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Hi Thinking Mechanic-ians, It has been awhile since our last post. Naughty Thinking Mechanics! We are sorry. This post is a smattering of thoughts about...yep, you guessed it, thinking. We talk a lot about thoughts and thinking. This post is to help remind us all why it is such an important area of our lives.
Our thoughts are the furnace that create so much of our life experience. They dictate the "temperature" of our lives (continuing the furnace analogy). We are what we think as the saying goes and this is more accurate than many people may give credit. Our thoughts are not vaporous, inconsequential, pulses of nothingness that suddenly appear in our heads and then just evaporate having achieved nothing at all. In fact, the opposite is true. If you think about how much you think you will realise that so much of our existence includes thinking. We think a lot. It seems interesting that we are so focused on counting our steps (10,000 every day please!!!) but yet we do not apply the same rigour to tracking out thought-walking (nice new term invented - you heard/read it here first). If you are one of the elite that complete 10,000 steps a day it means you have most probably travelled from one point to another and that you have been on somewhat of a journey with your day. This would have involved various activities and you most probably would have interacting with some other people as well. Taking stock of your 10,000 step day you may realise a fair amount was done and hopefully achieved. Good work. Now - let's look at what you did with your thoughts today.....erm, well...I...erm...I did think about what to have for lunch.....
At Thinking Mechanics we not only take stock of what we are thinking about...we consider our thoughts to be precious capsules of amazingness. Now, don't roll your eyes at that. Sounds all fluffy and cuddly - we know. The fact is though, they are. Thoughts are a vital aspect of our lives to track like we would our steps. The different is not so much how many thoughts we have, although this has some importance, it is more about tracking what the thoughts are that we are choosing to have. The underlying bedrock of Thinking Mechanics is that your mind does not know what to think - it believes whatever you tell it. Your - brain - is - not - that - clever. It doesn't generate your thoughts. You do. Your brain is, however, extremely effective and efficient at ensuring that whatever you think is backed-up (reinforced) and "proven" by the events that you experience in your life. So, a Matrix-movie moment - here goes...what you think about is directly correlated to the experiences that you subsequently encounter in your life. This is as opposed to the collective opinion that your experiences dictate what you think. You can choose what you think. Why is that important. Well, simply put - your life will be better. An example - as they always help make a point ; ) You are in the office at 8am. You are fresh, content, and looking forward to the day's events. You have a good chat to some colleagues, go and make a coffee, look at the news on your phone. 8.30am ticks around and you see a colleague has arrived who you need to speak to. You wonder up to their desk - say "morning" and notice they are eating some exotic looking thing that doesn't look like normal breakfast-like food. So, naturally, you ask "wow, what is that?" with genuine inquisitiveness. You are greeted with a response that completely changes your morning..."none-of-your-business!". After a moment you realise that walking away is probably the best option. Now - what happens - the thoughts appear...don't they? They range in intensity and in content from being quite nasty to being neutral. Your 11am meeting comes and you find yourself getting distracted by those thoughts that have returned. You are thinking about what your colleague said and wanting to respond in a way that makes them know how much you were offended by, what you felt, was an underserved reaction to a simple question. You go home annoyed and feeling that you should have said something. You get home and you are greeted with "hey, how was your day?" and that's when you let it go - bla bla blah blah. So, was it your colleague that made you act that way or was it the festering thoughts you had all day? Would the same day have manifested if you chose to think and focus on how good the rest of your day was and that one person's attitude would not steal you of your joy? Yep, see...thoughts are strong little critters that really have a rather potent strength in dictating how we feel but also how we then act and behave. Moral of the story? Don't ever underestimate the power of your thoughts. Used wisely your thoughts have the ability to be one of the most impactful elements in the opportunity YOU possess in changing the way you live...if that tickles your fancy of course.
Until the next time - when we chat about how thoughts are correlated to habits - take care of your thinking. Think well, and think good.
Chao - Chief Thinking Mechanic