Thoughts for Things

Society, particularly capitalism and consumerism, has provided people with so many options for things to do. Speaking empirically, there are commercial spaces like coffee shops, and bars, gyms, or stores, all with endless options. There is also lots of shopping – with things going obsolete before you know it, therefore requiring people to make more trips to stores or online orders.

Many of the things that we need are a click away. We also have apps to click in and out of, social media sites to scroll, key words to Google, and games to play. Truly, there is no end to the options. All these actions are driven by a noisy, restless mind, which in turn contributes to an even more fast-paced mind that is fueled by instant gratification, making it difficult to slow down.

Highlights of the Day

Addictions to phones can drive people through their endless quest for food for thought, as an insatiable quest to learn about the world. This is the information age: There is a need for constant stimuli, observable all around us by the obsession with technology, as the literal highlight manifesting before our eyes. Smart phones literally brighten many people’s day. This is evident in the fact that in public, people are mostly always on them. The debated topic is: Can that need for stimulation be good for the mind?

It seems like a smart phone could be subliminally internalized into creating a busier mind. After all, distractibility is on the rise. People are more inattentive than ever. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, intelligence test results in the United States have been decreasing.

Paradoxically, it’s more like a lack of mindfulness that is a contributing factor that drives cell phone use, and vice versa; people are distracted, so they pick up the smart phone to pacify a restless mind.

This is not so subjective, by now this is common knowledge. Smart phones are a huge distraction. People are more preoccupied with how many likes they get, instead of how many breaths they can follow. They might as well be holding their breaths for likes, after all, that type of thinking is certainly disquieting for the mind.

As technology replaces organic thinking by driving an obsession to the bright objects before us, the mind becomes like a moth attracted to a bright light. It fuels a preoccupied obsession that contributes to restlessness that created destructive neural pathways. Unless the mind is cleared of all unhealthy neural pathways, it will be like a pilot landing on a runway that does not have guiding lights, like no lights from air-traffic controllers on a mental runway. That is where meditation programs come into play. There are resources for developing a stronger mind, and they are best to be used.

Mood for Thought

By putting technology aside, it is noticeable that observing the mind is much like surfing the web. It too can be mindless, in an unintentional sense. Too many people associate meditation with needing a certain kind of skill to be able to do. Really, all it takes is a mood for thought, like food for thought, in the form of manifesting introspection, memory recollection, and solutions realized to personal problems that people could be chewing on. Instead of being in the mood for constant stimuli, we choose to be in the mood for observable, awareness of thought.

Consciousness is a fountain of wisdom that fulfills a spiritual hunger. In the pursuit of satisfying a spiritual hunger, one must not just make the time, but spend that time reflecting upon relationships, recapping the day, finding gratitude for the moment, as well as the blessings that each and every one of us has, and also discovering the patterns of thought and action that drive us. All this is a recipe for a more fulfilling life.

In order for such a mental shift to take place, it is important to make room for a mood for thought to be a part of the shade of moods that make up the day. Every day is painted with so many colors, as thoughts and moods. Even if witnessing this means putting down the shiny object before us, there is a lot to discover in our minds, not just the shades of the cyber world.

Many shades are necessary to getting a certain dimension out of life though, equipped with even some shadows. That is why it should be said to face it. Go inward to go onward! The mind is a beautiful thing to face…not just paste.