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Do Negative Thoughts Come True
Omar067
Veteran
in Mindfulness
Well, the title says it all.
0
Comments
With our thoughts we create our reality
Thought : I'm certain I cant do it. Reality: I cant do it
This doesnt mean though that every negative thought we have comes true. Not at all. The mind creates millions of random thoughts, a lot of them negative. Let them pass by. It doesnt mean they are coming true. However the mind is powerful. Convince yourself that you cant do something and usually you wont be able to do it
So, are thoughts just motivation, or can thinking and believing I can lift 1 thousand pounds allow me to be able to lift 1000 pounds without any training?
No of course not. Not without training
Serious training involved in lifting 1000 lbs!!
But yes part of this training is mental too.
So, thinking plus effort equals a thought coming true? I had no idea that it was possible to lift 1000 pounds.
Yes a thought has to be acted upon for it to emerge from the realm of thought and out into world of actions.
There is no magic to thoughts. You can't think your way to results without action. But how you feel about your thoughts can have a big impact on the actions you choose. Like @Hozan said, if you believe a thought like "I can't do it" it is going to lead to the decision "I am not going to try." or something similar. But we have a million thoughts a day and not all of them deserve attention or action. Knowing when to act and being able to have a better train of thoughts is where meditation comes in.
That said if you want to delve into genetics and other things, our thoughts and the focus we put on them change our actual DNA. Thoughts and feelings our ancestors had about a tragedy carry through our DNA and impact us. they an have immense power over our lives and the lives of others, which is why it is so vital to get to know your mind and control it rather than it controlling you.
By the way @Omar067 . Good to meet you!
@Omar067 , Henry Ford once famously said: "Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't - you're right."
There is no question that negative thoughts engender negative consequences, and that Positive Thinking is conducive to a far more buoyant attitude and general well-being.
Intention is all.
deadlifting 1000 lbs may be achievable, but such an act has to be preceded by many years of hard training, dedication, resolve and laser-like focus on the goal.
A certain physique also helps....
I think you probably know this question, therefore, to be ridiculous and beyond the realms of possibility.
But Positive thinking is different to Ambition.
The Buddha never said that "With our thoughts we create our reality" (sorry @Hozan
) or that "We are what we think".
What he stated was this:
So if your mind is benevolent, charitable, gracious, kind, compassionate - then such thoughts will follow you and generate Good Kamma, and a serene life.
The opposite is also true.
How is being a smartass working out for you?
Are you here to prove how stupid Buddhism is? Nothing better to do? Why should we respect you when you are so unfit?
This message sponsored by Trolling the Dharma for fun and [insert motivation]
OK now let us wait and see what you can lift ... Hope you surprise yourself and us ...
Oh Lob....ster......? * wags finger *
^^. I am in the naughty corner washing my mouth out with dharma soap and mantras ... YUK!
The student went to ask the master some questions about the path of Zen but before he could get a word out, the master told him not to speak.
‘Why can’t I speak?’ asked the student.
The master replied, ‘First, close your mouth. Only then will you be able to speak.’
Zen traditional
Thoughts are a blasted nuisance.
Thoughts limit the sum total of what you might do in your life. If you can't think about it, you can't do it. So the range of food for thought that you take in, changes what you are likely to do with your life... the magazines, papers or websites, concert leaflets, holiday advertisements, jobs papers you read constrain your life.
It is very possible to mindfully consume media to broaden your life, or to introduce more healthy options - you can read yoga magazine rather than fast food monthly. Eliminating unuseful thoughts, like a compulsion to watch horror movies, is a lot more difficult, but it is possible to train the mind to think about other thinks.
One way to do that is to "blink away", the idea being to blink and introduce a new subject to your thinking that is compelling and interesting. For example when I've wanted to suppress a thought I've used the thought of 'elephants' because I've always liked elephants and have a strong mental image and interest in their lives. You can't truely make a thought go away, but you can derail your mind and follow another track.
I certainly don't think that negative thoughts are always guaranteed to come true. The influence of thoughts on the real world is pretty much limited to what we do with them.
From what I gather (I tend to gather a lot
) negative thoughts are true at the time of attachment to them, ie, the feelings and emotions =energy in motion 
that arises from them being present....
This reminds me ( along with gathering a lot...I'm also reminded quite a lot
) ....
"S/he who fears(in this case thinks) s/he shall suffer, already suffers what s/he fears(thinks)."
~Michel de Montaigne~
This short clip on CBT may be of interest when it comes to thoughts.... especially 'negative' ones ....
I made that statement with intention to receive knowledge if my understanding of what hozan said was right or wrong. I was not trying to be what you called me. The fact that a person even laughed is horrible and disrespectful. When have I ever came on this site and tried troll or disrespect buddhism?
I have a lot of thoughts - they just kinda appear. Some of them are good, some of them are neutral, and some of them are just down-right not good at all.
One of the things I have learnt over the past few years is not to trust my thoughts too much.
I much prefer the "I don't know!" approach when it comes to my thinking, so when I think someone is an 'ass', I can also counter that thought with a "Well I don't really know!".
Or if I think "I can't do that", I can counter with a "I don't know, let's find out".
When have I ever came on this site and tried troll or disrespect buddhism?
Never.
However the karma of asking this sort of question is to be provided with an answer . . .
So the answer is that you can move a mountain if you have sufficient faith/capacity.
Personally I am unable to lift my mind above triviality. My humble apologies.
No more or less than than thinking oneself into a Pureland.
All thoughts effect our being. Thinking one is a lobster does not make it true. The question is therefore 'how should one think to improve our karma?' The answer to that is something you already know the answer to . . . No?