In “Soundtracks” by Jon Acuff, we are introduced to the idea that we all, every one of us, spent the first half of our lives building up and arsenal of thought soundtracks that loop in our minds that the DJ cues up for every unsure, doubtful, scared, vulnerable, gutsy, sad, disappointed moment we live. The soundtracks we’ve acquired and developed aren’t always meant to help us overcome those feelings, but rather, to confirm what we already know. This is bad, the world is bad, I react the way I always react and, in many cases, these thoughts perpetuate blocks we have in our lives keeping us from what we really want.
I think it’s totally true. It take awhile to hear what’s happening in our brain as our own voice puppeting the personas we don’t think of as ourselves. It takes a minute to start to realize that our brains are always havens for true, undisputed ideas objective and sound, but rather more like a garbage dump of collected stuff we couldn’t exactly defend in a court of law and that, given a chance, we might not choose again. Because much of it sucks.
The solution to these soundtracks isn’t a lobotomy or guilt and shame. It is rewriting new soundtracks that play instead of the old ones. To create new thought habits that work in our favor, create a thinking environment where we’re not defeated and tap into our deeper knowing and creativity in order to topple the walls and barriers in our lives. Hence we need a New THought Generator.
New Thought Generator builds thoughts that put us as the starring role in our own lives and believes we can figure it out. New Thought Generator doesn’t require perfection or precision, it just requires staying in the arena. So we need thoughts that help us stay and fight instead of run and hide.
So here are some sentences for you to finish, then say to yourself over and over again from day to day as a new thought to propel you beyond the present fenceline:
I am becoming someone who thinks……
I’m in the process of…..
It’s possible for me to…..
I used to _______ and now I do_____.
I am open to changing my belief about……
The game changer? Learning that WE get to decide what to think and that the world is NOT responsible for mirroring back to us what we should think. We get to set the tone, give ourselves the best fighting chance possible and NOT test the temperature of the water to see if we should be praised or punished. That’s crazy and dumb. The soundtracks idea is meant to get all your thinking on your own team in order to walk around this world having fun, feeling capable, trusting you and endure the slings and arrows. Not only endure the slings and arrows, completely change your relationship with them so they’re not that big of a deal.
So go right ahead. Start building your new thoughts. You get to. And have a great day.