Thinking or awareness - we pick

What exactly is thinking ? Of course there are many possible answers: chemical molecules moving between our neurons, activation of functional networks in the brain, subjective constructs of received information, etc. But those definitions are clearly not helpful to truly understand ourselves and get better at not standing in the way of our own evolution.

Thinking can be most easily seen as the sum of our reactions. As our attention sweeps between the constructs of the future and the events of the past, it gets caught up in one or the other. When it’s attached to the past we either start analyzing and rehashing it or having emotional reactions to it. When it gets stuck in the future, we start planning and trying to imagine potential events that most often will never come to pass that way. All of this is fairly tiring as we all know - and just how useful is it ?…

In the present we just pay attention to our action or feel the emotion of that moment. There is no reaction as such, no analysis. If that occurs, our action will not reach its best outcome, as the attention is diverted to thinking rather the action itself. When we are enjoying, any joy will be finished if we start thinking and analyzing. Instead of just looking at a great sunset between the mountains, imagine we start worrying that it may be better seen from the other side, or that it's too bad it will be done shortly, etc.

So in the present we do not think. And the present is the only reality. When we are enlightened through the ascent of our motherly energy, our attention can detach itself from the binding of the past and future and be stationed in the present. Of course a small amount of planning will be useful sometimes, as well as making sure we have learned the lesson of the past. But we become largely free to fully enjoy the present as well as giving it our very best. And that really makes for a much better life !