Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts Become Things’
Thoughts become things – choosing the good ones
How true is it that thoughts become things?
A guest post from Dr Chris Thomas www.miltoncontact.co.uk
When Ann reminded me about her 2010 article “Thoughts do not become things” (http://goo.gl/SMabr) in a recent tweet, she was railing against those who use trite phrases to promise the earth such as “Thoughts become things – choose the good ones”. Ann was angry at the feelings of guilt caused by psycho-babble remedies that are the quackery of the modern age.
Yet, underlying the simplistic concept is a more complex, fascinating and surprising reality. It is a tale that weaves its way from the very origins of our humanity, via mental sex to survival in a hard business environment. I’d like to debate for “Thoughts become Things – choose the good ones”.
Physical thoughts
The ability to have thoughts is not unique to humans. There is even evidence that animals are capable of a higher level of thought – thinking about thinking (http://goo.gl/mNrK9). However, combined with language, we humans are able to take thinking to a more complex and abstract level.
Many of our internal thoughts are still related to our physical and emotional needs. In turn, our thoughts have physical effects on us. The most immediate are the subtle micro-expressions in conversation (try reading them yourself here http://goo.gl/Fpp5I).
Mind you, thoughts alone can create orgasmic experiences. Kim Airs is not unique in this (http://goo.gl/CWXpM) as other women and many hormonally-fired teenage boys can testify.
Optimism accounts for a 5 to 10 % difference in outcome such as cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer and are less likely to have or develop certain diseases over time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism ). In cases where optimism does not appear to have an effect on health, it helps with coping strategies.
Abstract thoughts
We also have an incredible ability to build mental worlds. Mathematics and the sciences are logical constructs that try to make sense of our physical world. Euclid’s “Elements of Geometry” (http://goo.gl/b4a2t) or Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” (http://goo.gl/8uXof) are just two examples of abstract thought put to paper.
Explosive thoughts
The most explosive effects of our thoughts are – when we share them with others. Our ideas are challenged, changed and evolved out there in the wider world – or they can die. Richard Dawkins coined the word “memes” for ideas, behaviours and styles that spread from person to person in our cultures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme ).
Thoughts also lead to actions. You are reading this article on a device that is the product of several thousand years of applied science and technology. On the flip side, the idea that women are not equal to men has disenfranchised half the population in significant parts of the globe.
Thoughts become things
Thoughts are such an integral part of us right from birth that our thoughts make us who we are. Because we are humans, our thoughts collectively make our environment, our society, our culture, our businesses.
Choose the good ones – What are they?
This is where I find myself back in partial agreement with Ann, because there are thoughts and there are thoughts. Here is my personal interpretation:
ñ There is no universal thought cure-all – but we can learn from the experience of others.
ñ A wish for something to happen is unlikely to work – but we can have our own aspirations or goals to strive for.
ñ Unpredictable bad things happen, whatever we think – but having our own flexible, positive coping strategies can help us recover faster.
Business Thoughts
Taking the subject to a more practical level. As businesses, our thoughts are realised in our products and services. We have a pretty prompt reality check – if our ideas do not work, we can be out of business!
The Inspired Group provides a forum for those of us who wish to grow and develop their businesses by sharing experiences and ideas. It is up to us which of our conscious thoughts become things – and choosing the good ones is a bespoke lifetime project for each one of us.
What do you think?
Chris Thomas www.miltoncontact.co.uk
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Why Tweeting Quotes is a Waste of Time
Quotations and aphorisms are generally just verbal Christmas presents; enticingly done up in pretty paper and ribbons, but once you get them open they generally turn out to be just socks. Tom Holt (2007)
I frequently have a rant about the uselessness of quotes on Twitter. Not ‘quotes ON Twitter’ as in “He who tweeteth quotes shall be deemed as wise as the person he tweeteth” because that’s just silly and most of the people who are quoted were dead many hundreds of years before Twitter came into being.
There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosopher has said it. Cicero (106-43 BC)
No, I mean the endless, indiscriminate parade of stuff that is so saccharin it makes you want to throw up, has no interest or meaning for most of the people who receive it and in many cases is just bullshit.
Some recent examples are “Thoughts become things so choose the good ones.” This is an example of such sloppy thinking that I’d like to slap the originator but instead devoted a separate post to it.
She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit…W. Somerset Maugham (1926)
The next one was something along the lines of “Before starting a journey don’t ask advice of someone who has never left home”. Now, I get the idea of this but, you know, there are circumstances when the person who has never left home might be exactly the right person to ask. They may have studied the place you’re going to or they may have the best maps. Hell, they might have invented Google Earth! Does anyone really believe that the only person to consult on anything is someone who has had personal experience of it? (Pause until the screams of many coaches has died down). Frankly, I’d rather consult a doctor who is healthy than one who has the same illness as me.
At all events, the next best thing to being witty one’s self, is to be able to quote another’s wit. Christopher N. Bovee (1857)
Another was “The person who wants to demolish a mountain starts by moving a few stones.” You know what? If I wanted to demolish a mountain I’d hire a bulldozer. Even taking it literally, if I had a job that seemed insurmountable, I’d get help. Wrapping things up in allusions and metaphore doesn’t necessarily make them more powerful.
In a pinch, any orphan quote can be called a Chinese proverb. Ralph Keyes, “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”:
Then there was a quote from Einstein. Now Einstein was a great scientist but deeply flawed in other respects. He was widely regarded as oversexed, immature and lousy at sustaining meaningful relationships so forgive me if I don’t follow his advice unless it’s directly related to science.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde (1905)
Quotations can be used to great effect when used in articles or essays. They serve as really good hooks or attention-grabbers and can give emphasis to a particular point but on their own, with no reference point to their significance, they are just brain fluff.
Given all this, why do people feel compelled to share a quote, apropos of nothing, with their whole list of contacts?
Famous dead people make excellent commentators on current events. Ralph Keyes, “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”
I guess its because something in that quote spoke to them, which means that they probably need to take action on something that’s happening in their lives. It most likely doesn’t have any significance to anyone else unless they are sharing the same issues.
The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other very well. Elias Canetti (1942–1972)
What would be interesting would be to hear what folk did as a result of reading a quote but sadly, I expect the answer would be not a lot except nod wisely and pass it on.
Meanwhile nothing changes. Its thinking for ourselves AND TAKING ACTION that changes things not taking someone else’s thinking and believing it can change anything.
Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (May 1849)
Posted in Social Media | Tags: Allusions, Bovee, Bulldozer, Cicero, Circumstances, Creative Impulse, Doctor Who, Earth, Einstein, Google, Hundreds Of Years, Job, Journey, Maps, Meaningful Relationships, Mountai, Moving, People, Personal Experience, Philosopher, Pretty Paper, Quotation, Quotations And Aphorisms, Quotations Aphorisms, Quotes, Rant, Respects, Ribbons, Scientist, Screams, Serviceable Substitute, Somerset Maugham, Ston, Thoughts Become Things, Tom Holt, Twitter, W Somerset Maugham, Waste Of Time, Why Do People | 9 Comments »
Thoughts do not become things
Deception by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com
“Thoughts become things – choose the good ones”
This ‘quote’ although well meaning, emanates from sloppy thinking and often creates the opposite effect to what was intended.
It is of course intended convey the idea that we can control our thoughts and that in any given situation we can choose the thoughts that are most useful to us at that time.
However, reducing a complex message to a trite ‘quotable’ line leaves it open to misinterpretation.
Thoughts, as and of themselves, do not become things. Even thoughts that are repeated many times a day do not become things.
- How many times does a teenage boy think about having sex and how many times does it happen?
- How many times does a parent think about their child having a tragic accident and how many times does it happen?
- How many times does someone in debt think about winning the lottery and how many times does it happen?
In some cases these thoughts are accompanied by vivid visualisations, a technique that most ‘positive thinking’ gurus will tell us is almost guaranteed to turn the thought into reality. It doesn’t.
In most cases there is no harm done other than a waste of time and most people quickly realise that simply thinking about something does not manifest it. However, what if someone’s child really did have a tragic accident? What if someone is diagnosed with cancer and despite all thinking and visualisation about the cancer disappearing, it doesn’t?
What happens when these people read trite comments like ‘Thoughts Become Things” and “What you think about is what you get ” and “Your life is a result of the way you think”?
Guilt – that’s what happens.
To add to their troubles these folk now have to cope with the idea that they have brought their misfortunes on themselves and that if only they were able to control their thoughts they wouldn’t have to face the tradgedies that have resulted from them.
This is of course, utter rubbish. We can control our thoughts and day by day choose those that result in positive emotions. We can choose to be offended or ignore a chance remark made by a friend. We can choose to believe the newspaper reports that create fear and anxiety and instead believe that most people are fair and honest. We can choose to believe that we are worth loving and have lots to offer the world even when teachers and parents tell us otherwise. We can choose how we react when tragedy strikes and give meaning to lives that are lost. Our beliefs and values – not to mention the action we take – play a huge part in this and so thoughts alone are not enough to make things happen.
What we can’t control is the randomness of bad things happening and this, I believe, is why most people buy into the idea that if only we learn how to turn thoughts into things we can avoid pain and lead charmed lives. It simply isn’t helpful.
Once we realise that bad stuff happens randomly – even to people who think only good thoughts, and that we have absolutely NO control over anything but the way we choose to react to it we can stop wasting time on trying to think our way to a better life and instead work out how to be , do and have the things we really want, safe in the knowledge that whatever happens along the way, however painful, we WILL be able to deal with it.
Posted in Inspiration | Tags: Cancer, Control, Guilt, Gurus, Having Sex, Misfortunes, Misinterpretation, Positive Thinking, S Child, Teenage Boy, Thoughts Become Things, Tradgedies, Tragic Accident, Utter Rubbish, Visualisation, Visualisations, Waste Of Time, Well Meaning, Winning The Lottery | 2 Comments »
