GET TO KNOW YOURSELF THROUGH THOUGHTS EXERCISE 2 WHERE ARE YOUR THOUGHTS DIRECTED? In the first getting to know yourself exercise, you observed your thoughts to determine your emotional background. Here you can find this exercise: https://www. b17.ru/article/278760/I’m interested to know from those who performed it what discoveries you made about yourself. Write about this in the comments! In the meantime, we continue to observe ourselves and get acquainted with our thoughts! In his “Book that Everyone Reads,” B. Verber describes the following story: “In the 50s. XX century An English cargo ship carrying bottles of Madeira from Portugal arrived at its destination in Scotland. One of the sailors went into the cold cargo hold to check that all the bottles had been shipped. Unaware of this, the other sailor locked the door from the outside. The prisoner knocked on the bulkheads with all his might, but no one heard him, and the ship set off back to Portugal. The sailor found enough food in the room, but he knew that he would not survive long in the low temperature. He took a piece of metal and used all his energy to scratch the story of his crucifixion on the bulkheads, hour after hour, day after day. He described his agony with scientific precision. How the cold shackled his body, freezing his nose, fingers and toes. How unbearable are the burns of the icy air. When the ship dropped anchor in Lisbon, the captain opened the compartment and found a dead sailor. People read his story scratched on the walls. But that was not the most amazing thing. The captain measured the air temperature inside the compartment. The thermometer showed 19 degrees. Since the ship was returning without goods, the cooling system was not turned on. A man died only because he thought he was cold. He became a victim of his imagination.” This story is a vivid example of how we create our reality, making it absolutely real for ourselves, and living in it! Our body reacts the same way to a real event, a memory or a fantasy about something else. Did not happen. The brain does not distinguish between real events and what does not actually exist! As soon as you begin to remember something unpleasant, it triggers a reaction, and you again and again experience this event absolutely realistically! If you imagine something unpleasant, frightening, disturbing, you are already experiencing this event at that moment! Do you know where your thoughts are directed? Did you know that your emotional background directly depends on the direction of your thoughts? How does it depend? I’ll tell you in the next part - I want you to observe yourself first! Let's watch ourselves! There can also be a lot of your discoveries about yourself here! Well, are you ready to touch yourself even closer? Are you ready to recognize your real (actual) self, instead of the picture that your imagination draws for you? So, to determine the direction of your thoughts, you need for at least a week: 1. Set a reminder on your phone (or set an alarm) that will go off three times a day.2. As soon as you hear a reminder or alarm, ask yourself the question: “What was I thinking about right now?”3. Determine what it was: - thoughts about an event that has already taken place (about the past); - thoughts about what you are doing at the moment; - thoughts about an upcoming event.4. Write down one letter in your notes: P (past), N (present) or B (future). By observing yourself in this way, you can determine the direction of your thoughts and see where you live: in the past, present or future. Particularly advanced can compare their thoughts with emotions by asking themselves the question: “How did I feel when I thought about this?” And write down your emotion next to the letter with which you indicated the direction of your thoughts. At the end, I will add a little to the famous saying of John Lennon: “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” Life is what happens to you, while you remember your past and make other plans! I wish you an interesting continuation of getting to know yourself! Be healthy! Take care