What are you thinking? Are you even thinking of anything? Sure you are, or you must be by now, but are they your thoughts or is something else controlling them? If I were to say something like …Ice Cream… or even Ice Cream Sandwich …or better yet Ice Cream Sunday would that change your mind? No? What if I added something like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, or even peppermint stick? What about vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce and whip cream? … and a cherry on top? Think about this and I will go find a bowl. … and a spoon, … SPRINKLES!!!
I’m not going to keep talking about Ice Cream so you will just have to get past it and think about something else. Certainly it was on your mind at least a little bit, or maybe you have a spoon in your hand right now. But seriously, I woke up this morning with this thought in my head that led to other thoughts which led to this discussion of whether or not our thoughts were actually ours. I mean, are all the thoughts manifested by our mind ours or can they be manipulated by other means. For instance, I wanted to sleep this morning, but my alarm clock kept going off and because of that I changed my thought from sleep to I need to get up. Certainly I was ultimately in control of that alarm, but it was the alarm that made me think of getting out of bed and getting ready for work.
Lets try this … I’m driving down the road eating a double cheese burger I just picked up at the drive thru and I see an attractive woman running wearing a sports bra and super tight yoga pants. I am no longer interested in my super greasy cheese burger, in fact I am pretty sure this woman not only forced me to obey the speed limit but she made me think that maybe I need to … exercise a little more and take up running, or at least jogging … ok, that is a walking path too. I don’t even look good in yoga pants, plus I over paid for this cheeseburger.
Our thoughts are so easily manipulated and certainly effortlessly distracted by even the simplest things and these minds of ours take much more effort to keep on track than it takes to lead them astray. When we see or think about spiders or ants we can be fooled to think that we feel them crawling all over us. When people attend a wedding they begin to think about their own happiness, and when they attend a funeral they think about how much time they have left. Our thoughts must be one of the most manipulated aspects we have and are targeted by everyone from fortune 500 companies and politicians to cancer survivors and anti something groups. Just think about it, our thoughts are so easily fooled yet it has been this same ability to think that has created everything we use in this world.
Such a powerful mind so brilliant at times, yet so week and able to change on the turn of a dime. We can go from a pleasant uplifting mood to agitated and angry with just the snap of the fingers merely by placing something in our minds to think about that changes our mood. Even the strongest man can go from happy to developing tears just by giving him something really sad to think about. We can manipulate ones thinking by our words, our actions, or even how we dress. If I was sitting at the bar watching a boxing match and a woman walks by with a very nice red blouse I would certainly change my thought from this is a good fight to I am so married and that right there is nothing but trouble.
How many times have you asked someone why they did something and their reasoning was simply “I don’t really know”? There are so many people who make a living out of manipulating our thoughts, and so many others who take advantage of us by doing the same. It’s all around us from the display in the window at the shopping center to the ads popping up on our social networks. We can start out thinking one way and easily be persuaded to think the other, sometimes without us even realizing it. You know Yawwwning isn’t really contagious but it is very effective when it comes to making you think about yawning. See … it can be that easy.
One of the attributes that separates us from all the other animals in this world is our mind, and of course our opposing thumbs, but it is our thoughts that certainly makes us much more than a mere monkey, at least most of us. This mind we have been blessed with can create so many beautiful and dangerous things yet it is even weaker than our emotions. Certainly some of us are better at keeping on track than others but even the best of us have to work hard a not allowing others from changing our minds. Sometimes it is like trying to drive a car that steers itself and you have to just keep stopping to try to control what the car is doing, eventually you would feel unsafe in that car and frustrated leading you to just want to get out and walk, or maybe jog, or take a run with that lady earlier. I don’t even know what I am saying anymore, I can think right now. I need another cup of coffee in order to think straight this early in the morning.
Let me know if you change your mind.
nutsandboltsfit 