Imagine that you had no control over your thoughts, no control over your responses, and no control over your emotions. One of these is true. Can you guess which one?
Garrett Kramer got me thinking about not thinking. His latest book, The Path of No Resistance, is a powerful argument for inside-out thinking. He argues that your thinking creates your feeling and not vice versa. He believes that we have all kinds of thoughts, some great, some not so great, and some even crazy. The key, according to Kramer, is recognizing which thoughts are worth acting upon. You thoughts may be random but your response is not. Asking, “Why?” before choosing, “What?” is the strategy that precedes my responses, at least sometimes.
When your thinking is unclear, read a bad mood, the best thing to do is nothing. Just carry on until the clarity returns. This runs counter to the natural response of, “I just need to think more positive.” More thinking doesn’t create better thinking, just more mental anxiety.
This ties in nicely to my world view. We agree that we are endowed by our creator with innate clarity and wisdom. We agree that as a man thinketh, so is he. I sort of agree that when you feel a gut level tension around a thought, your inner wisdom is signaling, that your thinking is not clear.
The freedom of his thesis is profound. Your thinking and not your circumstances determine your outlook. Elle Wiesel demonstrated this by his response to the brutality and inhumanity of his Nazi concentration camp surroundings and existence.
Kramer believes that when we allow our thoughts to settle, our inner wisdom will lead us to the appropriate response and action. This is not to say we just stop and meditate every 20 minutes. Rather, this suggests that when our moods are not one of love, we look inward and examine our thinking at the moment rather than let our mood drive our response.
His “mind like water” analogy works for me. Wisdom resides in the quiet waters. Combining a settled mind with the internal clarity that the Holy Spirit provides me, I see and act more Christ like, not more Rick like.
I see every situation as a discretionary opportunity. Just like zero based budgeting makes all things discretionary. Now if our government would drop this dangerous farce of “NON” discretionary expenditures, my mind would definitely settle like water.