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Have you ever had battles within your own mind? Have you ever felt lack of control or out of touch with YOUR OWN MIND? Quite some time ago I had a gross realization. On a large trip, in the darkness of my room, I heard a voice sounding much like my own. Except “I” didn’t speak, but more so “read” and “reacted” to the voice. The voice echoed, “I hate myself”. I FELT my body react negatively and try to spiral, IMMEDIATELY I jumped and contested that point, WHO SAID THAT? I found no voice other than my own. It must’ve been me who said it? Right? Who else would have said it?? ... Although we may consciously choose thoughts, our minds also get exposed to thoughts “not of our own”, forged from interactions with the expectations of others and their own personal trauma responses. The thoughts we adopt from others are WILDLY skewed, who are they to say ANYTHING about you? Have they lived even a percentage of your life? Not even close, yet we unconsciously give away so much of our mental power to others. We punish ourselves so much with thoughts that we never wanted. When I witnessed myself READING the thought then FEELING the emotional response, I knew something was “wrong”. My mental attention created a physical response. I had wondered how long I’ve been under this “self-taught” illusion. My whole life? There’s been parts of me for the longest time beforehand, that would feel inadequate or worthy of hate. Was it my fault? Or did I just mentally reinforce someone else’s claims without hesitation? The claims were NOT beneficial to me in the slightest, what advantage do I get by convincing myself I’m less than? NONE! At a certain point, these negative thoughts become automatic feedback loops, each time you are repeating a mantra of despair. Your thoughts never stop, not really, you don’t have “control over the thing”, but you can control your response to it, which allows you to change your approach. If your mind won’t shut up, direct it. Emotions are scaled either up or down. It can only go one way at a time. If you feed into the negativity of a thought, you can expect your next thought to be even worse than the one before. It’s almost as if they are waiting on your approval for direction. If a bad thought happens, contest it! Where did this thought/feeling come from? Is it rooted in reality? Or is it just a habit I picked up while my childish-ego shaped itself for protection? Chances are you can diffuse almost all things this way. Some thoughts will need more work done to soothe them, but initially, I believe 99% of the planet would benefit today, if they all did this. If the goal is to redefine your thoughts, then Mantras, and self-affirmation is the way I see best fit. A mantra is anything you repeat to yourself over and over. Leaving an imprint through repetition. KNOW AND UNDERSTAND, that the negative thoughts in your life only became so powerful, because of how often they were able to sneak in and make you recite them unwillingly. In response, you can just consciously flip the script. Consciously repeat new affirmations for yourself. Whatever you might need, repeat. In a mirror, looking yourself in the eyes? Better. The relationship you have with yourself is the relationship you have with the universe. You don’t have to believe a word you say initially, but keep repeating, and you’ll notice your mood start to change. Keep repeating, you’ll start feeling and believing. “I love myself” I would repeat in the mirror whenever I passed. “I love myself” sounded a little silly at first. “I love myself” after a while saying it would make me laugh and put a smile on my face, because of course I do! Why would I want anything else? Be happy because it’s your preferred state of being, and no other reason.