The Beauty of a Fresh Thought
Cultivating the ability to think new thoughts
Self-help often asks us to control our minds.
There’s allot in the world today about neuroplasticity, affirmations, self-optimization, manifestation and thought-work. And it is true that in order to change our reality we must change our thoughts. However, in much of the approach these days, this is an inorganic process - one of forcing new thoughts into our conscious world in an effort to attain the change we want to initiate. It’s like yelling at yourself YOU WILL THINK THIS THOUGHT, when everything inside of you rebels against it.
True thought change requires a more gentle and almost passive approach.
Thoughts are an interesting phenomena. We don’t really know where thoughts come from; how they come unbidden into the mind. Research has shown that we humans can have up to 60,000 thoughts a day. Many of these are repetitive, automatic or unconscious. We think the same thing day in, day out.
But in order to keep ourselves engaged with the world around us, especially when our routines remain the same, we have to cultivate the ability to think differently. A new thought can crack open a whole new trail for us to follow. A new thought can result in a change in perspective or a shift in perspective. Or it could result in new energy, a fresh way of looking as something that releases us from the burden of the past or brings the future to life in a whole new way.
We cannot will ourselves to think new thoughts. (Go ahead and try it. Go sit in a corner, squeeze your eyes shut and tell yourself to “THINK A NEW THOUGHT” and let me know what you come up with. ) What we can do is create an internal environment that allows these shifts to arise organically.
Here are some ways to till up new mental ground:
That could mean:
read something outside your existing intellectual ecosystem
be open to an unexpected conversation
allow boredom - turn off the TV, put down the phone
walk without headphones
write without an agenda or the pressure of posting - (this is pen and paper writing, not screen and keys, BTW)
sit in stillness and quiet with nothing particular on your mind
expose yourself to art
change your physical environment
avoid alcohol or other substances for a period of time
ask a different question
give yourself enough unstructured time for associations to form
New input creates new output.
Many of the above suggestions are about changing the input. If you are tired of the thoughts you think, you need to change what you surround yourself with. Wonder and wander in new environments. Or take in your usual environment in a new way: slow down, get in touch with your senses - what are seeing? What are you hearing? What do you smell? What can you touch or feel?
We cannot force a new thought to arise. But we can create the space and environment for a new thought to form.
The next step after that is to catch the new thought - to become aware of it. Especially if it’s a thought that brings sensation or a reaction within the body. The new thought may not be something you want to follow - but the experience itself, of thinking in a new and different way, is one that reminds us that possibilities abound and are available. And sometimes, all we have to do is not think about it.
