Good morning/afternoon/evening and thank you for being you!!!
So, here is my million-dollar question for you: what do you think?
I’ll wait………..🤔
Oh, did you just counter my question with yet another question: Ummm, what do I think…ABOUT WHAT????
My apologies! Allow me to clarify this question by placing emphasis on the appropriate word with regards to what I’m truly asking you:
I’m not actually asking, “What do YOU think?”
I’m really asking, “What do you THINK??”
As in, what kinds of thoughts go through your head, all day, every day??
Interesting, right?!? Please take a moment and see what kinds of answers you can come up with. Whether you can recount pages of answers, because you have paid attention to your thoughts before, OR you seriously have no idea and/or you wonder why this is important, let’s explore this question together!! I promise you, it has the ability to be one of those “life-changing phenomena” for you, and for me, if we welcome this question into our lives.
In case you were unaware, I have been on a self-discovery journey for the past month or so. It started as my attempt to shed some light as to why I keep injuring my knees. I’m still waiting to schedule my third ACL Reconstructive Surgery as we speak so I sadly know this process all too well.
***If you’d like to know more about my knee saga or my reasons that led me to self-discovery, I would be honored if you would sift through my previous posts! I hope they answer your questions and bring you up to speed with this post today.***
In any case, I decided that a glimpse into my own being would be worthwhile. This means looking at what makes me…ME. Why I choose the things I do, behave the way I do, think the way I do, and so on. It’s a way to get under the surface of my own beliefs, values, morals, and personality traits and understand the “why” behind their presence within me.
Hi everyone! This is me. 😊
Knowing that our central nervous system has captured every single experience of our life from the day we were born until now – – – which means every trauma, every blissful moment, every fall, every highlight, every unpleasant encounter – – – we all CLEARLY have stored an abundance of memories in our minds, both positive and negative. And even though we may not necessarily “remember” every one of these memories, our central nervous system (OUR BRAIN!!) never forgets. And this is where my fascination between the conscious and the subconscious brain starts to unfold.
For me, if my brain and my body have never forgotten any of the trauma that they have gone through since my knee injuries and the five knee surgeries that followed, then is my subconscious mind continually worried (and therefore sending thoughts to me) about re-injuring my knees? It’s plausible, right? Because even though I CONSCIOUSLY feel strong and confident about moving forward, if my subconscious mind is afraid of it’s own shadow, that dichotomous perspective could be what is preventing me from breaking free. Because what we think, we tend to manifest, whether it’s thoughts from the conscious mind OR from the hush-hush (shhhh…) subconscious mind that we don’t even realize.
Which brings me back to my initial question. What do you and I THINK? Are our 60,000+ thoughts per day helping us to be our best selves or are they hindering/sabotaging our well-intentioned efforts?
Here is the bottom-line and THE MOST REPEATED, MENTIONED, FOLLOWED, AND APPLIED CONCEPT by every single great mind and influential figure that I have seen or whose work I have read and researched:
Are you ready? Please listen closely.
OUR THOUGHTS DICTATE OUR FEELINGS AND THEREFORE THE QUALITY OF OUR LIFE.
Did you get that?? Because it is POWERFUL. If our thoughts are running the Mercedes of life and we have no idea what thoughts are in the driver’s seat, then could that be why so many of us: swerve or veer off the course away from our goals; drive so slow or too fast due to fear, (afraid of what’s ahead or running from what’s behind); or why we perhaps crash unmercifully into an obstacle up ahead because we noticed it too late, even if it was there the entire time? It is a VERY high probability.
If you have ever heard anyone talk about the power of thought, then you already know how significant it is. If you still feel skeptical about what I’m conveying, allow me to give you a very simple example.
If an early childhood memory of yours was getting traumatically bitten by a neighborhood dog, you may develop a phobia surrounding all dogs. You had a terrible experience that stayed in the forefront of your mind and now you might think that every dog would potentially bite you. Same for the flip side: if you grew up with a dog, witnessing their unconditional love and tail-wagging happiness, you wouldn’t be so fearful of dogs. You perhaps would think that every dog is a product of their environment, loving them so much because of your own experience, and understanding why they might have the tendency to lash out at a human. The former person is driven by fear and the latter is driven by love and understanding, all based upon their own experiences.
More simply, you may think of dogs as vicious beasts OR as furry, adorable creatures. And it is these thoughts that produces the feelings that come up when a dog crosses your path. Whether your jaw clenches, your heart races, and you instantly start crossing the street to avoid it OR you get so excited, so happy to see it’s furry face, and you hope that the owner will let you pet their dog when they get closer. Two very different reactions and feelings with regards to the same dog. It all starts with the THOUGHT of the individual.
There is a quote by Greek Stoic Philosopher, Epictetus, that says “People are disturbed not by a thing but by their perception of a thing.” So, our reaction or feeling from something is based on our own individual interpretation of that thing, not from the thing itself. Same as my dog example from above. This shows how powerful our thoughts are because they shape and create our reality.
One of the books that I bought for self-discovery and self-reflection is on the Stoic Philosophy. Ryan Holiday, the author of many bestselling books, including “The Daily Stoic,” expresses the wisdom and self-power found within this philosophy. I was also directed to a podcast he has called “The Daily Stoic,” if you’d like to hear short yet inspiring nuggets of wisdom to open your mind to this perspective. I’ve loved listening to it every morning, especially because each podcast is maybe 1-4 minutes long and it starts the day with something to ponder. And something to wonder if applying that very principle to your life would create ease, freedom, or any beneficial change. It’s so inspiring, I highly recommend it to you!! And I, again, thank my friend, Steve, for the many recommendations he has given me. 🤗
Anyways, the main objective of the Stoic Philosphy is to release all outside circumstances that we have no control over and to focus on ourselves, our thoughts, and our reactions to our thoughts. Holiday has explained it as “seeing everything that happens to us as an opportunity to be better and to do better,” which I love and I want to learn how to do with more ease. I have definitely struggled with looking at my knee injuries with a positive spin in the past.
If we could all learn to adopt this thinking, imagine how that could shift so many things! Less suffering, less stress, less pain AND more flexibility with inevitable change, more control over yourself and your reactions, and therefore a better quality of life for each of us. It’s definitely something to strongly consider!!
ANYWAYS, circling back around to examining our thoughts, it takes practice to sit in the passenger seat in the Mercedes of life and observe the thoughts in the driver’s seat. The tools of Yoga allow this to be accessible as well as the practice of mindfulness and meditation. Rather than your brain conjuring dozens upon dozens of thoughts all at once, (throwing them at you and expecting you to catch/understand/utilize them, which can be so overwhelming!!), instead you can slow down, witness the thoughts, and find calm within yourself.
If Yoga and mindfulness is not a favorite of yours, then you could ask yourself “what am I thinking” throughout the day and record the answers that come up. Perhaps you will start to see patterns and repetitions and potentially uncover what detrimental thoughts are consistently appearing that you may not even have known.
However you wish to view your own thoughts, please do so. Because once we have a better understanding of our thoughts, we can start to choose more of the thoughts that serve us, serve our goals, and serve other beings AND we can also choose to let go of the thoughts that are disturbing our peace, ruining our progress, and sabotaging our goals/target/direction. And this is where the magic lies to OUR THOUGHTS DICTATE OUR FEELINGS AND THEREFORE THE QUALITY OF OUR LIFE.
Exploring our own thoughts and getting curious about what is there is crucial to becoming the best versions of ourselves. And the first step is becoming aware of the thoughts that we think which are driving the direction and the purpose of our lives and therefore the results that we create or don’t create…LIFE-CHANGING!!
Now, with full disclosure, this “thought examining” process is hard, tricky, unpleasant, and may share some insights about yourself that you may not be fond of. And the most advantageous thing we can do is to be willing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. To really allow ourselves to see what is there, giving us the power to change what we don’t like/need AND to keep/build upon what we do. The first step tends to be the most challenging or the longest stride, if you will, because starting from a complete stop takes a lot more effort, for example. Yet the more practice we do with observing our thoughts, the easier it becomes, assisted by useful realizations and the momentum to keep going forward towards greatness.
And with all this being said, I’d like to leave you with a little song to complete this particular post:
🎶It’s all about that THOUGHT, ’bout that THOUGHT, ’bout that THOUGHT, THOught, thought….🎵 If you hear that Meghan Trainor song I hope these new lyrics come to mind. 😉😁😉😁
Have a wonderful day/night!!! Thank you for sticking around and exploring LIFE=THOUGHTS=LIFE with me. 🙏🏼❤️