Sundays With Buddha

Week Three

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."       

                                                                                                                      --Buddha



I strongly believe that thoughts are things. If we constantly think negative downtrodden thoughts, we will become negative, downtrodden people. I realize there is a lot to ‘worry’ about in this world now. We all have our troubles. There are things we just must have to survive even the tiniest bit in this society. So, short of packing up the family  and going off on a mission of solitude and poverty, we must have money and materials. And find some sort of way to make that money to attain those materials. With the lifestyles that we have grown accustomed to, comes responsibilities that we sometimes fear we can’t keep up with. When those troubled time arise, we put ourselves through torture with our maddening, incessant thoughts.

How will I pay this bill? How am I going to make the house payment AND the car payment? What about the leak in the roof? You can torture yourself into a frenzy with your thoughts. You can create illness or greatness, calm or chaos. It feels impossible to shut off the mad carousel of your thoughts, which ultimately become feelings, like a switch. But, I think this is necessary to regain our sanity. When your thoughts are out of control, how do you feel? When you are overwhelmed with whatever it is that is troubling you, how do you feel?

Trapped, weighed down, lost, scared, sad, depressed, confused, moody, hateful, maybe?

How do those feelings make you act?  Much of the same, right?

Now, imagine the pleasure of taking control of these thoughts. Knowing that they hold no power over you, but what you allow them to have. Thoughts are indeed things, and may feel like they have a mind of their own at times, but they don’t, not if you don’t let them. You have power over your thoughts, and what you allow into your space, not the other way around.

I, as much as anyone, know how difficult it is to maintain a positive outlook when things seem to be traveling in the opposite direction that you believe they should. You may not always want to think positive when you're feeling low, but it really does help.

Maybe you could go and do something to take your mind off what's troubling you and clear your mind. Take a walk and get some fresh air to get away from it so you can focus on something else and calm the dreary thoughts in your head.

When you create for yourself  space in your mind it gives you room to work things out. Then maybe you'll feel like switching from negative thoughts to a more positive thought process.

So, if you can distance yourself from this thinking and take that walk to put things into perspective a little better, you come back more prepared to organize those overwhelming tasks into attainable goals.

Gaining control makes you feel a whole lot better, right? When you accomplish each goal successfully you may think, "I can do this. I am strong enough."

What happens when you think this way?

You become this way.

It seems unattainable, like waking up one day and deciding to become someone else. But why is that so far-fetched?  Deciding doesn’t have to mean you must change everything right at that moment. Deciding is the first step. There are many more to conquer after that. Patience is the key. There is no right or wrong way to move ahead in your change. You simply decide on what you want to change and you set forth a plan in motion. Our downfall comes from trying to be perfect all the time so as not to “disappoint” anyone, including ourselves. We often judge ourselves more harshly than anyone else ever would. That constant judgment also spoils the mind.

Nothing happens overnight, short of Divine Miracles (which have been known to happen from time to time, just so you know), but with habit forming encouragement, this can surely become a practiced way of life and you will begin to realize that what is happening for you is a miracle in itself.

If everyone took the time to cherish themselves in this way, and changed their thinking, we would love ourselves more, paving the way to loving each other more.

Wow...what a world we would live in.

 Here’s a breakdown of the quote into sections and a little of what I think each verse means.

We are what we think.

The power of thought is not to be underestimated. Whatever we think, we tend to believe as truth. What we believe as truth, we live out in our everyday existence as truth. By living this ‘truth’ everyday, we become what we believe to be true.

All that we are arises from our thoughts.

Whatever ‘truth’ has grown from our thoughts, we form as our reality; who and what we are, what we think, and our deepest and dearest beliefs. All of this bloomed from one tiny seed, one little kernel of thought. We nurtured it with more thought. And it grew. And we fed it more, thinking it into fruition. We grew a life with as many abundant branches as a tree, just by our thoughts.

With our thoughts, we make the world.

If we can nurture and grow this great tree of life for ourselves with our thoughts, and each of us does so, we end up with a forest.

I have read and seen examples of how thought can affect the world, both negatively and positively. The first flying machine was imagined into reality with a thought. Scores of music were written by first imagining the sound. Wars were waged, lost and won by dwelling upon the thoughts of tactics.  Cities were built, stories were written and technologies invented…all starting with a single thought.

Why, then, is it so hard to imagine the world becoming a better place to live if we are able to harness our thoughts? We can think ourselves back off the ledge of overactive thinking just as well as we got ourselves there to begin with. You can reverse the negative cycle of the thinking process easier than you think.

Think.

That word again, like an entity unto itself, wreaking havoc or creating beauty, all beginning within your mind. It’s your choice. They are your thoughts. We are each our own creator. We are reflections of divine love.

When you are standing at the waters edge of your mind, what will reflect out of you?