Thoughts are just thoughts
“Sometimes I’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast.” - The White Queen in “Through the Looking Glass”
“Our faculty of attention affects us in countless ways. Our very perception of reality is tied closely to where we focus our attention. Only what we pay attention to seems real to us, whereas whatever we ignore—no matter how important it may be—seems to fade into insignificance…
“Each of us chooses, by our ways of attending to things, the universe we inhabit and the people we encounter. But for most of us, this ‘choice’ is unconscious, so it’s not really a choice at all.”
From book: The Attention Revolution : Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind, by B. Alan Wallace, PhD. [Quote from the page Awareness - thinking.]
Excerpts from article: The Big Secret of Happy People, by Lonnie Young :
Henry David Thoreau knew that, “Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.â€
And the point is not to try and think your way to happiness. The point is to understand that thoughts are just thoughts and create feelings.
Happiness is already within you. Just realize that thought is the link. You can have thoughts that make you happy, but these thoughts will come and go.
The absence of negative thoughts creates a natural happiness and contentment within.
The key is to not let thoughts themselves become props for being happy. Let the natural happiness within rise from the absence and understanding that thoughts are just thoughts.
[Image from book: The Power of Mindful Learning, by Ellen J. Langer]
