Of course you won’t “practice” being unhappy; at least not intentionally. But what do I mean by “Practicing Being Unhappy”?
Suppose, for argument’s sake that your goal was to be as unhappy, frustrated, and stressed out as possible. What would you need to do? The only way to guarantee that you would success would be to think lots of unhappy, angry, stressful thoughts. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to be as unhappy as you’d like.
This works because our thoughts are closely linked to our state of mind and the way we feel, we need to think negatively before we actually can feel that way. If you don’t believe me, give it a try. Just try to get upset right now without first thinking about something that upsets you.
We are always thinking, every moment of the day. It just that we’re not always aware that we are doing so. Thinking is a bit like breathing in the sense that, until you read the word “breathing” just now, you probably weren’t aware of your breath. Thinking is like that too. It goes on and on, whether we are aware of it or not.
The problem is, if we’re not aware of the link and connection between our thoughts and the way we feel, our thoughts can and often do encourage us to feel bad. This in turn, makes us act out in negative ways.
If you can catch yourself thinking negatively and drop those thoughts, then often you can snap yourself out of a negative state of mind simply by realizing. That doesn’t mean that it’s always going to be easy, but it sure helps to get you back on track!
