Watch the video to learn a cool mental trick on how to master your thoughts!

How To Control Your Thoughts And Emotions

Have you ever noticed that the harder you try to fall asleep, the more wide awake you become? Or the more you try NOT to spill the coffee, the more you shake? …

…well, there is a name for this…

…”the ironic rebound!”

Ironic rebound simply means the harder you try to resist or push away your thoughts or emotions, the stronger they become. This is something that is very useful to know if want to learn how to master our minds and how to control emotions in the moment.

What You Resist Persists

This is an old saying full of wisdom. This is also why most people suffer more than necessary. It simply means that if we think negative thoughts and emotions are horrible, and we try to resist them, they will only grow on us. Now, of course, no one likes feeling bad so this is very understandable…

…however, if we instead of resisting, learn to redirect our mind and steer it in another direction we can completely bypass the ironic rebound.

This is something I talk about in detail in my video How to control you thoughts and emotions.

I recommend watching that video as, learning this mental trick, is something that can drastically improve our lives.

How to avoid the ironic rebound effect

As I said, I share a powerful mental trick in the video but another way of doing it is to simply be mindful about both your thoughts and your emotions. If you are used to meditation this is something you understand, even though it’s not the easiest thing to do.

You simply take the role as an observer of your emotions. What’s important here is that we should only observe and not judge. Think of the mind and your thoughts like a hole in your wall, down at the floor….

…a rat hole.

Sometimes there is a rat peaking out form the hole for a few seconds and then it, quickly, goes back in again.

Observe the rat!

Imagine that you sat down at the kitchen table and your mission is to observe that rat hole. Your only mission is to observe the rat and so you go “I wonder when the rat will peak out the next time…”

…this is what you should do with your thoughts as well!

Imagine that you are sitting on a chair inside your mind and the thoughts are that rat. And so you go “I wonder what kind of thoughts that will pop out next? ”

By doing this you detach yourself from your own thinking. If the thoughts are negative, and you learn how to just observe them like this, the ironic rebound will never get its grip on you.

Credits and a recommendation

Much of the content in this video I learned from reading the book “The willpower instinct” by Kelly MacGonigal. It’s a very good book and if you are interested in learning more about the ironic rebound, and how to increase your willpower and self discipline, I highly recommend it. You can click here to find it on Amazon.

Thanks for reading and good luck with learning how to master your emotions and thoughts.

-Scandinavian Bob-