No More Puffin'

"Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes, and cannot tell the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image. What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives. Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power." -Shirley MacLaine

Last night I remember having a very vivid dream in which I was smoking a cigar. In the dream I remember feeling guilty for indulging in such a "contemptible" behavior but I was enjoying it. It was very vivid. I remember sucking through the cigar and blowing out smoke, tasting a burnt flavor in my mouth, and tapping ashes off of the end of the cigar. What's funny is that I have never smoked a day in my life nor do I have any desire to do so. I remember in my dream feeling silly because I didn't really know what I was doing. Like most other mornings I woke up, briefly remembered my dream, thought "that was bizarre," and totally forgot about it.

Later in the day I finished up some shopping and walked out of the front doors of the store. As I took in my first breath I involuntarily gasped as the -10 degree air hit my lungs...and you know what the first split second thought to come to my mind was?..."Man, those cigars are messing up my lungs!" Baaahhh!! Wait! What!? I have never taken a puff of smoke in my entire life and yet, I had had such a vivid mental image of myself smoking a cigar that my mind associated my gasp with my lungs' inability to handle the cold because of smoking cigars.

I've gone through most of my life thinking that things like positive affirmations and the power of positive thinking were silly and just being used to try to make people "feel" better by pretending and denying the truth. Yet, if one obviously untrue vivid mental image (that I didn't even know I had remembered) could trigger me to react toward myself in such a convinced way (albeit for just a split second), imagine what continual negative thoughts toward ourselves can do. If I often look at my legs and think about how fat and ugly they are, then when I try on a pair of pants that don't fit, what is my first reaction going to be? Just like my initial thought about smoking cigars, I will think "Man, my legs are so fat and ugly." I would assume that this is why the pants didn't fit, just like I briefly assumed the cigar smoking was why I gasped, despite the actual validity of either assumption.

If one fleeting image of me smoking can make me assume that I gasped because I smoke cigars, the implications of continually reinforcing negative thoughts and perceptions are huge! These images and ideas we pound into our minds result in reacting as if those images and ideas are true. And by reacting as if they are true, they easily become true. They can then be even more strongly reenforced in our minds. I do not believe that we should ignore our problems or past or current pains nor should we just try and forget about them by "thinking positively," but we must realize and acknowledge the immense influence that the atmosphere of our thoughts has on the rest of our lives...mental and physical. There comes a point when dwelling on certain images and thoughts ceases to help us through difficult times and only perpetuates negative emotions and physical discomfort. We really do have the choice to think in whatever way we want to, which, considering the impact of those thoughts, is quite empowering! May we all put down the cigar!