The Role of Thought
How many of you who are reading this have at least 10 things on your mind right now? Right now while you’re reading this blog post?
What I’m about to say might be new to you. Or perhaps it’s not.
We have a lot on our plate, and a lot we have to get done. If we carry all of these thoughts in our mind when we are trying to do the one thing that is in front of us then things can go downhill quickly. Although we can get pretty good at this mental multi tasking, or so we think, at what cost? This is where burnout comes from. Where stress comes from. We are innocently walking around with the 10 things on our mind while we are doing the 1 thing in front of us.
Answer this; at the end of the day are you feeling energized or burnt out? At the end of the week?
Does Multi-Tasking Work?
Have you ever had a time where you’ve had so much on your mind that you did something funny? I sure have. I’ve been driving and completely forgotten where I was and had to ask my wife. I’ve gone from one room to another in my house and forgotten why I went in the other room. Or I’ve gone out to the car, couldn’t find my keys and gone back in to the house to look; and the keys were in my pocket the whole time.
We all do this. Innocently. Unintentionaly. Operating in life with many things on our mind and not really noticing what’s in front of us.
We are thinking beings. We think about the future and the past. There’s nothing wrong with this at all. But we live in those thoughts of the future and the past, which makes living in the present impossible.
I remember being so excited to move to our new home, looking forward to sitting on our beautiful porch. I often pictured myself sitting with my wife and watching the people walk and drive by from our perch amongst the trees, sitting in our Adirondack chairs. The funny thing is when summer came, and I was actually sitting on the porch, I realized that I was lost in thought and not even enjoying what I had been looking forward to. How often do we do this in life?
What Do We Do With This Information?
I’m not suggesting that you live in the present. Or that you should try to change your thinking. Or that thinking about the future or past is good or bad.
What I am pointing to is that by starting to notice that you are thinking you will move towards being more present. Which for me has been much more fun, calming, and enjoyable way to live.
Thanks to my mentor and coach, Cathy Casey for teaching me this understanding and pointing to the Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought as discovered by Sydney Banks.
