds you have, and by facing them you release them. 

When you release lower vibrations, you have a higher vibration, a higher resonate frequency. When you operate at a higher resonate frequency, your behavior changes to suit it. The changes in behavior outlined in SD are really just the effects of raising one's vibration.

If you want to see improvement in your ability to feel love, joy, and serenity, focus on vibrational healing instead of shooting randomly in the dark hoping you hit something enlightening. Enlightenment comes naturally to a higher vibrational being by the way, because you can't help but realize it after entering a certain vibrational range. Which means aiming for enlightenment when you are at a low vibration is futile, or at least extremely difficult.

It's like a child that's learning long division attempting algebra, it's just beyond you. It's because you haven't done the necessary healing to understand existence on a deeper level. 

Healing completely is the first step of spirituality, and if you do that you will be ahead of almost every human being on the planet, as in less than .1% of the population.

Does raising one's vibration occur when you raise your awareness? Or is it even the same thing? And what is it that is vibrating?

I'm a little bit stuck inside of Leo's vocabulary, and he doesn't talk about that very often