How do I shut off this negative dialog in my brain?

[Snowdoggie]

Like the rest of the country, I am suffering from unemployment now. I am not as bad off as a lot of people. With my skills and education I have been able to find temporary work paying around $20 an hour up until recently. I am not in danger of losing my house. The payments are cheap. I drive old beat up cars. I have advanced degrees and both white and blue collar job skills. I have family to help if I need it.

 

Still, I have this negative dialog going on in my head. Fears about unemployment benefits running out. Fears about never being able to find another job because of my age. Fears about losing my health at a time when being sick can be a trip to bankruptcy court. Being surrounded by other people who are not working and hearing endless news reports about layoffs, foreclosures and homeless middle class people isn't helping. Growing up in a dysfunctional family and having a father who was always negative and an alcoholic hasn't really helped either.

 

I need to be able to calm my mind. I am facing interviews and the stress of a jobsearch and may have to get more creative about how I make money in the future. There may be change on the horizon. How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

[sasblamthanb]

How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

 

'You' 'can't'.

Look to early morning mindfullness type meditation

[markern]

I wrote about this in this thread:

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/13956-just-dealing/

 

Mindfullness meditation will hepl you not be so bothered by the thoughts that are actually there. It will also lead to most of them eventually dropping away. You can combine this with the secret smile to fill yourself with positive emotions. The secret smile is designed to make you relaxed, confident, happy, loving and blissfull. It does so to a very powerfull degree for those who are able to feel those things to a modest degree by circulating them arround, intensifying and storing them. If you use the search funtion you should find a thread with instructions by Santiago.

 

The type of insecurities you mentiona re root chakra fears. At umaatantra.com they have instructions for an earth meditation to deal with material fears etc. Just look through the articles and you should find it.

 

Any other qigong, yoga, meditation etc. will in general strenghten your psyche quite a lot.

[Snowdoggie]

I wrote about this in this thread:

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/13956-just-dealing/

 

Mindfullness meditation will hepl you not be so bothered by the thoughts that are actually there. It will also lead to most of them eventually dropping away. You can combine this with the secret smile to fill yourself with positive emotions. The secret smile is designed to make you relaxed, confident, happy, loving and blissfull. It does so to a very powerfull degree for those who are able to feel those things to a modest degree by circulating them arround, intensifying and storing them. If you use the search funtion you should find a thread with instructions by Santiago.

 

The type of insecurities you mentiona re root chakra fears. At umaatantra.com they have instructions for an earth meditation to deal with material fears etc. Just look through the articles and you should find it.

 

Any other qigong, yoga, meditation etc. will in general strenghten your psyche quite a lot.

 

Thanks for the information. I was taking tai-chi classes but had to stop for financial reasons. Any online sources that can be practiced at home will help.

[freeform]

How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

 

Do you see that asking how to shut off the chatter, in itself, perpetuates it in a different guise?

 

When the chatter goes on in your head begin to pay less attention to what you hear and much more attention to how you hear it.

 

When you watch someone speak in a foreign language, although you don't get the content of what they say, you pick up the tone and emotion behind it. So as strange as it sounds the voice inside has a particular tone, a particular location and direction it comes from - notice if it sounds like your voice or someone else's voice...

 

When you begin examining these things a peculiar thing may happen... I've no idea what will, but sometimes people vividly remember when they experienced this same tone of voice in the past...

 

Once you get comfortable listening to the subtleties of how the internal dialogue manifests itself you may move your attention to the feelings that accompany it. You may discover a panicky feeling or a sense of apprehension behind it. Put your attention on the feeling and allow it to move unhindered in your body.

 

Then you may find it helpful to follow the advice I gave in this post.

[Marblehead]

I like what Freeform said.

 

Yes, find ways to turn the negatives into positives so you can use them to your advantage.

 

Peace & Love!

[SingaporeGuyHere]

I need to be able to calm my mind. I am facing interviews and the stress of a jobsearch and may have to get more creative about how I make money in the future. There may be change on the horizon. How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

 

 

I think we all have experienced a period of being stuck in a endless loop of negative thoughts before. Like the other posters have mentioned, meditation will be very helpful, not in stopping this thoughts but in Understanding your own Mind more.

 

Eventually...breaking free of this negative loop will only be 1 of the many many side benefits you get from meditation

 

have a look-see at vispanna meditation

[Gerard]

Lots of Vipassana meditation sessions. Click on my signature and search for the sitting and walking meditation entries. They include videos that show you how to do it. Vipassana cleanses out all sort of toxins and negative thoughts caused by bad karma as wells as helping the mind to calm down.

 

Drink green tea (leaves) using a teapot for a minimum of 2-3 times per day. Green tea will nourish your internal organs.

 

Remember to never give up no matter how hard the circumstances.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edit: typo

Edited March 12, 2010 by durkhrod chogori

[Trogdorf]

^^^ All great techniques that have worked very well for me both in the past and in the present!

 

The power of mindfulness should never be underestimated..

 

 

The only other thing I can think of is maybe changing some negative patterns in your life as well:

 

Some people, although they mean well, can inadvertently hold you back!

Perhaps you should spend less time around your father; just until you get yourself right..

 

When you are feeling positive you will tend to be more of a positive influence and it may end up being the best thing for both you and your dad..

 

 

Peace.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Trogdorf

[SingaporeGuyHere]

yeah....parents can be very....pressing you down all the time....

 

btw solid advice from freeform and nice blog durkhrod chogori

[Snowdoggie]

When you watch someone speak in a foreign language, although you don't get the content of what they say, you pick up the tone and emotion behind it. So as strange as it sounds the voice inside has a particular tone, a particular location and direction it comes from - notice if it sounds like your voice or someone else's voice...

 

 

Thanks for all of the good advice. I am still sorting through it all. This board is a great resource.

 

I have been thinking a lot about who's voice I am really hearing. Sometimes it is my dead father's voice. Sometimes the voice of the media. Sometimes the voice of somebody I don't even know who posted something on the internet. I never really thought about this before. The voices I hear that say I have to own the latest car, live in a certain neighborhood, have a certain kind of job and have X amount saved for retirement are enough to drive you insane by themselves given the current economic environment. It didn't help that my father told me on his death bed that prestige and a high paying corporate job are the most important things in life. My layoff from a Fortune 500 company led to much pain before I realized that it was my father's voice and not mine that was causing the pain, and he was just a poor boy from Arkansas who was influenced voices other than his own. This has given me much to think about.

[Gerard]

The voices I hear that say I have to own the latest car, live in a certain neighborhood, have a certain kind of job and have X amount saved for retirement are enough to drive you insane by themselves given the current economic environment.

 

Yes this is the kind of stuff that is holding modern humans from attaining their true potential as spiritual beings. On the other hand, in the Indian tradition you have this sort of curriculum:

 

 

The Ashram system:

 

1. Brahmacharya (student life) - 5-24 years of age. The child would live with his family till he was at the age of 5. He would then be sent to a Gurukul (house of the guru) and typically would live with a Guru (spiritual teacher), acquiring knowledge, practicing self-discipline and celibacy, learning to live a life of dharma (right action), and practicing meditation.

 

2. Grihastha (household life) - 25-49 years of age. The ideal householder life is spent in selflessly carrying out one's duties to family and society, serving the saints, and gainful labor.

 

3. Vanaprastha (retired life) - 50-74 years of age. After the completion of one's householder duties, one gradually withdraws from the world, freely shares wisdom with others, and prepares for the complete renunciation of the final stage.

 

4. Sannyasa (renounced life) - 75-100 Completely withdrawing from the world, this is a time of complete dedication to spiritual pursuits, the seeking of moksha (spiritual freedom), and practicing meditation.

 

 

Obviously this system is only a guide.

[mYTHmAKER]

Like the rest of the country, I am suffering from unemployment now. I am not as bad off as a lot of people. With my skills and education I have been able to find temporary work paying around $20 an hour up until recently. I am not in danger of losing my house. The payments are cheap. I drive old beat up cars. I have advanced degrees and both white and blue collar job skills. I have family to help if I need it.

 

Still, I have this negative dialog going on in my head. Fears about unemployment benefits running out. Fears about never being able to find another job because of my age. Fears about losing my health at a time when being sick can be a trip to bankruptcy court. Being surrounded by other people who are not working and hearing endless news reports about layoffs, foreclosures and homeless middle class people isn't helping. Growing up in a dysfunctional family and having a father who was always negative and an alcoholic hasn't really helped either.

 

I need to be able to calm my mind. I am facing interviews and the stress of a jobsearch and may have to get more creative about how I make money in the future. There may be change on the horizon. How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

 

Try Bache Flower remedies. Especially their Rescue Remedy.

You can google for more specific remedies.

However, Rescue Remedy really works and it works fast.

Then you will be able to meditate.

[Trogdorf]

Best of luck Snow.

Just remember: baby steps!

 

It sounds like you know what is right so just make sure you follow "that" and I'm sure you will be fine!

Edited March 15, 2010 by Trogdorf

[tyler zambori]

What would be the Taoist alternative to Vipassana meditation?

[SingaporeGuyHere]

Thanks for all of the good advice. I am still sorting through it all. This board is a great resource.

 

I have been thinking a lot about who's voice I am really hearing. Sometimes it is my dead father's voice. Sometimes the voice of the media. Sometimes the voice of somebody I don't even know who posted something on the internet. I never really thought about this before. The voices I hear that say I have to own the latest car, live in a certain neighborhood, have a certain kind of job and have X amount saved for retirement are enough to drive you insane by themselves given the current economic environment. It didn't help that my father told me on his death bed that prestige and a high paying corporate job are the most important things in life. My layoff from a Fortune 500 company led to much pain before I realized that it was my father's voice and not mine that was causing the pain, and he was just a poor boy from Arkansas who was influenced voices other than his own. This has given me much to think about.

 

 

congrats

[~jK~]

Like the rest of the country, I am suffering from unemployment now. I need to be able to calm my mind. I am facing interviews and the stress of a jobsearch and may have to get more creative about how I make money in the future. There may be change on the horizon. How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

If you can do construction work - here is an estimator: http://www.craftsman-book.com/

The rest can be found in books at home depot such as Modern Carpentry. (All trades revolve around Carpentry.)

Plumbing is easy and gets about 35$ to50$ an hour. If you're up north - pipes will begin to thaw soon and realators will be looking.

Cheap advertisement is a must as is the wording: "Handyman Steve" got 10 times the calls as Steve's Handyman service - people didn't want a bunch of learning kids trapsing around - they wanted the boss to do the work... If there is no cheap advertising - begin a free handout and offer the advertising for about 5 to 10$ an ad. I saw one guy put a newspaper out of business with one - (The newspaper was charging 50$ per ad.)

Your worst enemies are TV and yourself. Buisy hands are happy hands. A fishing pole gets food, 'Can make nets with fishing line. I fed 30 families in the 1980's economic crunch with a 10'X 100' drag net that I made. A cheap trailer and a ball hitch for the bumper from U-Haul turns a car into a truck. 250$ buys a paint sprayer that can make 1,500 $ a day when painting a 2 story house.

The list is actually endless and limited only by your lack of controll over your head and the #1 enemy of TV.

I saw a guy once that sharpened a flathead screwdriver and carved peoples name in driftwood that made 400 $ a day on a beach. Another learned how to weave sun hats out of weeds, palm tree leaves etc... Old chickenwire fencing makes fish traps.

 

As long as you got a computer and can read - Free information on how to do is as close as your computer.

 

During hard times - the gov't will look the other way untill you get enough buisiness to keep you going - so no need for a license etc - unless you do bad work & someone complains.

Take care -

[Athanor]

Like the rest of the country, I am suffering from unemployment now. I am not as bad off as a lot of people. With my skills and education I have been able to find temporary work paying around $20 an hour up until recently. I am not in danger of losing my house. The payments are cheap. I drive old beat up cars. I have advanced degrees and both white and blue collar job skills. I have family to help if I need it.

 

Still, I have this negative dialog going on in my head. Fears about unemployment benefits running out. Fears about never being able to find another job because of my age. Fears about losing my health at a time when being sick can be a trip to bankruptcy court. Being surrounded by other people who are not working and hearing endless news reports about layoffs, foreclosures and homeless middle class people isn't helping. Growing up in a dysfunctional family and having a father who was always negative and an alcoholic hasn't really helped either.

 

I need to be able to calm my mind. I am facing interviews and the stress of a jobsearch and may have to get more creative about how I make money in the future. There may be change on the horizon. How can I shut down this endless chattering in my head?

First of all, I recommend you to stop watching the news and reading the papers if you don't need to do it for your job (like you're a journalist or something). If you are a journalist or something then maybe you should consider changing occupation together with your lifestyle...

 

One thing that keeps you thinking the same routine all the time is when you surround yourself with things and people who are telling you the same things all the time. You might need to do some unfavorable changes, like avoid seeing some people who talk about negative stuff with you.

I was this kind of a person: I always complained about everything and I always expressed my dissatisfaction and my problems. I had conversations inside my head in which I was imaginably arguing with people. I did arguing in the real life too, of course, this was the source of all the inner arguments. Then I realized that the same thing happens in my head and in my life. I stopped visiting people who I was arguing with and I avoided unfavorable tv spots like news full of violence, and political spots full of hatred and such things. I don't need these in my life. I don't do as if these things wouldn't exist, I know they exist, I just decided not to care about them. I don't listen to anyone who tries to complain to me.

And you know what? My mind is already more peaceful and I have much more mental capacity to think about developing myself and my life.

 

Of course meditation and the like also help, but I think the most fundamental thing in this case is the environment. Change that. Create an environment in which there are only (or mostly) those kind of things and relations which you would like to have both in your life and inside your head.

 

This might seem a little shallow, thinking that a bigger bookshelf, other drinking pals and other tv programs would solve your problem. But think about this. Your life became messy because your thoughts are messy and vice versa. Even if your mind is disciplined, if you move into a messy area and you don't make order, you'll need more and more energy to keep your mind disciplined. And if you move into an ordered environment then your mind will naturally become more balanced. You manage both and one reflects the other.

[Birch]

It looks like you're well on your way AND that you've got a knack for insight. That's way farther than I got in many years before I hit up this Tao stuff.

 

Turning off TV definitely a way to go. A lot (although not all) of stuff on there is carefully manufactured to make you feel crappy without it - so you buy. I became a "voluntary simplicity" snob for a while to explain to myself and others that I didn't need all the crap. I think it can also kill creativity and imagination which is EXACTLY what you need if you need to get ideas to do stuff to provide for yourself.

 

To shut down the chatter, many approaches. For a while I would thank it and acknowledge the protection it was trying (however badly and off the mark) to offer me. I found it goes away quite quickly that way. These days it's gotten much quieter, harder to track down so then I figure other techniques such as those suggested above are worth doing. Hell, I'd try a bunch all at once

[Snowdoggie]

First of all, I recommend you to stop watching the news and reading the papers if you don't need to do it for your job (like you're a journalist or something). If you are a journalist or something then maybe you should consider changing occupation together with your lifestyle...

 

 

Strange you should mention it. Writing is actually some of what I do for a living and my goal is to make it more of what I can do for a living. In addition to dogs I have also published articles in car magazines. I don't really want to give that up, but I'm not sure I want to get into the disinformational mess that is political journalism.

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-2514-Dallas-Dog-Rescue-Examiner

 

I actually met this guy and follow his blog. He is a former producer for the CBS Morning News and he now lives on a farm and writes books about his Border Collies. I started reading his stuff because I also have a Border Collie and although he doesn't claim to be a Taoist, he is an advocate of simplifying his life and making do with less. Strangely enough, he is highly critical of the media noise that he was once a creator and gatekeeper of.

 

http://www.bedlamfarm.com/

[Spectrum]

stand there for a while and freshen up