Thought Watching

Have you ever noticed that you can watch your own thought process? Have you ever noticed that you often react to a situation before your thoughts have coalesced to interpret it? How about calming and quieting busy thoughts? Ok, so who is this master controller, this 'you' that is superordinate to your thoughts? These are questions worth answering, questions that should be essential in our quest of being human and alive! At the very least, if we begin to conscientiously observe and discipline our own thought process, we really do commence on a grand adventure.

Before contemplating this grand adventure, there are a few more questions to consider. Do you want a mind filled with every wild imagination? Do you want a mind permeated with fear and dread? Do you want a mind that is dull and bored? Does the word 'discipline' imply punishment, or management to you? And, finally, is a creative mind one that has no constraints, or is it one that has focus and organization?

We hear about 'open-mindedness' and 'narrow-mindedness', usually in context with judgmental labels. How does a creative mind compare to these two characterizations? So many questions, yet this whole adventure is one not to be taken lightly. Each of these questions deserves serious consideration.

Throughout the span of mankind there have been those who stepped aside from the distractions of the day to examine their own identity and relationship with the world around them. Said to be the wisest man of his time, King Solomon (who reigned over the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah from 967-931 BC) examined these very questions and bequeathed us his thoughts:

"For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding...Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you, to deliver you from the way of evil." Proverbs 2:3-12

Interesting that Solomon, who had a reputation for wisdom, and proclaimed the benefits of disciplining thoughts, failed in this very capacity! It was common practice in his day to seal treaties by having a lesser king give his daughter in marriage to the greater king. Since that greater king was Solomon, every time a new treaty was sealed, he ended up with yet another wife. These wives were considered tokens of friendship and “sealed” the relationship between the two kings. Solomon's problem arose from the dichotomy of practice versus belief.

Instead of engaging the moral standards that proclaimed the dangers he pursued, and that he certainly understood, he allowed his attention to be captivated by territorial acquisition, wealth, and conflicting belief systems that he encountered amidst his seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. A thousand women in a man's life could certainly be a bit distracting! The result of Solomon's folly was that end of his days were not as bright as the days of his youth. Adversaries rose up against him until he was not such a happy man, and evetually the United Kingdom he reigned over for forty years fell into conflict and division.

This looks like something of an object lesson, right? So, this is probably a good time to take a break and consider the ramifications. Remember the question about open-mindedness versus narrow-mindedness? How judgmental do you really want to be about these two concepts? Is one bad and the other good? Or, is there a time and a place for one or the other?

I've Been Tagged...

This is new for me. What a great game, online ice-breaker, winning way to meet new folks. I was tagged by my new friend Lacresha who tells 6 random things about herself at her Pretty Prosperous Powerful blog. Now it's my turn to reveal 6 random things about me. Here they are:

1. I have narcolepsy (sounds cryptic), but simply means I can go to sleep very easy. Just found out a few years ago that I have it. It's basically the "stay awake" brain synapse that, in my case, doesn't function unless I'm physically or analytically active. Turns out I've always had it, I just compensated, for instance, by taking copious notes during lecture classes in college so I wouldn't nod off. Because being analytical keeps me awake, I've ended up right/left brain balanced; and, seem to be moving continually up on the nerd scale.
   
   
2. I grew up in California, lived in Aspen, CO; Ithaca, NY, and have lived and worked on Florida's Space Coast so long I've gone native. It's so hot and humid here, it took about nine years for me to acclimate. When the heat starts ramping up in the spring, makes me want to sleep. Air conditioning is the lifesaver, or just getting sweaty working in the garden so the humidity becomes meaningless.
   
   
3. My favorite breakfast is a good healthy granola or muesli with fresh blueberries or peaches, kefir or yogurt poured on it, then honey. Mix that all up, and for me it's heavenly. One big bowl keeps me going 'til dinner. Highly recommended. I think it keeps you young...
   
   
4. After working 9-11 hours a day at my job, I like to relax by reading. I have a big bookcase in my home office filled with books, and in the corner next to it, one stack is over half way to the ceiling. Getting a Kindle is becoming a serious consideration, since I'm running out of space for books! Want to know a good book? Check out some of my favorites at the bottom of this blog.
   
   
5. Here's something I don't do. I've watched no T.V. for almost three years. I did watch it as a kid growing up. Then got my own first T.V. in 1986 and watched it off and on for a little over ten years (usually having it put me to sleep!). But recently, I've started watching C-Span to keep tabs on our government in action. I feel like I've been negligent, and should have been doing this all along.
   
   
6. Ok, finally, my one important dream I haven't accomplished is to write a novel. I work so many hours doing public information, web development and keeping up with all the associated technology, that I haven't had the stretches of time to write. By the end of a day, I'm zonked. Still, it's a very tangible dream.

I tag the following:

• @Rippleon
• @Aviatrixt
• @ketira
• @FiddlerPaize

The rules to play are easy …
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Thought Crops

Ever wonder how thoughts are generated? Just random connections of native language? Receptive cognizance of transmissions from a primal transmitter? Genetic bursts of stupidity and brilliance? Ever touch a radio with fuzzy reception and find it suddenly become clear, and realize you're the surrogate antenna? Or perhaps, wondered if those same transmissions are permeating you all the time? Ever had the same thought exactly the same time as someone you're talking to, or across the miles to a relative or friend?

So you go to sleep at night with a puzzling question in your mind, then wake in the morning to find the puzzle solved. Just your personal genius? You've misplaced a small item in your house and after thoroughly searching with no success, move on to other thoughts, then turn around and see it plain as day right where you looked for it first. What kept you from seeing it until that moment?

Can we comprehend the thought process? And if so, how much control of it can we exercise? I believe these are vitally important concerns. Without knowledge and awareness of a process innate in various degrees to every human being, how can we manage our own sanity, let alone presume to manage others. How can we distinguish fact from fancy? How can we sift the transmissions, resist the inane, and establish a constructive and humane pattern of thought?

Yard Garden

Hands in the dirt, moist scent of grass, light and breeze filtered through the trees. When it comes right down to it, gardening may be my tonic. Early on a Saturday morning, before breakfast, step outside to fill the bird feeders. The air and morning sun are kinetic. Pull a few weeds, get the clippers, trim the Rangoon creeper so the lawnmower man doesn't need to duck, and the Bougainvillea so he doesn't get poked.

Refresh the orchids with a dip in a bucket of bloom-boost spiked water. Wipe my sweat trickled face and stinging eyes, think about breakfast, but tend to yet another garden task. Feel the warm strengthening of deep garden-chore muscle massage. Savor my minor Eden, and reluctantly respond to the other call of nature.

Indoors, wipe the sweat and grime with a wet paper towel. It's afternoon and I sit down for my favorite breakfast. This is a good day.

Heart Garden

My heart is a garden where thought flowers grow,
every thought that I think, is a seed that I sow.
Every kind, loving thought, bears a kind, loving deed;
while a thought that is selfish is just like a weed.

I must watch what I think, every minute, all day,
and take out the weed thoughts and throw them away;
and plant loving seed thoughts so thick in a row,
that there will not be room for weed thoughts to grow.
Katherine Merrill

I don't have a good memory for names, lyrics, or poems, but I memorized this poem when I was a little child and remember it to this day (although perhaps not precisely as the author's original). I have yet to fulfill its grand purpose and keep weed thoughts entirely out of my heart, any more than I do in my garden outdoors. They just keep cropping up. But just like my yard, if I let it go to weeds, I would find it as depressing and offensive as my neighbors would.

Through the years, as the world has become increasingly complex with the weeds of information-overload, I wonder if folks that do enjoy peace of mind rely on simple truths and exercises like the following verse from the Bible. Like the little verse above, it has been with me a long time. It was used by my college sorority. We recited it together at the close of each formal meeting. The times in my life these words have delivered me from a gloomy or chaotic state of mind are uncountable:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things.”
Philippians 4:8