How To Tame the Thinking Brain and Feel Better Fast

The thinking brain . . . I call it the thinking devil. It dangles a carrot in front of us saying, "Come over here and sit in the corner. I'll bet if you sit and think about this long enough, chew on this hard enough, you'll arrive at an answer that's satisfying." But it's a trick. It never happens.

There's only one way to tame the thinking devil and it doesn't come from trying to control him. He actually loves that. It gives him something to push against. The best way to deal with the thinking devil is to learn how to watch him and see him for who he is.

Watching the thinking brain strengthens your awareness of the truth of who you are and who you are not. You are not the thinking brain. You are the one who can watch it.

In time and with practice, you might get so good at this that you will catch yourself laughing at his/her antics - the way you would laugh at the "acting out" of an unruly child. Even better, you might begin to feel compassion for his/her desperate attempts to be important and valuable to you.

Once you are able to watch your thoughts, you can respond to them saying, "I love you. Is there more?" Then let your thoughts respond with whatever comes. Respond to what comes next with, "I love you. Is there more?" And so on. In time your overactive thinking brain will run out of ideas and give up - at least for a little while. In the process, you will have strengthened your identity as the watcher - and a compassionate, non-reactive one at that!

This is a great way, by the way, to respond to worry thoughts. Instead of trying to control or tame your worry thoughts, allow them to come up and respond to them with the I-love-you-is-there-more technique.

Have fun with this and as always, please let me know if you need any help.
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