I always thought that ‘thought’ and ‘thinking’ were the same.
Until I stumbled upon the book: Don’t believe everything you think.
A few weeks ago, I used to overthink a lot and feel immense pain in those moments. I would often create nonexistent scenarios in my mind, so I’ll get sad for something that was not even happening.
But after a few hours, I would stop thinking and suddenly feel perfectly fine, happy, and energetic. Thus, I could understand that it is not outside situations troubling me but my thoughts.
Our brains are wired to protect us from the wild to hunt for food; hence, it alerts us of dangers, but we don’t live in that world anymore. We do not need to be so anxious about the most minor thing.
Knowing the difference between thought and thinking can help here.
Thoughts come to us naturally. Thinking is induced, often forced. And we tend to think more about our negative thoughts.
Example: My car broke down, that is sad. This can be a thought, but can we learn to restrict it to that? And not think how miserable our life will be now, how I’ll have to wait for a cab.
I believe with practice, we can. Of course, we’ll keep swinging between letting go and thinking, but soon enough, we’ll learn to let thoughts flow and not think. Not every thought deserves to be thought of.
So, any thoughts?
If the road is beautiful, we would want to walk instead of taking a cab. Just to enjoy those extra moments of beauty.
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