Different kinds of thoughts

Six different kinds of thoughts tend to preoccupy us. It is not till we understand these different kinds of thoughts that we can begin to conquer them and work on stilling the mind.

The mind is a fascinating thing. It only sleeps when you do and it’s job is to give your ego a sense of purpose in life. If it works for you, the mind becomes your biggest asset but if it becomes your liability then it has the power to destroy you. So your single biggest worry in life is how to convert the mind into becoming your friend and your biggest asset. You start by understanding it and then slowly controlling it so that it stops the noise, the story telling and engages in working productively for you.

• Observation: The mind uses the five senses to observe what is going on in the physical world around you. This task lasts no longer than the moment itself.
• Judgement: The observed moment is judged to protect the self. The ruling can be something that the ego needs to know on understand how to deal with the observed moment. Good, bad, right, wrong… these are all calls made by the mind. Sometimes without realisation.
• Record: Recording and storing the information for later access is a key to who we are and information relating to the ego is a key function that the mind engages in.
• Recall: Recalling stored events and memories to relate to present day events and understanding what is going on also gives relevance to present day moments. Again the recalled thoughts are also become a part of your experience and can colour present day judgements – e.g. avoiding accidents whilst driving your car has involves recalling previous experiences and relating them to present day moment.
• Analysis: The mind needs to make sense to itself and the ego to explain the world it observes through the senses. To do this the mind observes the present day momemnt, recalls experience that relates to the present day moment and explains why things happen. This helps it make a better judgement!
• Predict: Using all the stored experiences and the with the aid of the judgemental and analytical skills that it has developed, the mind tries to cook up scenrarios to predict what will happen under different circumstances. This can be done for various reasons and take virtually any shape. For example day dreaming is nothing more than an attempt by the mind to create a fantasy world.

It is 10pm – do you know where your mind is?