Hear me out: thoughts are attention-seeking. They want to be heard, want to be found, just like the one ring forged in the fires of Mount Doom. Sideline, is this why the ring and mountain are separated from the eye? I know Tolkien didn’t like allegory, but I’m digging this perspective.
Ahem. Okay, okay.
So our attention-seeking thoughts, our thoughts, all are providing a choice. Do we react to this one or not? It’s easy to say, but in practice, simply not responding to even a cell notification isn’t easy. It requires a certain backseat mindset that I don’t really have. It’s more important than many things, though. It’s the real thing.
Keep in the good, cut out the bad.
The first step is identifying the good and bad. This alone took me years, and I’m still working at it (as I always will be). And the second step may feel like it’s come too late, but even after you’ve been floating down the wrong stream, there’s always an option to swim.
Sorry, that was so cheesy!