We become what we think

Thinking is an ongoing, independent function that is on “automatic-pilot” most of the time. The thoughts come uninvited and their content appears to be random until something happens that grabs our attention. Let’s imagine an ordinary day where we get up and the usual thoughts about daily preoccupations, work and planning are floating through our mind. We don’t notice anything out of the ordinary until that unpleasant phone call/conversation/e-mail that triggers a whole chain of negative reactions. All day we catch ourselves thinking about the it, about what we should have said, how the words were unfair and hurt our feelings, how we never feel we are understood or can get our point across etc. While driving, in meetings, trying to concentrate at work and while shopping for groceries - we keep trying to mentally rewrite the script of what should have happened or what we should have said or what we are going to do and say next time we get a chance.

Once the mind has sunk its teeth into a situation, it will continue to chew on it ad nauseam. We are stuck in a cycle of thoughts that keep spinning and influence not only our physical well being (stress symptoms) but it significantly changes our mood – and rarely for the better. We have a hard time concentrating and are generally lost in thought, which means we are anything but present in the moment. We quite literally become what we think: frustrated, worried, resentful, anxious….

When we know how the mechanism works, it becomes possible to break it in 3 simple steps. The key is AWARENESS.

1. Notice: something is off; I am feeling uneasy, worried, anxious etc.
2. Pause: Take a deep breath, step back and watch the situation you are in. Put a PAUSE between the situation and your reaction.
3. AWARENESS: with AWARENESS you CHOOSE your next action/words

Wanting to choose consciously rather than live on automatic pilot, wanting to drive rather than be driven is a sign of awakening of AWARENESS. An inner knowing is nudging us to listen more closely to a voice that comes from beyond the mind. In Meditation we reconnect with that voice. We open to the part of our Being that is infinite and peaceful, the source of AWARENESS. The practice of Meditation allows us to live from that source and be free from the dictates and conditionings of the mind.