Take a few moments out of your life, wander out on a limb and notice what happens when you think. Do you ever stop? Have you ever tried to stopped thinking? Eastern philosophy says that it takes discipline to do so -- in the form of meditation -- when the thoughts enter, you immediately release them and let them go -- thereby staying in the moment. What does that mean??? Does thinking involve moving in and out of time segments rather than staying in the moment? What do you notice about your thinking patterns?
What sorts of things do you think about? Are thoughts like branches -- they sprout out from a central spot and then grow out to the limits and then stop or are they like roads -- taking us places and never ending -- traveling the distance. What types of thinking can one do? Critical thinking? Self-reflective thinking? Creative Thinking? Analytical thinking? Rudimentary thinking? What happens when you think too much? What happens if you can't seem to think? How long can you go without thinking? Does thinking have to be coherant? Does it have to arrive at a conclusion or can it simply wander aimlessly -- meandering through time and place?
Where does your mind take you?
Is your thinking a cadillac or a ferrari, a volkswagon or a hearse?
Is it blue in tone or red hot?
Does it stop and start or does it loop continuously?
How much can our thinking be controlled?
How do thinking and intution differ?
Do you censor your thinking?
Have you ever wondered...
what people who do routine jobs think about as they're doing them?
- farmers out in the field
- late night janitors
- the sick and lonely patients in a hospital room
- old folks in a nursing home who have not had visitors for years
- a homeless man without friends
- child walking home from school alone
- monk in a monastery
- writer with writer's block
- estranged married couple silently eating in a restaurant never exchanging a word
What are your thoughts?
I've always known that I live inside my head, at the cost of not always experiencing what is in front of me. Now, maybe because of age, having lost dear friends or people I admire, I am taking the time to savor my time with love ones, friends, and people I come in contact with.
ReplyDeleteI've been touched by people to whom I've never told how they touched me or at the time, I just did not know. Like the time my work place almost burned to the ground. Several of my co-workers offered to take 1 extra day off a week so I would not loose my job. I was a single mother at the time, this gift was invaluable. Luckily it did not come to that for any of us. I've never forgotten this grand act of selflessness.
My joy at being with a small little girl who captured my heart on the day of her birth, and who holds my happiness in her little hands. One day I will tell her.
I think constantly, can't stop, don't want to stop. I question, because why accept everything as it has been, or is right now. I always think what if? Why not? Why now? What can I learn from this? See, can't stop thinking.