You Are Not Your Thoughts

Plant flowers in your mind, not weeds.

So let’s begin with what will be the most important and maybe most challenging practice: Getting inside your own head. That’s actually where most life experiences happens.

You may be thinking “Jim, life does not happen inside my head; life is what occurs on the outside.” True, but how we experience life depends on what we think about those things that are occurring before us, near us, and to us. How it works is we witness what is happening—then form our thoughts and judgments almost instantaneously.

Your thoughts are seeds

You and I are not our thoughts. We are the “It” somewhere inside that is having the thoughts. The mind is the generator of the seemingly endless voice we hear in our head every day all day.

We are all much more than our minds and as such, can choose to observe or change these thoughts.

So we can actually just examine the thoughts going on in our head OR if we want, we can shift them to something completely different!

Try it right now. Instead of thinking “Jim has really lost it,” reread the last few sentences and immediately change your thoughts to “I understand what he is saying, and I can change my thoughts that quickly!”

There, see, you did it!

Okay, why is this practice even useful? There is a saying:

“Your mind is a garden your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.”

Practice makes progress

It is always a good time to begin the practice of tending to the garden of our minds.

Our practice is to become aware of negative thoughts and see if we can somehow change them to positive ones. A simple way to do this is to notice the negative thoughts and say to yourself, “I release those thoughts that no longer serve me.” Then try to think of the opposite occurring or think of something completely different.

Give it a try and see how your mood and mental health shift in accordance with your new way of thinking.

Remember friends, practice makes progress.

#Practices4Life with Rev. Jim Blake are practical tips for living a happier, healthier, and more peaceful life. Some of these you and I will master, while some we will “practice” for the rest of our lives and may never master. The important thing is to keep trying. Because with every effort, we get better. And that is the ultimate goal: to improve and make this life experience better for ourselves and those around us.