How much of what you’re thinking, are you actually thinking?

Pretty much none of it really!

Think about it.

We are programmed from the time we are conceived. On a cellular level we become imprinted with thoughts, beliefs and attitudes of those who surround us during gestation into birth.

From the time we are born we are further influenced by our parents or family, the culture we were born into, the religion we follow, the Country we live in, our educators and our peers. These thoughts, beliefs and attitudes later crystallize in adolescence and from then on start creating our thoughts for us.

Most people believe that they are consciously making decisions every day whilst in reality 90% of what you are thinking today, is a repeat of what you were thinking yesterday. The same perceptions of who you think you are and what you are capable of, the same habits, and the same reactions. Worse, most of these thoughts you are repeating are negative. Our brains are designed to stick to what is familiar for survival purposes so what you see now is what you will keep getting unless you change the way you think.

Repeatedly thinking thoughts like 'I am not good enough', 'I don't have what it takes' etc. will simply wire your brain to accept that as safe and familiar. The body in turn will become familiar with experiencing the stress or depression these repeating thoughts induce and soon your entire system is addicted to those experiences. A life in which you are good enough is now a programmed threat to your repeating familiar theme of not being good enough.

Looking at it from this perspective we can consider the fact that perhaps the way we think is determined by many factors which lie outside ourselves in a way. Factors that crystalized without us necessarily considering fully whether they ought to apply to us. Consider for a moment why you really make your bed the way you do, or don’t, why do you drive the car you drive, get offended by some things and not by others. Is this really who you are, what you really believe? To what extent are they just automatic reactions of who you have been programmed to be.

To what extent are these belief systems limiting us for the sake of fitting in. Fitting in with the family, the in-laws, at the mosque/church/temple or at work. True thought, at least the ones we are trying to inspire here, does not concern itself with any limitations. It sits underneath all the belief systems adopted over the years and it can be found through awareness. Awareness creates space between who we truly are and who we have been conditioned into and in that space, we have the power to change. The power to question and then make different choices.

Now this won’t happen overnight. You don’t just sit down for a little bit of a meditation in the lotus position and poof; you have considered all our belief systems and resolved within yourself whether they ought to remain or not and suddenly find your true inner silent self.

We tend to first invest a profound amount of energy in trying to control these thoughts.

Often any attempt made at quieting the mind results in a similar outcome as trying to not think of a pink elephant. The pink elephant appears just like thoughts will suddenly appear about breakfast and what Chad said yesterday over lunch. The challenge lies in the control element being deployed to resolve the issue.

To illustrate compare your thoughts to the ocean for a second. Now imagine yourself standing on the beach and as the tide comes in, try to control its movement. Try stop it from becoming high tide by exercising your fierce control. Some things just cannot be controlled; thoughts and the tide are two of them.

Rather start by observing thoughts and see what happens. Using still the comparison of the ocean, observe when thoughts come rushing in like high tide, when do they turn into a whirlpool that rushes across the surface of your mind, when do they become calm and almost unnoticed. In which parts of this ocean is it clear enough to snorkel in and which parts is it dark and murky.

To activate this process of observing one’s thoughts, spend 10 minutes every day in complete uninterrupted quality time with yourself. This means you need to be in a room by yourself with no electronic devices on and no curtains or doors open. Just you observing your thoughts. For the best results do it sitting up straight on a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor and not touching. Keep your eyes open during the 10-minute session and start by simply looking inward at your thoughts as they start to flow in like the tide.  

Try and repeat the exercise at the same time every day. It is not recommended that you do this before bed because the idea is not that you fall asleep to the exercise. If you however find that you are obsessing over something specific. Perhaps a deadline at work you are behind on, or you are suspicious of your partner because of something you saw on their phone, abort the exercise. Take a break, go do something else and take up the task again after some time has passed. But try as hard as you can not to skip a day because it works much the same way going to gym does. It has consequences on your next gym session’s performance if you’ve skipped even just a day. You also know that you cannot make up the lost day by going to gym twice the next day so don’t do that in this exercise either.

If you do end up missing a day, start the process from the scratch. Annoying I know, but any type of enlightenment exercise that sells itself as simple to achieve… is simply lying to you. If fact try to also observe the things that pop up and try to get in the way of you attending to your daily sessions once you’ve started.

Another important thing to remember is that we are only observing the thoughts, not criticizing them, rationalizing them or judging them. You are looking for a sense of casual detachment.

It is suggested that you spend at least 21 days just practicing observation. Gently becoming aware of your thoughts. I stress here that becoming aware of is not the same as focusing on. A mere awareness of the restricting nature is suggested (if any) whereafter you allow the thought to move along to let the observation continue in the natural manner. Observe all thoughts until they run dry so that your mind is silent and barren like the desert (please don’t imagine the actual desert… that’s thinking something!) and then wait.

Perhaps keep a diary in order to go back and track your progress by leaving short notes on each days’ experiences during the exercise.

I think it goes without saying that you should not start a week before you go on December holiday or get married or something similar as this will impede the possibility of successfully completing the exercise. Since it is aimed at creating a new habit within your mind, your participation is key.

By the end of the exercise, your reality should look very different. A sense of presentness should arise within that allows you to observe life more objectively as it is happening. Once this has been successfully completed move on to phase two, thinking yourself into being, covered in the next article.