(Stillness in the Storm Editor) Who are you? Are you your feelings? Are you your thoughts? Are you your desires? What makes you, you? These are essential questions that make us think about things we often take for granted. Identity describes your sense of self, based on what you choose to invest yourself in. If you think you are your thoughts, desires, or instincts, then they’ll dominate your decision-making process. But it’s important to remember that there are layers to your being. Life is about growth and evolution, which often involves identifying with things in one phase of our lives, only to change later. If you identify with the wrong things, you can be led astray, creating drama and problems for you and others.
Everyone has thoughts. Everyone thinks about things, responds and reacts to situations in their environment. Additionally, everyone has desires and compulsions.
Let’s face it, we’ve all had desires or thoughts we weren’t proud of. We’ve had moments where we yearn for something that we know isn’t good for us, but we want it anyway.
The simple fact that you can have a desired come into your mind that you don’t necessarily want to act on provides a point of proof for what I would call the grand purpose to all life: the quest to be the best version of yourself you can be, the quest for perfection of being.
Many cultures all over the world have acknowledged this urge to seek to be our best. This quote comes from the Judeo-Christian religion.
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ~ Matthew 5:48, The Bible.
To be clear, I don’t mean being a perfectionist—which is someone who is forever dissatisfied with themselves for not achieving their lofty goals. Yearning for perfection is different because you acknowledge the simple truth that you can take responsibility for your life, and in doing so, work to make better and better choices that give you better results. This means the most important thing is to try your best with everything you have. What actually happens, as a result, is secondary, the important thing is that you gave it you’re all. Thus, one on the path of perfection is deeply satisfied with themselves because the only thing they really were trying to do is be their best. That said, someone on this path also seeks for the truth, especially about the fruits of their labors, so they can improve their processes.
How does one gain perfection?
There’s a lot to cover in answering this question substantively. For now, I’ll give you the answer I’ve been developing and let you ponder that on your own.
We gain perfection, we evolve and grow, as souls and as people, through exploring ideas and consciousness. In order to do that, we’ve been endowed with a mind capable of thinking about a great many things. This means, all the thoughts you have are important because they help you discover who you are. But they aren’t you.
Life is designed to draw us toward adventure and exploration. We have a deep biological urge to explore, neurologically part of the exploratory mechanism. What’s interesting is that in the act of exploring the outer world, you also explore yourself.
In order to know thyself, an ancient calling, one seeks the truth. When new information is absorbed, something deep within, something that was asleep before, comes alive within us.
Most of us think that this internal realm of ideas, desires, thoughts, and feelings is who we are. But that’s not really the case. It is certainly part of who we are, but it’s more like a tool we have than the core essence of our being.
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Think about your consciousness, especially the theater of your mind—the part where you observe your thoughts and feelings—as an organ of your body.
Are you your finger? If you lose your finger in a tragic accident, does that mean you aren’t you anymore? To be sure, you’re different, but the essence of you is still there.
What about your thoughts and feelings? Are they really you or is that like an appendage?
If you’re triggered one day because you lost a loved one or your job, something worthy of being upset over, doesn’t that affect your thoughts and desires?
Have you ever been angry and thought of doing something horrible in the heat of the moment? Most people have. It’s called rage or wrath. But when you calm down, these intense feelings dissipate.
What happens if you identify with these strong negative feelings? They’ll linger. They’ll anchor themselves in your being such that you’ll be more likely to get angry in the future.
The following article discusses the psychology behind this phenomenon of identifying with our thoughts.
The short answer: You aren’t your thoughts, feelings, desires, or worst moments. These things help you discover who you truly are, but they aren’t you.
In this sense, we’re all caterpillars seeking to be butterflies. The journey of life is one of exploration. Our consciousness presents us with things to consider and contemplate. We decide, through free will, what things we want to feed energy into.
Philosophy is the tool we use to analyze meanings and make choices about who we want to be. This requires clear and critical thinking along with time to do so. In the modern world, do we give ourselves this time? Are you giving yourself the time you need to think carefully about your life and how you want to live it?
As a play on an age-old adage, the wolf we feed is the one that grows big and strong.
Think of yourself as a gardener of consciousness. What aspects of yourself do you want to nurture and grow? What should be pulled out like a weed so it can no longer hold you back?
If you think of your thoughts and feelings as tools of self-exploration, then you’re less likely to identify with them by accident.
Once you learn this skill with great acuity, all of life’s challenges can be overcome with progressive ease and good cheer. You become the conductor of your life instead of a passenger.
The great spiritual masters of the ages all possessed the ability to grow through their self-directed action. An autodidact is one who can self teach or self-learn. They can also, self-grow.
In this way, we are each artisans of our own being. But if you don’t learn how to use this power wisely, you’ll unconsciously create a hellish venomous and hateful version of yourself. One that you can’t stand, and no one else wants to be around either.
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Now you know. You’re not ignorant anymore. You can take this knowledge and use it to become who you truly want to be. Just remember, who you are is far beyond your dreams and desires of today. Don’t let these block you from your true destiny.
It won’t be easy. You’ll have to learn how to embrace your shadow side as well as your light side. The shadow contains all the parts of us we try to hide and suppress. It also contains everything we will become in a good way but have yet to discover.
Head this call for growth. Learn how to navigate your being and realize the core of who you are is like a small still point of light at the center of your being. From that inner sun, your will lashes out like a solar flash, quickening your being to take action. Everything about you is much more fluid and changeable than we’ve been lead to believe. Once you realize this, life opens up and dreams that we dared not to dream can become possible
Read more articles by Justin Deschamps.
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– Justin
(Explore Your Mind) We can’t control other people’s actions and behavior. But it turns out that controlling your own thoughts and internal dialogue can have a huge impact on your well-being. Keep reading to find out why.
Related Occult Expert Breaks Down the Science of MIND CONTROL Methodology, Satanic Ritual Abuse Part 1
by Staff Writer, February 6th, 2019
You get to work and say good morning. Everyone answers you except for one guy, who doesn’t even turn to look at you. Immediately, your mind kicks into overdrive. “What’s wrong with him? Did I do something and he’s mad at me? But what? Maybe I annoyed him in the meeting the other day… But I didn’t say anything personal, it was just a professional opinion. No, I’m sure it’s not that. Then, what? He’s just rude?”
It’s that easy to fall into a vicious cycle of rumination. You turn something over and over in your head, and can even make yourself sad, angry, or nervous with these thoughts. Is there even anything happening with your coworker? Maybe he didn’t answer because he was concentrated on his work. Maybe he didn’t even hear you. So why do our minds do this? What role do our thoughts play in making us feel bad? Keep reading to find out…
“…there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet–
Is the situation itself upsetting you or just the way you’re interpreting it?
As a general rule, when you experience negative emotions you blame them on concrete situations or others’ actions. You believe that you’re upset because of things that are out of your control. In other words, you assign external causal attributions to your feelings.
You get mad because your coworker didn’t say good morning. That is something you can’t control. What if instead of focusing on other people’s reactions, you try to regulate your own emotions? The one thing you can control is how you interpret the things that happen around you.
So what does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that you didn’t get mad because something external, out of your control, happened to you. Your interpretation of the situation was what made you mad. You thought that your coworker didn’t answer you because he’s annoyed with you or because he’s a jerk. Who wouldn’t feel upset about these kinds of thoughts? However, if you look at it objectively, there is no real reason to be mad about what happened.
What if you had different thoughts instead of negative ones? What if you thought “He probably didn’t even hear me” or “He’s really focused on what he’s doing, it’s nothing personal”. Do you think you’d still be upset? Obviously not. In fact, you probably wouldn’t have been bothered in the least. This is the perfect illustration of the role that your thoughts play on your mood and your well-being.
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Do your thoughts reflect reality?
Thoughts can influence your mood even if they aren’t realistic. The fact is that most of us don’t often ask ourselves if what we think is real or not. We just believe ourselves, and that’s it. So, even if your coworker has absolutely no problem with you, you think that he does, and that thought becomes a fact in your mind. You get angry as if there were actually a reason to do so.
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
-Malcom Forbes-
So why does your mind work this way? Well, in general, human beings need to know why things happen. If we don’t have enough information about the facts, different biases come into play and we draw our own conclusions. These conclusions, however, might not be the most realistic ideas. Along with that come negative emotions that wouldn’t be necessary if we could align more with reality.
No one teaches you that what you believe might be wrong. If you can learn to question your internal dialogue, you’ll be able to regulate your emotions more effectively. In fact, the influence your thoughts have on your mood can be a positive thing. How? Replace your negative ideas and internal dialogue with positive self-instruction!
This article is the first in a series of five articles about managing the things that go through your mind. The truth is that it isn’t easy. However, with a little effort and commitment, you can make it happen. The first step is understanding and internalizing the influence that your thoughts have on your mood. That way, you’ll be aware of the importance of questioning yourself and changing the thoughts that don’t reflect reality. Don’t believe everything you think. You’ll be happier for it!
Images courtesy of Roberto Nickson.
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Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
Psychology is the study of the nature of mind. Philosophy is the use of that mind in life. Both are critically important to gain an understanding of as they are aspects of the self. All you do and experience will pass through these gateways of being. The preceding article provides an overview of this self-knowledge, offering points to consider that people often don’t take the time to contemplate. With the choice to gain self-awareness, one can begin to see how their being works. With the wisdom of self-awareness, one has the tools to master their being and life in general, bringing order to chaos through navigating the challenges with the capacity for right action.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
Source:
https://exploringyourmind.com/dont-believe-everything-you-think/
Where are the other articles or are they not out yet.