Pink Elephants and White Tigers®-Three Secrets Of How Your Mind Works

What happens if I say, “Don’t think of pink elephants?” 

Most normal people will think of pink elephants. What if you don’t want to think of pink elephants? What if pink elephants is actually a metaphor for something else you don’t want to think about?

Maybe what you don’t want to think about is some negative emotion like anxiety, depression or sadness. Maybe it’s a negative belief such as “I’m not good enough,” or “I might fail,” or “I’m responsible for how others feel.”

It could be a bad habit, or even some sort of obstacle that you can’t get your mind off that’s holding you back from achieving some very important goals in your life.

If you’d like to stop thinking of pink elephants, then there are a three secrets about you unconscious mind that would be very helpful for you to know.

The first secret is that your unconscious mind relates to concepts, not grammar. When someone says, “Don’t think of pink elephants,” your mind doesn’t hear the “don’t” part. It just notices the pink elephant concept and creates a pink elephant.

The second secret is that your unconscious mind pays attention to your intensity. The more you don’t want to think of the pink elephant herd that’s growing in the fertile jungle of your mind, the bigger the herd and the brighter the pink.

The third secret is that your unconscious mind likes specific concepts more than vague ones.

If you don’t want to think of pink elephants, what can you do? Most people reply that they don’t know. If you did know, what would it be?

It’s vitally important to give your unconscious and conscious mind a healthier substitute to focus on. Something specific. Something that you would rather think about.

I like to think about white tigers with blue eyes. They’re cool. They’re engaging and specific.

If you tell yourself to think about white tigers with blue eyes over and over, pretty soon the pink elephants will be gone. They’ve been transformed into white tigers with blue eyes.

Focus on what you’re for, rather than what you’re against.