The Nature of our Thinking Mind

Some time ago, I was blessed with a new and incredibly beautiful way to be with life challenges. This awakening came after the death of my mother. Not long after her passing, my husband Richard and I began to travel, looking forward to retreating from worldly demands. We packed up our RV and truck and set out for Mendocino, California, thinking this would be a time of quiet and rest.

But the longer we were there, the more depressed I became. One morning I was lying in bed listening to the ocean nearby and simply could not come out of the deep despair I was in. As I lay there, the wisdom of my inner voice came to me: “Look at the value of your thoughts. How are your thoughts serving you? What are your thoughts serving?”

Without needing further explanation, I knew how to apply this information. I began with the very first thought that was feeding my depression at that moment and began asking myself questions about it. Questions like: How does this thought make me feel? Does this thought give me joy? Is this thought worth being absorbed in when there is greater ease without it? Do I want to spend my life devoted to this thought? I was careful to answer each question in depth. One of the important questions I asked was: What would be there if that thought was not there? My answer was—Peace.

Of course, there are many diverse questions one could ask, depending on their situation. The focus is to dis-empower the thought that is holding us prisoner. My experience has been that the more truthful I am about the thought, the more the darkness and depression begins to lift and a happier healthier me begins to re-emerge. It is our “story” that we keep telling ourselves that imprisons us, and by dissecting the value of the thoughts around the story, the prison bars begin to drop away and make room for a brighter day.

Not long ago I was with a client who was having great difficulty with a neighbor, and she made it very clear she needed to end the conflict, as it was making her sick. When I spoke to her about her thought processes, she was a bit hesitant to proceed, as she told me that she understood that “thoughts are things” and that it did not help her to know that. After a little discussion explaining that this was a unique way to see our thoughts, she agreed. And so, we did a complete question and answer session where we were ruthless about unveiling the nature and direction of her thinking. As we proceeded through our inquiry, the power of the perceived adversary began to dissipate. She began to lighten up considerably as she made the discovery that what she was feeding through her thinking was the source of her unhappiness.

What is your thought serving—happiness or unhappiness, anger or ease, wisdom or foolishness, lack or abundance?

If you want a more in-depth understanding of this process, you can find it in my book: “Hotep,” which is sold on Amazon. Our very state of mental and emotional environment depends on our willingness to take a look at how we use our thinking processes. Our freedom lies in the ability to be the director of our thoughts and not the servant to them.