You Become What You Think About

Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness - Sophocles

It’s often a struggle to find the key, the thing which will open it all up and make everything clear. The key doesn’t exist but it is the search for the key that defines our experience and our experience which persuades our world view. The way that we view the world is dependent upon those factors that have influenced us from the day that we are born so it is good practice to once in a while consider your situation from another perspective. This is where the development of compassion and its sibling empathy are so vital.

If you only ever perceive your life by viewing it through a mirror you will end up with a very monochromatic perspective. Consider the reflections of others because the way they see you is for them the way you see others and it does not have the same biases and prejudices that we bring to bear when assessing ourselves. Their views and experience are as valid as your own. If we do not consider the way that our actions affect the world then we are at best inconsiderate. Each of us is contributing and our own lives are the fulcrum of our contributions, the arena where what we have created comes out to play.

Think about the person you want to be, then the person you are, how great is the shortfall? A life lived in shortfall is a life playing catch up. If you think that you are always having to catch up then you run the risk of thinking that something has passed you by. This is never the case, you are always at the hub of a great churning dynamo. The art is to wake up and realise that it goes on, even now. You will get to where you are going so travel light.

A wise man once said to me, ‘You become what you think about.’ It’s true, you do, so try to fill your thoughts and occupy your mind with things that help you to get where you want to go. Knowing what you want is the true road to happiness, knowing what you want is step one and then implementing a strategy to bring that about in your life is step two. Step three is learning to have the wit, wisdom and grace to accept whatever is the result of that process.

I talk with lots of people and when the conversation gets into its groove, we’ve done the warm up and now we’re on the main event, people say things to me like,’ I consider myself to be a human being on a spiritual journey.’ Perception is everything, and I say to them, ‘Have you ever considered that you might be a spiritual being on a human journey?’ we all have a development path to follow, and we will travel it no matter what. Surrender to the journey, go with it, become like the elements and allow yourself to grow with flexibility and room for manoeuvre, the scenery is always changing as you progress, do not expect it to meet you always on your terms.