The Art Of Thinking Well To Live Better
To think well, to have more control over the flow of our thoughts, is to invest in the quality of life. Because anyone who controls the noise of negativity is able to directly influence their emotions. Because anyone who thinks and feels better influences their behavior, their body and even their own health. Ultimately, happiness comes from what happens inside us, not outside.
Even if we have all these principles clear, in our daily life, this critical and loving voice of negativity continues to weigh excessively on us. It is she who reminds us of yesterday’s failures. It is this presence that leads us to the peron of anxiety, and that pushes us to anticipate what may or may not happen if we do not do such and such a thing. Far from being desperate by this style of thinking which often characterizes us, it is worth having clearly an important aspect.
Neuroscientists remind us that the human brain is programmed to focus on the negative. It is not a curse or a punishment rooted in our DNA. It is our survival mechanism. By anticipating dangers (although not real), we prepare our body to defend ourselves against them. Dimensions such as worry, worry or anxiety immediately release various chemicals such as cortisol to allow us to always be “alert”.
On the other hand, something neuropsychologists also tell us is that negative thoughts act like cigarette smoke ; they not only have an impact on our health and well-being; very often, they remain anchored in our environments, affecting the members of our family, our friends, our co-workers… Because the brains of those who listen to us also change, and always end up feeling nervous and irritable…
Barbara Fredrickson is a Stanford University scientist famous for her studies in positive psychology. As she explains in her work, overcoming the negativity bias is a challenge that, when successfully addressed, turns into a profitable investment. More than an art, thinking well is the result of continuous training that can allow us to change the “factory” programming of our brains.
As we already know, our mind’s natural inclination is to focus on the negative to ensure our survival. Therefore, we must be able to consider another plan, another more sophisticated program that allows us not only to avoid risk, but also to promote well-being and happiness. Ultimately, good thinking generates clarity, balance, and direction. It is about stopping losing ourselves in the swamps of fear in order to be more proactive, more sure of ourselves.
Let’s see in the rest of this article how we can train our brain to learn to think well, to think positively.
Daniel Goleman reminds us in his book Focus how important it is to train our attention. We have to see it almost as a muscle, an entity to be put at our service, and not at the service of an erratic mind. The goal is for this basic psychological process to be controlled more by us than by external stipulations or anarchic thinking.
- It is important to remember that the thought circuit extends along the posterior cingulate gyrus and the median prefrontal cortex. Our reasoning flows through these brain structures. Sometimes this route of cells, connections, and neurons is so overactive that it’s hard to get control over it. Little by little, suffocation, stress, apathy, negativity appear …
- One way to have control over our thoughts is to control our attention. To get there, nothing better than to “disconnect” from this flow of thoughts. Let’s try, for at least 15 minutes, not to think about anything. Imagine the surface of a lake silent and smooth as a mirror. Everything is only balance, there are no sounds. Only calm.
- Once we get to the noise of thoughts, let’s focus our attention on what is around us. On the present moment.
Thinking well requires having a purpose. Negativity and all that noise caused by crippling thoughts is like a directionless cyclone grabbing everything in its path. Therefore, to break with this unproductive mental bias, it is necessary to define our purpose.
All of these goals have a direction, a clear meaning. So, and once our attention is focused on the present moment, what we will do is state all our goals one by one with conviction. Setting goals is the key to well-being, it is giving meaning to your life, it is deluding yourself and letting these positive emotions influence our behavior.
Thinking well only requires the right approach, adequate attention, purpose and willpower. This in turn requires expanding networks in our brain to remind it of the importance of working with positive information. What do we mean with this? Quite simply that sometimes, even if we say “I have a goal to achieve”, our minds get stuck in old mechanisms, on negative and disabling courses of action.
- To work with positive information, we need to reverse our limiting attitudes.
- Thus, it is necessary to give shape to a more relaxed “me”, open to the experience and optimistic. We must put aside the mistakes of yesterday to see the opportunities of the present.
- Thus, it will be very useful for us to learn to put filters to keep only the useful information, that which helps, that which stimulates and not that which puts us once again in our comfort zone.
To conclude, we know that thinking well undoubtedly allows us to live better and to benefit from an adequate inner balance. Now, “good thinking” in turn requires deep personal work. We have to come to terms with our present “I” to feel deserving of something better. This is the only way our future “I” will consolidate as someone stronger, more creative and kind to himself.
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