There's nothing more vital to gaining your emotional freedom than controlling your inner dialogue. We have roughly 60,000 thoughts a day. These thoughts are not original, wonderful ideas, but a repetitive monologue of negativity. Everything that you truly believe about yourself is what is constantly running through your head like a pre-recorded message on your psyche. And, every thought that you have determines how you perceive any situation or relate to other people in your life.
Think about it (no pun intended). When you make a mistake, does your inner voice interject with "You idiot!?" Do you constantly berate yourself for your shortcomings, your appearance, or failures? More often than not, the reality is nowhere near as horrific as it appears to be after your little inner voice has had its way with it. Your internal thought stream responds instantaneously to whatever you choose to give focus, whether it's your hair cut or your level of professional success and it's usually negative.
And, how many times have you had an encounter with a difficult person only to obsess over that conversation for days? Come on, we've all done it. You go over in your head what you should have said or examine any number of reasons why that person had the nerve to treat you so callously. You end up re-living the argument, along with the stress and emotions that it caused, long after the other person has gone.
Your body responds to the stimuli that it is given (the stress and emotional turmoil) from your mind. Your thoughts have the power to control your physical self. Because all emotions begin as a thought, your perception of events determines how you react to it. In other words, your thought determines how you will feel.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you even pay attention to them or are they just running amuck like wild children without any supervision? I would venture to guess that the latter is the case. The inner voice (which I'm going to call Insane Vera, for comical purposes only) is constantly talking to you and keeping you from being present. You can't be consciously aware of the moments you are experiencing with Vera barking insults and negative commentary at you all day.
And now, you're probably saying that it's impossible to stop the endless stream of conversation that goes on inside your head. But, I'm not asking you to stop the thoughts altogether, just notice them. Learn to cultivate the awareness of being present for each moment of your life and recognize the incessant chattering of your Insane Vera. Only when you acknowledge what is going on in your head, do you have the power to change it. Freedom from suffering could be as simple as just changing the way you think. All you have to do is pay attention.