Thought Loops

I think negative thought loops are similar to history repeating itself. It's kind of a microcosm of the world's situation. It's essentially a replaying over and over again of a negative theme much like what we see going on with the world as a whole.
So I think first and foremost in order stop a negative feedback loop one must first learn a lesson from it. Deal with it as thoroughly as possible which would turn it from something negative into a lesson learned thus gaining something positive from it. Just think if humanity had really pondered World War II and leaned a lesson that resonated thruout the world. We certainly would not be in the position we are in today.
So in a way to truly become free of negative feedback loops we must be vigilantly learning lessons from them. I guess it is a kind of 'as above, so below' problem and the only way out is to learn.
Great topic to discuss. It is one of the great problems humanity needs to overcome on a personal and collective level. If we don't learn we will forever be stuck in one giant negative feedback loop. :scared:
 
Wow, it's so helpful to read the comments on this thread which I started so many years ago. And, guess what - finding this thread is, helping me, in this moment, deal with a big fat juicy thought loop which is driving me to distraction. This may sound childish, (because it is childish), but I feel really bad that my daughter did not introduce me to her first serious boyfriend.

I feel very disrespected because the boyfriend had asked to meet me, but she had taken him to her friend's house instead. This would not be a big deal except that this family has constantly interfered with my relationship with my daughter since childhood.

I've spent many many years enraged about how manipulated I've felt first when she was a child, and now that she has her first serious boyfriend, it seems to be happening again. But reading the comments are helping a lot. I think that the perception that I've been treated unfairly is fanning the flames and causing most of my unhappiness.

The situation is really weird. The two women started early by requesting playdates and then pleading for extensions each time I came to pick her up. Little by little, she was spending more and more time with them. They have three young people living with them, I count my daughter in that she has spent a great part of her time with them. Their daughter was adopted from a Romanian orphanage, and the daughter's boyfriend's parents left him in foster care.

My daughter was the only young person in that house who was wanted and not given away.

I've spent a lot years trying to figure out how this situation came to be, but I always end up whirling around in some thought loop that makes me miserable.

It's very helpful to have written this out. There's nothing I can do about the situation; my daughter seems happy. So the problem with the situation is really only my problem. Everyone else is fine. However, as I'm writing, I'm coming to understand that I don't have to stay stuck in this place. I don't have to resolve it or change it. Realizing that I can't change it is somehow freeing. I'm not happy, but I'm not unhappy either.

I think I've identified, as I've been writing, the source of the unhappiness. Okay, here it is - I think the root of the problem comes from a sense that the situation isn't just. This sense of justice is out of place, I realize. If I can let this whole thing go, and find happiness with those who do value my company, I will be better off, I think.
 
webglider said:
Wow, it's so helpful to read the comments on this thread which I started so many years ago. And, guess what - finding this thread is, helping me, in this moment, deal with a big fat juicy thought loop which is driving me to distraction. This may sound childish, (because it is childish), but I feel really bad that my daughter did not introduce me to her first serious boyfriend.

[...]
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Hi webglider,

Have you thought about posting and discussing this in the Swap area? It might help you understand and process things more quickly, as it sounds as if there are underlying programs running there which might benefit you to seeing more clearly, rather than blocking/diverting them in this case. Just a thought.
 
Captainmurphy said:
I think negative thought loops are similar to history repeating itself. It's kind of a microcosm of the world's situation. It's essentially a replaying over and over again of a negative theme much like what we see going on with the world as a whole.
So I think first and foremost in order stop a negative feedback loop one must first learn a lesson from it. Deal with it as thoroughly as possible which would turn it from something negative into a lesson learned thus gaining something positive from it.
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Interesting perspective here Captainmurphy, thanks for sharing it :)

I too have experienced negative thought loops for much of my life. They can be extremely insidious, and in my case often taking the form of an angry and/or bitter voice, often directed towards someone in my life and usually based within the context of blame (and ultimately in self pity). I've noticed that they can certainly be very persistent if not caught early and whilst the experience is unpleasant, they can at the same time be decidedly addictive which is a deadly combination IMO. They can certainly feel like a temporary 'possession', lingering sometimes for hours on repeat. I'm not suggesting here that the root cause is external but that's my experience.

It seems (at least in my experience) that a further danger arises in terms of such mechanical thoughts being brought 'outside the mind'. i.e. I've not only had these loops in my head but felt the 'urgent need' to start expressing ideas based on the loops to people in the spoken word. Perhaps this is simply the need to get rid of them, though of course this is obviously the wrong route to really expel them.

The core problem as far as I can see is that they have no basis in objective reality and the perspective they offer is an extreme and usually catastrophic polarised bias of any given situation. A complete distortion of the truth in other words. The predators mind? Certainly. Obviously, choosing to speak verbally based on such loops leads only to disharmony, distress and argument with others whilst at the same time enmeshing us further in our own entropy.

In terms of solutions, the key seems to be not just 'catching' one's self in the moment but actively engaging in dialogue with these loops. I've found that whilst I've caught myself 'looping', noticing the behaviour is often not enough and I continue to engage with it! My own technique is to actually sit down and take the time and space to write a more considered, balanced consideration of the particular loop I'm experiencing with the hope of arriving at a far more objective perspective.

For instance, if the thought loop is a bitter and angry tirade against someone and their short-comings, I'll consider the wider perspective, why I'm thinking like this and then considering the individual in a more holistic light and attempt to write a balanced appraisal of their motives and behaviour. Really taking time with this and writing things down in such instances seems to genuinely help re-program the mind in my experience, I guess because the activity is really the opposite of the mechanically running 'voice in the head'. Sometimes I'll use what I've written as a short term 'affirmation' or just ensure that I read over it occasionally. Sure, such thought loops can certainly re-occur, though they seem to hold less power over time due to being 'interrupted' by an opposing conscious force and alternative viewpoint. It can also help us identify core 'themes' or programs that we're running over the long term which is always useful :)

webglider said:
Wow, it's so helpful to read the comments on this thread which I started so many years ago. And, guess what - finding this thread is, helping me, in this moment, deal with a big fat juicy thought loop which is driving me to distraction.
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Helpful for me too Webglider. It's reminded me of the value of identifying and working with thought loops. Thank-you for starting the thread :)
 
Alada said:
Immersion said:
Most of my thought loops only show the good times in my past relationship, sort of like black and white thinking, so I've been introducing the negative aspects/memories once the thought loop has taken over, trying to see the past (and present) more objectively. But hopefully with this new knowledge I can starve them once and for all.
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Notice that in the posts you quoted, the useful response was to one way or another consciously direct though / attention to other things, rather than allow it to mechanically continue down the same line. We have to choose to act consciously if we want not to suffer endless negative thought loops.

It’s really hard to grasp that these things can be purely mechanical, they just ‘happen’. Just as when driving a car it just ‘happens’ with very conscious input, centers can do things pretty much on their own, can think, speak, write. It thinks, it speaks, it writes, it daydreams.

Scary really, and that’s not to say I don’t ever struggle with same. We just have to learn and remember exactly what is happening in us so that the next time we can more quickly choose a way out of it, rather than loose too much time and energy indulging it. Sometimes I talk myself down as it were, if it’s a narrative, if it’s a musical loop you can change the tune, switch it to a instrumental piece perhaps. Or as Redfox suggested, try focusing on breathing for a while, but add the Prayer of the Soul to it as a way to consciously counteract the negative loop.

You can’t ‘think’ two things simultaneously, choose consciously to give the mechanical mind something else to do will help, choose something useful to your aim then all the better!
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I agree that breathing is an excellent technique for breaking a loop like that. The Eiriu Eolas techniques can provide a lot of help on that. http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=14410.msg112025#msg112025
I also agree that adding the Prayer of the Soul is highly effective. The lines of the prayer provide a fabulous invocation the plugs me into your own space and grounds me.

One additional and effective thing I do is I say to myself, "I allow ALL that doesn't belong to me, to be released and to return to its source". I envision all my energies and discomforts, then repeat that a number of times. It has the effect of releasing any baggage, both emotional, mental and physical, that may be clinging and distressing me. The effect is that after a number of repetitions I get an influx of air into my lungs, find myself sitting up straight and realizing the importance of breathing consciously. I should add that I say it intent fully and conscious to the words. Same goes for the Prayer of the Soul. Be conscious of the meaning of what you're saying.
 
Are there specific techniques that are successful in halting this endless repetitive cycle?
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Changes...Changes in lifestyle such as what you eat, performing EE or other meditative exercises if you don't already. Exercising physically. Watching film/reading stories that bring out emotions in you then writing down and trying to just watch how your emotions react to certain things you watch and read. A thought loop is only allowed to continue when one does not do anything to change the loop. Doing something physical or emotional that one does not do already can change a thought loop mental center. Physical, emotional and mental are connected. What is something you want to work on in your physical, emotional or mental centers. Take steps towards this change and watch/self observe your mental activity change over time. You have labeled your mental activity as "thought Loops" this is good and helps you identify what it is however not much will change unless you use your WILL to take time and energy to change the loops.
 
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