Thoughts are Only Thoughts

By Esther Cohen

We learn about the world around us through our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

Studies of the working brain help us understand how perceptions gathered through our senses are processed, forming millions of different thoughts.

LeDoux (1999) says that what is seen, heard, touched, smelled, and tasted, travels to the information-sorting part of the brain, which sends signals to the emotional brain, awakening feelings, before sending a second signal to the rational brain. If danger is perceived, the emotional brain either informs or bypasses the rational brain altogether.

Each bit of new information is matched against previous experiences, interpretations and stored memories, joyous or traumatic, helping the emotional brain decide if to set off the danger alarm even before the rational brain gets a look-in.

Our thoughts are the result of these processes, heavily influenced by our inner child (our vulnerable self) together with a hefty dose of our inner critic plus a dash of our adult rational self, which often kicks in one step behind.

Thoughts are just thoughts.

Because thoughts are not absolute truths, they can be challenged and changed by the adult-rational brain. This is a learned skill.

Next time your thoughts are causing you trouble, ask yourself how else you can interpret the situation and using your adult rational self, choose a more helpful outlook.