Thinking about the power of thought? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s a mental conundrum if ever there was one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I often find myself contemplating my ability to bend spoons and assorted objects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aside from becoming a psychic strongman, to a large extent, we are what we think, our mental gymnastics contributing significantly to our quality of life and wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how can we harness the slippery thought rascals for our own benefit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thought remains poorly understood by the scientific community, as does consciousness as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems that such executive functioning must have evolved as a survival and reproduction mechanism through the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s for certain is that thought helps to balance our baser primordial reactions with considered responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can be helpful in both analysing the past and imagining an unmet future, thereby altering our behaviour in the present to favour optimal outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the actual what of thoughts and their role in consciousness is still up for debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yuval Noah Harare posits that consciousness could be runoff from our subconscious processes, largely mental pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But from our personal experience, it frequently appears that they play a more significant role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s a popular media myth that humans have around 60-80,000 thoughts per day, despite there being no specific source, the number seemingly pulled from the Internet candyland of invented statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel Kahneman, famed psychologist\/economist, believes there are approximately 600,000 psychological presents\/moments (3-second windows between past and future) per month, equating to the potential for around 20k thoughts opportunities per day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, to cut a long story short, humans think a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You just have to observe your own mind for a few minutes to realise this. And if you do, it’s not long before you discover that many thoughts are fearful little critters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Either we’re fretting about something we said in the dim and distant past or anxious about an upcoming social event we’d rather skip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seldom do we embrace the Zen of the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fallout of such thought onslaught is that, strung together, our mental processes start to colour our emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s to say, if we think a bunch of negative thoughts, we’re likely to feel depressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How peachy do you think your life will be if you’re afflicted by constant negative thought and emotion? Exactly. That’s not to say that morose thought in itself is bad, but rather, if we don’t gain sufficient perspective, the results can be devastating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From this outlook, the power of thought in shaping our lives is unquestionable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People suffering from depression experience recursive rumination in which negative thoughts assail them from every angle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, although happiness isn\u2019t an endless stream of wondrous, fluffy thoughts, it\u2019s a state of mind correlated with greater positive thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years psychological research centred on the pathology symptoms suffered by those with mental health issues, like anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, in recent years, there\u2019s been a significant shift the other way, with the positive psychology movement gaining ground with pioneers such as Martin Seligman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n