The majority of them are pointless, not true, and not even tangible.
40-60 thousand thoughts in a day, give or take. If we were to give equal weight to each one of those thoughts, we wouldn’t be able to function, and so, our brain focuses on the scariest ones to keep us “safe.”
Now “safe” - for the most part, for most people in todays society, “safe” has evolved past the lion in the trees, or the immediate fear of physical harm (of course, there are millions currently facing genocide and who are seeking primal “safety” - a prayer for our troubled times).
But for the majority of us, what we focus deeply on is the one thing that went wrong - like, if you got a 99 on a test, you will likely always remember the one question you missed - “Adriatic Sea, not mediterranean - idiot!”
Or we focus (obsess) on the one thing we don’t want to happen.
They say depression is a harboring on the past and anxiety is a harboring in the future. I don’t have to be the person who tells you to be present - you already know it. It’s what you’re seeking with pretty much every action you take- some sort of arrival into presence.
So, for us over thinkers who obsess on what happened or might happen, how do we find relief?
For me, when in the rut of think think think, what nourishes and stills my mind is some wisdom I got from a beautiful holy man in life. He says, “When we think and think it’s because we don’t trust. We don’t trust ourselves, we don’t trust our gods (whichever ones serve you or we serve).”
This lack of trust is our lack of safety. We want to control. And control is in direct conflict with trust. With allowance, with ease.
When I’m trapped in thinking I remind myself how much I am not trusting and how desperately I am controlling. This reminder usually brings ease and spaciousness to the moment.
That spaciousness is where peace begins.
xo
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