Live streaming is really nothing new. We’ve been live streaming since we were old enough to realize that we have many trains of thought chugging along in our busy brains each day.
Did you know that on average, we have about 6,000 thoughts a day? That’s a lot of data to consume, isn’t it?
You may be surprised that it’s only 6,000 — because for many years, we were told it was 60,000 thoughts a day. Well, here’s the plot twist: About 95% of our daily thoughts are repetitive. So the reality is that we are having the same basic thought running around the track thousands of times per day.
Just like the news we check multiple times per day, the basic story is the same, but the salacious headlines grab our attention. It is only after a short read, that we realize it is the same old story; nothing really new.
When you feel overwhelmed by the many trains of thoughts running around in that busy brain of yours, take a moment to realize that they’ll be passing by again and again. Not everything needs your full attention at this very moment. Chances are pretty high that what is really important for you will loop around again.
Now here is another noteworthy fact: Potentially 80% of our repetitive thoughts are negative!
Don’t panic — this doesn’t mean you’ll walk around all day feeling like doom and gloom are hanging over your head like a cloud. It just means that your brain’s factory-installed “default negativity bias” is making a mental note of every bump on the track, every flashing crossing sign, every possibility to switch tracks.
Just like so many of the attention-grabbing news headlines, we don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the negativity “count”, we just lump it all together. The daily news we consume is mostly negative. We just accept that fact.
Can you catch yourself caught up in a train of thought that is mostly negative?
If you are having one of those days where you feel like you can’t catch a break, that the wheels keep falling off and you just have to deal with one problem after another, it might be that your negative bias is running rampant with your trains of thought.
We are learning that meditation is an invaluable tool for being the star conductor of our trains of thought. The goal of meditation is not to clear the tracks completely, but rather to let thoughts pass by, with the realization that they do come and go, again and again.
We can also challenge our natural negativity bias by becoming as discerning about our thoughts as we do about the news we consume. We can apply a little critical thinking. Is this thought true, is it helpful?
We can get sucked down a rabbit hole of negativity if we don’t challenge our perspective. Sure, we might have had a few things going off track today – that traffic jam, some spilled coffee, being late for an appointment. Yet the chances are high that there have been a lot of good things that happened too.
That chance meeting with an old friend, the compliment you got from the checkout clerk about your patience and kindness, the laugh you shared with your child.
Making a mental note about the good things that fly by in your trains of thoughts helps you to “retrain” your brain. Rather than letting it scan continuously for negativity, you rewire the tracks for more positivity.
Lots of things pass by on our trains of thoughts — be on the lookout for the scenic routes.
As we learn more about what is really going on in our brains and how we can “train” them to operate more smoothly and with discernment, we won’t feel so overwhelmed by our own personal live streaming.
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