William “Bud” Hart, of Haverhill, shares “Success Principles”—ideas for living a greater, better and more accomplished life, and building habits that stick. He also coaches clients to incorporate strategies for boosting their mental and physical performance during everyday living.
I recently read online that each day the average person has about 50,000 thoughts. But, I wonder, does anyone really knows for sure? Factoring in the thoughts that your mind has that you aren’t aware of (like breathing in and out and moving your eyes as you read this line) along with the ones that you are consciously aware of, one thing is for sure, it’s a lot of thoughts.
Whether it’s 50,000- or 500,000 thoughts-a-day some of these are going to be positive, productive and helpful and some of these are going to be negative and potentially damaging (for relationships, health, career and other aspects of your life). The important question in terms of the negative thoughts isn’t whether you can avoid them, you can’t; it’s what you are going to build them into and how long you’ll let yourself think about them.
Of all the strategies for choosing to deal with negative thoughts none is more valuable and useful than simply choosing to let them go. Why you ask! The reason is best explained in a good analogy you may be familiar with, the “Grandfather Tells,” also known as “The Wolves Within” story.
An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, “Let me tell you a story.
I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.
But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.” He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.
But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing.
Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”
The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they want to be,” implying that, when it comes to happiness (the life we want) we actually have a choice?
You do have a choice! Let the unhappy (negative) go and feed yourself happy (productive) thoughts.
William “Bud” Hart is a certified “Mindset” Coach, Accountability Partner and Business Consultant. Founder of Hart Group, www.hartgroupma.com.