Where do negative thoughts come from.

[Zen Pig]

First of all,  while I do expect a few "answers" to this rhetorical question,  and while some might have both validity and lack of validity, I do not throw rocks in glass houses, meaning that I have no idea, but this is something that is kind of tickling my soul a bit. 

 

My journey so far has addressed a large percentage of my own negative thinking just by the practice of daily sitting and walking meditation.  With that said,  I, along with the large majority of humanity still have negative thoughts.  This is very interesting to me.  I would conservatively think that at least 90 percent of humanity's daily thinking is negative.  

While I have read that the majority of folks who look into this idea, believe that it is natural for humans to have negative thoughts for what ever reason, of which there are many.   And while there might be some truth to this,  I don't really buy into the easy dismissal of negative thinking being our original nature. 

To sum up,  this is something that I am really looking into, and I have no illusion that the answer will be obvious, until it is obvious.  such is the nature of the "Ah-ha" moment.  

[thelerner]

A metaphor or maybe visualization I use is that I have 2 record players in my head.  One plays my surface thoughts, what I hear, the stuff I immediately see, feel and Think.  The other is playing an emotion'al tune, long droning often under my conscious, unless I listen for it.  The long playing emotion is based on my conditioned programming, if-then stuff and some biological factors too.  

 

Sometimes I can replace an emotional state by changing the record.  sometimes.  I have more control over surface album, certainly not total, but I find this metaphor helps.  

 

So for me its about being aware of the emotional album that influencing my surface thoughts, and learning how to replace it.  And seeing the underlying programming (if-thens) that put on the albums in the first place.  

 

There's probably survival mechanics in negative thinking.  For a couple 100 thousand years, we lived in a dangerous environment and the happy go lucky types might have been at a disadvantage to the worrisome paranoid group. 

 

 

**for those born after 1990, records and albums were round vinyl mediums for music in record players, these days think playlists.   

Edited October 16, 2018 by thelerner

[Zen Pig]

good metaphor.

when my thinking mind is very silent during sitting meditation, i have seen that I am still dreaming.  dreaming is not just done in sleep, but 24/7. it is just that our waking thinking mind is outshining the dream mind, (not that there is two minds, it is just one thing, IMO).  Kind of like lighting a candle in the dark, and seeing it a long way off, compared to lighting a candle during the day with the sun shining.  for me, the thinking part of mind is like the sun shining on the candle which would still be giving off light, only not noticed during with the sun shining. The crazy part of this is that my dreams are no longer negative. have not had a nightmare in decades.  so still searching as to the nature of negative thoughts.  a work in progress. thanks for the comment

[Toni]

I absolutely agree that negative thoughts are a constant in the majority of people. Honestly, I don't know why this is so. Maybe they are useful to protect our lifes from an evolutionary point of view. If we consider the bad possibilities then it is more easy that we can manage them if they finally become real.

 

But also our western lifestyle promotes negative thinking. Our stressed lifes, our incorrect breathing, all our social prejudices and other bullshit, all this can contribute to negative thinking. And it is very important to eliminate this negative thinking in our daily lifes. This change can improve ourselfs quite a bit. Casually, I am reading a book now about NLP which deals with techniques to eliminate negative thinking

[Everything]

Mostly you try too hard to feel something. 

Approach a positive thought or perspective like meditation. Place your attention on it, the vibration grows, expands, attracts other thoughts like it, and you will eventually feel positive, which indicates there's now momentum behind your positive thought. 

If you have too much momentum behind negative thought, you can meditate to release thought and momentum. 

Stay mindful of your heart, don't pretend you're thinking a positive thought if it doesn't feel good. 

But if you're easily distracted, keep your attention on the positive thought otherwise it will never gain momentum on its own. Attention focus and consistency is key. It is what creates negative thought it is what can allow for positive thought aswell. 

Consistent focus is what creates momentum. So meditation offers the ability to release negative momentum and then it is super easy to also use the learned ability to focus from meditation to now feel your way to positive good feeling perspectives in your life. 

If you're not used to the positive emotion felt thought patterns, start gently subtly softly, focus on general positive thoughts and let them grow and expand naturally. At least 17 seconds pure attention and focus on for example a general positive thought of freedom. Think about freedom feel it. What feels like freedom in your here and now. So I would recommend 1 to 2 minute per word. You may be inspired to add general positive thoughts words like freedom  like joy, happiness, and use your focus to allow the vibration to expand, like love appreciation, knowledge, clarity, 

When you establish these feelings, the rest is done by momentum. It rolls and rolls, and the new habbit will be to continue thinking positive. 

[Everything]

 

Also negative thought and experiences can help you define a negative thought like disturbance. And then its easy to understand feel you wanna feel peace. So focus on peace. 

You cannot not experience succes with this easy general approach. 

Unless you are in absolute terror, then you can say a more positive thought would feel like unworthiness, guilt, rage anger. That can be a temporary relief, but meditation is again the best platform to skip all process and you could instantly go from deep meditation, having released all thought long enough that the thoughts and perspective of your very soul begin to arise to the surface of your entire good feeling high soaring body and mind and thoughts of love can just errupt to surface. 

Because it is of your nature. And you dont have to undo the old habbits of thinking in meditation. Just release thought altogether, is always possible. And will always result in releasing of negative momentum. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Everything

[s1va]

It's not about positive or negative thoughts, but starting to observe thoughts as thoughts.  With such observation, the mind will calm down eventually.  But, it will still always be the mind.

 

To answer your question, where do negative thoughts come from?  The same place from where the positive and other thoughts come from.  That is the best answer I can come up to that particular question.  But, if you change the question to, why do negative thoughts arise in the mind?  I can say that is due to our attachments and desires, our cravings and aversions to worldly stuff.

[dwai]

The mind is not contained within our brains. So negative thoughts are not specific things within our brains. There are impressions that exist in the mental plane that we may or may not collapse into thoughts depending on various factors. How are impressions created? By exposing ourselves to specific types of stimuli.

[3bob]

there are positive and negative areas of the mind system,  thus if flowing energy to or through a negative area that area becomes active because of the energy going there, so remove the energy going there and poof, no more negative thought so to speak.

Edited October 17, 2018 by 3bob

[Fa Xin]

14 hours ago, Zen Pig said:

First of all,  while I do expect a few "answers" to this rhetorical question,  and while some might have both validity and lack of validity, I do not throw rocks in glass houses, meaning that I have no idea, but this is something that is kind of tickling my soul a bit. 

 

My journey so far has addressed a large percentage of my own negative thinking just by the practice of daily sitting and walking meditation.  With that said,  I, along with the large majority of humanity still have negative thoughts.  This is very interesting to me.  I would conservatively think that at least 90 percent of humanity's daily thinking is negative.  

While I have read that the majority of folks who look into this idea, believe that it is natural for humans to have negative thoughts for what ever reason, of which there are many.   And while there might be some truth to this,  I don't really buy into the easy dismissal of negative thinking being our original nature. 

To sum up,  this is something that I am really looking into, and I have no illusion that the answer will be obvious, until it is obvious.  such is the nature of the "Ah-ha" moment.  

 

The mindset that things should be a different way than they are.  It is the epitome of resistance and causes much inner turmoil...

 

...yet to struggle against the negative is to be in resistance of how things are.

 

Questions like these cause the mind to go round and round. It's like asking "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

 

There may be no "Ah-ha" moment or any answers. Maybe it's just acceptance of it that causes the negative thoughts to start to quiet down. 

 

My own experience ... when I really started to seriously practice accepting things how they are... myself...my family... the world... my mind really started to quiet down. Once the mind quiets down, your able to see little threads of thoughts arising. You start to see “why does this thought arise?” Is related to inner work I have to do. Maybe the negative thought/habit has been there since childhood, maybe a past life or maybe last year... it’s like peeling an onion back. The more quiet you get, the more subtle things you notice.

 

Then you think, if I’m accepting it all anyway, then what work really needs to be done? Then i forget the whole thing and go out for a walk and smile. 🙂

Edited October 17, 2018 by Fa Xin

[Boundlesscostfairy]

Negative thoughts happened when the natural space for good thoughts is blocked..

[ilumairen]

On 10/16/2018 at 10:29 AM, Zen Pig said:

First of all,  while I do expect a few "answers" to this rhetorical question,  and while some might have both validity and lack of validity, I do not throw rocks in glass houses, meaning that I have no idea, but this is something that is kind of tickling my soul a bit. 

 

My journey so far has addressed a large percentage of my own negative thinking just by the practice of daily sitting and walking meditation.  With that said,  I, along with the large majority of humanity still have negative thoughts.  This is very interesting to me.  I would conservatively think that at least 90 percent of humanity's daily thinking is negative.  

While I have read that the majority of folks who look into this idea, believe that it is natural for humans to have negative thoughts for what ever reason, of which there are many.   And while there might be some truth to this,  I don't really buy into the easy dismissal of negative thinking being our original nature. 

To sum up,  this is something that I am really looking into, and I have no illusion that the answer will be obvious, until it is obvious.  such is the nature of the "Ah-ha" moment.  

 

First, I can't say I'm even sure what you mean when you refer to negative thoughts, what these thoughts are, or where the idea that 90% of human thinking is negative is to be witnessed. I wonder if you are attributing negativity where it isn't actually manifesting, or perhaps your life experience is simply different than my own. 

 

Setting this aside however, the topic of the arising of negative thoughts is a bit interesting. Even more interestingly, the attributed characteristic of thought can become cumulative (in personal experience and self talk) rather quickly. (Perhaps this is what you are referring to with the idea of 90%)

 

But they can dissipate just as quickly, and they naturally will if we don't try to hold on to them.

 

[Zen Pig]

14 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

or perhaps your life experience is simply different than my own. 

yes,  I would suppose that my life experience is very different from your own.  but thanks for all the tips.  cheers

[Small Fur]

On October 16, 2018 at 7:29 AM, Zen Pig said:

First of all,  while I do expect a few "answers" to this rhetorical question,  and while some might have both validity and lack of validity, I do not throw rocks in glass houses, meaning that I have no idea, but this is something that is kind of tickling my soul a bit. 

 

My journey so far has addressed a large percentage of my own negative thinking just by the practice of daily sitting and walking meditation.  With that said,  I, along with the large majority of humanity still have negative thoughts.  This is very interesting to me.  I would conservatively think that at least 90 percent of humanity's daily thinking is negative.  

While I have read that the majority of folks who look into this idea, believe that it is natural for humans to have negative thoughts for what ever reason, of which there are many.   And while there might be some truth to this,  I don't really buy into the easy dismissal of negative thinking being our original nature. 

To sum up,  this is something that I am really looking into, and I have no illusion that the answer will be obvious, until it is obvious.  such is the nature of the "Ah-ha" moment.  

 

All forms of thought exist as part of a stream within the collective consciousness. 

That they manifest as positive or negative has to do with your particular orientation to conditions at various levels of your system.

So that you react positively or negatively to most conditions is actually a choice, even those that seem more subtle to control like deep emotions, cellular memory, constitutional predisposition, or energy.

 

‘Ah-ha’ moments come when one transcends the unconscious habituation of reaction. What tends to obscure those moments from arising- and even one from realizing the answer to this question, has to do with one’s dependency and entrenchment to unconscious habituations of the system, including those of the xi shen or ‘acquired consciousness’.

 

It is from learning to be deeply still and empty from within profound silence that you will better come to understand what you hear and experience what it is to truly listen.

[Goldleaf]

On 10/21/2018 at 1:28 PM, Small Fur said:

 

All forms of thought exist as part of a stream within the collective consciousness. 

That they manifest as positive or negative has to do with your particular orientation to conditions at various levels of your system.

So that you react positively or negatively to most conditions is actually a choice, even those that seem more subtle to control like deep emotions, cellular memory, constitutional predisposition, or energy.

 

‘Ah-ha’ moments come when one transcends the unconscious habituation of reaction. What tends to obscure those moments from arising- and even one from realizing the answer to this question, has to do with one’s dependency and entrenchment to unconscious habituations of the system, including those of the xi shen or ‘acquired consciousness’.

 

It is from learning to be deeply still and empty from within profound silence that you will better come to understand what you hear and experience what it is to truly listen.

 

If you don't mind, how did you come to realise these things?

 

I find it hard enough to drag my real self away from my endless intellectualizing for more than asingle moment.

 

Did you ever struggle to go beyond your thoughts and if so what did you do to help separate yourself from them?

 

Cheers

GL

[doc benway]

On 10/16/2018 at 10:29 AM, Zen Pig said:

First of all,  while I do expect a few "answers" to this rhetorical question,  and while some might have both validity and lack of validity, I do not throw rocks in glass houses, meaning that I have no idea, but this is something that is kind of tickling my soul a bit. 

 

My journey so far has addressed a large percentage of my own negative thinking just by the practice of daily sitting and walking meditation.  With that said,  I, along with the large majority of humanity still have negative thoughts.  This is very interesting to me.  I would conservatively think that at least 90 percent of humanity's daily thinking is negative.  

While I have read that the majority of folks who look into this idea, believe that it is natural for humans to have negative thoughts for what ever reason, of which there are many.   And while there might be some truth to this,  I don't really buy into the easy dismissal of negative thinking being our original nature. 

To sum up,  this is something that I am really looking into, and I have no illusion that the answer will be obvious, until it is obvious.  such is the nature of the "Ah-ha" moment.  

 

I don't see negative thought as being our "original nature" but rather a symptom of conditioning and "progress."

 

Some random thoughts -

 

To a certain degree, the thinking mind is responsible for recognizing and assessing threats to health and survival and finding solutions or preventative measures. I don't see this as negative, but positive. This essential function becomes distorted and dysfunctional. In our current environment, there are infinite perceived threats and immersion in media reinforces and magnifies them out of proportion. We are focused on the artificial and dubious threats and distracted from the true hazards that are eating away at our health and well being, by the political-industrial-media complex. The mind gets overwhelmed with negativity. This is on top of being conditioned since birth to be dependent on the approval of others. No wonder we are filled with feelings of inadequacy, anger, fear, and dissatisfaction.

 

We have been disconnected from our "original nature" through conditioning and modernization. 

We identify with what we are not - things like our jobs, possessions, ideology, roles, and our physical body, and this leads to attachment and aversion, never allowing us lasting peace.

We have been separated from our mother Earth and have lost connection to her rhythms, her lessons, and her support.

We have been separated from our siblings, each other, and feel alone, separate, isolated; this being compounded by looking for connection through social media and other forms of artificial stimulation which lack nourishment, much like processed food stuffs.

 

I think the antidotes are those things which allow us to reconnect.

We need to reconnect with each other through personal relationships to restore a sense of supportive community. While social media can provide this to a very limited degree, it is essential to spend more time connecting with others in meaningful ways in the flesh.

We need to reconnect to nature; spend time in the outdoors away from the noise, stink, and harshness of the man-made, and open up to our environment, relearning her lessons, learning how to listen and feel, regaining an appreciation for the inherent value of all forms of life and sentience. 

Finally, we need to liberate ourselves from false identification and from our addiction to approval. We are ultimately far more than any labels or roles we can apply to ourselves. All of those are useful parts of our lives but they are simply parts. When we over identify with them, we cause ourselves unnecessary pain and negativity. Opening to the fullness and richness of our unlimited potential allows those negative thoughts to dissolve and allows our natural creativity and "original nature," which is joyful and content, to shine.

 

 

[Marblehead]

5 minutes ago, steve said:

I don't see negative thought as being our "original nature" but rather a symptom of conditioning and "progress."

I love the positive perspective.

 

But what about the baby when its mother leaves the room and the baby can no longer see her?  What does the baby do?  Most often cries.  Why cry?  Mom no longer exists.  I think that might be a negative thought.

 

[ilumairen]

16 minutes ago, Marblehead said:

I love the positive perspective.

 

But what about the baby when its mother leaves the room and the baby can no longer see her?  What does the baby do?  Most often cries.  Why cry?  Mom no longer exists.  I think that might be a negative thought.

 

 

They cry for want of the very closeness and connection steve highlighted in his post imo. 

 

BTW I'd question the idea of this pointing towards negative thought, as a baby doesn't have the words to form thought. 

[Marblehead]

1 minute ago, ilumairen said:

 

They cry for want of the very closeness and connection steve highlighted in his post imo. 

 

BTW I'd question the idea of this pointing towards negative thought, as a baby doesn't have the words to form thought. 

I know.  Just presenting an alternate perspective for consideration.

 

Perhaps true regarding thought/word/concept.  However, maybe consider fear?  That's something that's instinctual.

 

[ilumairen]

Just now, Marblehead said:

I know.  Just presenting an alternate perspective for consideration.

 

Perhaps true regarding thought/word/concept.  However, maybe consider fear?  That's something that's instinctual.

 

 

When there is an imminent and valid threat inspiring fear in regard to the specific situation why would we label this as negative?

 

If there is a car barreling down on me, it's a good idea to fear the imminent threat and get out of the way. 

[Pilgrim]

What is a negative thought?

 

What is the criteria it must meet?

[Zen Pig]

Thanks Steve for the comments.  reviewing some of the other comments, I see that I might have used the wrong word. "negative" thoughts have different meanings for different folks.  Now days , I really don't see any thought as good or bad, they are just thoughts, and are at the same time important, but not important like we think they are. kind of a zen paradox.  Maybe I should have asked, "why doesn't humanity have more positive thoughts"?  Like I said, these are all rhetorical questions.  just something to chew on. all good replies folks. thanks.

[doc benway]

3 minutes ago, Zen Pig said:

Thanks Steve for the comments.  reviewing some of the other comments, I see that I might have used the wrong word. "negative" thoughts have different meanings for different folks.  Now days , I really don't see any thought as good or bad, they are just thoughts, and are at the same time important, but not important like we think they are. kind of a zen paradox.  Maybe I should have asked, "why doesn't humanity have more positive thoughts"?  Like I said, these are all rhetorical questions.  just something to chew on. all good replies folks. thanks.

 

2 hours ago, Pilgrim said:

What is a negative thought?

 

What is the criteria it must meet?

 

True that thoughts are what they are, not inherently good or bad.

It is our judgement and reaction to thoughts that give rise to labels and feelings of good and bad.

I certainly have thoughts that lead to a negative feeling, dysfunctional patterns, stalled progress, reactivity, and so forth. 

For me, that is what makes thoughts negative - my reaction or my judgement.

Once I notice, most are very easy to allow to liberate, some much more sticky.

The key is to notice before going down that well-trodden path.

[sustainablefarm86]

Thoughts... I don't know. In meditation for me are randomness except when they seem to fit within expected reality . Keep what looks "real", discard the rest. This is meaningless but until the mind is quiet enough to be trusted it's all you get 

 

Negative thoughts. They're habit I guess, or maybe they are the evil spirits that weave in and out of our bodies? mwahahahaha, just kidding, but don't have this thought at 2 am lol

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by King Jade

[Marblehead]

5 hours ago, ilumairen said:

 

When there is an imminent and valid threat inspiring fear in regard to the specific situation why would we label this as negative?

 

If there is a car barreling down on me, it's a good idea to fear the imminent threat and get out of the way. 

I was talking about fear inspired by illusion or delusion.