Controlling Your Mind - How can you control your thoughts?
If you find it hard to stop yourself from thinking about something, then this is an extremely difficult task to do. You can constantly tell yourself to stop acting on a thought, but to actually stop thinking about something, now that’s another story altogether. Your thoughts are more powerful than you’ll know.
When you constantly think about something, you’re veering your life towards that direction. You pattern your actions according to what is on your mind. Therefore, if you constantly have a negative attitude towards everything, you’ll end up being known as the person with a dour disposition. Not a pleasant thought, is it?
The skill of being able to control your mind is simply an act of constant practice. Much like your health, you frequently need exercise to attain your ideal weight. This is not something that can be done overnight. After all, it requires a change of your outlook in life and a readjustment of your personality.
Whenever an unwanted thought comes to your mind, simply stop yourself from thinking about it any further. Then, you have to shift your focus elsewhere. Watching television or reading a book helps greatly especially if you need to stop it immediately.
Some people believe that making oneself tired from thinking about an unwanted thought helps a lot in kicking the habit. What this means is that you have to come up with a mode of punishment every single time you do something that goes against your ultimate goal.
Try this, whenever you find yourself thinking about something unpleasant, mark it on a piece of paper. Mount the paper on a wall and go to it every time you break your word. You’ll soon find it a great inconvenience whenever you have to stand up, walk over to that piece of paper to mark it. This, of course, is not an easy task, but it will give you the extra boost you’ll need to actually make an effort.
Remember, all your problems last only as long as you allow them. Yes, getting rid of your negative thoughts requires a lot of patience, but if you actually make the effort to change your way of thinking, you’ll soon find yourself being the master of your thoughts and of your emotions. Many successful people have done this.
In fact, they have attained their goals in life simply because they were able to shift their focus to something more productive.
So, take control of your mind. Stop focusing and dwelling on your problems and on the pain that others have inflicted on you. It’s time to love yourself above all else and acknowledge where you are in your life at this very moment.
Refuse to think about the past and plan for your future. After all, your future is what you make of it.
As long as you go through things with a positive thought in your mind, your future can be as happy as you want it to be. You are who you think you are and you will be who you will yourself to be. Think about it!
More on Positive Thinking
6/05/2010
How past experiences affect your life
Sociologist Herbert Mead developed a theory known as social behaviorism.
It explained why past social experiences help form an individual’s personality. Mead did not believe that personality was developed biologically, but more socially. He stated that the self only developed when people interact with one another.
Without the interaction with other people an individual can’t develop a personality. An example of this is if a child is left in total isolation for a long period of time, it doesn’t mature physically and mentally.
Social experience is crucial, and this includes the exchange of symbols. Only people attach meanings to words and symbols. If you tell a dog to sit and it obeys then you may give it a snack. However, this doesn’t mean it knows why to sit down, but it does so to get food. You can tell a dog to sit for numerous reasons such as wanting to impress your friends, or to calm it down because it is running all over the place. It's still looking for a treat.
People take the roles of other people during development. Infants have very little knowledge so they tend to mimic others. Children often have creative minds and take on roles of other significant people such as parents that have a special importance in their social development.
For example, children will play house in which someone will take the role of a mother while another takes that of a father. As they age, children will learn to take various roles and adjust to their surroundings. As we continue to age we will continue to see changes in our social life.
Also, Mead noted that understanding individual intentions is critical. This will help us to analyze how an individual will respond even before we act. Mead refers to this as taking another individual’s role.
Another important theory related to social behaviorism is the looking-glass self. This is basically like mirroring what we think others think of us. If you believe others view you as being “good looking,” then you will see yourself as being good looking, or if you think people think you are fat, then you will have that image of yourself.
There are a lot of critics of Mead’s theories and some claim that he focus too much on the society in developing an individual’s behavior. The sociologist Erik H. Erikson stated that unlike Freud, who believed personality was pretty much set in stone in the first couple of years of an individual’s life, that personality changes in stages and occurs all the way up to death.
His theory is not all that accurate as well, because people experience changes in different orders and time. Through all of the disagreements, sociologists generally agree on this main idea, that family has the greatest impact on an individual’s socialization abilities.
When a person is an infant they have no control and usually rely on their parents and family members to help nurture them. Through family they learn several communication techniques such as trust, culture, and beliefs. Not all learning comes solely from family; it can come from the environment as well because in a lot of cultures they use the environment to help raise a child. Different social classes tend to raise their children differently.
School also has a large effect on an individual’s personalities. If you think about it, children spend a huge chunk of time each day at school. It’s also interesting to note that children tend to play with people of the same gender, and that boys are more physical and aggressive while girls are more well behaved. Boys also tend to find abstract activities more interesting like video games and girls tend to be more artistic. The same thing follows when they get to college because boys tend to major in physical sciences, and computing while girls usually major in humanities and arts.
School is where children discover peer groups or individuals that have interest similar to theirs. People tend to identify more with their peer groups and can have conversations about things they understand like clothes, music, and style. Peer groups are a way for individuals to escape adult supervision, and people are usually more out spoken in peer groups.
During our adolescent years we tend to identify more with our peer groups. This is also a time in which parents are concerned about who their children hang around because they know that who they hang around influence their behavior deeply. During these years the mass media heavily affects individuals as well. Studies show that television has made people more passive and lessened their creativity.
Someone once said that it's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. (More on Confidence and Self Trust here)
.
It explained why past social experiences help form an individual’s personality. Mead did not believe that personality was developed biologically, but more socially. He stated that the self only developed when people interact with one another.
Without the interaction with other people an individual can’t develop a personality. An example of this is if a child is left in total isolation for a long period of time, it doesn’t mature physically and mentally.
Social experience is crucial, and this includes the exchange of symbols. Only people attach meanings to words and symbols. If you tell a dog to sit and it obeys then you may give it a snack. However, this doesn’t mean it knows why to sit down, but it does so to get food. You can tell a dog to sit for numerous reasons such as wanting to impress your friends, or to calm it down because it is running all over the place. It's still looking for a treat.
People take the roles of other people during development. Infants have very little knowledge so they tend to mimic others. Children often have creative minds and take on roles of other significant people such as parents that have a special importance in their social development.
For example, children will play house in which someone will take the role of a mother while another takes that of a father. As they age, children will learn to take various roles and adjust to their surroundings. As we continue to age we will continue to see changes in our social life.
Also, Mead noted that understanding individual intentions is critical. This will help us to analyze how an individual will respond even before we act. Mead refers to this as taking another individual’s role.
Another important theory related to social behaviorism is the looking-glass self. This is basically like mirroring what we think others think of us. If you believe others view you as being “good looking,” then you will see yourself as being good looking, or if you think people think you are fat, then you will have that image of yourself.
There are a lot of critics of Mead’s theories and some claim that he focus too much on the society in developing an individual’s behavior. The sociologist Erik H. Erikson stated that unlike Freud, who believed personality was pretty much set in stone in the first couple of years of an individual’s life, that personality changes in stages and occurs all the way up to death.
His theory is not all that accurate as well, because people experience changes in different orders and time. Through all of the disagreements, sociologists generally agree on this main idea, that family has the greatest impact on an individual’s socialization abilities.
When a person is an infant they have no control and usually rely on their parents and family members to help nurture them. Through family they learn several communication techniques such as trust, culture, and beliefs. Not all learning comes solely from family; it can come from the environment as well because in a lot of cultures they use the environment to help raise a child. Different social classes tend to raise their children differently.
School also has a large effect on an individual’s personalities. If you think about it, children spend a huge chunk of time each day at school. It’s also interesting to note that children tend to play with people of the same gender, and that boys are more physical and aggressive while girls are more well behaved. Boys also tend to find abstract activities more interesting like video games and girls tend to be more artistic. The same thing follows when they get to college because boys tend to major in physical sciences, and computing while girls usually major in humanities and arts.
School is where children discover peer groups or individuals that have interest similar to theirs. People tend to identify more with their peer groups and can have conversations about things they understand like clothes, music, and style. Peer groups are a way for individuals to escape adult supervision, and people are usually more out spoken in peer groups.
During our adolescent years we tend to identify more with our peer groups. This is also a time in which parents are concerned about who their children hang around because they know that who they hang around influence their behavior deeply. During these years the mass media heavily affects individuals as well. Studies show that television has made people more passive and lessened their creativity.
Someone once said that it's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. (More on Confidence and Self Trust here)
.
6/01/2010
How To Use Creativity To Improve Your Life
Never hold back a good idea.
Everyone is free to interpret his own unique way. Any interpretation by itself is creativity at work. A person who enjoys creative thinking can easily come up with innovative solutions for situations that require a quick fix
“Are there still original ideas in the world?”
“They beat me to that bright idea; what else can I do?”
“I’ve failed many times before that I can’t think of anything else to solve this problem anymore.”
These statements reflect the thought of an individual who has given up on creativity. Sadly, a lot of people share this way of thinking. They never viewed creativity as a very useful tool to improve or improvise in life in all its diversity.
A situation that requires a solution can be approached in a variety of ways. There isn’t a single way fix to a problem. Being creative opens new horizons and can deliver many benefits. Creativity can sometimes be mistakenly interpreted as an obstinate attitude. Some people think that insisting on doing things in a different way is a sign of stubbornness.
There used to be a television series entitled “MacGyver.” The main character was an extremely creative and crafty guy. Whenever he finds himself in a tight fix, he tries to find a way out of it with his quick fixes utilizing available materials around him.
In a way, creativity is a never-ending learning process. From learning, you gain untold benefits, which you can use in real life situations.
Being creative might require you to think out-of-the-box, venturing your mind into the uncommon. You can never be sure of your ideas until you try them. As long as there is no perceived danger involved, it is always worth a try.
Inventions are products of creative minds. The field of science, in whatever branch you may touch on, is invention itself. Without creative minds, science would have been a forlorn field of knowledge.
It must be noted that most adaptations to improve or improvise are aimed at improving current conditions. Upon analyzing honest applications of creativity, the ultimate intention is to achieve good for all and the will to build lasting peace. After all, this intention is what counts most.
Erich Fromm spelled it out clearly, “The conditions for creativity are: to be puzzled, to concentrate, to accept conflict and tension, to be born everyday, and to feel a sense of self.”
Everyone is free to interpret his own unique way. Any interpretation by itself is creativity at work. A person who enjoys creative thinking can easily come up with innovative solutions for situations that require a quick fix
“Are there still original ideas in the world?”
“They beat me to that bright idea; what else can I do?”
“I’ve failed many times before that I can’t think of anything else to solve this problem anymore.”
These statements reflect the thought of an individual who has given up on creativity. Sadly, a lot of people share this way of thinking. They never viewed creativity as a very useful tool to improve or improvise in life in all its diversity.
A situation that requires a solution can be approached in a variety of ways. There isn’t a single way fix to a problem. Being creative opens new horizons and can deliver many benefits. Creativity can sometimes be mistakenly interpreted as an obstinate attitude. Some people think that insisting on doing things in a different way is a sign of stubbornness.
There used to be a television series entitled “MacGyver.” The main character was an extremely creative and crafty guy. Whenever he finds himself in a tight fix, he tries to find a way out of it with his quick fixes utilizing available materials around him.
In a way, creativity is a never-ending learning process. From learning, you gain untold benefits, which you can use in real life situations.
Being creative might require you to think out-of-the-box, venturing your mind into the uncommon. You can never be sure of your ideas until you try them. As long as there is no perceived danger involved, it is always worth a try.
Inventions are products of creative minds. The field of science, in whatever branch you may touch on, is invention itself. Without creative minds, science would have been a forlorn field of knowledge.
It must be noted that most adaptations to improve or improvise are aimed at improving current conditions. Upon analyzing honest applications of creativity, the ultimate intention is to achieve good for all and the will to build lasting peace. After all, this intention is what counts most.
Erich Fromm spelled it out clearly, “The conditions for creativity are: to be puzzled, to concentrate, to accept conflict and tension, to be born everyday, and to feel a sense of self.”
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