"If You Could Read My Mind"
What a tale my thoughts would tell…, right?
What if we walked around with little TV-like screens above our heads, and it played the thoughts that were moving through our minds during our conversations with others? Would you like that? I’m sure most would “cringe” at that idea.
Why?
Well, I believe some would respond that it would be hurtful to others to see those thoughts, but imbedded in that belief is a belief that you are your thoughts – that you are actually thinking them. But if it’s you that’s actually thinking them, wouldn’t you be able to say “Hey, I’m going to stop thinking so negatively about everyone and everything” – and then the thoughts would simply stop, right?
But they don’t stop. They don’t listen.
The thoughts that are brought up in our minds feel like they’re ours because they have been unconsciously identified with by us through the unknowing use of our attention. And so, it feels like they are us, when that isn’t true at all.
In considering that very idea - that you aren’t your thoughts….
Now, consider your children. Consider all of the problems that children have in this world. Consider you. Consider all of the problems that you have in this world.
Could thought be the culprit of all the pain and suffering? Meaning, we have believed ourselves to be our thoughts and all the negative things it says to us about ourselves and others. What if we were to find out that we aren’t those thoughts? We have simply mistaken ourselves to be them.
If you are able to truly grasp that idea, you should be able to see the possibilities for you, your children and this world in understanding that.
What would that mean?
· It would mean that you would understand that anything speaking to you negatively about yourself or about others is thought working to continue the pain of itself through you.
· It would mean that if you wanted to truly follow your heart and do something with your life that thought says is impossible, you would instantaneously know that to be a lie.
· It would mean that you could be 100% yourself, all the while thought is working to convince you to hide behind a false persona.
· It would mean that if thought is tempting you to identify with it, it also means that it is tempting each and every human being on this planet in the same way. As such, we would become kinder with each other knowing that we are all struggling with the same pain and suffering.
· It would mean that we are all created equal – equal in the sense that each and every one of us has the same possibility to discover that thought is not who and what we truly are.
I have heard it said that great truths are hidden in this world.
I would say that great truths are not hidden. They are simply covered by misunderstanding, a misunderstanding of ourselves.
We have to see what doesn’t work before something new can be invited into our lives. Turning to thought to “fix” people or this world doesn’t work. If it did, we would have seen a different and better world by now.
Why not be the warrior to try something entirely new by agreeing to observe the thoughts that move through you, instead of “serving” them.
For when you agree to do that, something else will serve you in a way that you couldn’t have imagined.
Offer this “gold” to your children and see both of your lives magically change.
Image courtesy of: Photo by Janko Ferlic from Pexels
