An innate part of the human condition is entrapment in our own thoughts. Like it or not, we are subject to the despotic whims and will of our thoughts and emotions. We get caught up in the vortex of our minds and most often do not even realize it. Thoughts and emotions pull us along like a team of wild horses galloping out of control, whipped on by the fury of emotions. However, believe it or not, we are suppose to be the driver in control, but somewhere along life's roadways, we handed over the reins.
Everything that goes through our heads in any one twenty-four hour period is taken very seriously. We rarely bother to pause and question the logic of it, or the likelihood of such imagining coming true. Emotions and thoughts that pop into mind are taken as the gospel truth. We automatically assume that if we are thinking it, it must be so. We lose perspective and are unable to even consider other possibilities or choices because the mind is so in the grip of its mental chatter.
For instance, you might worry about how you are going to pay your bills this month, given your limited income and the total amount of what you have to pay out. In your imagination, you see the limited amount of money in your bank account on one side, weighed against the stack of bills on the other side. You spend days on end worrying about this dilemma, turning yourself into a wreck, totally forgetting that this is your birthday month, and your parents, siblings, relatives, and maybe even friends, perhaps children, too, are going to give you some cash as birthday gifts. Perhaps not every one of them will present cash as a gift, but a few of them likely will. And the amount of cash you receive will more than help you meet your expenses for the month.
But the mind plays tricks on you. You've spent way too much time and energy in needless worry. When you open those birthday cards, and the checks and cash start falling out, don't you feel like a fool?
That is only one example. Countless other examples exist that could support my position. But aside from that, since when did worry ever solve a problem? Nevertheless, we all foolishly engage in it.
So much negative chatter holds us in its grip, and we are unaware of how we have given it total power over us, actually over our very lives. We tend to take this chatter as the absolute, unchanging truth. But it is possible to change the situation. It is possible to see these thoughts and feelings as mere `happenings' or `events' that appear in our heads and then pass away. We can take a stance from which we may simply observe such happenings or events at a distance. In doing so, we automatically create more mental space around this mental chatter, and gain a broader perspective. Instead of thoughts and feelings carrying us along, like logs over rough waters, we can see or experience ourselves as producing them under specific conditions and having options about how we choose to respond to them.
"Choose" or "choice" is the key here. Generally, we are victimized by so much of what goes through our heads. But in merely becoming the observer of what is happening, without necessarily reacting to the demands of such thoughts and feelings, we are able to achieve a measure of liberation. All that is required is standing back, observing, and allowing that mental space to be created in which we can then have `choice' as to how we wish to react.
Of course, reaction is sometimes demanded and should be responded to. In fact, sometimes a very quick reaction is required. For instance, when danger is present, a quick reaction may be prompted by the picture that pops into mind. If you don't jump out of the way fast enough, that oncoming car will kill you. Generally though, this type of scenario only occurs once in a rare while. Most often, mindful observance of specific thoughts and feelings that pass through our heads on a daily basis only requires mere notice, without any reaction. It also provides a wonderful learning opportunity for the observer as to how one's mind operates, especially as regards those habitual patterns of emotionally charged memories or thoughts.
One thought leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another, and so on, and in no time, you have become upset or angry. It is worthwhile to stand off and look at that to see how one thought morphed into the other, and how it emotionally dragged you along. In this way, the emotional hold of this thought pattern over you is weakened, and over time will simply disappear. You do not have to analyze it or bother yourself by trying to determine when or why the thought pattern started. All you need do is stand back and observe, without judgment and without labeling. Just be the disinterested observer.
