What are Thoughts Made Of?

What are thoughts made of?

I set out to solve

this mystery

I cracked open

different articles and books

To find out what I

could from research and history.

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I discovered we

have 6200 thoughts a day

Some interesting,

some alarming, some magical, some plain

Questions, answers,

opinions, ideas

Will roll into our

mental station like 6200 trains.

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What am I saying?

They are faster than that

There’s a thought

for every 3 of our 22,000 daily breaths

Thoughts zoom in

and out of our minds endlessly

Like an ever

changing fleet of 6200 jets.

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Some zoom in for

nanoseconds,

Like a butterfly or

a hummingbird, they are there, then they zoom away

Some overstay and

become repetitive, intrusive thoughts

Those thoughts

can become pests and spoil our day.

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A fly zips by,  you read these words,

Umpteen things 

can set your mind going.

And because one thought

leads to another, and another,

Where we will end up, 

we have 

no way of knowing.

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Thoughts are just electro-chemical reactions, 

they say*

Connecting with each other in mysterious ways, 

This is why we find ourselves

here and now, one minute,

the very next minute, our thoughts are

far away.

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Observing our thoughts is a worthwhile experience

It will reveal to us, and help us find

What thoughts we should continue, what thoughts we shouldn't

So we are in a good thought shape and state

Most of the time.

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By making a practice of attending to

our thoughts,

We will find out what thoughts

are sad, fearful, angry, lascivious, covetous, greedy, unforgiving, or untrue,

We can observe them

without acting or reacting, based on them

And watch them be replaced

by thoughts that are better and are new.

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Meditation and prayer can help us do that,

dear reader

It can help us get rid of the sad, fearful, angry, lascivious, covetous, greedy, unforgiving, or untrue.

It can help us lift our thoughts to an ever higher plane

So we can keep our ever-changing fleet of 6200

ever pure, and ever new

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*For the really curious about those electrochemical reactions...https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/what-are-thoughts-made-of/

Suggested next steps: 1. What's on your mind? Write down every thought you have today, and begin the experiment of learning about your 6200.

2. Use this Happiness Calendar for October 2023 to improve your thought shape and state in October, and to say "Boo" to all those negative thoughts. The calendar was designed for educators, but you can use it too.