We're always lead to believe that life is the only journey you can't pack for, that what you take with you from experience to experience is determined by your previous experiences, and the emotional and psychological result of these. I am starting to believe that this is untrue to a certain extent. I mean, let's face it, we're not just our psyche. We are more than this, and, although it is not always easy, we can control our action, so why can't we control what we think?
Well, we can. How you feel is not what you think. What you feel can't be helped, what you think is a decision. Sounds sort of easy, but I don't really think it is. I haven't read a lot on this, but I have heard some people in the sort of 'self-help' business go on about it. I didn't really give it much thought, but have found myself driven lately to move past what I feel, and make a conscious decision to think something which goes against the grain of that. Thought leads to action, so thinking right leads to doing right. That's why this is important.
In a physical sense, when we go somewhere we think carefully about where we're going and what we're doing to decide what we need to pack. We try to cover all eventuality, but, inevitably, we forget things, over-estimate what we'll need or under-estimate what we'll need. In a psychological sense, you can't always prepare for what's coming. You might try to psyche yourself up for something, but we don't always know what is around the corner, and even when we do, often we have no idea of the psychological impact. The only thing we can do is try to alter our thought pattern. Turning feeling into thought leads to turning thought into action. Trying to think things you don't feel is very difficult, but I think I'm going to try and do just that as an experiment.
For example, at the moment I'm about to prepare for a physical journey of my own. The feelings I have are of apprehension, fear, and excitement. I don't want the negative feelings to have a negative impact on my journey, but if I allow them to overtake then they very well might. What I'm going to try and do instead is think, consciously, about the positive aspects of my trip, and everytime a negative thought comes into my head I'm going to turn it into a positive one. Anything which is a worry which can be helped by physical activity (i.e being more physcially prepared) then I'm going to deal with it as soon as I can so that there is no basis for a negative thought surrounding it. I'm doing this to try to have a positive impact on me, and I'm not sure how successful it will be, or even what the real impact could be... but I think it's worth having a go.
So...I guess I'll let you know the result in the near future :) Wish me luck!
You're reading...
