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How annoying is Spam? Fortunately, your computer is smart enough to get rid of it as fast as it comes in. If you go and look at your Spam folder, you’ll see emails about foreclosures, dentures, dog food, accredited universities, credit card companies, credit scores, etc. Junk! Pure and simple. But our computers know better. They protect us from having to read about Viagra, top-grade drugs, or emails telling us they’re “going to love us tonight.”
There are 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour day. During that time, we receive about 70,000 thoughts/messages. That equates to a thought/message every 1.2 seconds. The majority of those messages is junk. Unfortunately, there’s no Spam folder in our brain in which to store the unwelcomed intruders; no Spam detector to rid you of all the negative stuff that fills you up. Think about the thoughts that go through your brain on a daily basis. I would venture to say that most, if not all, have nothing to do with what you’re doing at the moment. Perhaps you’re thinking about your appearance (i.e., the pimple on your chin, the shape of your legs, your spare tire, etc.), or what you’re going to do later that day, how much you’re annoyed by a Facebook message you read, your co-worker’s new car (how was he able to afford that new Mercedes?), your next tweet, and on and on. These thoughts come fast and furious.
The problem is that those useless, and all-too often, negative messages, cause you to feel bad about yourself. Whatever you think about on a constant basis grows over time. If you’re always focused on how bad you think you look, you’ll cringe every time you pass a mirror. If you tend to think people are doing you wrong, any action by someone can be misconstrued with a negative slant. Your body feels the ill effects. You become angry, anxious, and possibly depressed. Your confidence goes down the tubes. Your self-esteem? What self-esteem? You are bombarded daily with so many negatives that you start to believe them.
It’s time to become your own Spam detector. During the course of your day, become your own filter. Stop periodically and say, STOP. Then take inventory about the thought/s that had just been strolling through your brain walkway. If it was something negative, throw it into the Spam folder and hit Delete. If it was a positive thought, take a second to feel the delicious effects, but then come back to the present moment, where everything takes place.
Make a habit of deleting hurtful and unnecessary thoughts from taking residence inside you. You’ll start to feel happier and more relaxed. So hit Delete, and often. Then delete everything negative from your History and create something that aids you in becoming the best you can be.
Evangel
Wonderful post. There are so many kinds of negative thoughts, but they all have one thing in common: the brain learns from them. It knows what grabs you, and just like your social media feed, it's programmed to bring you more of the same. The brain is saying, "Oh, you like negative thoughts? No problem. We'll send more just like it." It's hard to change such programming, but it's more easily done if you can conjure a positive thought to replace the negative one.
Sanatana
Couldn't have said it better myself!
Well Street
Categorizing intrusive and negative thoughts as Spam is a nice way to disempower and discard them.
Yet another example of how mindfulness can serve us. Thank you for this!
Slipstream
I love this! And the mental act of tossing negative thoughts into the spam folder and hitting delete is perfect... no muss, no fuss, and no assault on oneself. Thank you!