Can Positive Thinking Work as a Meditation?

The question that forms the heading of this post came up in my Quora feed, and it touched upon an interesting issue, so I’ll post my reply here in this blog:

There’s a problem with positive thinking – and that is, your mind is not an idiot. It knows all of you, both positive and negative. And it resents any attempt you might make to tell it lies.

So no matter how many positive affirmations you chant, or positive thoughts you manufacture, at the end of the day a little voice in the back of your mind will keep whispering, “why am I telling myself all this positive stuff …. oh, that’s right …. I’m doing it because I actually believe the opposite!” It’s called ‘toxic positivity’ and research has shown that it has a detrimental effect.

Our mind is a fathomless ecology of all kinds of feelings and thoughts, and they cannot be denied. As such, trying to paper over negative feelings and thoughts is pointless – even destructive …

… BUT …

We do have power over which thoughts and feelings we give our attention to. As such, if negative feelings and thoughts arise in the mind, we don’t have to engage with them.

And this is where meditation becomes a powerful tool.

In meditation, we train the mind to develop the ability to let go. We do this by working with our attention as we meditate, and we practice persistently letting go of whatever it attaches to – until it lets go of everything and goes still. The stronger this skill of letting go becomes over time, the more instinctive it becomes. And that helps us, during the course of our daily life, to let go of whatever we choose. Which means, we are aware of whatever appears in the mind, whether its negative or positive, and we’re able to choose what we pay attention to – and which of those thoughts we mindfully disengage from. Without our attention empowering the negative thoughts and feelings, they naturally weaken and disappear.

The other thing meditation gives us is a deeper knowledge of how we feel below our conscious façade – which gives us the ability to deal with whatever negative feelings that might be creating the thinking.

I learnt this from one of my teachers – Acharn Tippakorn.

I was having problems with storms of thinking whenever I meditated, so I asked him if he could help me.

After listening carefully, he said, ‘Beneath all thinking are feelings. Feelings create thinking. If we did not have feelings, we would not think. Sometimes the feelings are subtle, so the thoughts are also subtle. But if the feelings are very strong, then the thoughts will also be strong, and very hard to let go of.’

I thought about this, then said, ‘But I’m not aware of feeling anything beneath the thinking … not that I know of anyway.’

Acharn Tippakorn nodded and he said, ‘That’s because you are not looking. You are too busy swatting at the thoughts like mosquitoes. So don’t bother struggling to stop the thinking. Look past the thinking into your heart and into your body … in this way, you go to the cause, not the effect. Look for the feelings that are causing the thoughts, then work with those feelings.’

So if you are beset with negative thinking, sit down and meditate, and see if you can find the feelings that are beneath the thoughts – and when you’ve found them, feel them completely. Let them flood through you, without reacting to their story, and in being acknowledged, they will naturally dissipate.

Once the feelings have calmed, so too will the thoughts.

In the absence of negative feelings and thoughts, the positive naturally blooms. You don’t have to force it. Love and happiness appear naturally in the absence of their opposite.

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***** Also, as a side note, thank you to all the people who have bought my recent book, as well as the audio book. It’s lovely to be read, and acknowledged – so thank you. And remember if you have any questions, let me know at chaosinaction@gmail.com, and I will reply.

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Roger’s book, ‘BEING STILL – MEDITATION THAT MAKES SENSE’  is available now. Just click on the links below:

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AUDIOBOOK  (including ebook & MP3 exercises) – AUD $25.00 

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