On any given day, we think around 50,000 thoughts.
To put that into context, there are only 86,400 seconds in a day.
So, it doesn’t take long to work out that we think a thought every 1 and a half seconds or so.
But what’s even more surprising is that of those 50,000 thoughts, 98% of them are apparently the same thoughts we thought yesterday.
Now, if you’re thinking that you must have read that wrong, you didn’t. So, here it is again: 98% of the thoughts that you and I think today are the same thoughts we thought yesterday.
That means just 2% of the thoughts we’ll think today are new. And as thoughts and emotions go hand-in-hand, it can be hard to change existing patterns that are being fed by existing thoughts, regardless of how many times they’re being “fed”.
That’s why habits of addiction are so hard to break.
Negative thinking is just as damaging, even if it’s less obvious to the outside world.
This is how the past literally carries into the future. It travels along neural highways that we’ve, built, grown, and reinforced throughout our lives.
Luckily, though, these highways can dissolve at any moment if and when they stop serving and new ones can be built in their place.
It takes time, of course, but it’s possible.
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” — James Clear
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