DAY 83 – UNDERSTANDING THOUGHTS: THE FIRST STEP INTO MAKING ONE’S OWN LIFE BETTER AND MAKING THIS A BETTER WORLD

There was a story recently on the news about two people who got into a verbal argument that escalated into punches being thrown over a parking spot at a mall. Each person believed that he had the right to park there instead of the other person.

Think about what preceded this parking lot situation. Two people are going to a mall to buy something. Their day could be very normal and both of them had no cares in the world or they could have had something in life going on that was very troubling. Neither of them expected any type of confrontation when they pulled into the lot. Yet, here in hindsight, they found themselves in a violent situation.

When we can understand that human beings live our lives in thought we can understand that two people developed thoughts in their minds that a specific parking spot should be theirs and the other person had to find a different one. Both people did not want to change their minds about the parking spot which is really not wanting to change their thoughts about the parking spot. Each person got to the point where their thoughts made hitting another human being acceptable.

Before this parking situation escalated into annoyance, anger and physically assaulting the other person, either of the two people could have been magnanimous and allowed the other person to park there. This, a more peaceful and cooperative approach, is also the result of a thought.

Thoughts are behind how human beings act. We have certain thoughts when we act kind and different ones when we treat other people poorly. We have certain thoughts about ourselves that uplift us and contribute to our self-confidence and other thoughts of a self demeaning nature that deflate us and make us feel bad. We have certain thoughts about how we treat our own body when we treat it well and other thoughts when we ignore what we should do for better health. We have certain thoughts when we act in ways to keep the earth clean and sustainable and other thoughts when we pollute and litter the only planet we have. We have certain thoughts when we want to find common ground with people whose ideologies and behaviors are not the same as one’s own and other thoughts when we do not want to cooperate with people whose ideologies and behaviors are different from one’s own.

Having inner harmony where we do not become enraged is dependent upon not having those silent words that gets us upset. Human beings want life to go smoothly without any annoying interruptions to what we are doing at that moment. That is impossible. There will be times in our day where something happens that is not what we want to happen. Since it just occurred, we cannot change it. Our thoughts dictate how we react to the unwanted and determine whether we go peacefully forward or become inwardly enraged and outwardly abusive.

One focus of a community betterment project is to help one another understand their thoughts so that everyone can have fewer problematic situations. It is too easy to get lost inside of one’s own mind that brings on personally destructive behaviors along with verbal assaults and violently lashing out at another human being.

By having a community betterment project where people in town talk about which thoughts enhance life compared to the type of thoughts that create human difficulties it can make a significant difference in the lives of their community members, especially so for the young. Learning about how each of us are affected by what we hear, read and see that turns into specific thoughts and subsequent behaviors is essential for not getting upset at a situation or at another human being. Helping our fellow community members to understand that anti-thoughts aimed at people who have different ideologies and belong to different nationalities, religions, races, ethnicities or sexual orientations than oneself is the reason people hate certain people. The insights that can be gained from understanding one’s own thoughts may help prevent personal problems and societal difficulties from ever developing.

After watching this news story about a physical altercation over a parking spot, I now realize that the thoughts that flow through my mind lead to the behaviors that I engage in. How I treat my body, how I treat my fellow human beings and how I treat the earth begins with the type of thoughts that I have. Self-centered thoughts lead to selfish and uncooperative behaviors. Peaceful and harmonious thoughts become the cooperative spirit that makes this a better world. Thoughts are the underpinnings for what follows.