MINDFUL THINKING
It’s a new day. You are enjoying the first blush of morning with a steaming cup of coffee and taking the much-needed ME time for a fruitful day ahead. You hear the melody of the cuckoo, ‘tring — tring’ of the milk man, the sound of gadgets from the neighbor's house etc.
We hear zillions of sounds in our lifetime. We don’t need to see, to know that it’s the cuckoo who is singing in our backyard, it’s our neighbor's son who is yelling at the top of his voice, there is no need to introduce ourselves every time we call our family and friends.
Because EVERY VOICE IS UNIQUE like our fingerprints.
And this is the one sound which is the most unique, heard only by us -the internal monologue, our self-talk, the imaginary voice which gives a running commentary of our thoughts.
“Self-Talk reflects your innermost feeling” — Dr. Asa Don Brown
Human nature is never black or white, it’s shades of grey. From lightest light to darkest dark and all of us go through this palette of color like a pendulum.
Basically, all of us want to be a good person, but in front of others. We are not concerned about what’s going on inside. Because we think, no one knows what we are thinking.
Aren’t the words or actions the manifestation of thoughts?
If our words or actions are hurting somebody, should we not change it from where it all started…our thoughts?
Does this mean that we can have only those values which are acceptable to the society? No, have values that are acceptable to you.
Because what you hold inside, eventually comes out, good or bad.
“You do not wake up one morning a bad person. It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders of self -respect to self-interest” — Robert Brault
So, if you are true and respectful to your own self, as time goes, you will be the same to others too.
As the saying goes “When thoughts, words and action are aligned, the true character is defined.”
We always hear from our elders “You are not supposed to say /do like that.” rather than “You are not supposed to think like that.”
Now the question arises … Can we change or control our thoughts?
Maybe not.
Thoughts are like rivers which keep on flowing and most of the thoughts happen subconsciously. But just like we learn everything else in life we can also learn to be mindful of what we think.
Mindful thinking is to be aware and conscious of our thoughts.
It’s about choosing the path you want your thoughts to go. So that we can redirect our negative self-talk to something positive, something creative.
It’s with our thoughts, we make the world.
Let’s try to make the world a better place!
