Our thoughts shape us

Thoughts are formed in the mind, the mind makes us experience them and the experiences become facts. So in a way, our thoughts are shaping our future.

If we run positive thoughts, happy thoughts in our mind it definitely reflects in our life . Especially during this pandemic, we should have a flow of beautiful, constructive thoughts which would ebb the negativities of the situation.

Another throwback from a lovely vacation last year made me think was it really the situation which made me feel happy or the thoughts that I am on a vacation, I am in a beautiful place and I have no stress bought this smile on my face.

The two aspects are so interlinked that it’s difficult to see the thin line of demarcation.

The venue, ambiance, and company of people does affect our thoughts. We would not be angry or sad when amongst a group of great friends and some situations such as at the workplace or in some relations would give us stressful thoughts.

Hence we have made the mind a slave to the situations. A pretty situation evokes happy thoughts and any not so pretty situation can create thoughts of stress and unhappiness.

In reality, it’s the frame of mind which really matters. If in this picture, at that moment I would have run a trail of negative or angry thoughts the face in the picture would have expressed something else.

Situations and experiences are created by thoughts They are the expressions of our inner thoughts. If in the worse of situations we learn to think right, think positive we would see the positive side of that situation.

Then the question arises that how is it possible not to be stressed out in a stressful situation, how to not be fearful in a fearsome situation and how to control our anger and hatred when in a bad relationship.

Whatever we believe in becomes facts for us. We repeatedly keep thinking in the same direction and make the belief strong, strong enough to become a fact and that is what we experience.

Repeated thinking on the same line makes us choose that thought over others. It is rare that a person would think positive at the first go, it’s generally a negative thought which comes to the mind first.

So how do we overcome this? By changing the thoughts, by breaking this chain of thoughts. Repeated thinking produces a feeling, a feeling of happiness, sorrow, anger, resentment anything is experienced because of the chain of thoughts we produce in a particular situation or by looking at a specific person.

So the bad feelings should go away which is possible when those thoughts go away. And this is possible because thoughts can be changed as they are the product of our mind, they are just created in our mind.

And how is that possible, it’s simple. By controlling our thoughts, once the thoughts change the feelings change. Easier said than done! But this is what we should all try and strive for.

Every time we get the feeling of anger, fear, panic, resentment or for such negative emotion starts building up we should divert the mind and start thinking and building up emotions. It is like the mind is a naughty child which has to be constantly diverted from the mischievous acts and kept busy to be kept out of mischief.

The proverb an “empty mind is the house of the devil” is so true. The minute our mind has no thoughts by default the negative thoughts start creeping in. We need to learn the art of keeping them away and fill the mind with positive, happy thoughts so that our feelings and in turn our experiences in our life are happy.

So the whole focus should be on changing thoughts, to change our future.

When we learn to create peace, and harmony and balance in our mind we learn to create that in our lives too.