How to Set Up Your Own Thoughts Beforehand

It's Saturday, you're doing the laundry, and suddenly you start panicking about a presentation you have in 2 weeks.

Have you ever wondered why that is? And not on Sunday or Monday? Why exactly at that moment?

Bodies are extremely smart and energy-efficient machines. They help you practice the amount of energy you want to spend on things you find important at any given time.

This is a very intuitive process, but you run into problems (like anxiety) when you don't really understand how it works.

Level 1

What your body does is ask you:

Do you want to spend energy on the presentation you have in 2 weeks at this moment? And how much energy?

Now you have a choice: you can say:

1. No, I don't want to spend energy on it.

2. Yes, I do want to spend energy on it.

The essential part is that you actually choose. So your body presents the scenario, and you say, within yourself, "No, thank you" (depending on what you want, of course). Don't shy away from those decisions.

Level 2

In a lot of scenarios, it's not a good idea to say, "I don't want to spend energy on it until it happens." So you pick an answer in between. For example: I want to spend 0.00007% of my energy on my presentation. I want to spend a part of this before the presentation, and then a lot of energy when I actually have the presentation, since I have to be there physically. So it's not only about the amount of energy spent, but also the type of energy.

You can make this a very conscious choice within yourself. This is how you become better at communicating with yourself.

Level 3

Here, the fun begins. People who are practiced at this can predict part of their thoughts beforehand because they have set them up prior to that moment. I already know specific thoughts I will have tomorrow morning when I wake up.

So the question anxiety asks is: do you want to spend energy on this scenario?

I just say “no” within myself. But I’m sure there are other ways too.

Anxiety Helps You Prepare for Possible Outcomes — It’s Not Something Bad

Think of it like this. You have a finite amount of energy to distribute.

Part goes to your own body, part goes to your surroundings, and part goes to what you are doing.

This is a balance thing, a scale.

There is also an intensity variable. If something urgent happens, you have to be able to go from 0 to 100. Then you do. There is no time to think.

So what does the body do?

First, the brain helps you practice the intensity your whole body operates on. It does this by processing potential scenarios of things that might happen in the future. Then you make the decision about where you spend energy and where you don’t.

This is a beautiful dance you have with yourself. You call this dance consciousness.

Worrying about things that may happen is a vital part of this, because that’s how you learn how much energy you want to spend on those scenarios.

You have to make those mistakes yourself first.