How do thoughts affect reality? How does prayer affect reality? When has your mind been your worst enemy? How do you keep cynicism in check?Well first of all, this would depend on whether we are talking about actual reality, or our own views of reality. I think that it is possible that our personal views of reality can sometimes be a little skewed from what is actually reality. And so if we are talking about our views of reality, it's obvious that those are affected by our thoughts.
People can completely change their view of the world and how they see it just by thinking. You can decide to change your attitude, and your personal reality will change. You can become a much happier or much more depressed person just by the way you view yourself and the world around you.
(In fact, isn't that sort of what I'm doing right now, with this blog? I'm thinking about life's big questions, about what it means to be human, in the hopes that that exploration and the journey to find the answers will help mold me into the person I want to be, to improve my life by changing my outlook. So this blog is an example of attempting to use thoughts to change reality)
In a way, thoughts affect actual reality, too. Think about it. Every great invention, as well as most tragedies, started with a thought. Someone thought about it, and then decided to do it. And those things do affect our realities. So, the product of thought definitely affects reality.
As far as whether plain old thoughts affect actual reality...I'm not really sure. I've read The Secret, and it does seem plausible. And the whole time I was reading The Secret (for those of you who DON'T know, The Secret is a book based on the law of attraction that basically says "one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness...fleeting negative thoughts are powerful enough to create terminal illness, poverty and even widespread disasters"[from the description on amazon.com) I was thinking, "isn't this sort of the basis of prayer?" Except with prayer, you think your thoughts and believe that God will hear them and do something for you, whereas with The Secret, you think your thoughts and think the Universe will do something for you. But it seems to me to be the same basic sort of thing. So I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I'd love to believe in it, and what's the worst it can do? Even if simply thinking positively DOESNT have an affect on actual reality, it will have an affect on your mood and your outlook on life. So I say, go for it.
My mind has been my worst enemy so many times! I'm very shy and inhibited at times, and almost always pretty self-conscious. My mind, my thoughts, my worries about what others will think of me has held me back from so many things. My mind keeps me from truly plunging in to life, which is of course something I'm trying to fight now. My thoughts and worries have kept me from taking many opportunities. It was because of them that I didn't even consider colleges more than 50 miles from my home. It was because of them that I never (and still havent) traveled without a parent or other adult (even though I'm 20 now). My thoughts have kept me from trying out for things, from joining my peers in activities that would probably have been a lot of fun had I been able to beat the self-conscious part of me that was worried about looking stupid.
My mind has also been my worst enemy when it's caused me to doubt friendships, to worry for no reason that people were faking it, and didn't really want to be my friend. That sort of thing is something that I'm still actively trying to fight.
Probably the biggest time my mind has been my worst enemy, though, would be the onset of my anxiety disorder. The first time I realized something was wrong, that would probably be the top time when I hated my mind. I was 14, and it was a summer night, I was alone in my room (I was the only one upstairs at all, actually). Everyone else was asleep, my cell phone didn't work so I couldn't call anyone, and I was just terrified. For no reason. I can't describe the horrible feeling. I was just simply petrified, crying, terrified. I was paralyzed with fear. For no reason other than my mind created those feelings. It took a long time to get better (but I'm finally getting there! And that is a great thing to celebrate!). But that would be probably the biggest time when my mind was truly my enemy.
I feel like I've been getting less and less cynical as I've gotten older. I don't really know. I don't think I have a specific way of keeping it "in check"...I think the best way is just to do what I'm doing now, to grow your soul, to find happiness, to actively seek out the good in the world. If you can find things that are still beautiful in the world, and then focus on those...I think maybe that's the best way.
That's it for now! Sorry it's been so long; I've been sick the past few days =/ But I'm getting better now, so hopefully it won't be this long again (unless schoolwork catches up with me of course!)
Give me your thoughts on the subject in the comments!
-Beth
No comments:
Post a Comment