It seems important to address something most of us may be in denial about. This problem is rampant in all of us and most will get defensive if it is pointed out. The problem is that our minds and thoughts are totally out of control and they never shut up. We live in chaos because our minds our in chaos. We run around in states of worry and fear because that is what where our thoughts go and they never quiet down. This state of mind is the creation of habitual thinking and a false mind made self. In other words, we drive ourselves nuts by having this false sense of self based on the unreality of our own mind. Maybe we should reassess this situation we find ourselves it?
The problem however don’t stop just with what is going on inside but includes the mass craziness of our inherited collective mind patterns. These crazed and dazed thought patterns are passed on from generation to generation and from the collective unconsciousness of society. So our 50,000 to 60,000 daily thoughts are often a menagerie of learned and repeated false ideas and beliefs. There is good news however.
The good news is that we are not our mind or our thoughts. Whew! This may be surprising to our sense of self. The ego wants to jump right in and argue for the righteousness of our thinking. Of course our thoughts matter at least this is what our mind says. We don’t have to be run ragged by our endless stream of thoughts because our thoughts are just words carrying the meaning we give them. If we quiet our thoughts or at least change them, we change how we feel and experience the world and ourselves.
The next question might be what do I do with this information? Do I go in search of medications, brain surgery, see a therapist? No this problem has a very simple but not necessarily easy solution. We have to learn to slow the mind down, to listen to the wisdom inside beyond the loud turmoil of our thinking. There are a variety of ways that help with this:
• Mindfulness helps by learning techniques to watch the mind and emotions impartially
• Meditation works great and there are many forms of this practice
• Bringing your focus fully to what you are doing works to slow you down, creativity expression like music, art, design etc. demands you be present to do it well
• Breathing deeply and slowly is very helpful because it helps you be fully present
• Other helpful and fun ways to pull you fully into the moment include: fishing, fast moving sports, reading, in depth conversations, dangerous adventures and other focus demanding activities
We are not our thoughts, we are much more than that. So stop believing the nonsense that goes on between your ears.
Last night after I wrote the first draft of this I came upon the following quote in The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle and I thought it would shed some further light on the benefit of moving past our identity with our thoughts.
“The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast amount of real intelligence beyond thought, that thought is just a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.”