'A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes'
- Mahatma Gandhi
Watching your thoughts is a fine tuned skill that comes with practice and initially I struggled with it.
It's like developing a separate observing person or another observing you which notices the kinds of thoughts, feelings and emotions that arise in ourselves.
So for example, a strong anger emotion arises over a situation and instead of acting instantly upon that emotion, I learned to wait for a few seconds and actually notice that I'm really angry. This is watching your thoughts.
The next step is asking why I got so angry and what I could do to diffuse this anger...
Another good example I learned with mindfulness is 'The blue sky technique'
Imagine the blue sky is the state of mindfulness, the white clouds are happy thoughts and dark clouds are bad thoughts. Whenever I had thoughts I don't want or I'm trying to clear my head I imagine the wind blowing away the clouds (thoughts) and then I'm left only with the blue sky and a clear(er) mind.
I hope these little tips can guide you in watching your thoughts and in turn lead you to control your feelings more.
I would love to hear your comments or additional thought watching stories.
-Your Life Drive