“I’ve been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas … I just think about it.” ~ Steven Wright

We human beings are thinking machines. The adult human brain holds over 100 billion neurons (an amount roughly equivalent to the number of stars in our galaxy), and it has been estimated that roughly 70,000 thoughts a day race along those neural pathways at speeds of over 200 miles per hour. Our heads are literally filled with thoughts …

And this is not a bad thing at all. After all, on a primitive level, it is thought that allows us to “choose wisely” and thereby effectively navigate a world that is constantly changing and that frequently exposes us to various “dangers”. And on a more “advanced” level, it is thought that allows us to pause in any given moment and appreciate the Beauty of our surroundings — it is thought that allows us to Care for others ahead of ourselves.

No, thought itself is not the problem – it is our addiction to “STINKY THINKING” that harms us.

*Instead of calmly using conscious thought to choose a “good course of action”, we choose to worry about not having enough information to make such decisions.

*Instead of calmly using conscious thought to be thankful for our lives, we choose to critically analyze what is “wrong” with them.

*Instead of calmly using conscious thought to see the Good in others, we choose to gossip about their faults.

*Instead of calmly using conscious thought to set aside our fears and simply reach out to be Kind to strangers, we choose to be “cautious” (i.e. distanced & cold) around them.

*Instead of calmly using conscious thought to appreciate the spectacular wonders that surround us, we choose to be “bored” by all things familiar or “normal”.

*Instead of choosing to be consciously aware of our feelings about a certain situation, we get lost in ruminating about the sources of those feelings – what inspired them to resurface in our present and/or who caused them in our past.

We somehow believe that if we can just “figure life out”, then we can control the outcome of events. We somehow believe that if we can just “figure other people out”, then we can keep ourselves from being hurt. And we somehow believe that if we can just “figure ourselves out”, then we can be more successful, and therefore happier people.

Of course, most of you are already aware that this tactic simply doesn’t work …

It is literally impossible to think your way to a better life.

In fact, the addiction to “stinky thinking” is actually extremely detrimental to your physical, your mental and your emotional state of being.

The CONSEQUENCES of our Addiction to Thinking

*Negative thinking is the cause of all our EMOTIONAL SUFFERING … Indeed, it is impossible to revel in the joys of what IS while analyzing or debating or criticizing the same.

“Our pain comes from physical phenomena that happen to us; and yet our suffering is our psychological resistance to those happenings. Events may create pain, and yet they do not in themselves create suffering. It is our thinking that creates resistance to the disconcerting moments in our lives, and it is this resistance that creates our misery.” ~ inspired by Dan Millman

*Unfocused thinking causes our psycho-emotional “DEATH” long before we physically die … Indeed, it is impossible to truly LIVE your life unless you are consciously AWARE of doing so.

“There is so much more to life than wondering if there is more to life.” ~ unknown

*All forms of “stinky thinking” DESTROY INTIMACY in all of our relationships … Indeed, it is impossible to form real friendships unless we have the courage and the humility to set aside our thinking ABOUT the other in favor of doing Caring things FOR them.

“The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.” ~ Brian Tracy

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” ~ Jim Morrison

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen to simply touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” ~ Henri Nouwen

RECOGNIZING Your own ADDICTION to THINKING

Even the most chronically addicted substance abuser can go a few hours between “fixes,” and yet most human beings cannot abide even for a few seconds without some sort of “thought fix.” If there’s nothing Meaning-full to ponder, we just fill the void with fantasy or trivia or criticism or analysis or worry or regret or disdain.

And yet this does NOT have to be the case – we CAN free ourselves from our addiction to “stinky thinking” (more on this in the post that will follow this one). Of course, the very first step to dong so is identifying where such thoughts have infiltrated your own life.

*Do you daydream to improve your mood?

*Do you have difficulty purely concentrating on the task at hand?

*Do you replay recent conversations with others in your mind?

*Do you ever “lose track of the time”?

*Do you use thinking to keep you from feeling pain or discomfort?

*Do you analyze others behaviors?

*Do you internally criticize others’ appearance?

*Do you worry about your future?

*Do you wonder about “the Meaning of Life”?

*Do you analyze what “happened to you” in your youth?

*Are you self-critical?

*Are you nostalgic?

*Do you weight the pro’s & con’s of various alternatives before acting?

*Do you blame others for your disappointments?

*Do you ever feel guilty or ashamed or embarrassed?

*Can you stop thinking for longer than 30 seconds?

*Do you defend the “virtues” of thought?

*Are you regularly sad, disappointed or angry?

*Do you find yourself often completing a task on “auto-pilot”?

The questions that received “yes” answers from you have identified areas in your life where an addiction to thinking is harming you; areas that you can “reclaim” whenever you wish.

The next post will explain an effective method for doing so, and yet in the meantime, it is enough to simply do the following:

01) … RECOGNIZE that most of your thoughts are NOT serving you; that they are actually keeping you from living a life of real Peace and Happiness,

02) … REMEMBER that you are a conscious being; that even though it is difficult to “reclaim your mind”, it is possible to do so, and …

03) … READJUST your choices accordingly. Every time you catch yourself wandering into the hazy realm of thoughts that are either unfocused or negative, pause and return – to either a thought that is positive or an act that is Kind.

Now just go ahead and think about that for awhile … 😉

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” ~ Albert Einstein

“If you spend significant time thinking about a thing, you’ll never end up doing it.” ~ inspired by Bruce Lee

“In the final analysis, there is no other resolution for a man’s true progress but for his day’s honest decisions, his day’s generous utterances, and his day’s good deeds.” ~ inspired by Clare Luce