Should we always trust our initial thoughts?

Short answer: no.

Our thoughts are influenced by a plethora of outside influences and a primal negative bias.

Our mind is wired to keep us safe---scanning for danger---often leading to irrational thinking---thoughts of fear and doubt.

A gut instinct/intuitive feeling is one thing, but your first thought is not necessarily that.

Intuition is steady, clear, and you feel it in your body, whereas general thinking, the thoughts that arise out of nowhere, cannot always be trusted and are products of the mind --- often feeling unsteady and unclear.

So...our initial thoughts can be examined, observed, and rewritten if you desire.

We can ALWAYS change our thinking --- this is our superpower.

How do we change the fearful, doubtful, irrational thoughts?

• Simply ask your brain, "Is this true?"

  • You will be shocked by how many of our thoughts are not true and how trustworthy your discernment is in deciding whether or not it is true.

  • This is a pattern interrupt that lets you step back to be the observer and controller of your reality.

• Also ask, "If this is what I don't want, then what does that tell me I do want?" Hint: It's the opposite.

  • Give your mental energy and imagination toward what it is you do want.

Something else that has helped me is thanking fear.

Fear wants to keep me safe, and that is loving and kind, but it does not mean fear is always right --- MOST often it is not.

So, I hear fear, I let it have a say, and then I direct my energy where I want it to go. I think the thoughts I want to have. I have to catch myself often, but it becomes easier with repetition.

Happy thinking!