It is almost a "classic" in coaching conversations:

The idea that there is something to be done about thoughts that are "negative".

Especially those that seem to keep coming back. Those that you maybe have been dealing with repeatedly for years or decades.

Inadvertently and innocently.

There is the idea that one needs to break this circuit, that it takes a "long time" (whatever that means) to change habits of thinking.

Or even that some kind of damage has been done to the brain, which now needs to be repaired in order to finally be free of thoughts like this. That some kind of undoing or reversing needs to be done.

It’s usually about the thoughts that cause your mood to drift slowly or drastically towards “the dungeons”. Some of them you probably know well enough to call them "old acquaintances".

But regardless which kind of thoughts (or thought-loops) we talk about, there is no need to process, resolve or clear anything. 

Here are several "fundamental" questions for you on the subject of thoughts, to explore the principle or nature of thoughts and your own experience:

• Is it possible to prevent thoughts from appearing?
• Is it possible to determine exactly which thought will come next?
• Has there been a moment in your life when one thought vanished into thin air and another appeared in its place?
• How many times has this happened: once, ten times or many millions of times?
• How long does it take for a new thought to arise (even if it's a similar thought)?
• What does this depend on?

• What do you pay attention to (= react to) when certain thoughts arise: the content or the feeling?
• What kind of thoughts do you tend to dwell on: thoughts that feel good, sound good, or feel bad, sound bad?
• When you have a thought that feels good, what do you do with it?
• When you have a thought that feels bad, what do you do with it?
• When the content of the thought is pleasant, what do you do with it?
• When the content of the thought is unpleasant, what do you do with it?

• What happens when you react to thoughts? (For example, when you think about the content or the feeling, or try to change, control or switch them off, etc.) 

• Can you determine how you react to thoughts?
• If so, what do you do differently?
• What is (or was) the result?

If your personal experience is that it takes a millisecond (or something like that) for another thought to appear, then that is the exact time it takes. 

If your personal experience is that your feelings can change within moments (no matter in which direction), then that is the exact time it takes to have a different experience of life.

Not 10 years to repair some kind of "damage". 

Nor 10 years of Three Principles training or anything like that.

But what if "the same" thoughts and feelings keep coming back?

Isn't that proof that there is a problem, that there is something to be done?

If you think so, then that's how it is.

And if you think differently, then something else is "true".

The key point: the thought ("there is something to be done") is as arbitrary as any other. 

The difference is that it seems to make "sense" when we say yes to it and, metaphorically speaking, take its side. In that moment we are immersed in the world of this thought.

But we don't have to stay there.

Because another thought will appear in its place. In milliseconds.

Without us doing anything. 

There is nothing to undo, nothing to work through, nothing to clear.

We do not need to concern ourselves with something that already happens 'fully automatically'.

Resolution and clearing happen naturally.

It is inherent in the nature of thoughts.

Now what?
If you didn't have to undo your thoughts, how does that feel? And how would you like to spend your time instead?

© Marlene Fuchs (marlenefuchs.ch)