Pursuit of Purpose

Where do our thoughts come from?
So many different thoughts come to mind on a daily basis, some we can share and others..well! I cannot be the only one that thinks ‘I wonder if its normal for me to be thinking this‘. For example, sometimes I wonder if I’m actually here, living, or if it’s all one big dream that I’m going so wake up from soon….ok thats going off topic a bit but..Where did that thought come from? I guess most of our thoughts come from our subconscious mind. Sometimes I stare at random strangers and wonder what they’re thinking. What’s going through their various minds. Is that just me? Lol.

Ok back to the subconscious mind. If the thoughts that come to our conscious mind, come from our subconscious mind, then maybe we do have some control. Things like music, opinions of others, books that we read, shows that we watch, conversations we have… So many things that we expose ourselves to, whether we are aware or not all contribute to build our subconscious mind, which eventually would leak into our conscious mind. We then exert power to these thoughts by directing our attention so we focus on something specific.

Whether its negative or positive, do you think we have control over our conscious thoughts? In my opinion. We can, at least to an extent. Because there’s never a time when we are awake and not thinking anything..or is there? If we were in total control I’m sure we’d be to stop that. Hope you’re following on here lol. Before starting this post I believed we could control a lot of our thoughts, but now I feel it’s less control of the thoughts and more control on the direction of the thoughts itself. So for example, I’m thinking of a future event, let’s say the day assignment or exam results come out. A part of me thinks ‘oh I’m so nervous to find out”. Another part of me would say ‘I shouldn’t think like that if I’m praying I should just believe it will be fine, someway, somehow, regardless of the results, it is well’. At this point I would literally FORCE myself to think the latter, sometimes even saying it out loud and then distracting myself with something so the initial negative thought doesn’t come back to mind.

Jealousy is another one that I think is so common among us humans. We all have them thoughts that creep in every now and then, let’s keep it real. Sometimes we admit it and say ‘ahww I’m well jel’ but then there’s a different type of jealously that we dont like to admit. But we must consciously choose not to give in. I used to get so upset with myself when I would find myself thinking jealous thoughts, because at first it’s like your wishing you also have that, let’s say bag, for example, then the next stage of jealously is when you almost start wishing that person would lose that bag! Gosh, so mean right?! Rather than thinking the jealous thoughts, the minute they even attempt to creep in, we just have to make that conscious choice not to give in. Turn it around and become happy for that person. If you’re a believer you can even say a prayer for them. That seals in that choice that you’ve made. Just keep repeating that choice conciously and slowly you start to realise that you don’t get jealous anymore. Being jealous takes too much energy, rather focus that energy on buiding myself up!

When negative thoughts come to mind such as fear, discouragement, insecurity, depression and envy…I have learnt to direct my thoughts away. And before I know it my heart starts feeling it too. So in that sense I do believe we can control our thoughts.

So do not surrender to any thoughts you feel are not positive, instead work on adjusting and conditioning your mind. We must recover our power, if we cannot control our minds completely let’s take control of what we can and refrain from allowing negative thoughts that have seeded in our minds to grow. Sometimes, most of the time, the negative thoughts i.e. insecurities, have been building up over a long period of time and it’s at the point where you have to come to the reality that the beliefs that we’ve fabricated in our minds over the period of time are not even true. We must come to terms with reality. Aside from just shifting our thoughts and turning them to positive thoughts we must also identify the triggers. Try to think of why these thoughts may be coming to mind and deal with the root of that problem. It may be that in the past someone told you you’re not smart enough to go down this career path, you didn’t think too much of it at the time, or even care for their opinion but it still slipped into you subconscious mind. So now that you’ve applied for a particular job and you didn’t get it and you start to think that it’s because you’re not smart enough, when really the employer probably just found someone with more experience, and their decision had nothing to do with your grades. But see how a person can just fabricate a belief in their mind which eventually would turn to an insecurity that wasn’t even the reality in the first place! When you find yourself thinking something negative, try to ask yourself why and where you think that thought is rooted from. That way you can control your thoughts and turn them into positive thoughts, and work on reinforcing the positive thoughts.

It is what is in a mans heart and mind that transpires physically. Think positively, live positively. ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he’ Proverbs 23:7 

With that said and done, I would be lying if I did not admit that God is the source of my strength. I ask Him to help me remove any thoughts that do not glorify Him from my mind. God literally is my ROCK in all that I do. So even if we can’t control it. God can. But again the ball in really in our court because we have to conciously let God in. It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s a process and it’s important to know you’re not alone!

But when it’s all said and done – This, too, shall pass.

Please comment, do you agree? Do you disagree? Share your thoughts and opinions, I’d love to have a read.

1. Where do you think our thoughts come from?
2. Can we control our thoughts?
3. How do you manage your negative thoughts?
4. Any suggestions for topics for future blog posts?