Comments
Roving Gangs Of Thoughts
By Dr. William K. Larkin on February 25, 2010
Street gangs in o
ur cities concern us. Gangs form around poverty and powerlessness as a form of support, especially among young people. Negative support and hate seems better than no support at all. The idea of roving gangs creating havoc and violence and gaining power from their numbers is something we abhor. To increase their sense of size and power, oversized jeans, big thick belts, metal piercing flared nostrils, facial tattoos, T-shirts and jackets sized larger than the person exaggerate and give an impression of working very, very hard on dominating and creating respect from fear. And the death toll from young people on the streets just keep rising.
We just don't like the idea of roving gangs on our streets.
We don't like them at all.
Add to that loud, in-your-face rap music, vulgarity and pornographic lyrics and we fear what in the world can come next.
The gangs on our streets are a perfect symbol of negativity. And we hate them.
What a perfect image they are for what goes on in our own heads. The lyrics and power-driven pagan drum beats are a perfect image for our own self-talk and our negativity. When our negative thoughts gang up and when they put on "clothes" larger than they are, when their rhythmic beat is a drum in our heads, we wreak a greater violence on our own sense of self than roving gangs of kids could ever do. If anyone else beat up on us like we do, we would want them shot.
Street ga
ngs mirror, on the outside, the "gangs of negativity" on the inside of our own heads.
When negative thoughts gang up on us, what they tattoo on the brain is a greater violence than anything roving our streets. Our culture has created on the streets, the negative gangs that rove in our brains.
There are gangs of negative thoughts that "rove" the streets of our brains, sometimes with great, great freedom. Sometimes, we haven't done a thing to stop them.
There is another gang in town, another gang on the streets of our brains and it is the louder and louder sweet pulsing beat of:
Gratitude, love, peace, joy and hope.
The pulse of these emotions grows in size when they increasingly take over the streets of our brains and return freedom to one's self-image.
There is a war in the streets of our cities and there is a war in our brains. Let's heal the streets of our cities by healing the negative gangs of thought roving in our own minds.
Can you imagine a world where everyone belonged to an UpSpiraLife Group and worked together on increasing their UpSpiral Score? I really cannot imagine it on my own. My consciousness just can't wrap itself around that. But I can, with all of you holding it in your consciousness as well. When we capture our thoughts and turn them to gratitude, love, peace, joy and hope, there will be no gangs in our heads or on our streets.
13 Comments
Erik wrote on Sun Feb 28th, 7:54am:
I have a friend who says, “Your head is a dangerous place to be; don’t go there alone.” He’s speaking, of course, about the roving brain gangs of negative thoughts. So now we have the great Upspiral tools to help pacify the “gangs”, and perhaps enlist them in community brain building. And the tools work. I’ve gotten to the point where my longer pulses of gratitude, love, peace, and joy often elicit sighs of pleasure from me while I’m doing them. It just feels good. Now that’s some positive gang banging.
Dr William K. Larkin wrote on Mon Mar 1st, 12:01pm:
Negative thoughts seldom ever travel alone, they collect others to them along the way until there is a whole gang of them working on us. Rather than sort them out and find which are true and not true, fill your mind with love, peace, gratitude, joy and hope.
A problem is never solved on the level of consciousness at which it was created; get a to higher ground of positivity and then look at what you want, not why you beat up on yourself.
Linda wrote on Mon Mar 1st, 8:54pm:
Street gangs attract members from the ranks of those who experience powerlessness, fear and a sense of loneliness. They gain strength by their attention to and support of their members and their actions. The gangs of negative thoughts in our mind recruit their likeness from our own feelings of fear and powerlessness, worry and anger. Not unlike street gangs, these gangs gain strength by our focus (sometimes endlessly because they get lonely too) on those feelings. Both gangs enhance their strength through a lack of attention to the consequences they create. I am becoming more and more aware of the subtle inviting nature of negative thoughts and that I must be alert to their danger and the comfort of running with them.
Thinking about these ideas brought to mind the movie, “West Side Story.” I say “yes” to joining Dr. Larkin and all those in their UpScale Life Groups in a sort of ‘rumble’ of consciousness. We meet those negative gangs running amuck in our mind with our pulsing love, joy, peace, gratitude and hope. We take back our home ‘turf’ – our own minds. We enhance our power by thinking before we think (I believe we can do that!) about the consequences we may be creating and whose side we will be on. We all realize that what happens on the inside will demonstrate on the outside. I am so happy to be among the ranks of all of you demonstrating for a better world individually and globally.
Lea Jacobs wrote on Tue Mar 2nd, 4:42pm:
I have often considered myself to be my own worst enemy - I would never think or speak to another the way I used to hear my mind communicate to me. In the UpSpiral work I am doing daily, my ‘mental gang’ of trouble makers is transformed before my eyes into my best friends and confidantes - without the drama, mental screaming, or mind gyration of any kind, this band of ex-hooligans now look out for me by kindly standing guard at the doors of dismay, doubt and despair deflecting my entry into those dark mental spaces. They used to take me by the hand and laughingly and wickedly lead me in to those dangerous places of deep depression - now they lovingly (and I mean lovingly!) steer me aside and send me toward the brighter safer passages of my mind, into the Light of my being. I am weeping as I realize in these words that I have finally become what I always wanted to be, my own best friend. How can I say thanks for that?! I can only pay-it-forward - give it out to keep it by moving this wisdom through and consequently, expanding my own experience. And on it goes - and so it is. Ahhhh. . .
Suzanne wrote on Wed Mar 3rd, 10:51am:
I have been doing a Buddhist meditation recently called - “Stopping the war within”. It asks me to simply notice the tensions in my body or mind with kind attention. To notice the inner armies, the inner dictator, the inner fortifications. In each area of struggle, letting the body, heart and mind be soft. Letting go of the battle… breathing quietly and let it be.
This is where I can use my emotional gym and other ANI tools as well. To fortify the love, peace and joy.
I embrace my gang of positivity! No more mean spirited, cranky ones for me.
I am willing to relieve the war in my brain that wants to fight and put up its dukes. I love you, I thank you, I respect you ....now move along.
And YES I can imagine a world that uses the UpSpiral template! Thank You!!
Dr. William Kent Larkin wrote on Wed Mar 3rd, 11:13am:
I went to the blog this morning to read these and to raise my own UpSpiral, and as I read what all of you had written here, it did. Identifying with others is a great thing and you help me get back what only exists in my head until I read it back from one of you. My thanks.
Donna Lang wrote on Wed Mar 3rd, 1:00pm:
Dr Larkin,
This blog is so powerful. I can really relate to what you say here:
“There are gangs of negative thoughts that “rove” the streets of our brains, sometimes with great, great freedom. Sometimes, we haven’t done a thing to stop them.”
There is another gang in town, another gang on the streets of our brains and it is the louder and louder sweet pulsing beat of:
Gratitude, love, peace, joy and hope.
I can see it and feel it! This is incredible! Lights on. It’s showtime. Awareness and Choice play centerstage in the orchestra of Life. The gang is dancing and shining the light on what is right - not what is wrong. Wow- consider the possibilities. What will we create now? What will we experience moment by moment? (PS:Thanks Ekard Tolle)
I have a thought. What if we greeted our loved ones with the following question at the end of the day? QUESTION: What strength(s)did you pull from today in order to experience a well lived day?
With Respect,
Donna Lang
Judy wrote on Wed Mar 3rd, 3:42pm:
Dear Friends: Last week got away from me before I had a chance to Blog. Reading what was written brought tears to my eyes. Knowing that others are dealing with the same struggles within is daunting. Again, it has been years since I’ve had to deal with this confusion, dissention & frustration. I am thankful for the support & the compassion expressed herein.
Romeo wrote on Wed Mar 3rd, 9:08pm:
This gang of thought is very automatic for me, now. I’ve been combining only the four emotions- gratitude, love, joy, peace, in almost every pulsing session I have for the past week or so. Now, it happens automatically.
I have a very positive trigger that helps, as well. There is a mountain on my way to work. When I see the mountain, I get a big (Duchenne) DU-smile on my face and gratitude begins to overwhelm me instantly. I love the feeling and I expect this warm vibe every time I look the mountains way. It really helps when driving through morning traffic.
To take it a step further, what I do is take the mountain in and then move my feeling to that of the brightness of the sky. My mind visualizes the world from above with an expansive feel to it all. This happens for a quick second or two or three. Then the quick trip plus the brightness make my pulsing grow stronger. Feels like I’m feeling the World, passionately and spiritually. It’s totally awesome and worth the habit to get into for any positive trigger that you may have. I’ve only been at it a week and…WOW! Thats the first thought that comes to mind. At night, I’ve also implemented this by taking in the stars while pulsing. Very powerful and lovely, especially right before bed/dream time.
Jack wrote on Mon Mar 15th, 7:53pm:
Right on, Dr Larkin. There I was running in the hills, trying to do “the Work” of Byron Katie in my head about my difficulty forgiving someone. I tried to sweat out the negative “gang of thoughts” while I tried to shed light on the futility and self destructiveness of my holding onto my hurt. Doing the turn arounds and realizing that it was me holding on helped but I still carried the anger within me. Then as I nearly completed the course of the run, I passed by a man hiking with the help of two canes. He obviously had suffered a stroke but was blissful in his ability to be out in the fresh air in the beautiful hills that neighbor where we live. I greeted him with a hello and he responded with his happy and grateful appearing countenance. He was living the pulsing of gratitude and gave me the gift of his example. Every moment is a gift from the Source and let us not waste it on resenting what we think has been done to us or what we don’t have. Thanks for your work and what you are trying to share with us. You’re right.
Melody wrote on Wed Mar 17th, 12:13pm:
Dr. Larkin, I read this posting the day you put it up and it’s been on my mind ever since. I’m very moved by the ideas and yet I can’t grab onto exactly why it gets me in the “gut”. I’ve even dreamed about the gangs (not my normal kind of dream). The visual metaphor of gangs and negative thoughts is just so powerful.
This article is required reading for each of my clients and even though I really don’t want to have that dream again, I thank you for the moving metaphor.
Dr. William K Larkin wrote on Wed Mar 17th, 1:03pm:
Hi Melody,
Yes, it is a powerful metaphor, but it also carries with it what is really the truth; a neuro plastic war of life and death among neuropathways and neuro nets is what happens when we start to change the way we are thinking and being. Negative thoughts wait to attach to anything, especially when we are in a weakened state or a less than aware state.
If we check out our negative self-talk or automatic negative thinking we find that there are negative thoughts that stick together and patterns (gangs) that have formed. For example, I do “all or nothing thinking”, then I “mind read” and then I get into “fortune telling”, as a learned pattern of negative thinking, that is, a kind of roving gang of patterns and thoughts waiting for the least provocation and my vulnerable moments, in order that they can come alive and “fee” on oxygen and glucose.
Negative thoughts are fighting for life in a mind that is becoming positive and is leaning and eventually tilting in a positive direction.
Diane wrote on Mon Apr 26th, 5:37pm:
Dr. Larkin,
I loved your blog for April 26 regarding energy. I have recently experienced this. Positive. . . “energy attracts more of what it needs to replace its use.” As you may remember, I have launched my artistic career “full force.” Recently, I’ve had two paintings hung in the Art in Context building, last Sunday I sold a painting for $500, this coming Sunday I am hanging my small pieces in the Old Town La Quinta Coffee Co, and my artist reception is being held there on May 6th. Wow, talk about energy attracting more energy!!!!
I will also practice finding ten things to appreciate the first hour of each day.
Thank you for being in my life, as I create a new chapter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Diane M. KLine
Leave a Comment
« Back
