Thinking is neither right nor wrong. It is what it is. Thoughts are the undirected flow of words and images in your mind.

Thinking is not action. Thinking is not the same as Being. Thinking is not doing.

It has been said that we judge others by their actions and ourselves, by your intentions. Judgement requires thinking.

Our intentions are just thoughts without action, a salve for our egos. As long as we believe we will do something, we can console ourselves for our lack of action.

Some of was want some white knight in shining armour to come along and make our intentions real. We look outside ourselves for a saviour, a motivator to spring us into action.

In reality, we know that will never happen. Only we, each of us,  can move ourselves, as motivation suggests, to take the necessary steps to accomplish our intentions, hopes and dreams.

 

When I was young I believed life had some great task for me to perform. And, I believed I would live the great American dream finding both Fame and Fortune.

Yet here I am 65 years old, I've lived an ordinary life. How, am I to live with the disappointment. Or, should I be happy with the journey I have travelled?

This is your story. You can live in the past with regret and disappointment or worry about the future. You can focus on your lack, or you can focus on your abundance.

 

Thinking is a tool. A plan is a guide to action. Anything else is a waste of time designed to make you believe you are taking some real action.

That is not to say that it is wrong to choose not to do something. Whatever you choose to do is best for you. Accepting that you actually are choosing without condemning yourself or others is a different matter.

You choose change. You choose risk. You choose to do something that you feel is best for you. As you move in the direction you want to go, as you experience the path you choose, you accept what it is.

Whatever happens, is. You cannot change it. You can make efforts to alter the path you are on; once you become aware of what is happening, there is nothing you can do to change it.

You can only direct your attention to the next event that you are experiencing. You do choose your path, in the next moment, which is now this moment., which is now already past, and that is now.

It feels weird, something like a mathematical puzzle. Yet, there is always one more moment ahead of you to look forward to. That is life.

If you want to write a story, you need to come into the room where your computer is. Then you need to sit at the chair and turn on the computer. All the while you are breathing and feeling and seeing around you.

What you write may be full of thoughts and fears and hopes. Your worry about not getting your message across, you worry that others will see you as weird, you hope that your message will at least touch one other person.

All of those things happen in the moment. Aware of this moment, you simply accept that thoughts are events that occur in you mind.

Touching the keys on the keyboard is real; the fear and doubt in you mind is imagined.

I have been on a journey. I accept that my experiences did not meet my expectations. But what does that mean? Are imagined standards something useful to judge myself by?

Imagination is nothing but imagination. We all have a sad and woeful story to tell. Yet, I am real and here and now.  Being is what I have, even if I were the King of Canada.

Reality is what is set out before you in this very moment. You gotta love it. There isn't anything else. Yesterday is part of the history and tomorrow is the unknown.

So Breathe in this moment and feel it in all your pores. And remember to see,  taste, smell, touch and feel every moment as though it is the only one you have. 

That is Living and Being in the moment.

Expect nothing more.

Imagining is not the same as living! You can engage your mind in 'what-ifs' about the future. You can spend all your time imagining 'what-ifs' about the past. Your life is happening, NOW, while your attention is focused elsewhere. Neither disappointment about the past nor worry about the future make any difference to the outcome. You still experience life moment by moment. << MORE >>

By the time you observe something it is already past. As you look over those events that you observe, you search your mind for meaning. Your meaning, your interpretation, based on your experiences << MORE >>

We are on the road to enlightenment when we become aware that our thought processes create illusions. << MORE >>

Last week a friend and I were discussing different thoughts about spirituality. When I mentioned being responsible for your thinking, the friend objected. "People can push your buttons", he said. "What buttons?", I asked. "Show me the buttons." "It's just a way of speaking", he replied. << MORE >>

What is enlightenment? We seek answers to life and meaning for our existence. We go toward the light. You are well on your way to enlightenment when you become aware of your thoughts as things. When you can stand back mentally and see what you are saying and seeing in your mind. << MORE >>

All beliefs are assumptions; all beliefs are unproven convictions. If they were anything else, they would be proven facts and we would not speak of them as beliefs. If we accept the belief that we can separate our behaviour from our emotions, that we are truly ignoring our feelings in making decisions, then everything we do in our career will simply re-enforce that belief. << MORE >>

Discovering self does not mean being selfish. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Once you have discovered that your thoughts, negative and positive, influence how you behave, you gain control of your life, your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviour. You choose how you think. Your life is not controlled by random events. << MORE >>

Everything in life is an illusion. Our minds create our world by assigning meaning to what our senses observe. By thinking we assign causes to the effects that we observe. Our past is an illusion. We focus our minds on those explanations of events that suit us. If our outlook is negative then our interpretation of events will be negative. << MORE >>

We define ourselves by our thoughts. If our mind is busy thinking, then we are not aware of our surroundings. If we label ourselves as having a condition, we defend our behavior as deriving from that condition. If someone asks you to smile when you are extremely blue, do you defend your self by saying you are too blue to smile? Somehow we have decided that one prevents the other. << MORE >>