The short answer to your question of whether your bad thoughts are destroying your reality is No.
Bad thoughts aren’t the reason behind our problems. But why is it then that everyone now days believe we have to think positively in order to have a better life? What is all this noise about the power of positive thinking?
Well, the best way to find out is to put the idea to the test. Funny enough, one of the methods of the Eastern teachings and gurus is to confuse their students to an extend so they can eventually come to the conclusion that bad thoughts or good thoughts are just thoughts. No matter how much one tries, one cannot come to control them.
Usually, the conversation starts when a student goes to their master and points out that he is suffering from his desires and his bad thoughts and he is looking for a way out. So the master says, you need to go away and work on yourself so you can stop your bad thoughts and eventually stop desiring. So the student goes away and really tries not to think about his desires. But after a while, he returns to his master and points out to him that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop desiring. So master says to him, maybe don’t try to stop all of your bad thoughts and desires, but as many as you can. As the student continues down this path, he will eventually come to understand, that not desiring to have bad thoughts is itself a desire and that the whole thing was a hoax.
I’ll advise you to do the same. Although I have already provided you with the answer, I would suggest you take some time and try to stop your bad thoughts and see if you can improve your life. Or maybe just try to be positive about everything that goes around. Whatever that means! And see what happens. Maybe you come to discover a bit more about yourself.
What about the positive thinking then? Can positive thinking improve our lives?
That depends to what you mean by positive thinking. If bad thoughts are the ones that make us suffer, good or positive thoughts refer to ones that we believe will makes us happy. As you can see, we already have a problem at our hands. How can we know what we believe will makes us happy will actually does so? What if the things I think is good for me, actually make me more miserable? Married people can relate to that quite nicely!
Again, let’s test the idea. Let us imagine you live in a bad neighbourhood and that is causing you stress. The obvious solution is to change neighbourhood if that’s at all possible due one’s financial circumstances. Or if you are a fan of positive thinking, you would try to be positive about your current circumstances. But the more you try, the more obvious it becomes that a bad neighbourhood is simply a bad neighbourhood and there is nothing you can do about it. It will continue to suck the life out of you no matter your way of thinking.
But if by positive thinking, you mean coming to terms with your current circumstances then yes. The situation may eventually sort itself out. Because, as I have always pointed out in most of my posts, life is an experience and each experience is there for a reason. Be it bad, good, difficult or easy. Most of the time, we cannot see the point of our misery until the message is revealed to us. So before you jump into a conclusion about anything you read on social media, try it first, see if it works for you.
If bad thoughts are not the problem, then how do I improve my situation?
You can improve your situation by not trying to improve the situation. What that supposed to mean? It means accept yourself as you are. Both your outside and your inside. Come to terms with yourself. You need to understand that as human beings we come with certain parameters. Your bad thoughts are as much you as is your body. You may not like your body but that doesn’t make it any less than what it is. Same goes with your thoughts. You may not like them, but they are part of you, they exist within you or in fact they are you.
As human beings, we are always spontaneous and it is not right to analyse ourselves in parts. Mind, body, soul and thoughts are all one continuous happening which results in your current experience of life as a whole. Don’t try to find faults where there aren’t any. If you are struggling with your current circumstances, it is ok. Trust yourself, you have made it this far. You’ll eventually find the way out. Just let it unfold as you always have.
