No-face Thinking
The Japanese animation "Spirited Away" (Sen to Chiharu no Kami Kakushi千と千尋の神隠し) has an interesting character called No-face. He cannot talk and has no face of his own. He has a mask.
As I explored in New Meditation (for me), feeding our thoughts can have a similar effect - making them stronger and more dominant. This concept is closely related to the idea that what we practice grows stronger, as discussed in Thinking is Overrated. Feed your thoughts by thinking them (giving them attention). Then those thoughts themselves become stronger, demanding more and more 'food', in the same way that No-face demands more food.
What you practice grows stronger, and this applies to your thoughts too. We need to consider well the value of those thoughts to not just our feelings but also our well being. This is also related to the concept presented in Thinking is Overrated, where we explore how neglecting certain aspects of ourselves can have negative consequences. Similarly, as discussed in The Neglected Language of Feelings, neglecting our feelings can lead to a cycle of bad feelings. Thinking some thoughts makes us feel 'good' (self righteous, smug, content, etc) but those feelings may ultimately bring bad consequences to our well being.
To achieve this shift in attention, we can draw on the ideas presented in New Meditation (for me), where I learned about the importance of paying attention to internal sensations. Additionally, as I explored in Thinking is Overrated, building a quieter mind through meditation can also help us focus on more positive thoughts. Meditation is the muscle building activity that helps us shift our attention to the thoughts we need to shift them to rather than letting the stronger negative thoughts dominate and consume more of our attention.
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