What fuels action? Thought. Your thoughts provide the initial catlyst that sparks every action (word or deed). Right now, I’m sitting here worrying about my son walking home from work. Times like this are when the rubber hits the road, so to speak. We can often intellectualize or theorize about how we can control our thoughts, but when faced with a crisis or challenging situation, what can we REALLY do to master our thoughts?
A thought is something that your brain constructs. It is not actually reality, but is based on possibilities. The “possibilities” we beleive exist are created based on either previous experience, emotions, or imagination. But the most important aspect of your thoughts is your interpretation of them and the meaning that you assign to your thoughts and to the emotions they cause. If you entertain fearful emotions created by a thought, this can result in worry, distraction, or overall anxiety. For example, me imaging my son getting hit by a careless driver caused me almost not to finish this blog!
When I sat and analyzed this, I realize I was “choosing” which thoughts to focus on. Just as I placed emphasis on thoughts of him walking in inclimate weather, getting in an accident, or someone kidnapping him (eventhough he’s an adult male walking in a virtually crime-free area), I could have focused on more positive thoughts such as him actually enjoying his walk home, him being accompanied by a friend, him carrying his cell phone and being perfectly capable of contacting me if he needed me…the list goes on.
At the end of the day, my son walked in the house, said “Hi”, and reached for a plate in anticipation of eating the dinner I had prepared. I felt the knot in my stomach finally begin to loosen. In life, there are many situatuations we will face over which we have very little physical control. Mastering our thoughts is essential for our physical, mental, and emotional well being. At the very least, it will spare us parents stomach ulcers and tension headaches 🙂
But the million dollar question is: How do we “choose” new thoughts? My answer is, we cannot chose our thoughts. In meditation, we are taught to observe our thoughts and to let them pass without judgement or attachment. In “real life”, we can apply this by learning to “detach” from our thoughts, and not react to them. We can also chose which thoughts we focus on and chose not to dwell on any undesirable feelings they may create. In fact, by learning to “detach” from our thoughts, we can, to some extent, modulate the feelings that emerge from thought.
The other side to this coin is that certain thoughts that we allow to pass untended could potentially benefit ourselves or society at large. How many brilliant ideas cross people’s minds that go unwritten, undone, and are otherwise unaccounted for?
In this instance, we can imagine our thoughts like an inspector in front of a product conveyor belt. He calmly notes the items as they pass in front of his plane of vision. When one catches his eye, he picks it up and closely analyzes it. Some objects, he may discard. The high quality items, he will allow down the assembly line to become part of the master product. All of us may do well to become “inspectors” of our thoughts. First, we notice our thoughts as they pass in front of our awareness. Then, we calmly analyze them without attachment, retaining thoughts that cultivate beneficial, positive, loving feelings that serve our Higher Selves and the ultimate final product we desire, and discarding those thoughts that create negativity and unloving or undesirable feelings.
In the case of my son and his walk home, I could have acknowledged all of my thoughts, discarding those that led to non-productive feelings of anxiety and worry. I could have focused on thoughts that gave rise to feelings of peace and tranquility. My actions could then mirror my positive feelings by focusing on setting his place at the table for his arrival, sitting quietly to perform some deep breathing to further instill serenity, placing a quick phone call to tell him that I love him, then sitting back to enjoy a cup of tea.
Ghandi summarizes this concept best, when he stated:
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
– Mahatma Gandhi
If thought fuels action, then let us chose to acknowledge our most empowering thoughts. Carpe diem!
#powerofthought #theduboseempowermentcourse #blog
