THOUGHTS are the fuel for our actions. As we navigate our lives, engaging in various pursuits of trial and error, it is only our thoughts which guide the choices we make. When our thoughts are not actively affecting our actions, they are, at the very least, changing our disposition. When we choose to think about something for a long period of time, our lives become centred on that idea. Sometimes, it is people we think about. Sometimes, our thoughts are about a goal or an object we wish to attain. Most times, however, the thoughts that occupy our minds are simply about the tasks we need to accomplish that day.
We spend most of our time thinking about what we need to do, where we need to be and how we can complete simple daily chores. Before we realise it, we stop thinking about anything significant at all. Our minds and our bodies become trained to traverse the routines we have seemingly perfected. We become cogs in a wheel, destined to fit into a perfectly sculpted niche, but never desiring to understand the greater world that surrounds the role we have adopted.
Perhaps the easiest way to introspect is to ponder this question: if we were stopped at a random point during the course of our day and offered a penny for our thoughts, would our answer be worth the penny?
For the younger generations, life is only at the very beginning of its bloom. We are mostly engaged in building the foundation for our later years or establishing habits that can shape us for the better. What we often forget to do, however, is train our thoughts to a pattern that not only results in productivity, but also in the ability to consciously perceive the world and understand our impact on it. In truth, our thoughts are worth far more than a penny. Their value weighs equal to the future of our world.
Strangely enough, while our years of socialisation and schooling often teach us how to act and speak, the process of thinking is something we develop mainly on our own. By perceiving our environment and learning from our friends and family, we subconsciously adopt a specific way of thinking. Sometimes, this even includes beliefs and opinions that we may later question as we grow and learn more. To start thinking in a way that can positively impact the world, we must shift from a passive to an active mode of thinking.
We must seek out information and develop our own understanding, rather than simply inheriting it from our mentors or peers. Most importantly, we must be aware that there is always something else to learn, even in the things we believe we have already mastered.
There is an infectious apathy that seems to plague us. It prevents us from contributing to solving a problem or even from noticing its existence in the first place. Contrary to initial beliefs, this apathy is not a mark of indifference, but of our inability to give space to thoughts that extend beyond the boundaries of our own lives. In the same way that beliefs and opinions can be learned, compassion and understanding can also be learned. They can be learned by actively seeking knowledge, especially about places and people we do not encounter in our daily lives.
Within an hour, we can learn a great deal about a different culture. We can learn about a war or a global issue that people are suffering from. As we learn, we can also begin to think differently. Specifically, we can think about how our own small actions can make a difference in the extent of those issues we have learned about. Training ourselves to think in this manner is not just about ensuring that we live a more fulfilling and compassionate life; it is also about ensuring that when we make choices capable of shaping the world, even in the smallest of ways, we do so with the awareness that we are leaving behind a mark that will affect others around us, as well as future generations.
