If you couldn't sleep because you were thinking about that .#$.!!!!! and woke up pissed off...use that process to feel better!

“The more I thought about it, the angrier I got!”

Not long ago I was chatting with a person who had a sleepless night while pondering a matter that was chewing on her. The matter was a mere aggravation when she went to bed. Her nocturnal focus on the issue expanded her feeling response to the aggravation into a full-blown “mad as heck” by dawn.

Everyone can identify with this peculiar process – thinking about how angry, or how hurt, or how sad, or how guilty we feel which results in more pronounced angry, hurt, sad, or guilty feelings. You know people who do this – including ourselves.

Forget the feeling. The “magic” is in the process: “The more I thought about it, the _____ I got!” Is the desired feeling anger? Or a feeling of comfort? The process has proven itself time and time again. The variable is what do we choose to think about. Whatever we think about will magnify and become our greater reality. Duh.

Yet why do we do it – lose sleep worrying about a situation that makes us feel more and more afraid, angry, depressed, whatever? A little self-examination reveals that when we are feeling good, feeling more content, we are invariably having pleasant, delightful and productive thoughts. So, why don’t we stay there?

In a nut-shell, it’s often easier to react to a feeling than to select a feeling. A whirlpool of negative, reactive feelings can easily swamp the most attentive person. By seeing and reacting only to the most immediate situation the emotional response (and interpretation) to the situation compounds (the can’t see the forest for the trees conundrum.)

So what to do? Presuming that you don’t want to use your sleep time re-fighting an old battle or plotting a never-ending revenge go back to basics: “The more I thought about it, the more I felt_____.” Want to feel good? Then think about good things. Back to “The Golden Key” espoused by Emmett Fox: “Don’t think about the problem, think about God instead.” Or, as Jesus put it, “ask and ye shall receive.” As with anything, the more you practice, the easier it becomes.

Be alert, however, to a nagging thought-behind-the-thought that might be enjoying the intense feelings and drama and thus continuing to dwell on the undesirable situation (or person, or condition, etc.) If there’s a nagging thought behind the thought then go there first, mentally. If you enjoy fighting, then it’s natural that you’d spend a lot of thought and energy on offenses, enemies, and the like.

The Law of Attraction is awesomely neutral. It brings to you exactly what you broadcast (ask for.) That happens whether you are aware of it or not. Therefore, the more thoughts you broadcast that reflect your true desires, the closer you come to that experience here and now. Now that’s something to sleep on!
-30-