Ashley, Health Educator

Thanks for helping David.

Read the other post first.

I'm not sure if this is going to make sense but here goes. First off when we are born our brains are almost empty. We fill them up with learned experiences. This is the side of the brain that doesn't control breathing etc. We learn by observation and experience and all these things go into memory so the next time we want to do something we know how. We try what we see. We see people standing, we try to stand. We try to walk and we fall down because we don't know how, but once we do we never forget how because it is in memory now just as we know that falling down hurts so that can't be part of walking. It becomes automatic and we never consider that we are actually using memory to walk because the brain is very fast and it also does things we don't need to think about subconscious. Thinking about them kicks in automatic if we are on say slippery ground. If you don't give it direction memory will tell you to walk as you normally would. All subconscious. Till you slip, then it becomes conscious. Makes sense. Okay here is where the hard part comes in. Because conscious thought is slow most people find it hard that subconscious thought can be at the speed of light. Faster than this computer in fact. Every thought and action has to pass through memory for direction. But as it does it also has to pick the best choice of a number of options related to the situation. Based on past experience. If the choice is relevant then it feeds it back to memory to update it and make it the priority choice next time that decision has to be made. Remember that it is doing this very fast. (and a cat can do this even faster, a cat has very fast reflexes, but a cat also has limited need for intelligence so it has fewer choices in its memory) Now if you can understand this process where every thing passes through memory for direction before an action and that, that action cycles back to memory and back to the original thought to direct it to the next thought in that line. (left foot right foot left foot, walking using memory to tell us how without actually thinking about it) Now if you have an unwanted thought and you don't actually change it between the point where memory makes a decision and that decision becomes an action then it will recycle back to memory as a relevant update. On a graph this is drawn as a triangle with three points, thought, decision and action all interconnected and affecting each other. 

I guess my next question is when you have these unwanted thoughts that pop into your head and you accept & think to yourself that they are unwanted thoughts-- how do you get them to leave? I mean sometimes these thoughts keep repeating in my mind & I feel like the thought is actually going to make itself happen so how do you get it to end? I know not to ignore it. I guess I'll learn about this further into the program right? 

Welcome L&L, I've arrived at a point where I see unwanted thoughts like mosquitoes, and just swat at the odd one, without be distracted with the task at hand. I think I've seen comedy skits where something small drives someone off the deep end, and I've been that person in the past. Keep persevering and we'll support you. Maybe some outside professional help can guide you, since often there's a stress we're not aware of.

Actually it is your memory talking. There is direct memory which is directly related to the trigger or situation and associated memory which is what you use when there is no clear answer to the trigger or situation. Both are governed by attitude and mood. And because of this they can be changed so that even if they still happen your thoughts on them will be different. Harmless thoughts.

As I was getting up this morning the thought, "You are going to die tonight" popped into my head.  I wasn't thinking about death, but I have had anxious thoughts before about, "What if my head explodes?  What if I have an aneurysm, etc. what if questions.  I'm now completing freaked out about this thought & I told my husband who said it was just my subconscience talking because I've had previous what if thoughts.  He told me I was fine.