Thought management for proper life management

[Ajay0 24]

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.

 

[Bendy Demon 5,162]

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?

[Mr Walker 6,409]

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 January 15 by Mr Walker

[Guyver 4,530]

Slam dunk Captain Obvious.  

[Ajay0 24]

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.

[XenoFish 106,777]

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.

[spartan max2 17,477]

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 ?

[Ajay0 24]

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 .

 

 

[Ajay0 24]

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 !

[Rlyeh 17,477]

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out of this 90% goes waste.

Who is determining this?

 

[Mr Walker 6,409]

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. 

[Habitat 8,589]

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