Today, I am contemplating the Vitakkasanthana Sutta on The Removal of Distracting Thoughts. The Buddha gives us a sequential guide for how to deal with negative thoughts.

It goes like this:

1. When an unskillful thought arises that is connected with desire, hate, and delusion, reflect on a different object which is connected with skill. The mind can only indulge in one thought at a time. Thought substitution is the practice of substituting one negative thought with a wholesome one. Affirmations are good examples.
2. If that doesn’t work, ponder on the disadvantages of the unskillful thought. How much suffering does the thought cause us? In CBT, this would be looking at the unpleasant feelings that arise, and their intensity rated on a scale of 0 to 100%. The Buddha suggests a deeper investigation. Through the process of mindfulness and careful attention, one can get in touch with the physical, emotional and mental pain that get generated through the harboring of such negative thought. Seeing the consequence of lingering in the negative thought, is often times enough to convince the mind to drop it.
3. If that doesn’t work, turn your attention away and do not reflect on the unskillful thought. Notice this does not mean not paying attention to our thoughts, but instead deliberately choosing to ignore the thoughts after careful investigation as per the prior first two steps. Dwelling on negative thoughts for too long hardwires the brain into negativity. I have found engaging into a sensory activity to be very helpful: meditating on the breath or another object, taking a walk in nature, listening to music, getting a massage, cooking . . . these are some the ways I stop paying attention to a perseverating mind.
4. If that doesn’t work, reflect on the removal of the thought source of the unskillful thought. In CBT, that means engaging in mindful enquiry, getting down to the core belief underneath the thought, getting down to the root cause that started the negative thought in the first place. Core beliefs usually relate to how we think about ourselves and the outside world. Those have been ingrained since our childhood, or acquired along the way during traumatic of other life changing events. Once we recognize the falsehood of such a belief, we give the mind a chance to rewire itself, one negative thought at a time. Another applicable CBT practice is that of examining the accuracy of one’s thought based on evidence. Identifying cognitive distortions can help us discard negative thoughts.
5. If that doesn’t work, beat down the negative mind with positive mind ‘with clenched teeth and the tongue pressing on the palate’. I have worked with patients whose mind has been so hardwired with negativity, that nothing seems to work. Looking no further than myself, I can also think of times when a hindrance is so pronounced that my mind just won’t quit. In those cases, the mind needs to practice simply saying “no, not going there” as often as necessary, and with fierce determination.

Of course this presupposes that one is aware of the unskillful thought in the first place. Hence the need to practice mindfulness always . . .