Breaking Addiction to Negative Thinking with Eckhart Tolle

How can we break the addiction to negative thinking? And is there a way we can present this to our youth? Well, negative thinking is. Many egos love negative thinking because it strengthens the ego. The pain body also is often involved in it because the pain body can either feed on other people's reactions towards you which you. The pain body tries to provoke when it needs to replenish itself. Then it feeds on the drama. Or it can feed if there's nobody around on your thoughts. Negative. Every negative thought it gets in. Ah, my life is so f. Ed up. It's so. God, it's so dreadful. Can get any worse or what these people saw. Love these dreadful. I just hate these people. Why is it always. Why is always. This stuff always happens to me, doesn't it? It's just bound to happen to me. Why, why can't I can. Why can I never get things right? Why can't they never get things right? What he did to me, I just can't forget that. I'll just. Let me tell you about it or. What I did was so horrible. So horrible. I thought never. I did. I did that 20 years ago. I did that. I did that terrible thing. God, what's going to happen tomorrow? I don't know. What am I going to say if he says that? What am I going to say then? What if I lose. If I lose the. That. That job? I think it's. They might. I might get the sack soon, I'm sure. I have a feeling that I'll be out in the street. I can walk to my mortgage. What can I do? What time is it? 3:00am oh God. Oh, and then there's that. Other than. I don't think I can take any more of this. Okay. On one level there is an addiction to that. There is something in you that does not want to let go of that type of thinking. So in order to do anything about it. If I say now mention what you can do about presupposes at least a small degree of awareness. While these thoughts happen, there must be a small degree of awareness from which you are able to witness whatever is happening and notice that you are engaged in a stream of negative thinking and actually liking it, not wanting to get out. You can, especially with anger, which is another form of negative mental emotional state. You can see how people. If you're trying to say to an angry person, would you like me to help you let go of this anger? See what response you get. In other words, the person does not want to let go of the anger. It loves that Anger while the person is in its grasp. It's the ego. The ego loves that anger. Because in an angry state, the ego gets inflated, usually. And even an insignificant a person in the eyes of the world who has no power in the world can suddenly start shouting you. And suddenly the ego grows. And every ego goes like, oh, and the ego, you see, I'm all powerful. Sometimes you see people in the street, they're going around shouting at everybody. That's their ego trap. Because they have nothing else. But for the ego, even that works. Don't approach that person and say, would you like to be in a peaceful state? I can give you some advice. So if I say that what to do about it, it presupposes that you know what's happening to you at that moment, during that time. So there needs to be some awareness, and it's likely that it is there. If you ask that question, you are here. So that means there is enough awareness in you while it happens to first of all notice that part of you at least likes it. Not the awareness, but if you're aware, you realize there's something in me that does not want to get out of it. That if it's been going on for years. Even your sense of identity, or an important part of your sense of identity is in that negative mental emotional state. Some people have it in the background almost all the time, but they are unaware of it. It becomes part of their identity. And these are people. If you're very sensitive, and sometimes you don't even need to be that sensitive, when you meet a person like that, you can sense in the background there is something waiting for the next thing to be angry about. Or as somebody once said, a grievance looking for a cause. Now the Internet is full of people like that. They love going on there. So the Internet has given the ego a new way of expansion. And anybody can go in there and express, find a cause and then express their grievance. So identity can be associated with that. If there's awareness, then you can notice while it happens that there's an enjoyment of that negative state. Then you can also be aware that the mind activity that's happening in you is futile and fulfills no useful purpose whatsoever. And then you go, these thoughts, isn't that interesting? What is the purpose of these thoughts? Does it change the world? Do they change the world, change anything? Or do they just drag me into this hole more deeply? There is an unconscious belief in the mind also. If I complain enough about something, even if it's only mentally, but Especially out aloud. If I complain enough, it's going to change eventually that somehow it works. If I could just show how unhappy I am, then God or the universe or somebody is going to do something about it. So many adults believe what little children sometimes find when they become really unhappy and start screaming. Then they get attention by their parents. They what's wrong? Before they didn't get any attention. But when they go, I want this. And the mother, father comes, what's wrong? I want this. No, you can't have it. I want this. No. Okay, here it is. And now they've learned a very important lesson, their mind. And that lesson is unhappiness works. And if that is repeated many times in childhood, the adult still has that unconscious belief in their mind. And so they enter, periodically enter states of unhappiness in the unconscious belief that things are going to change. If I'm really unhappy now, it might work while you're a little child because your parents can't stand the screaming anymore, so they give you what you want. Some adults never figure out that unhappy states do not work when they're adults. And they continue to practice what they learned as little children for the rest of their lives, never realizing that it doesn't work. So the recognition that negative thinking and unhappy states actually do nothing to change anything. If anything, they make it worse. So if you, if there's enough awareness and you can suddenly look at that, and then you can ask yourself from the point of, from the deeper perspective of awareness, do I want to continue to think these thoughts? Is that helpful or good? Do I really want that? What is it doing? What would it be? How would I experience this situation without it? So you can, as awareness comes in, choice comes in. And then there are moments when you may be able to step out and just be present and the negative mental emotional stream subsides. But it's not gone yet because you don't get rid of it that easily. A few moments later, another thought comes into your head and immediately a new train of negative thinking starts. And you can feel the pull of it. It's very, can be very, very strong, especially if it's been in your life for a long time. You feel the pull of negative thinking come this way. This is so familiar. This is where you belong. This is who you are. And then you need awareness. So you can't fight the negative states because that's another negative state. But you can be aware and see its futility and ultimately see or see also how that you are addicted to it. But when you see it, you're not completely addicted anymore. You're only completely addicted when you don't see it. When you see it, you are the awareness. When there's no awareness, you are it. Then you are the ego. Then you are the addicted. The ego that's addicted to unhappiness. So it's important, by the way, as I just mentioned, little children, if you have a small child, to give attention to the child, not wait for the child to go into a screaming state or some other negative tantrum and then give the child attention. But give the child attention at normal times. And don't give excessive attention when there's the screaming. And especially don't give the child something after you've said no, you can't have that. And if he or she just cries enough, then finally you give it. That's not a good lesson to teach. Either you give it immediately or you don't give it. And if you think it's bad for the child, then of course it's better not to give. But of course the parent gives it because he wants. He or she wants the crying to stop. So. Okay. Oh dear, you're teaching very, very wrong. Less.