You Could Think Differently

     We learn how to think and we learn what to think. Our thinking is augmented by a language(s) that helps us name and define objects and interpret our experiences. Influential people are a large part of the paperwork of our thinking. They tell us this or that about that or this, and we, for the most part, believe everything they tell us. What child thinks his parents are lying to him about the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy or Santa Claus? Mom and Dad are right. Grandad knows everything about everything, or so we think, and Grandma is simply the wisest person ever. Our ministers know God on a first name basis, and they tell us what to think about Him or Her or Whatever. They also tell us what God thinks of us. Almost without exception we believe everything these God authorities say. Teachers, of course, are right up there with other "know-it-all's". 
     We respect all these pervayors of information, and rightly so. They are conceived to be bearers of truth, albeit their truth. Sometimes their truth is synonomous with the very teachers who taught them. Their truth is not something that Dad told them, it is Dad or Mom or grandma or grandpa or reverend or teacher encapsulated in ideological or conceptual form. Rejecting their truth is like rejecting the very people who taught them that truth.

Then, around the time of pubic hair and pimples, something dangerous begins to happen inside us. As we enter into our adolescent  phase of development, we begin to arrive at some conclusions that are different from our revered teachers. Our newfound conclusions often create quite a "stir" among the previously uncontested enlightenment, or establishment (as we called them in the 60's). We may feel as though we have become the enemy or vice versa. And the "stir" often results in verbal battles and punishment for thinking differently. There can be ourbursts of violence, spanking, hitting and killing. (See Kent State).

*****That kind of rigid thinking and combative behavior is what I refer to as the "Spirit of Fundamentalism", which I will write about in a future blog.*****

     Let it be known that you CAN and you SHOULD change your thinking when old ideas are not working, or old truth begins to make no sense, or when new ideas and truth comes to you. It is always prudent to examine your thinking making sure that it is based on truth, your truth, and not just hearsay or someone else's ideas. You might experience chastishment or resistance from those who may feel threathened by your change. You can be assertive in your resolve to be a Critical Thinker. You can also be gentle and patiently mindful that those resistors have been taught to think certain ways, and perhaps have never considered any other way of looking at it. They may consider their ideas sacredly synonomous with their former teachers.

    

Reading is Thinking Too

My mother thought reading was important. Still does. She is 79 years old and probably the most prolific reader in our 50 member family. When I was a kid Mother would visit the library to make sure the "Bookmobile" was going to come by our house during the summer months. Reading has always been part of my life, and is largely responsible for the way I Think.

When you are reading, you are thinking the words you are reading AND you are having thoughts about the words you are reading. You are thinking these words;the words on this page. Read these sentences out loud. "My thinking determines how I feel and what I do. My thinking is my reality. I think every moment of every day. I can learn to think thoughts that make my life truly happy and content." You read those words, you said those words and you thought those words.

You have read words that caused you to feel comforted, or humored or angry or whatever. Your thoughts were directed by the words you were reading. Reading is thinking. If you are trying to get a direction for your thinking, trying to "slow your thinking" or trying to learn how to think a certain way, I suggest you read/read/read/read. If you "hate to read" and therefore do not, I suggest you get out of your self-imposed limitation and prison of your own narcissism by picking up something worthwhile to read.

Reading thoughts that have been written is thinking too. Go ahead and do some classical thinking by reading a classic.

Thinking Dark and Seeing Light: Nope

By now you realize the principal theme of this blogging effort. Thinking certainly determines a lot of what you might consider your life. The fact is so obvious that we tend to move quickly past it, and into more complicated aspects of living. But, let's get back to basics in this post. Thoughts are your world. So, if you are going to have bright days, you will  need bright producing thoughts.

You cannot think positively and feel negatively. You cannot believe and not believe at the same time. We can believe some things and disbelieve other related things. Like for instance, you may believe some things in the Bible, but not everything. You cannot think negatively and feel positively, think good and act bad.
                                                
                                                          "As a man thinks so is he."

Quit blaming your darkness on something other than your thinking.

Wait a minute. We interrupt this Blog to point out this VERY IMPORTANT TRUTH. There are times when what I just wrote is NOT TRUE. You may be feeling very dark, blue, sad, down and hopeless. You have tried positive mental attitudes and positive cognitive exercises to no avail. There are times when nothing we think can alleviate our darkness and depression. We are clinically depressed and need help. There are times when endogenous depression has us in its grip and we need a pharmaceutical intervention.

Having said that important truth, I will return to the most common manufacturer of misery.....thoughts. Once again, we cannot think crazy and live sanely. We cannot be sober and drunk at the same time. Learn how to think thoughts that produce the kind of life that you want. Be aware of those thoughts that make you miserable, sad, anxious and  irritable, and replace them. There is no short cut and no easier way.

The good news is that we actually have such control over how we respond to life and determine, to a large extent, how we feel on a day-to-day basis.  

Bill's Thinking is Everything Blog: Preview "Thinking Dark and Seeing Light: Nope"

Bill's Thinking is Everything Blog: Preview "Thinking Dark and Seeing Light: Nope"

Paying Attention to Your Mind at this Moment

     This information comes from a link that I like at Wildmind Buddist Meditation.
Remember I said that I like Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness.

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; On purpose, in the present moment, and
nonjudgmentally.” Kabat-Zinn, if you haven’t heard of him, is a famous teacher of mindfulness meditation and the founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

     First of all, mindfulness involves paying attention “on purpose”. Mindfulness involves a conscious direction of our awareness. We sometimes (me included) talk about “mindfulness” and “awareness” as if they were interchangeable terms, but that’s not a good habit to get into. I may be aware I’m irritable, but that wouldn’t mean I was being mindful of my irritability. In order to be mindful I have to be purposefully aware of myself, not just vaguely and habitually aware. Knowing that you are eating is not the same as eating mindfully.

     Let’s take that example of eating and look at it a bit further. When we are purposefully aware of eating, we are consciously being aware of the process of eating. We’re deliberately noticing the sensations and our responses to those sensations. We’re noticing the mind wandering, and when it does wander we purposefully bring our attention back.

     When we’re eating unmindfully we may in theory be aware of what we’re doing, but we’re probably thinking about a hundred and one other things at the same time, and we may also be watching TV, talking, or reading — or even all three! So a very small part of our awareness is absorbed with eating, and we may be only barely aware of the physical sensations and even less aware of our thoughts and emotions. Because we’re only dimly aware of our thoughts, they wander in an unrestricted way. There’s no conscious attempt to bring our attention back to our eating. There’s no purposefulness.

     This purposefulness is a very important part of mindfulness. Having the purpose of staying with our experience, whether that’s the breath, or a particular emotion, or something as simple as eating, means that we are actively shaping the mind. Left to itself the mind wanders through all kinds of thoughts — including thoughts expressing anger, craving, depression, revenge, self-pity, etc. As we indulge in these kinds of thoughts we reinforce those emotions in our hearts and cause ourselves to suffer.

     By purposefully directing our awareness away from such thoughts and towards some “anchor” we decrease their effect on our lives and we create instead a space of freedom where calmness and contentment can grow.

The Most Important KIND of Thinking

     Think about what you think about.

     You have no doubt heard, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." Idle mind? Probably means not thinking about what you are thinking about....or simply being unaware of what you are thinking.

    "Penny for your thoughts". A question that often comes to us as we stare off into space, as if we are in the deepest kind of thought. Our usual response? "Huh? I don't know."

     One of the many things I admire about Buddist philosophy is the concept of "Mindfulness". I like Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness.


                         “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way;
                          On purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”

     It is vitally important that we pay attention to what we are thinking, since our thinking determines our feelings and behaviors. Our life is our thinking. We would not neglect a small child, leaving him or her unattended. Neither should we leave our mind, our thinking, unattended. I will soon post a full article related to Kabat-Zimm's definition of mindfulness.

     Notice the Video Collections related to Critical Thinking, which is found in the Gadget "The Most Important Kind of Thinking. AND, I would challenge you to become a better thinker by learning how to think more critically. Critical thinking has nothing to do with being negative or critical of others or ideas. It is a way of thinking that seeks truth more than anything else. There is freedom in the truth and there is joy in the unbiased hunt for it. 

Ever Figure College Costs?

Take a calculator and go to work on costs of college. Not Harvard or Yale or Duke, but a state university. Before you are through, you will have a sore hand and a tired mind. And maybe feel a little panicky. Those warnings about how quick they grow up and how expensive college is going to be when they graduate from high school come home to roost. There are any number of ways to think about the challenge of funding college, if you are like most people who live from pay check to pay check and have only thought of saving for college as a great idea, but unrealistic.

Funding college is only one of thousands of challenges we face in a lifetime. Each day brings routine problems or heavy duty difficulties and dilemmas. Nothing has changed. Life has always been this way. The challenge on the front end involves making decisions that lead away from disaster. Like the request of the Lord's Prayer,"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil", we can make intelligent choices that work in our favor, preventing many avoidable trials. Critical thinking is invaluable at this point. Getting competent counsel is also
important.

How we think about life that swirls around us and in us is the most critical issue. The two attitude mountains of positive and negative ultimately determine the outcome of many problems. We cannot control life, but we have absolute and final control over our thinking about life. In fact, our brain perceives and defines every event of our lives. Our thinking is the key that unlocks positive possibilities or, in fear, shuts the door and hides. The problem is not funding college, unless your thinking tells you it is. Funding college is not impossible
unless your thoughts take you down that negative street. "Everything is possible to him who believes" (Jesus), and Believing is a way of thinking.

The Budda said,What we think, we become.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.
- The Buddha

When we grasp the significance of what Jesus and Budda said, when we believe what they said, our entire approach to life can change and we can know empowerment that comes from within our
psyche.

Thrilling really.