Welcome back. I am Lara Jaye and you are listening to the Wisdom Within Podcast. On today's episode, we are talking about the crazy monkey mind and managing the negative thoughts that come in. And as a reminder, this season one is an overview of my newest book, the Wisdom Within Cracking, the Secrets of Meaning, purpose, and Security. And this is actually my fourth book. I weave all of these personal stories with guidance, just providing you with a beautiful roadmap to unlock your own inner potential and find that greater meaning and security within yourself. So let's get right to our show today. And I don't think anybody's going to argue with me on this point that the last few years have been challenging in unique ways that we haven't ever experienced before. Many others believe that chaos will actually continue for more years to come, and I don't know, but as the world evolves, as we continue to evolve our individual lives, it might feel like we're riding this roller coaster with crazy twists, ups and downs with no end sight.
(01:25):
So what I want you to know is that there is huge good news you can have calm even on the roller coaster. You can have calm in the chaos, you can choose a higher path for yourself. You can build your business, you can have that life you dream of, even when the world around you isn't making any sense. Now, to do that, I believe we all will need three things to move forward in peace. And these three things, you hear me, you'll probably hear me talk about a lot, and on Instagram and Facebook, these three things we all need. Number one is spiritual practice. Number two, deeper self-awareness. And number three, control of our negative thoughts. So a spiritual practice, deeper self-awareness and control of our negative thoughts. These three things we need to cultivate in order to have the calm and the chaos. Now today we're just going to talk about number three, controlling our negative thoughts. Often I think that our minds resemble this restless monkey swinging from one thought branch to another with seemingly no end.
(02:48):
It's usually referred to as the monkey mind, and it can wreck havoc on our mental wellbeing if left unchecked. But what if I told you that you possess the power to tame this beast and to reclaim control over your thoughts? And it all begins with awareness. So the connection between our thoughts and our physical bodies is actually quite profound. Every thought we entertain sends a message to our minds and to every cell within us. This means that the thoughts we dwell upon directly impact our psychological state. Imagine for a moment the implications of this. Our thoughts are not merely fleeting ideas, they're powerful messengers that can shape our reality. Numerous studies have proven that a chemical reaction sends messages throughout the body for every thought, we think so negative thoughts are particularly draining. Thoughts containing words like never should, can't. Complaints, whining or ideas that diminish ourselves or others, they deplete our body. And you know how they produce corresponding chemicals that weaken the physiology. So no wonder we're so exhausted at the end of the day. Dr. Bruce Lipton says, the work shows that your mind's perception of the world changes your biology and that changes your cells.
(04:33):
As humans, we generate an average of 50 to 70,000 thoughts per day. Lemme say that again, 50 to 70,000 thoughts per day. Now, shockingly up to 98% of these thoughts are the same ones as the day before and even more concerning, 80% of those thoughts are negative. And as I just mentioned, these negative thoughts really drain our energy. Now there is good news. It is that we have the power to change this. Our mind is a superpower by cultivating awareness of our thoughts, by knowing what we're thinking about and actively choosing to replace the negative ones with positive alternatives, we actually can regain control over our mental landscape and prevent the monkey mind from taking over. It all starts with a simple yet profound shift in perspective. So instead of allowing ourselves to be at the mercy of every thought that comes into our mind, we now are going to become active participants in shaping this inner dialogue.
(05:49):
By consciously focusing on the brighter side of life and envisioning favorable outcomes, we can cultivate that positive mindset that serves us, a mindset that serves us rather than sabotages us. So imagine your mind as a radio receiver. This is a great analogy to help us understand what's going on. Imagine your mind as a radio receiver. Each channel is programmed to play something co completely different. One channel might focus on negative thoughts, complaining or gossip. The next track over maybe the I'm not enough channel, I'm not enough, I'm not doing enough, I don't have enough channel that one, my thoughts get stuck on that channel. Way too often, the next tracked over on the dial doesn't make any sense at all. It sounds like words my friends would repeat. Honestly, that channel, we're picking up other people's thoughts. It will take effort and focus on turning the dial even further.
(07:01):
To hear encouragement or encouragement from spirit or tune into those channels that have more positive messages. Those channels, to be honest, they're harder to tune into, but once you do, it's amazing. Trust me, the messages we do allow to play in our head. It's always our choice. I know that that's huge to actually comprehend these thoughts in our mind, it's always our choice. Maybe not the first thought that could be coming from the collective Joe Schmoe who just walked by. It could be something in your subconscious that's coming up, but you get to choose the second thought, those messages, whatever they are, they're not only silent words, and that's what I really want you to get from this. They're not only silent words. They create chemicals that pulsate through your body. Give your cells these detailed instructions on how to feel, how you feel determines how you act.
(08:11):
Now the good news is that if you recognize a negative or limiting thought early, you can consciously change it before it actually derails you. When I was going through some of my most challenging time years ago, I intuitively knew this. I knew that if I began sending positive messages to my body, it would eventually reflect that positive image. I was on the couch literally for about a year, very, very sick. My kids were making bets as to what organ mom was going to get out next. My hair was falling out. I was very depressed at that point. I had sold marketing company because I didn't have the strength to even continue, and I was going through a divorce. After 25 years, my body was fried. So I'm sitting on the couch and I started writing. I started writing. I started praying more and meditating as a way to heal.
(09:17):
I was like, I've got to get whatever this is out of my body. And in that quietness, in that stillness, it was the polar vortex. If you can picture this with me, the polar vortex in going on in northern Indiana, middle of the winter was probably my deepest darkest bleakest time. So here I am on the couch staring out the window picture looks like cat in the hat where the kids are staring out the window and the snow's coming down, the ice is coming down, it's freezing cold. I've got one son away to college, the other one is in high school, his senior year, and I am really struggling in understanding what is happening. So my body in the stillness, in the quietness, I began to write just thoughts that would come up in how I was feeling and what was going through my mind.
(10:28):
And I began to see the pattern of how awfully negative they were. No wonder I was so flippant sick, I finally was able to see that all I thought were awful negative thoughts, not about others, about myself. I hated myself and I hated my life, which didn't make any sense because from the outside looking in, it was perfect, especially from the outside looking in. It was perfect. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors and especially behind the closed doors of our inner psyches. I was beaten myself up so bad on the inside. I couldn't allow anyone to love me because I didn't love me. I hated me, everything about me. But it took that time on the couch in quiet to be able to dive in deeper, to be able to tune into the nothingness, to be able to hear what I was telling myself and then to train myself to shift it. I knew for every thought I knew it intuitively for every thought I thought it would created a chemical component that shot through my body and told it whether to be healthier, whether to be sick.
(12:08):
I knew I needed to shift my thoughts to something more positive. So as negative thoughts came up, I began to rewire my brain one by one by one. And I would argue with myself in, yes, that's a negative thought and I can turn it into a positive thought. But how do I know which one's really true? And what I want to say is whatever you choose is what's true. Whatever you choose is what's true. You can choose your own happiness. You can choose your own health. Now, you may have chosen ill health and chosen depression and chosen some other things for a really, really, really long time, and it might take a while to turn the train around. And that's okay. We give ourselves the love and the grace and begin to pour positive words and affirmations and chemicals into our body to turn this train around completely.
(13:33):
And I honestly can say that I have since that 10, 12 years ago when I was in that really, really dark space, and it has taken a long time for me. I'm a slow learner and I've packaged all of this for you to make it a whole lot faster for you. You don't have to take 10 years, you don't have to take 12 years to turn your train around. Choose today. That is not who I want to be. I am choosing new affirmations. New positive thoughts are going to start moving through my body, energizing me.
(14:19):
And it's like a snowball effect. You start with that and all of a sudden one day I was like, oh, it's not snowing today. I want to go for a walk little bit every single day something else would open. And it wasn't long before my mood began improving even more consistently. So with each reframing of the negative thought, my energy magically increased, was really fascinating. I believe the chemicals produced by my body as a response to the positive messages really made that difference. I also did a lot of other energy work on my energy field and in my subconsciously clearing patterns and other things. So it wasn't just, oh, have this Pollyanna poly perfect blah, blah, blah mindset. It wasn't just that I did a lot of other things. This is one component of it. It's one component of controlling our negative thoughts that you have control over.
(15:38):
And have you ever thought about how confirmation bias actually plays into the mind game? Confirmation bias is fascinating. It can control and even sabotage us. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that supports rather than rejects, one's preconceptions typically by interpreting evidence to confirm existing beliefs while rejecting or ignoring any conflicting data. Now, I'm going to explain this deeper, but it's the tendency of each of us, and we all do this to favor info, to favor information that confirms our own beliefs or hypothesis. So confirmation bias happens when we give more weight to the evidence that confirms our beliefs and undervalues evidence that could disprove it. So people display this bias when they gather or recall info selectively or they interpret it. Biasly happens all the time. And here's what's really fascinating. The universe will always desire to show us we are right.
(16:51):
This is a universal law. So we may only see that evidence. The effect is more substantial for an emotionally charged issue and a deeply entrenched belief. This is huge because I feel like this explains what is currently happening in the US political arena with few seeing each other's viewpoints, let alone respecting the difference of opinions. Social media algorithms also are duplicating this showing us only what we initially are drawn to. The mind is a powerful tool. It has even been described as a superpower. However, when not under your control, it can turn on you. If you constantly worry or overthink or feel scattered, you're likely dealing with that monkey. And the good news is that there are many ways to tame the monkey mind and find that inner peace we're all seeking. So some of the best practices that I do that I'd love to offer to you, just a few of 'em.
(18:03):
Meditation of course, mindfulness, journaling, getting some physical activity helps as well. And being in a state of gratitude are all really important to help quiet that monkey mind because it can be frustrating and overwhelming and controlling it though is not impossible. So by incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can find that peace and that clarity in your mind. And remember to be so patient and so gentle with yourself. As you're going through this, I have a couple of quick tricks that I personally use. So instead of saying I never have enough time or I'm running late for something, and especially when I'm running late or I have a lot on my to-do list, I say, I have plenty of time to get everything done I need to get done. I'll say that again. I have plenty of time to get everything done I need to get done. It's really wild. But as soon as I say that, my body calms into immediate peace. So another statement I often say to myself is, everything is always working out fantastic for me. I say this when things are going well, and I especially say it when things aren't going as planned. So regardless, I am telling God I trust that even though things may not look like I want right this moment, I am trusting the process. Everything is always working out fantastic for me.
(19:54):
This affirmation can be used every single day. All we have is today. It's important to bring our attention back to this moment by bringing in the five senses and knowing that in this moment everything is fantastic, everything is working out fantastic for me right here, right now. And in this moment, everything is perfect in this moment. Everything is perfect. And now I have new tools. As these thoughts flicker in to my mind that maybe aren't words or feelings that I want to continue throughout my body, I can choose to shift those to a new channel. I can choose to be aware of them and tell myself something different for a new chemical reaction. I can choose to be aware of confirmation bias that is playing out every single day in all areas of my life and especially on social media. So the next time you feel like your monkey mind is beginning to stir, remember this, you have the power within. You can harness this incredible potential of your mind and create a reality that is filled with optimism, fatality, and joy. If I can do it, anybody can trust me. If I can do it, anyone can. And may this serve as a beautiful reminder of the importance of not allowing your monkey mind to take over. May it inspire you to embark on the journey toward greater mental clarity and wellbeing.
(21:48):
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did recording it. And if you did, please leave me a review, share this podcast with your friends. And on the next episode, we're going to be talking about managing energy sensitivity. And if you have any questions about what we covered, you can find me at LaraJaye.com and all the fun social media places, links are below. Have a great week and may you always seek your wisdom within.
Ā
