What Do You Think About When You Think You're Not Thinking?
Have you ever been with someone who appears to be deep in thought? But when you ask them what they're thinking about they say, "Nothing."
We've all said that at one time or another. But I don't think it's true. The brain never stops. Even when we're not cognizant of intentionally sorting through some idea mentally our brain is still processing something. We're usually not even aware we're doing this until something or someone brings it to our attention. Then we realize, though our mind was somewhere else, maybe even in a strange place, it was working. We were thinking something.
I ask a few people to try to capture their thoughts when they thought they weren't thinking about anything. Here are some examples:
* We've all thought about what we'd do if we won a multimillion dollar lottery. One person's mind wanted to give back to the community. If they had the money they'd build a new high school. But they would give the people what they really wanted. So the school would have five gyms, four football fields, eight soccer fields, a swimming pool and two class rooms.
* One person shared this story. After an eye exam she ordered a new pair of lenses but wanted to keep the old frames. She'd be without her glasses for 10 days. It was mandatory to pay half the cost up front and the remainder when she got her glasses. She caught herself thinking about what would happen if she died before she got the glasses. Would her family have to pay for something they would never use? What would the eye doctor do? Withhold the glasses? From who? Bill her estate? What if she had no estate?
* Several people said they found their minds going to times that they had spent with a loved one who'd passed away. They gravitated to happy memories but when they became conscious of what they were thinking, the realization that the loved one was gone and was never coming back, made them sad.
* One lady said she always had the best intentions of cleaning her house every day. But she was so busy she seldom accomplished her goals. It must have really preyed on her mind because at the oddest times she found herself thinking about specific undone housework.
* A man, who part of his career involved doing mechanical and carpentry-type work outside remembered the rain, mud and all kinds of bad weather he had to work in. And his tools were always scattered about. If he had to leave before the job was done he had to pick up all his tools and put them away knowing he'd have to drag everything out again when he returned to the job. A frequent thought that came to his mind was a dream of having a huge concrete-floored building to house his tools and work.
* A woman who had seen a humming bird early in the month put out food expecting to see her annual visitors. Usually she had three or four. But none came. She couldn't understand it and was disappointed. Several weeks later she noticed two humming birds buzzing around the feeder. Delighted, she realized she was mentally talking to the birds asking where they'd been and why it took so long to come back.
Some people don't tell what they are thinking because they don't realize they are thinking. Others don't want to tell because it would be embarrassing to them if people knew what they were thinking. Still others really believe that they are not thinking. Try it. See if you can go one minute and think absolutely nothing. I believe that most of us spend the majority of our time alone with ourselves in our mind. It's something to think about. Keep Smiling.
Linda Messmer can be reached at 812-448-8725.
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