The goal is to feel good.

Today I realized once again that bringing attention to anything other than what makes us feel good is simply not a good idea. It was a glorious January afternoon and Julie and I were chatting as we walked down by the river. As it happened our conversation turned to some unsettled thinking I had been having.

Despite the fact that it was a pleasant conversation, I felt worse. Something was not right. It occurred to me that I had missed the moment my thinking no longer served me and in an effort to change that I had made it real by talking about it. Doh! I had innocently brought up the “problem” of my unsettled thinking in an effort to be rid of it.

The beautiful and unappreciated thing about our thinking is that it is not a problem. It only becomes a problem when we give it our attention. Well of course your attention was on what you didn’t want, how else would you change anything? This is the trap. Noticing what you do not want is not the problem. Giving it your attention in an effort to change it, is. That’s the trap. Just notice it. Noticing is enough. You avoid the trap by noticing when your thinking no longer serves you.

That’s all it takes.

We just need to notice that we no longer feel good and resist the urge to try and do something about it. Your desire to feel good will take care of the rest.