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Thought management for proper life management


Ajay0

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An excerpt from the book 'How to think' by Sister Pari of the Prajapita Brahmakumaris on the necessity of thought management for proper life management...

 

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A human mind thinks approximately 60000 to 70000 per day; out of this 90% goes waste. Most of these thoughts are generated automatically to bring about a continuous flow of thoughts in the mind. Since we are usually not paying attention to these thoughts, we may not be aware that numerous thoughts are streaming through our mind. The creation of these thoughts is inspired by what we see and hear during the day.

What we think in the mind is reflected in our words and karma/actions, and it leads to the formation of habits. Our collection of karma, and habits, create our destiny. For this reason, we should be more careful of what we think.

Have you ever tried to check your thoughts? We are hardly conscious of our thoughts and, generally, we do not monitor the way we think.If we become aware of how we think, we can check our thoughts and change it; if we can change our thoughts we can change our destiny. ~ Brahmakumari Pari ( Extract from book 'How to think' )

A problem is solved by making an indepth study of it, understanding its root causes and managing it intelligently.

Here we find the Prajapita Brahmakumaris stating that the habits and characters we develop have their root cause in the thoughts we allow ourselves to think.

Rather than allowing our compulsive thoughts and emotions to propel us to compulsive behavior and activities, by being aware of our thoughts in the first place, we can put a rein on our turbulent thoughts and emotions and restrain them from carrying us to activities which are wasteful and shallow, and instead divert these energies to productive channels.

 
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Sure, it is good to be cognizant of our thoughts but thoughts themselves don't make us do anything; we simply choose whether or not to act on them.

Frankly I tire of all these 'gurus' telling us how to live our lives and, much like all other religions, delight in telling us -in so many words- that if we are not like them then we arenot intelligent enough and/or unevolved beings. I actually read something similar where some hoity-toity guru went on a self righteous rant then proceeds to tell the reader that if you do not immediately understand and agree then it means you are not intelligent enough and not spiritually evolved enough.

Nice, eh?

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14 hours ago, Ajay0 said:

An excerpt from the book 'How to think' by Sister Pari of the Prajapita Brahmakumaris on the necessity of thought management for proper life management...

 

A problem is solved by making an indepth study of it, understanding its root causes and managing it intelligently.

Here we find the Prajapita Brahmakumaris stating that the habits and characters we develop have their root cause in the thoughts we allow ourselves to think.

Rather than allowing our compulsive thoughts and emotions to propel us to compulsive behavior and activities, by being aware of our thoughts in the first place, we can put a rein on our turbulent thoughts and emotions and restrain them from carrying us to activities which are wasteful and shallow, and instead divert these energies to productive channels.

 

I always thought this was pretty basic stuff, learned by humans as children, but apparently  not 

There are some posters here who are  simply reluctant to accept this concept. 

It might seem a stupid question, but isn't everyone aware of their thoughts and consciously constructing every thought ?

  How else can a person form thoughts?  

They are language, and language requires quite a sophisticated and learned process to manipulate,  

Edited by Mr Walker
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On 1/14/2021 at 10:00 PM, Bendy Demon said:

Sure, it is good to be cognizant of our thoughts but thoughts themselves don't make us do anything; we simply choose whether or not to act on them.

 

 Yeah, being aware enables us to be in a position to choose whether or not to act on them.

Most people identify with their thoughts and emotions, cannot keep a distance between themselves and their thoughts/emotions and go with the  flow of it compulsively. It takes a certain amount of presence to be aware of one's thoughts and emotions and refuse to identify with them, especially the negative ones.

Addictions are simply highly charged compulsive thoughts and emotions which can overpower the rational mind in its pursuit of unregulated pleasure. Meditation which brings about present moment awareness and mindfulness have been recognized as valuable tools in the management of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

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3 hours ago, Ajay0 said:

 Yeah, being aware enables us to be in a position to choose whether or not to act on them.

Most people identify with their thoughts and emotions, cannot keep a distance between themselves and their thoughts/emotions and go with the  flow of it compulsively. It takes a certain amount of presence to be aware of one's thoughts and emotions and refuse to identify with them, especially the negative ones.

Addictions are simply highly charged compulsive thoughts and emotions which can overpower the rational mind in its pursuit of unregulated pleasure. Meditation which brings about present moment awareness and mindfulness have been recognized as valuable tools in the management of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Addictions are habits. Which an action generates a feel good sensation (happy chemicals in the brain) it trigger the mind/body to seek it out further. Thoughts alone do not have causal motivation, it is only when emotions (the stronger the more impulsive) come into play that thoughts have more power. Being aware of your thoughts is all well and good, taking a productive thought and acting on it is a different thing all together. 

"Karma" is a flaky concept. If you want you could even look at it as your own reputation. If you wish to go with a "law of attraction" concept then you're basically using thought + emotion to shape your own reality-tunnel. Meaning our personal perspective of the world and people around us.

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On 1/14/2021 at 6:06 AM, Ajay0 said:

A human mind thinks approximately 60000 to 70000 per day; out of this 90% goes waste.

How are we defining waste ?

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On 1/16/2021 at 7:45 PM, XenoFish said:

Addictions are habits. Which an action generates a feel good sensation (happy chemicals in the brain) it trigger the mind/body to seek it out further. Thoughts alone do not have causal motivation, it is only when emotions (the stronger the more impulsive) come into play that thoughts have more power. Being aware of your thoughts is all well and good, taking a productive thought and acting on it is a different thing all together. 

 

 You have defined this very well.

The fact is that by being aware of our thoughts rather than identifying blindly with them, we can reduce their emotional charge and consequently handle them better, rather than being handled by them.

This of course also needs mental equanimity as well to ensure the clear light of awareness is maintained, and that one is not overcome by one's thoughts and emotions stemming from the unconscious leading to indulgence in habit/addictions. This sort of mental equanimity comes with austerities that develop mental strength and practices like observation of breath .

Bliss and joy is also generated in practice of awareness or meditation, and this makes the process of overcoming addictions easier .

 

 

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On 1/16/2021 at 7:50 PM, spartan max2 said:

How are we defining waste ?

You can take a blank note book and write down precisely without omission, all the thoughts that emerge in your mind for an hour or two. Afterwards you can judge for yourself whether these thoughts are useful or not !

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out of this 90% goes waste.

Who is determining this?

 

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On 1/20/2021 at 9:42 PM, Rlyeh said:

Who is determining this?

 

I suspect the person doing the thinking, although the poster recommended a way you might objectively identify useful and non useful thoughts

(I'd use the terms productive/non productive, myself. 

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Thinking hurts your head, don't get involved in it, there are enough involuntary thoughts to deal with, without looking to provoke more.

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On 1/24/2021 at 10:09 PM, Habitat said:

Thinking hurts your head, don't get involved in it, there are enough involuntary thoughts to deal with, without looking to provoke more.

Image may contain: text that says 'SIRCOLBY com by Colby Jones SIRGSLRH APASTOR, A PRIEST AND A RABBI WALK INTO A BAR....'

Yep some stuff hurts, and it's all the same for each religions.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/14/2021 at 4:30 PM, Bendy Demon said:

Sure, it is good to be cognizant of our thoughts but thoughts themselves don't make us do anything; we simply choose whether or not to act on them.

You make it sound as if it is the easiest thing in the world to (a) be aware of the thoughts one is thinking and (b) choose whether or not to act on them.  It is not easy.

It is, in fact,  extremely important to have a sufficiently high level of awareness so that one knows what one is thinking.    For one thing, the vast majority of our thoughts are not, in fact, our own.  They are planted in us by other people, by societal conditioning, and they act on us like subliminal advertising i.e. we are generally unaware of their effect on our behaviour and to say we "choose to act on them"  is too simplistic.  An example, one of many that I can recall now that my awareness has been raised, happened to me a few years ago at work.

I was standing on a sturdy table sticking posters onto a wall.  The Health and Safety Rep was passing and saw me.  He entered the room and told me that it was not safe to stand on the table and that I should use a ladder instead. 

Whereas I had been feeling perfectly secure standing on a large, sturdy table (more sturdy than any ladder I have used), the Rep's words left me feeling  extremely nervous. I subsequently lost all confidence and could not get up onto the table again without feeling highly nervous.  Indeed, that the Rep had planted the idea in my head that the table was not safe, had made me feel so nervous, was more likely to cause an accident that prevent it.  Knowing that I needed, for my own safety, to ignore the Rep's warning, I got back up on the table several times that week, so that his words would not take hold.  

All through my childhood, my mother, who was herself frightened of heights, was always nervous around her children whenever we were near a drop.  She communicated her fear to her children.  I think that had she not done that, then today I would not be scared of heights myself.

So, as I said, and as the above experiences have shown me, it is very important to be aware of one's thoughts, for we do not know we are acting on someone else's thoughts which have been planted in our head.  We not not simply choose whether or not to act on them.

Edited by littlebrowndragon
afterthought
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On 1/14/2021 at 11:06 AM, Ajay0 said:

A human mind thinks approximately 60000 to 70000 per day; out of this 90% goes waste. Most of these thoughts are generated automatically to bring about a continuous flow of thoughts in the mind. Since we are usually not paying attention to these thoughts, we may not be aware that numerous thoughts are streaming through our mind. The creation of these thoughts is inspired by what we see and hear during the day.

The quote above by Sister Pari is absurd.  How on earth are the figures 60000 and 70000 arrived at?  I do not know whether this is from Buddhism or Hinduism, but where does the above information come from?  Do Buddhists or Hindus know how the mind works?  If they do, then it is a well kept secret, because neither science nor philosophy has the least idea.

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2 minutes ago, littlebrowndragon said:

The quote above by Sister Pari is absurd.  How on earth are the figures 60000 and 70000 arrived at?  I do not know whether this is from Buddhism or Hinduism, but where does the above information come from?  Do Buddhists or Hindus know how the mind works?  If they do, then it is a well kept secret, because neither science nor philosophy has the least idea.

file.png

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1 minute ago, XenoFish said:

file.png

My question still stands.  Where does this information come from?  Did Sister Pari copy her information from undergroundhealthreporter or vice versa?  "Strengthens the brain"?  Meditation increases IQ?  "Your body responds to mental input as if it were physically real"?  As to which part of the mind, conscious or unconscious, controls the mind and when, oh, p-lease!

This stuff just beggars belief.  As I pointed out already, neither science nor philosophy (nor any of the religions) know what a mind looks like.  Therefore, for example, their definition of IQ is entirely bogus.  As to the claims about meditation, I used it to begin with to de-stress, but with limited success.  (And I got quite" good" at meditation.)  To really de-stress, or relax, much, much more is required than meditation.  All meditation does is to calm the emotions but it is ultimately a dead end.  Meditation does not help people deal with life, it is merely a form of esca[ism.  And the route to relaxation is to deal with life, not escape it.

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2 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Who's sister pari?

She is mentioned by the OP.  The OP used an excerpt from a book that she has written, How to Think.

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On 1/14/2021 at 6:06 AM, Ajay0 said:

What we think in the mind is reflected in our words and karma/actions, and it leads to the formation of habits. Our collection of karma, and habits, create our destiny. For this reason, we should be more careful of what we think.

I have read this arguement one too many times. It is antiquated and unstable.

People argue karma is that you get what you give and vice versa. Never in my life have I ever known that to be true for myself or anybody else. Ok, so you believe in karma... That means that the holocaust and genocide victims "deserved" what they got? What about shootings? Did the victims deserve to die because the person who committed the shooting was tortured? If that happens to you, does it mean that you had complete control over your destiny? People do not have full control over their lives. I rarely ever hear anyone try to argue that point anymore because we all know it to be false. 

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On 1/20/2021 at 8:33 AM, Ajay0 said:

You can take a blank note book and write down precisely without omission, all the thoughts that emerge in your mind for an hour or two. Afterwards you can judge for yourself whether these thoughts are useful or not !

But wouldn't the process of noting thoughts - influence what we actually think?

In order words i think this would be a tainted experiment. 

Edited by RAyMO
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On 1/14/2021 at 11:06 AM, Ajay0 said:

An excerpt from the book 'How to think' by Sister Pari of the Prajapita Brahmakumaris on the necessity of thought management for proper life management...

 

A problem is solved by making an indepth study of it, understanding its root causes and managing it intelligently.

Here we find the Prajapita Brahmakumaris stating that the habits and characters we develop have their root cause in the thoughts we allow ourselves to think.

Rather than allowing our compulsive thoughts and emotions to propel us to compulsive behavior and activities, by being aware of our thoughts in the first place, we can put a rein on our turbulent thoughts and emotions and restrain them from carrying us to activities which are wasteful and shallow, and instead divert these energies to productive channels.

 

Just keep your heart and mind upon GOD...and there is no room for any negativity, eventually, with practice.

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11 hours ago, smanthaonvaca said:

I have read this arguement one too many times. It is antiquated and unstable.

People argue karma is that you get what you give and vice versa. Never in my life have I ever known that to be true for myself or anybody else. Ok, so you believe in karma... That means that the holocaust and genocide victims "deserved" what they got? What about shootings? Did the victims deserve to die because the person who committed the shooting was tortured? If that happens to you, does it mean that you had complete control over your destiny? People do not have full control over their lives. I rarely ever hear anyone try to argue that point anymore because we all know it to be false. 

Every day of my life I see karma in action. all day, every day. So now you do know of at least one person..

Karma is the result of ones actions, it leads one to a state of being. One might be strong, self-aware, kind and compassionate, and in control.

Or, ones karma might lead to a state of utter hopelessness and depression. Or anything in-between.

Knowing this Law of Karma, one sees and experiences the results of their actions, good or bad, and is then in a position to make better informed decisions around future conduct.

 

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16 hours ago, Crazy Horse said:

Every day of my life I see karma in action. all day, every day. So now you do know of at least one person..

Karma is the result of ones actions, it leads one to a state of being. One might be strong, self-aware, kind and compassionate, and in control.

Or, ones karma might lead to a state of utter hopelessness and depression. Or anything in-between.

Knowing this Law of Karma, one sees and experiences the results of their actions, good or bad, and is then in a position to make better informed decisions around future conduct.

 

We can agree to disagree. I am both an Atheist and an Anarchist yet I have spirituality and faith. They are not based on any God or Deity. I do not worship anyone. I believe that Mother Earth and Nature are the strongest love present but I do not connect it to the creation caused by an animal, mammal, or human form of a God. I simply love our planet. 

I do not believe in Karma because I think it is finger pointing and rests upon the ideaology an All-Good Authoritarian God. Your self empowerment has a stronger positive effect on the world rather than the focus of stroking the ego by assigning rights and wrongs, and then attaching yourselfs to those faults.

I believe that humankind created the concept of a perfect God after reforming society. Who decides what is Good and Bad? Our world is corrupt. There is no repentence or forgiveness. Look at our prison system and third world countries. Where is there a God?

I am willing to embrace all of my being, and every piece of being human. That includes pain, sorrow, happiness, anger, compassion, consideration, resilience, Honesty, bravery, courage, and the willingness to accept what I cannot control or change. I do not believe we should be denied of those forms of expession. 

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On 1/14/2021 at 5:30 PM, Bendy Demon said:

Sure, it is good to be cognizant of our thoughts but thoughts themselves don't make us do anything; we simply choose whether or not to act on them.

Frankly I tire of all these 'gurus' telling us how to live our lives and, much like all other religions, delight in telling us -in so many words- that if we are not like them then we arenot intelligent enough and/or unevolved beings. I actually read something similar where some hoity-toity guru went on a self righteous rant then proceeds to tell the reader that if you do not immediately understand and agree then it means you are not intelligent enough and not spiritually evolved enough.

Nice, eh?

It's a little more complicated than that, atleast for some people. It's curious, lately I have been able to separate my negative thoughts which seem to come out of the blue, and then dissect them to figure where they come from, and why. It's not an easy process, it takes practice. 

The point being, negative or positive thoughts do make us do stuff because we act on them.

On 2/23/2021 at 1:34 PM, littlebrowndragon said:

You make it sound as if it is the easiest thing in the world to (a) be aware of the thoughts one is thinking and (b) choose whether or not to act on them.  It is not easy.

It is, in fact,  extremely important to have a sufficiently high level of awareness so that one knows what one is thinking.    For one thing, the vast majority of our thoughts are not, in fact, our own.  They are planted in us by other people, by societal conditioning, and they act on us like subliminal advertising i.e. we are generally unaware of their effect on our behaviour and to say we "choose to act on them"  is too simplistic.  An example, one of many that I can recall now that my awareness has been raised, happened to me a few years ago at work.

I was standing on a sturdy table sticking posters onto a wall.  The Health and Safety Rep was passing and saw me.  He entered the room and told me that it was not safe to stand on the table and that I should use a ladder instead. 

Whereas I had been feeling perfectly secure standing on a large, sturdy table (more sturdy than any ladder I have used), the Rep's words left me feeling  extremely nervous. I subsequently lost all confidence and could not get up onto the table again without feeling highly nervous.  Indeed, that the Rep had planted the idea in my head that the table was not safe, had made me feel so nervous, was more likely to cause an accident that prevent it.  Knowing that I needed, for my own safety, to ignore the Rep's warning, I got back up on the table several times that week, so that his words would not take hold.  

All through my childhood, my mother, who was herself frightened of heights, was always nervous around her children whenever we were near a drop.  She communicated her fear to her children.  I think that had she not done that, then today I would not be scared of heights myself.

So, as I said, and as the above experiences have shown me, it is very important to be aware of one's thoughts, for we do not know we are acting on someone else's thoughts which have been planted in our head.  We not not simply choose whether or not to act on them.

Good example of how thoughts, especially negative ones, grab a hold of one's mind, and do not simply let go until you try and put some effort into it. But in order to do that, you must be aware of the source of those thoughts, and how to combat them.

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