We can spend a lifetime gathering and getting lost in our thoughts. This predominantly automated process begins in childhood where knowledge has value and begins to factor into the equation of Self Worth. We are taught by default to believe our perceptions of other people’s perceptions and in doing so, we form opinions that become the foundations for our truth. We can become so complacent to the process that the certainty of our thoughts can become barriers to emotional wellness and building healthy relationships.
The proverbial “They”, say that the average mind touches on over 50,000 thoughts per day. Each one, unceremoniously nagging to be sorted, categorized and adjudicated with the swift action of judge’s gavel. We find it easy to embrace those that fit within our current ecology and ideology and condemn those that bump up against our “truth”. In amongst all that thinking, there is usually an inner narrator creating emotional content, goals and rationalizations around the thoughts. Often this inner narrator is at such a level of critic that we would not tolerate them for a minute as a roommate – so how is it that they have all that space in our mind?
What I am pondering of late, is how much of the content of our thoughts is actually our own. I venture to guess – not much. If one is prone to the spirit of inquiry, there comes a time when you might begin to question what is truth. The cautionary tale here is that once you walk through that mind gate, there comes a point of no return on the path. You begin to awaken from the dream. All that is not residing in truth begins to grate upon your soul like a grain of sand in the oyster shell. You can either see that grain of sand for the pearl of wisdom that it offers or you can ignore it until your soul is so raw that the pain becomes your teacher. We often sit in the pain while the hamster wheel churns – thoughts that randomly bump up against each other become scattered and disorganized.
This does not mean that we are inherently broken. All of this busy mindedness is human nature. There are as many realities on this planet as there are people to dream them in. No two people are ever going to experience the same event identically as we filter everything though our histories which includes memories, experiences, beliefs and conditioning.
When one awakens to the pursuit of truth, one begins to take responsibility for their own inner conditioning and strives to remain open and curious to another’s. For now, my practice is to not believe everything I think as thoughts will come and thoughts will go. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing everything we think; it takes courage and curiosity to step off the wheel and bear witness to the thoughts without needing justify or even give verbiage to them. Just a thought……
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 honourably.
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.
— Rumi
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