Q&A – Good thoughts vs bad thoughts

The question:

How can we tell if a thought creates or removes dissonance in our lives? And is there a third category where a thought doesn’t contribute to either?

These first two categories have an important practical application that helps us make quick decisions regarding entertaining thoughts.

Do these thoughts help me or hurt me?

Like a litmus test.

But I think it os is important to distinguish where the responsibility lies.

I have a relevant view regarding the integration of gravity. The force of gravity is there and doesn’t change in and of itself, but our integration of the force has an effect that is either constructive or destructive.

To me, thoughts exist in a realm beyond meaning. Therefore, they don’t hold responsibility for their effects. They just are… and then we respond.

*Our response to a thought is the cause that starts the cascade of effects that play out in our lives. Whether those effects serve or create dissonance is in our hands.*

To put it another way:

A fish isn’t aware of the water in which it swims. Regardless, it’s built to maneuver within its environment.

We are only partially aware of the gravitational field in which we move. Therefore, we don’t blame gravity for our aches and pains (at least I hope not). The aches and pains are related to our biology and the behaviors that alter our relationship to gravity.

In the sea of our mind, how we position ourselves to the *waves of thought* heavily influences our outcomes. Understanding this system and applying appropriately-timed-and-intense effort allows us to surf (fulfillment). Getting too close to a wave without respecting its power can pin us to the bottom (depression).

The waves, the thoughts, don’t cause the effects. The waves come. The waves will always come. We choose whether and how we want to engage with them.

We always have the option to sit on land from a higher vantage point. From here we can witness the greater system of interrelated cycles and patterns that manifest as tides, currents, and waves (as well as weather, people, and everything else that exists).

When we can see the system within which our thoughts play a part, we begin to see the stimulus, the story, the background, the context, our potential responses, and their potential effects on resonance and dissonance to our mission in life.

As Rumi has said, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing. and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

A spin on this…

Just beyond the break, where our thoughts are given stories, there is a sea. Let’s go float.