How Do We Stop Thinking?

I was asked this question recently: “How Do We Stop Thinking?”  The person asking the question was of the opinion that if we could ‘stop thinking’, we would be able to clear some space in our heads and get a better perspective and understanding on the way forward. The metaphorical “clearing the trees to see the wood”. To a degree, this makes sense – the ability to clear some of the clutter – and certainly some of the negativity – that builds up in the recesses of our mind over time. The equivalent of giving the mind the proverbial spring clean.

But there are a couple of stumbling blocks to this theory.

Firstly, on a scientific level, research shows that only around 20% of our thoughts are ‘conscious thoughts’ (i.e. thoughts that we are in control of) each day. The other 80% of thoughts that we have, happen at the level of our ‘subconscious’. So to ask a question like “How do I stop thinking” is to ask a question like “How do I stop my heart beating” or “How do I stop my food digesting.” The subconscious functions on ‘autopilot’ so the answer is, it would be pretty much impossible!

Secondly, on a metaphysical level, 

The conscious mind needs something to do. It is like an untrained puppy.  Asking a puppy to be quiet and do nothing is nigh on impossible. If left alone, a puppy can find untold mischief in about 5 seconds ( I know, we have  a 7-month old labrador ) If you sit still and concentrate on thinking about nothing, what happens? I challenge you to try it for the next  2 minutes. The result? – I bet you spent the whole time trying to dodge the thoughts that kept popping into the ‘void’.

So how do you train your mind to be quiet? If you study meditation, you will learn that the purpose of meditation is not to ‘sit there and think about nothing’. The purpose of meditation is learning how to hold the mind on a single focus point for extended periods of time. We train the mind to ‘sit still’ for extended periods of time, in much the same way that we train the puppy to eventually sit still. One of the ways of learning to train the mind to do that, is to focus on the space between our thoughts. We focus on creating something, rather than eliminating something. And isn’t this much more in tune with the physical laws of the universe? After all, we know that energy cannot be ‘made’ or ‘destroyed’, it can only be changed.

But why would we want to stop thinking in any case?  Nature hates a vacuum. Create a vacuum and nature will immediately attempt to fill it with whatever element is most readily to hand.  Our mind is the same. Our mind was created to think. ‘I think therefore I am’, or perhaps more accurately, ‘I feel therefore I am’. Our mind feeds our growth. “Think & Grow Rich” … in whatever aspect of our lives it is that we wish to enrich.

What we should be striving to do is not to stop thinking but learning how to channel our thoughts to enrich our lives. By feeding our conscious mind with the ‘right stuff’, we can influence the thoughts, feelings and belief systems that we have at a subconscious level and therefore influence the direction that our subconscious thoughts are taking us – either up or down.

 I have written an introductory article on this topic, you can view it by clicking on this link: Success Strategies. You, may also wish to visit the success strategies section of my blog. Happy thinking

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