Thoughts can turn into things!
You are what you think!
As you think, so shall you be!
You think, therefore you are!
Your thinking shapes your destiny!
Well, to speak honestly, I am in no mood to rant and ramble about the ramifications of how your thoughts can turn into whatever you might be thinking!
I’m pretty sure that almost all of us, especially the cool youths of the nations, have come across these cool one-liners. Just ask any random group of smart-youths to speak on the subject of thoughts, and you will get tons of these “thought-provoking think-thoughts” rolling out from their smart tongues!
Well, it’s good. No doubt there. Our mind truly is a miracle magnet, attracting those things that we think; almost all the international bestselling books on self-help talk, in essence and in detail, about the miracles of the mind and the tremendous potent of our thoughts. Isn’t it?
But - oh yeah, that’s where the “but” comes in. Brace yourself up! - I want to zero in on deeper with a question: Do our thinking can really (yes, I mean “really”) shape us and our lives? Or, to put it more brazenly: Do we really (and here, too, I mean “really”) know how and what to think?
Before we possibly answer these debatable questions, let us meticulously look at the world we live in nowadays in the context of Information boom. Yes, with the advent of internet, information is available at the click of our fingers. Almost any information on any subject under and off the sun! You name it, and Google God will answer it with unabashed impunity! In the light of ever-increasing digital kingdom, our minds, undoubtedly, are susceptible to these digital waves. And so are our decisions. You might or mightn’t agree, but most of the decisions we take are based on our browser searches. What car to buy? Which college to enroll in? What clothes to wear? Or even, what spices to put in Paneer Pasanda!?!
In short, our mind is becoming more of an information storage house than a processing one. Information is slowly replacing intuition. Smart work is replacing hard work. When a father asked his son to think about what he would really like to do in his life, then, instead of introspection and talking with real people and mentors, he googled in the sentence: “What are the various types of hobbies and careers in the world?”!!
So, without digressing further, back to those two questions:
Q1. Do our thinking can really (yes, I mean “really”) shape us and our lives?
It can. Only if it is not a Wishful-Information-based Thinking. To elaborate, nowadays, most of us prefer internet as the first-hand information source. I am not against it. But the trouble is: most of us end up believing the internet-info to be absolutely true. And with so much information, our thoughts keep hopping like a ping-pong ball from one option to another! Today, you want to join a company, tomorrow, you read some highly-successful start up stories and suddenly your mind is shouting at you to open a start-up. Your thoughts are rushing along with your adrenaline. By the end of the week, you will have thought thousands of options. The result: we keep on saying to ourselves “Thoughts will turn into things!” yet, we are not “actually doing” anything for it. Mind you, it is not our wishful thinking that will actually work, but consistent thinking along with full-throttle, tangible, real-life actions that will work wonders. Actionable Thinking is the mantra.
Q2. Do we really (and here, too, I mean “really”) know how or what to think?
As said above, wishful thinking is not actually what you can call thinking. Sir Eckhart Tolle, the author of international bestseller, “The Power of Now”, puts it so beautifully when he says: We are not our mind. We are not even our thoughts. Yes, our mind is a wonderful tool and should be used only when required. Almost all thoughts either brood over the past or fly into the future creating “happy fantasies”! Only actions remain in the ‘now’. Yes, it is alright to plan for future. But don’t just keep on planning or thinking about your future excessively. Take actions now! Just imagine: if you keep on thinking wishfully to go on a vacation but do not take the necessary action to book a travel-ticket, can your “thoughts really become things”? So, think with a calm mind. Be analytical as well as intuitive in your thinking. Observe the real life around you (and not just the virtual life) which will have an impact your thinking process. And take actions in tune with your thoughts.
To conclude it all, we are blessed with a brilliant, intelligent organ known as mind. But that doesn’t mean that you will always ware brilliantly in your life. Instead of jamming your brain with medley of mundane things and stuffs, give your mind much-needed space to think in a productive way. Do not just base your decisions solely on your thinking. Think, take actions. Then think more and take more actions. Be in the now. Accept the truth that at times our thoughts, no matter how powerful and positive they have been, do not turn out the way we had thought out. But even then, sometimes, they do turn out better than we could ever think of! That is what life is all about. Full of tangy lemons although with a fair share of tasty lemonades!
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