What do we do with our thoughts???
Note: Picking up words from different sources and stitching them into an article is not the motto. We chalk out practical and implementable ideas and actions so that we could grow step-by-step…
Have you ever thought
that a normal human brain gets about 65,000 thoughts per day? Most of us wouldn’t
have noticed it because we are so busy in the growing world. Yes, we all agree
that 20 to 30 years of age is when most of Indian children are supposed to be
settled as per their parent’s advice and peer pressures. An interesting survey
by the UNICEF in 2021 showed that 1 out of 7 students aged between 15-24 years
of age felt depressed and lacked interest to do things. I think the main reason
for this particular age group is the vulnerability towards settling down in
their lives.
People born in at the
verge of 1996-2000 are almost Millennials age grouped and are almost in the
middle of an orthodox viewpoint of families to the carefree and open-minded
families. What we go through is something unique, most of the people try to
find a job and settle down but some of them drown into the decision making
either to follow their passion (something different from being a doctor,
engineer or a regular job holder) or silently get into jobs early so as to shut
their parents away from their never-ending advices and comparisons.
People with grit, wisdom
and sheer confidence in their future opt for the earlier choice but face a
rather drowsy beginning with parents, peers and friends turning away. These are
the people who would have never compromised with their dreams and are the ones
who would do anything needed to stay out of the box. We all can sigh a huge
relief as only 8% people i.e., 8 among 100 people think of doing so and rest
are the ones who are strongly influenced by friends, parents or the peer groups
finally doing something different from what they dreamt of…
Most of the people even
though are special in their abilities and ideologies, fear to stand alone or
stand apart fearing that the people around them would start mocking for being
so nerd. We people are so well-versed with chit-chatting and gossiping that we
never fail to amuse the gods in heaven and the hell. This brings to a
fundamental question back into the play, what do we do with the thoughts that
we get every day?
Among the 65,000 thoughts,
around 99% are the same i.e., we only think of daily chores, daily routines or
the rather usual stuff. The 1% thoughts that each and every one of us get is what
makes us special and unique.
For all those people who
compare, contrast and correlate their growth with their colleagues and their
friends – know that this 1% thought has everything to do with it.
How?
The 1% thoughts I call it
as “Igniting thoughts” are the ones that are unique and very importantly
are the ones that help us GROW. So how do we define growth here, it could be mental
growth, financial, health, relationship, professional etc. Its well known that “We
are what we think of”, but have we ever taken it seriously. NOOO!!!
Most of us mock ourselves
to think like that. But the fact is very clear, what we think of ourselves and
how we imagine and dream of tomorrow will make us GROW. {Here tomorrow doesn’t mean
the future, it literally means tomorrow. That means we could shape every single
day with just our Igniting thoughts.}
So, the first thing we
could obviously do is write down what we actually want. Its so opaque right.
Yes, if its to be broken down, we should actually use bedroom walls, notebooks
and regular visiting places to point down our dreams. Most of us give up in
this very first stage because we fear of two things, one about people mocking
us about it and second a self-doubt on whether we actually will be able to succeed.
Now comes the Great
Indian Mockery that we people talked about previously. I would like to clarify
to all those who fear of people for the later reason that the fear should only
arise if we are playing around with our dreams, i.e., if we are dreaming of something
big but aren’t doing anything about it every single day. If we are actually
working sincerely towards our dreams as portrayed and displayed for ourselves,
then why to fear even if failed. We would have tried for the best possible and
everything else should be just neglected.
Second thing that we knew
was a RamBhaan but never tried because others would call it silly. It’s
the habit of journaling. Journaling either digitally or in diaries is what really
keeps us connected to our subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is like an
innocent baby which never understands the worldly cues like good-bad, clean-dirty
or healthy-harmful. It only takes in everything that we think for that day and
dwells in it the whole night.
So, if we had a bad day
and we thought of it in a worst way possible then our subconscious mind would
reciprocate it as if it was good and make our mind still more vulnerable to it.
This could easily be avoided by basically two things, Yoga (physical
introspection) or the Journaling (mental introspection). To be specific,
maintaining a peaceful and solitude atmosphere for 1 hour and concentrating on
meditation for at least half an hour is what the science asks us to do. But to
be practical, do we actually do that or do we think of getting such time and
atmosphere in our colleges, hostels (only 1-2% students follow this).
So, what should other 98%
people do???
Journaling is the answer
because 1 hour of reciprocating in yogic positions is equivalent to writing
down those 1% thoughts in a journal for 5-10mins.
So, if writing down those
Igniting thoughts is so easy and fast, why can’t everyone do it?
Because, every delicious
fruit to bite requires some hard efforts behind. To master our conscious mind
in reading and realizing those 1% thoughts is the big catch. Once we master
those skills, we will be in a path towards serenity – a balance between our conscious
and subconscious minds.
Now, lets limit our steps
to just two at a time, lets first learn to implement both the ways listed in
the article. Let’s practice it and then let’s go back into the depths of what
really does the journaling do to us…
If found interesting do
share and let it reach to people who wish to GROW…
-Abhishek Hirewodeyar