Don't Believe Everything You Think

by Joseph Nguyen

The first step is to pause and begin taking deep breaths to help calm our nervous systems. Deep breaths pull our focus away from the thinking mind and into our bodies, anchoring us in the present moment. This allows us to become aware of our emotions and also detach from them. Pausing creates space between our emotions and actions, giving us the opportunity to choose a new response rather than repeating the same conditioned reactions that keep us in the cycle of suffering. Without this space, change cannot exist. Space has the illusion of emptiness on the surface. It is not empty but filled with infinite possibilities for us to choose a new experience of life. Within the space between your thoughts and your thinking lies the peace you’ve been seeking. Step two is to ask yourself, “Is this thinking making me feel the way I want?” or “Do I want to keep suffering?” These questions remind us of the power we have to choose whether we want to emotionally suffer or not. If we want to keep feeling the way we do, then we can choose to do so. We’ve all had times when we are not yet ready to let the negativity pass, and that is okay. But if we want peace, we can choose it by letting go of the thinking that is causing our suffering.