Hot thoughts and cold thoughts are metaphors to how we react or respond to something. Eg we drop a plate and it smashes or someone cuts us off. Can you guess at the different kind of thoughts one might have and their metaphorical temperature? 

What is a thought anyway? Where do thoughts come from? These questions are of interest to scientists, philosophers, psychologists and many others. Research has mapped brain waves (see below) as well as mapping that the average person has between fifty-eighty thousand thoughts a day! A lot right?

Our thoughts (electric) trigger feelings (magnetic) in our limbic system creating emotions (e + motion = energy in motion). So, we have this electromagnetic field that is constantly changing based on our thoughts and feelings. This is why I (like many therapists) are obsessed with the questions: how does that make you feel? what thoughts do you have on that?

Our limbic system is like a chemist in our brain and we can buy lighter or more uplifting chemicals like Serotonin and Dopamine or sadder more stressful chemicals like Cortisol and Adrenaline.  But how can we ‘spend wisely’? Can we control our thoughts? Have you ever tried to stop thinking? How did that work out for you? Spoiler alert you can learn to control your mind.

Emotions provide clues to our thoughts. If you find yourself experiencing a heavier emotion ask yourself: What must I have being thinking in order to experience that emotion? 

There are some tools to control your mind and tools to work with the emotions. Thoughts and emotions interrelate as well as attitudes, beliefs, decisions and choices to create how we experience our lives.

We are going to explore these foundational topics and tools this Sunday in Intro to the Emotional Freedom Techniques. I will break this down and give lots of examples as well as you going home knowing how to do EFT or if you already know how to enhance your skills.

EFT is a springboard for knowing yourself more deeply, healing trauma and busting limiting beliefs that are not true and no longer serve.

EEGs map brain waves and have being conducted under a variety of conditions such as when people are awake, asleep, meditating, watching movies and even having sex.

Researches have discovered that most people experience Beta brain waves which relates to the fight or flight state (a stress state brought on by real or perceived danger). The slower waves of alpha and delta require our bodies to be in rest and digest otherwise known as breed or feed (a natural state for humans to be in when no real or perceived danger is present). While being in a relaxed state is natural unfortunately it is not normal with people experiencing epidemic levels of stress which causes huge social impacts.

Thoughts that have dystopic scary futures like, ‘What if I lose my job? or ‘What if the rug gets pulled out from underneath me some other way?’ cause high levels of stress, anxiety and even panic. This is all over a perceived danger. This kind of thinking is often caused by a belief and childhood experience of something going wrong a time where the rug was pulled out from underneath you. So you are on high alert and may have a limiting belief ‘I have to be on the look out / all good things come to an end’ and this may no longer be serving you.

It is very valuable to become a detective of your own subconscious! Which is why the question: What must I have being thinking to experience this emotion? is helpful. What are your thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, decisions and choices?

EFT teaches you to know thyself to look at what you feel, where you feel it and what happened in order to be free of it. It’s not a fluffy walk in the park but it is effective. 

The best ways to begin to know your mind and slow down is to spend ten minutes a day observing your thoughts and also to turn your attention to your breathing. Please email me or like superconscious on facebook to access many exercises. EFT is also fantastic and can be learnt in 5 minutes (however it takes a lot longer to master). I hope to see you at my next free EFT workshop.

A group of Cherokee children gathered around their grandfather. They are filled with excitement and curiosity. That day there had been a quite tumultuous conflict between two adults and their grandfather was called to mediate. The children are eager to hear what he has to say about it. One of the children pops the question that puzzles him. “Grandfather, why do people fight?”. “Well” the old man replies “we all have two wolves inside us, you see. They are in our chest. And these wolves are constantly fighting each other”. The eyes of the children have grown big by now. “In our chests too, grandfather?” asks another child. “And in your chest too?” asks a third one. He nods, “yes, in my chest too”. He surely has their attention now. Grandfather continues. “There is a white wolf and a black wolf. The black wolf is filled with fear, anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. The white wolf is filled with peace, love, hope, courage, humility, compassion, and faith. They battle constantly”. Then he stops. It’s the child that asked the initial question that can’t handle the tension anymore. “But grandfather, which wolf wins?”. The old Cherokee simply replies, “the one that we feed”.

Which wolf are you feeding?