I’ve recently begun to prioritize asking myself 3 simple questions. These questions are designed to snap you out of whatever thought stream you are in, if you ask them in earnest. They are:
- Who Am I?
- Where Am I?
- What Am I Doing?
If you ask them flippantly, then you won’t realize their benefit. They are meant to be reflected on and, when done so, can break you out of the spell of thought. This can afford you great benefits.
What happens when we’re always in our heads
When we are constantly stuck in thinking, we are often rehashing or rehearsing a familiar past or future, and more likely than not, these exercises are negative in nature. Additionally, we sacrifice our own agency when we allow our minds to run the show completely.
A lot of people can spend their whole life in their minds and never really connect to themselves in the present moment. This has been my own personal experience for the most part. If we ever hope to change the trajectory of our lives, there has to be some degree of thought intention and that must start with changing how we think (and feel).
What can happen if you start creating gaps in your thinking
Creating gaps in your thinking gives you the opportunity to change how you see the world.
Consider unconsciously thinking that the world was out to get you and then waking up out of that thought loop and seeing the thought as just that – a thought. And then, what would happen if you consciously chose to let that thought go, or at least saw it for what it is and thus its strength over you gets diminished?
Well, consider what would happen if you consciously chose a different thought. Maybe you decided that the world was here to help you and you connected deeply to that thought and sentiment.
Where would you be if you could control your focus more effectively? What could you create if you could author your life? How would being more in control of how you think and feel change your life?
When you are lost in your thinking, you are at the mercy of your conditioning. It’s very hard to change when the records of the past and fears of the future occupy your mind. By creating gaps in the thoughts, we can step back from these conditioned thoughts and see them more clearly for what they really are. We can then exercise our own free will and preference, and decide for ourselves how we would like to see the world.
This might seem too challenging or unrealistic to have more control over our minds, and ya, it is hard but it’s certainly not impossible. With discipline, I believe we can get better at it and, over time, with deliberate thinking, we can start to shape our realities in truly beautiful ways.
