As mentioned before, thoughts play a very important role in one’s happiness, and, in particular, finding happiness requires recognising and dealing with negative thoughts. To achieve this, an important technique that you will use is called “thought awareness”.
Most of the time, our thoughts occur “automatically”, and we don’t even notice that they are happening. However, we all possess the amazing ability to “observe” our thoughts when we choose to.
For example, imagine I ask you, “What are your thoughts now?”
You can look into your mind and answer, “I am reading about thought awareness. I am curious about what he is talking about.”
When you do this, you observe your thoughts and are practising thought awareness. I.e. you are aware of what your thoughts are at that moment.
An important first step in dealing with negative thoughts is to recognise them when they arise. However, in our daily lives, thousands of thoughts automatically flow through our minds. It would not be advisable to deeply observe each thought, as that would rapidly consume one’s energy.
However, it is possible to develop the ability to “loosely” observe one’s thoughts at a depth that is not exhausting, yet simultaneously allowing one to sense when negative thoughts occur. This is what thought awareness is. We will discuss it in much more depth later on. For now, just know that this tool exists.
Using thought awareness to catch unhelpful thoughts is an essential part of Happy Thinking, and we will discuss this in more detail later on this website.