To think or not to think

[Plenum]

Something that has always seemed to be just outside of my grasp is the concept of dealing with repeating thought patterns that are deemed unsatisfactory. I tend to be in my head a lot and my usual modus operandi is to become aware of the thought, and if possible to try to change the thought into a more positive orientation, by means of trying to think about it differently until I can feel some level of varying peace.

The Thoughts that arise naturally in consciousness come from somewhere.  They have a reason for beingness.  They aren't any different to pleasure or pain signals we might receive from our nerves (feedback from the body).

The question is - from where?

My understanding is that Thoughts - especially ones built on repetition - have emotional roots.  So one can't change the surface expression of those Thoughts just by dealing with them on the surface level.  The emotions/feelings themselves have to be experienced more fully, to comprehend their feedback.

Positive Visualisation can work.  If it's applied at the right level.  Applying it to the surface level doens't do anything about the deeper roots that generated it in the first place.

With long-standing patterns, this is unlikely to be overturned quickly.  As Agua mentioned in a thread a little while ago, it tends to be a progression of getting to the core issues.