Although positive thinking can bring about miracles, trying to think positively doesn’t work. It’s just as pointless as looking at the sky on a summer day and deciding to see only beautiful clouds. Now, which are the beautiful clouds? The big black ones with a silver lining? The ones with interesting shapes? The thin ones that make a mackerel sky? Are there such things as ugly clouds? And if there were ugly clouds, how could we define them? What criteria could we possibly use to divide beautiful clouds from ugly clouds?
Clouds are just clouds. They are condensations of water vapour in various shapes and sizes that constantly change. They may bring rain, they may be blown away by the wind or hang overhead without doing anything for a long time. Sometimes they create spectacular and dramatic formations and you can watch them as they collide and merge, or split into smaller clouds, and eventually they are dissolved by the sun and disappear, just to be replaced by other clouds that seem to come out of nowhere.
It is exactly the same thing with thoughts; positive thoughts, negative thoughts, angry thoughts, resentful thoughts, greedy thoughts, peaceful thoughts, mean thoughts, uplifting thoughts, depressing thoughts, anxious thoughts, cheerful thoughts, creative thoughts, destructive thoughts… they are all bloody thoughts. Just like clouds, they come in different shapes and sizes, they hang overhead for a while or pass away quickly, they create dramas, they trigger emotions, they fight with each other, they clash and collide, and eventually disappear, just to be replaced by other thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere.
So relax and watch the drama of your own thoughts. Don’t try to control it. You couldn’t anyway. Can you control the weather? Can you control the clouds? In the same way, you cannot control your thoughts, you can’t choose them. You can’t stop them either. You can only make yourself miserable by moaning and complaining about the thoughts that come to you, and that’s just as pointless as complaining about the weather. True, moaning and complaining about the weather is something we all love doing. It can release our frustration and anger by giving it expression, but it doesn’t change the weather. As a popular song from the Seventies said, “I’m never gonna stop the rain by complaining…”
Trying to think positive is a lost battle. Give it up, before it wears you out. Relax and watch the drama that goes on inside you without getting lost in it. Allow your thoughts to entertain you, recognize them for what they are: waves of psychic energy floating above the surface of our awareness.
