I wonder those things too. It’s so easy to get stuck in a spiral of thoughts about thoughts that it’s somehow (counterintuitively) easier to stop thinking.

Here’s the context of that quote from the source:

When you think about it, a culture is just a group of people who agree on a bunch of these silly little rules. Over time, these rules turn into customs, ideas, and ways of living that eventually form a culture. […] After breaking it down more and more, I realized something creepy:

Some of our thoughts were created before we were born.

Being born into American culture would mean that you accept people who decide to wear sweatpants in public. Being born into Spanish culture would cause you to think the contrary.

In a sense, we were all born into a certain way of thinking and are limited to the confinements of our culture.

Do you own all of your thoughts?

I think about this a lot too —what authenticity means. What it means to “own a thought.” Do we truly own any of them, or do they come and go, like guests?

I am reminded of one of my favorite poets, Rumi, and his piece “The Guest House”:

This being human is a guest house.
 Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
 some momentary awareness comes
 as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
 Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
 who violently sweep your house
 empty of its furniture,
 still, treat each guest honorably.
 He may be clearing you out
 for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
 meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
 because each has been sent
 as a guide from beyond.