It is natural for us to think that the thoughts that are generated in our minds are our own. At 180 Sanctuary @ Puripai Villa, We coach clients to become aware that it is important to understand that we need to be able to evaluate new information that drips into our minds.
There is currently a fantastic (in my opinion) TV series circulating on Netflix called Black Mirror. In general the series looks at the possibilities that could occur if the technologies we use today were to become more powerful and widespread in the future. One episode that really caught my eye is called Nosedive. In this particular episode we are shown a world where the social media practice of liking/not liking and rating everything is taken to the extremes. Basically an individual is rated based upon every interaction that they have – this could be from someone’s boss at work to their waiter at a restaurant. They also are rated back. To top this all off, all ratings will contribute to their collective score. Everyone in this world is fitted with eyeglasses and they are able to see everyone else’s score. Those with smaller scores are given lower income jobs, less adequate places to live and have limited or no friends. The main character of this episode has a few bad days and her score drops completely. Eventually this results in her being excluded from everything and everyone. I know it is just fiction, but this does sound a little too true – a chilling statement on the strong power of judging!
Have you ever wondered where negative judgments and others thoughts may come from? I’m talking about thoughts and judgments that can cause so much pain on ourselves and each other. It is natural for us to think that the thoughts we create in our minds are our own. We pretty much decide who or what we like and don’t like and what is good and what is bad. In other words - It is what makes us us.
But I would like to point out to you that it is a fact that thoughts enter our head from all kinds of places. Eventually they wait around in our minds to be reused at the appropriate moment.
I would like to emphasize media literacy – knowing how the views we here expressed from a young age from people of authority and the media enter our minds and become our own. Most often at times unexamined. Even something as small as the weather report telling us each morning that rain is “bad weather” automatically conditions our minds to think less of the needs of farmers and more so of the needs of people going on vacation.
Enter mindfulness – A practice which can support our efforts to not be overpowered by views and judgments that can creep into our minds. At 180 Sanctuary we use mindfulness to allow a client to see that a thought is not necessarily a fact. It also allows an individual to be aware of what is happening when they are taking in new information – they can either let it seep in unfiltered, or they can make room to evaluate it.
Thoughts deserve our utmost attention. Thoughts are where the best and worst of who we are is born.