Yesterday after I got out of the ocean, I went to the ocean tap to rinse the sand off my feet. It is one of those taps that you press in and as the pressure releases the water flow shuts off. The one at my local beach has a very short length of water flow and I have to press if a few times to get the sand off. Grrrrrrr! Am I right?

Well, it all depends on my perception and deception filters.

It all depends on how I am choosing to see the tap. 

One of the foundational exercises I suggest for people to do is to watch their thoughts for ten minutes a day, for 7 days in a row.

Once you have an awareness of what you are thinking you can choose different thoughts. It might go something like this…

Inner monologue:  That was such a beautiful swim, I am so grateful I could enjoy that, my feet are sandy, oh great the tap is free, f**k you tap the stream is so short, how annoying, now I have to press it again, ugh so much effort….. hold up…… why am I angry?, take a deep breath, ahhh, okay [to thought] – thank you but no thank you, I choose to be grateful for that tap, I live in a society that has put that tap their to remove the sand, how kind.

You could go on and on with lots of gratitude…

Inner monologue: it is so great to have a tap to wash my feet, and feet to wash, to be in a peaceful society with taps, wow somebody invented that tap and that pressure system to conserve water, people care about the environment, many people are inventors, we have so much ability as humans, this suburb and council is amazing, etc.

Every thought we have sets off a pulse of electricity in the brain that triggers a neurochemical reaction that we experience as emotion. Eg. “f**k you tap” = cortisol = anger Vs “I love you tap” = serotonin or oxytocin = love / gratitude / happiness.

It is through our power of choice at the level of thought that we can begin to make new choices and new neural pathways and actually make ourselves feel good. It’s as though there is a chemist in our brain, our thoughts are dollars and we can buy antidepressants. 

There are so many other ways to make changes with various healing tools, going deep into our subconscious, working on our attitudes, beliefs, imagination, etc. Yet I would like to suggest working with thought is a fantastic way especially if you feel out of control in your life or of yourself or if you are feeling low energy.  You can influence and control your mind even if everything around you seems out of control. In the opening line of one of my favourite fiction books, Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts writes:

“IT TOOK ME a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.”

In order to choose a different thought you have to have an awareness of what you are thinking. You can develop that by watching your thoughts or paying attention to what you are feeling. If you feel angry or sad ask yourself what have I just been thinking? Once you get good at watching your thoughts (if you are not there already) you can work with the statements “thank you but no thank you I choose” or “Delete, delete, delete, I choose” Or “Cancel, cancel, cancel, I choose”.

Many of my mentors and some people I know have gone beyond thought, they exist in constant present moment awareness. And this is a respectable endeavour. However, most people have 50-80 thousand thoughts a day and are looking to make some changes in their lives. So watching thoughts and working with thoughts can be used in conjunction with present moment meditation eg focusing on breath and the practise of ‘being here now’ and ‘loving what is’. By the way, these statements work well as a mantra for a run away mind seducing you in ever increasing spirals of negativity.

The vital reminder here is you are a free will being. You have the sovereign power to use your power of thought to influence your feelings, and actions. I encourage you to ask yourself what you want and remind you, you have the power to create.