A study of our thought process

A study of our thought process

A large percentage of our thoughts is negative and this is the root cause of stress. By increasing the percentage of positive thoughts, we can experience a relaxed state of mind, say Brahma Kumaris


Our mind creates 25-30 thoughts per minute on an average. This number increases when we are under stress and decreases when our mind is relaxed or we are asleep. Overall, our mind creates around 30,000-40 ,000 thoughts in a day.

There are four main types of thoughts




Positive thoughts:

Affirmative and focused; they carry best intentions for ourselves and others


Necessary thoughts:

I must not forget to go to the market today , or I have to collect the children from school at 4pm


Waste thoughts:

Thinking too much about the past, worrying about the future, thoughts about others that spill out as gossip


Negative thoughts:

Feelings of anger, fear, ego, greed, doubt, sadness, regret and unease. They make us lazy and drain our energy A large percentage of our thoughts is negative or waste in nature; this is the root cause of our stress. By increasing the percentage of positive thoughts, we can experience a relaxed state of mind

Visualization Exercise for Relaxation

The visualization exercise uses a sunlit landscape as an analogy for the four types of thoughts. It can be used to increase percentage of positive thoughts everyday:
Visualize a beautiful valley with a lake, forested foothills and high mountains rising up into the clouds. This is the landscape of your mind
Your position in this landscape and the form in which you are manifested depends on the quality of your thoughts:
Are you a fish swimming in the muddy depths of the lake (negative thoughts)
A human, wandering in the forest to gather food and build a shelter (necessary thoughts)
The sun that sustains all life on earth (positive thoughts)
Now think over all the thoughts that you have had through the day. How many of these can you attribute to a particular type
Promise yourself that in order to get rid of stress, you will try to increase your quota of positive thoughts and banish negative one