Thoughts - "I think, therefore I am"

“I think, therefore I am” - Rene Descartes

Descartes quote clearly defines what it means to be human – “I think, therefore I am” …I have thoughts, so therefore I exist. If you examine this quote a little closer, a deeper meaning will begin to emerge.

All mammals think; however, humans have special feature called consciousness.

The fact that “I think”, (consciousness awareness) means I have a personal perspective that affects the way I see the world around me. This perspective is largely based on experiences, interactions, (and the tricky part) and interpretations.

The way I perceive (I think) the world creates the person (I am) that you know through my behavior.

Since all of our perceptions are based on experiences and interactions, we all see the world through our own lens.

As Yoda said, “we find what we bring”

With that being said, let’s take a look at the unique perception that creates the thoughts that triggers the behavior that defines each one of us as a unique human being.

Some people naturally think positive thoughts; I got this! No problem! Get out of my way! Who cares what they think. I don’t lose, I learn! A person with this attitude is seen as mentally strong, assertive, and self-confident.

There are also those who think negative; I’ll never make it. It’s too hard. What will they think? I can’t do it. I’m not smart enough. A person with this attitude may be labeled as one who catastrophizes, procrastinates, and has low self-esteem.

As you can see, our thoughts have narratives. The narrative, or internal dialogue, is the little voice in our head that comments on our life, whether that is what is going on around us, or what we are thinking consciously or manifest sub-consciously.

All of us have an internal dialogue, and it’s running all the time. In Buddhism it’s called the monkey mind. Buddha described the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering, and carrying on endlessly.

“We all have monkey minds”, Buddha said, “with dozens of monkeys all clamoring for attention.” Fear is an especially a loud monkey, sounding the alarm incessantly, pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong.

In psychology, these incessant thoughts are called cognitive distortion or automatic negative thoughts (ANT’s).

The less awareness we have of these thoughts, the more they define us.

Some of us, however, are more aware of our thoughts. When I say aware I mean the ability to separate self from the thoughts by becoming the observer. When you observe the thoughts you have a better understanding and are able to clarify and evaluate the thoughts by applying logic and reason to what is happening.

Michael Singer is the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Untethered Soul, had this to say about “watching” thoughts (this implies becoming the observer);
“To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead
of being lost in them. No solution can possibly exist while you’re lost in the energy of a
problem. Everyone knows you can’t deal well with a situation if you’re getting anxious,
scared, or angry about it. The first problem you have to deal with is your own reaction.”

Follow me for the next 7 short blogs that will cover:

- Internal dialogue

- Becoming the observer

- Changing the internal dialogue

- Violent positivity

- Living in the present

- Gratitude and acceptance

- Mastering self

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