Lola Adesioye

“I think therefore I am” wrote the philosopher Descartes. He could, although he didn’t, have also said “I feel therefore I am”. Most of us believe both statements to be true.

We are conditioned to invest our thoughts and feelings with a great deal of power and credence. The idea is that we must pay attention to, examine, and identify with every thought and feeling that crosses our mind. We actually come to believe that we really ARE – as Descartes said – our thoughts and feelings.

On any given day, our mood can range from high to low, based on what thoughts are going through our mind at any time. If your mind says “I feel bad” then you start feeling bad. If your mind says “I feel good” then you start feeling good.

There is nothing wrong with this, it is just worth being aware that for the most part, we do not consciously choose which thoughts and feelings we are going to have, nor do we tend to be conscious of where they are coming from. They arise and we simply buy into them. For the most part, we do not have thoughts, they have us!

I assert that we are not our thoughts nor our feelings. We can’t be. By virtue of knowing that we have thoughts and feelings, we cannot be them. So, who are we beyond thoughts and feelings?

What if the things you felt and thought weren’t true? What if they were just old conditioned responses from the past, created when you were a child, that you just continue to repeat over and over again as an adult?

What would your life be like if you simply stopped giving some much power to your thoughts, if you didn’t have to follow each one as it arose? What if you chose those which gave you power and left alone those that didn’t?

What would your life be like if you could just observe your thoughts, see them for what they are – just some thoughts – and allow them to pass on by, while you attend to what you are here to do? Live!

For today join me in taking on allowing your thoughts to arise, observing them and letting them pass…

Beyond thinking lies peace!