Do you believe that a single thought can change a life?

Hello friends!

When I started writing for the internet, about 4 years ago, I wrote a simple text in which I argued that a single thought is capable of changing a life. It was interesting to get the opinion of a dear reader, perhaps a little angry, who thought exactly the opposite. Of course, with her contrary opinion, we can soon see that she defended the thesis according to which all change is difficult and arduous. With this belief, it’s no wonder she has a hard time changing…

If I say that a thought changes a life (for better or worse), I’m not referring to everyday, practical, concrete thoughts like “I’m going to get the remote for the TV” or “I’m going to make instant noodles” or “The subway is faster. full than usual.”

In the text, which I wrote so long ago (I say so long because I have since written more than 700 texts, a master’s thesis and 75% of a doctoral thesis), the idea was that we can change our lives, as long as we change core thoughts we have about ourselves, others, and the world.

Thoughts like:

“I believe in the प्रज्ञापारमिता (Prajñāpāramitã) which says that there is no self to believe in”…

“I think I am capable of accomplishing…”

“I am a loving person / or depressed / or intense / or who cannot be trusted”…

“I’m smart”….

“I like to be treated well”…

Anyway, the list is endless. These are just a few examples of how thoughts that are called beliefs in cognitive psychology are important for behavioral change. In other words, if someone thinks:

“I am capable”

instead of thinking:

“I am not capable”… the difference will be very big, isn’t it?

But still, surely, many people might think that it seems simple, that maybe it is like that, but that it doesn’t seem so easy to change, when we fall back into reality. Others perhaps think that it will take several years of psychoanalysis to change a master signifier and others not even that, perhaps they think that change is impossible because it is a matter of the person’s genetics, which, who knows how, could be twisted with psychiatric drugs…

Do you think change is possible?

The good languages ​​say that “Words convince, but examples drag”. This is a kind of popular saying that has great truth in it, because the best way to change is to find an example of change.

Thinking that change is impossible is just looking at examples of people who have changed, little. I mean, people who have changed very slowly, so slowly that they give the impression that they haven’t changed at all. If we look closely, of course, we see that there are many changes from birth through childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.

The argument that change is impossible or that change is very difficult takes into account, therefore, examples of people who have remained with their identity more or less static over the years. Does this prove that change is not possible?

We can also think of the millions of examples of people who have changed, as has been said, from water to wine. Examples of religious conversion are very convincing in this sense, just remember Saulo to Paulo, or Asoka, a bloodthirsty general and conqueror into a Buddhist who, with so much love, even created public hospitals for animals.

But leaving the sphere of the psychology of religion to our everyday life, we can certainly find several examples of people who really changed their lives, without necessarily going through any religious experience.

The interesting thing here is to investigate, on a smaller scale, the small changes that are taking place without our noticing.

For example, someone who was a heavy metal fanatic and gradually leaves the black clothes and long hair to be a college professor; or someone who was a kind of Don Juan de Marco, marries and raises a happy family.

How does this change happen?

If we dig deeper, we will see that change starts with a thought. In exchanging one thought for another. Here, I would just like to mention, that this holds true both for what we call a positive change and what we call a negative change.

For example, someone who always thought of helping others, with charitable acts, and starts to think that it’s no use helping, that nothing will really change. This is also a change of thought, which will change behavior and gradually change the personality and way of being.

In both cases, it is from a change in thinking that change occurs. Here on the site, we have 20 complete texts, from Neurolinguistic Programming, which describe 20 ways to change the meanings we attribute, in other words, change the way we think.

See here – How to change?

If you still doubt it, think about the moments when you changed and see how it all started with a change in the way of thinking, in the way of conceiving, in the way of structuring your reality.

Finally, I would like to share a very interesting example. Very interesting, by the way, for clinical psychology. I think everyone knows the story of John Nash – who became known worldwide through the movie A Beautiful Mind.

In the book Cognitive Therapy of Schizophrenia, Aaron Beck tells us the process of change he went through:

“Nash attributed his own improvement to several factors, the main one being logical reasoning. To illustrate this point, Nash described, first, becoming convinced that the auditory hallucinations were the product of his own mind, and then, convincing himself of the improbability and grandiosity of many of his most cherished beliefs. By adapting his thinking towards hallucinations and delusions, he lessened the symptomatic disturbance and generated considerable improvement in his everyday functioning. Nash thus exemplifies the cognitive approach to schizophrenia that we advocate.”

In the movie A Beautiful Mind we can see in detail how this process happened. As is known, in schizophrenia, one of the most obvious symptoms is visual or auditory hallucinations. For most of his life, Nash lived with some people who only existed in his mind, a friend and a girl. However, through logical reasoning, through self-reflection, he realizes that both do not age. If the two do not age, they are not real, but the fruit of their own mind. In this way, as Beck says, he manages to recover a good part of his capacity.

So this is yet another example of how we can change by changing a way of thinking.

What do you think? Critiques, comments, suggestions are most welcome!

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