Few people are aware of the thoughts that pass through their minds, since most thinking is done in an automatic manner.
The mind is sometimes, like small child, who accepts, and takes for granted, whatever it sees or hears, without judgment and without considering the consequences. If you let your mind behave in this manner, giving it complete freedom to jump from one thought to another, you lose your freedom.
We are constantly flooded with thoughts, ideas and information coming through the five senses, other people, the newspapers and TV. These thoughts, ideas and information penetrate the mind, whether we are aware of this process or not.
This flow of thoughts affects our behavior and reactions. It influences the way we think, our preferences, likes and dislikes. Usually, we automatically accept these thoughts, letting them shape our life. This actually means that we lose our mental freedom.
Most people think and believe that their thoughts originate from them, but have you ever stopped and considered whether your thoughts, desires, likes and dislikes are really yours? Did it occur to you that maybe they came from the outside, from other people, and you have unconsciously accepted them as your own?
If you do not filter the thoughts that enter your mind you stop to be a free person, and allow every thought to control your life.
You may object, and say that the thoughts that pass through your mind are yours, but are they? Have you deliberately and attentively created every thought that entered your mind?
- Why let outside influences control your mind and life?
- Why let other people’s thoughts control your life and mind?
- Do you want to make your mind free or do you prefer to enslave it to other people’s opinions and thoughts?
If you leave your mind open to every thought that passes by, you put our life in other people’s hands, and without realizing it, you accept their thoughts and act in accordance with them.
Every person is differently affected by external thoughts. Certain thoughts and ideas we ignore, and others spur us to immediate action. Usually, thoughts concerning subjects we love have more power on us than other thoughts, but even thoughts and ideas that we don’t care about, if we are frequently exposed to them, eventually sink into the subconscious mind and affect us.
Everyone has desires, ambitions and dreams that he or she may foster from childhood. However, it is possible that they are the thoughts of parents, teachers and friends, which have lodged into their mind, and were carried throughout their lives.
Are these thoughts necessary? Do we need all this excessive baggage?
In order to reduce the power of outside influences and thoughts on your life, you need to be aware of the thoughts and desires that enter your mind, and ask yourself, whether you really like them, and if you are willing to accept them into your life.
You do not have to accept each and every thought that enters your mind.
Find out whether it is your own thought, or someone else’s thought. Also, decide whether the thought is useful for you, and if it is for your own good to follow. This will lead to more control over your thinking process.
It might not be so easy do at first, because your mind will probably revolt against this control. However, if you want to be the master of your mind and life, you should not let other people’s thoughts rule your life, unless you consciously choose so.