Last night, as I sat here writing a first draft of my blog for tomorrow, I was waiting for inspiration. The day has been so full of busyness that I was enjoying just sitting here and breathing and appreciating the moment of impending creativity. Here are the random thoughts that were coming into my awareness in the moment as I sit here just listening:
Who am I?
Is there pressure to produce in this moment?
Who cares if I do or don’t?
Wishing I was lying in bed reading a good book and I have a few interesting choices since I just went to the bookstore recently.
I have NBA playoff basketball fever since my team the Portland Trailblazers are in.
I am glad it is Friday.
Work has been unsettled lately with no solid clients to assist. The ones there all seem to want to be someplace else.
The furnace went on thankfully, it is cold down here in the basement where our computers are.
My wife is heading upstairs after checking her emails.
Ah a few minutes to myself after so much interaction with others today.
This running account of my mind shows how my thoughts are just a jumble of random ideas most of which matter little if at all. The writings of Eckhart Tolle, one of my favorites for his depth of consciousness, speaks very clearly of the dangers of the out of control mind. He says our busy chaotic minds are the source of our suffering.
Of course our thoughts are what causes us to feel all that we feel. From my viewpoint it seems all that is going on around us is filtered by our mind and translated into some kind of reactivity. Rarely do we step back enough to even question what we are thinking. We actually believe our thoughts when in fact they are far from the truth. Thoughts are just a group of words parading together down the Main Street of our mind. They only have the meaning we give them not because that meaning is true but because it is what we have assigned to this particular collection of characters marching by.
Let’s imagine that you are actually the programmer of your mind (you are) and that you can reprogram any malfunction at any time. Would you allow the present program to rerun over and over? The answer would be yes if you were feeling great, having wonderful results, in an ever expanding state of higher consciousness and blissed out on life. However since you and I are not totally in bliss than we might look at what thoughts and self-talk are causing us to be restless, worrisome, and unsatisfied. What thoughts make us feel trapped, limited or unhappy?
Once you have identified where you mind has gone on the blink, you can take on the task of redoing the mind by: slowing it down; tossing out the inner critic; eliminating beliefs that aren’t working; talking with kindness to yourself; and in general be positive and appreciative of who you are and of life. Yes you are the programmer and only you know if things are working for you or not.
Enjoy the weekend and don’t let your mind trip you up from having a great time.