The thoughts that hook us

Each of us has thoughts or feelings that seem to ‘hook’ us – that always seem to grab our attention, causing an inner cringe. “Not that again,” we think. “I thought I was done with that.”

Sometimes we’ll hear the words of those thoughts. They’ll tell us a story about the past or future, then use that story to justify a core belief. “Because I missed my aunt’s birthday in 1972 I’m a terrible person and no-one can love me.”

Sometimes we don’t even hear the words. They’re so familiar they just play out without troubling our conscious awareness. We’re not aware of why, but we feel uneasy, frustrated, lost. We find ourselves acting in ways we don't want or understand.

The mind’s response to special thoughts is to fight them. They’re uncomfortable, so we push them away, suppress them, argue with them, try to control them. All we’re doing is feeding them with them our attention.

It’s much simpler to allow. Let the thought or feeling be. Don’t fight it, don’t change it, don’t try to fix it. Just notice it. Let it be in your awareness for a moment – and then, with a gentle shift, let your awareness expand to find what else is here. Notice a technique, notice space.

All thoughts come and go. None are serious, none are real. None deserve your attention for a second longer.