How Many of Your Thoughts Are Important?
Perhaps fewer than you think!
How many thoughts go through your mind every day? Estimates range from 12,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day.¹ Although there might be disagreement over the exact number, we can all agree we think a very large number of thoughts!
Thinking became an important part of life during the enlightenment, when the French philosopher René Descartes wrote in Discourse on the Method in 1637:
“I think, therefore I am.”
But how many of your thoughts are important? Do you need to take all your thoughts seriously? Or just some of them? Or should you even disregard most of your thoughts?
Positive vs Negative Thoughts
Amazingly, between 60% and 70% of our thoughts are negative, according to the results of an experiment on negative mental chatter reported in Psychology Today.²
This isn’t very surprising, though, when you consider that traditionally, we gave more weight to negative thoughts in order to avoid danger and survive.
Before the industrial revolution, when people lived in tribes and villages, human beings needed to be aware of predators, invaders and any other people and animals who threatened their village, tribe and livelihood.³
