Shadowing Practice: How to Control Your Mind and Negative Thoughts - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Namo Buddhaya.
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Welcome to another video.
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In today's video, let's talk about how to control our negative emotions and how to control our mind.
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Well, the nature of our mind is, it always likes to wander in negative emotions
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and negative thoughts negative thoughts like anger desire or lust
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or then jealousy maybe resentment these are the negative thoughts
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that our mind likes to enter in so how can we control it well our great teacher supreme
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Buddha introduced us a gradual training where you can practice this controlling of negative emotions or negative thoughts in your mind.
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So, without any further ado, I'm going to introduce them to you.
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So, first and foremost, before getting into these steps, there is one thing that you have to practice,
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and there is one thing that you have to master, and that is awareness.
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If you are not aware of what you are thinking, if you are not mindful about what you are thinking, then you cannot control it.
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So you have to totally understand and you have to totally be aware of what you're thinking.
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Okay?
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So whenever you find, whenever you become aware of what you're thinking, then you will have that power to control it.
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So here comes the first step.
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Buddha says, whenever you become aware of your mind is wandering in negative thoughts like anger
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or lustful thoughts or or resentment
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or jealousy the first thing is to shift your thought pattern to something wholesome
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there are some wholesome thoughts in your mind
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which makes you peaceful maybe like thinking of something
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that you have done in the past like maybe you help someone whenever you think
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that thought your mind becomes happy and peaceful.
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So what you're gonna do is, whenever you become aware of your negative thoughts, we're going to shift our thought pattern to something that is wholesome,
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something that makes us peaceful.
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So that is the first thing that Buddha says.
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Shift your thoughts to wholesome thoughts.
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If that first step did not work out, then what you have to do, go for the next step.
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What is that?
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Buddha says, think about the disadvantages of thinking negative emotions, right?
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If you are constantly having angry thoughts, then you have to think, these thoughts are hurting myself and others.
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If I take actions according to these thoughts, it will hurt myself and the others.
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Remember, it may be a little thought of anger, but if it grow up, what will happen?
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It will be destructive.
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So what do you have to do?
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Think about the drawbacks or disadvantages of thinking these negative thoughts.
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Then, whenever you see these disadvantages, your mind will tend to stay away from these negative thoughts.
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Most of the time, we are not aware of these disadvantages.
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Okay?
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So, what do you have to do?
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Think.
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If I keep on thinking these negative thoughts, it is not going to help me.
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It will disrupt my peacefulness.
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Right?
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That is the second step.
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Then as the third step, Buddha says, pay no mind, pay no attention.
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If the second step did not work out, go for the third step to not to pay any attention to that thought.
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See, whenever we give so much attention to something, maybe a thought, it grows again and again, it grows more, right?
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For an example, if you became angry with someone and if you keep thinking about him again and again and becoming angry,
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that anger will grow more and more.
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So, what do you have to do?
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We have to let the thought be a thought without paying much attention, right?
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When you just stay away from giving attention, then it will fade away from your mind.
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It's something like this.
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Have you seen little babies, when they fall down, they start to cry, right?
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If the parent or the mother or father see that it is not a big deal of falling,
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if mother or father did not give any attention to that baby, what does he do?
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He just don't care about that.
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He will stop crying.
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Same thing goes with our mind.
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If we did not pay any attention to that thought, right if we did not care about that thought
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and just let it go and let it pass away from our mind then it will fade away
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That is why we have to say, if the third step did not work for you in the business, go for the fourth step,
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because you lack your fourth step.
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Now remember, when you choose negative steps, your mind becomes very quickly and drops on the step.
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So, what you are going to do is, you are thinking, why are I thinking these disasters,
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these negative disasters that are making me so much different, making me distracted, right?
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So, what you are going to do is, you are relaxing yourself up to something very soft and soft.
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Do you like loving times?
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Do you like loving times?
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Do you like great things?
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When you see those things, when you see more processes, your mind or your thought process becomes so much easier.
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And then, if the thought process did not work away, then it comes to time.
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This is something that you have to do with great things.
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I do not recommend for everyone to do this, this could be done with a good experience and a good instruction, right?
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And that is to trust your soul with awareness, right?
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You have to be totally aware of your own experience, have a good recognition to your mind, how many things can be used.
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But this could not be done by everyone.
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The tunnel will be much better.
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If you keep on becoming aware and if you keep on closing the money, it will go more and more with the tunnel to close.
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So, if all those four steps did not work for you, then you have to do it.
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So, it is much better to practice these four choices before doing the practice.
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I think to practice this,
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when you think, you will see and you will understand that your negative connection is failing to lose.
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Meaning, this is not going to happen anymore.
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It will take a long time to do it, but you have to do it two times.
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Two times to make it.
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And then you will do it.
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So, practice is happy to make your mind.
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So, if there are three times to do it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Control Your Mind and Negative Thoughts”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: negative, step, thinking, aware, whenever. This video has 90 sentences and 1089 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:40. The speaker talks at a steady 142 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 92% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 19 of its 90 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| anger noun | /ˈæŋɡə/ | A strong and unpleasant feeling of displeasure, hostility, or antagonism, usually combined with an urge to yell, curse, damage or destroy things, or harm… |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| disadvantage noun | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback. |
| wholesome adjective | /ˈhoʊl.səm/ | Promoting good physical health and well-being. |
| awareness noun | /əˈwɛɹ.nəs/ | The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer. |
| disaster noun | /dɪˈzɑːs.təː/ | An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent… |
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
| tunnel noun | /ˈtʌn(ə)l/ | An underground or underwater passage. |
| fade verb | /feɪd/ | To hit the ball with the shot called a fade. |
| jealousy noun | /ˈd͡ʒɛl.ə.si/ | A state of being jealous; a jealous attitude. |
| wander verb | /ˈwɑndɚ/ | To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood. |
| resentment noun | /ɹɪˈzɛnt.mənt/ | Anger or displeasure stemming from belief that one or one's group has been wronged or betrayed by others; indignation. |
| recognition noun | /ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃ(ə)n/ | The act of recognizing or the condition of being recognized (matching a current observation with a memory of a prior observation of the same entity). |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| instruction noun | /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/ | The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| fall down verb | /fɔl ˈdaʊn/ | To fall to the ground. To collapse. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| work away verb | Synonym of fire away. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if it grow up, what will happen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | could be done · can be used · could not be done |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have done · Have you seen |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | keep thinking · stop crying |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, recognition /ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃ(ə)n/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, recognition /ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃ(ə)n/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like anger, emotion, disadvantage.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.