Have you ever caught yourself on an emotional rant and stopped and said to yourself, “Wow, where did that come from?”

Thoughts are interesting things.  Somehow scientists have attempted to measure how many thoughts we think in a day and come up with varying outcomes from 7,000 to 70,000.  Either way that’s a lot!

Furthermore, it’s estimated that 70-80% of our thoughts would be labeled as negative.  That is sad.  And I guess that statement could generate some negative thoughts too…sorry about that!

So what do we do with this newfound knowledge that we have all these thoughts that are negative and cause us to feel different emotions and almost take on a life of their own by just generating more and more thoughts.

We have to stop and ask ourselves a REALLY deep question.  Who is thinking all those thoughts?  The brainless, quick response, is I AM.  They are in my head, I must be thinking them, right?

Well guess what?  You kinda are thinking those thoughts, because they are in your head, but they aren’t necessarily coming from you.  SAY WHAT!?!?!

Your thoughts are mental programs.  There I said it, it’s out.

So where do mental programs come from?  Well, basically you’ve absorbed them like a sponge from age 0-7 ish.  (even in the womb some say).  From age 7 ish on, you are at the whims of the environment you are in.  Ever catch yourself playing a movie scene in your mind?  The mix of your environment and your experiences and emotions generate energy that create energy blips called thoughts.  You could say, well then, okay, but that’s who I am – an accumulation of what I’ve heard, felt, seen, absorbed, etc…makes me this person and I have these thoughts – they are me.

Let’s go deeper.  You can, with some effort, have control over your thoughts.  In other words, you can either choose to allow the “program” of who you are to run wild and accept that’s “who I am.” OR, you can put yourself in the driver’s seat and recognize that what you think is merely energy blips of your past conditioning, good or bad.

With that, you suddenly realize and awaken to the idea that you are not your thoughts, you are the thinker behind the thoughts.  Because you can control them and ultimately stop them, allow them, even redirect them.

What do you do now?  You live with your eyes more open, more aware.  When you remind yourself in the middle of a tantrum of negative energy and negative thoughts, that you do in fact have the choice to allow this “tantrum program” to run, or to STOP!

Your past doesn’t have to dictate your future anymore and for a lot of us, that can be very exciting news.  You are not your thoughts – you are the thinker behind the thoughts.  You can change them and you can change your life for the better.