Improving thought control

It would be wonderful if each person reading this, and each person writing this, could find a way to consistently control their thoughts: routinely pushing out negative and flawed ideas while also consistently pulling in what is positive, true, wise and good.

Wouldn’t that combination of mental activity improve life on this planet?

For human thoughts tend to influence moods, attitudes, words, and inevitably precede actions – for better or worse. Negative thinking typically arrives long before so many corresponding and undesirable practical outcomes. At the same time, disciplined and positive thoughts tend to fuel constructive progress. Thought control is strongly connected to civilized self-control.

Consider two random options by way of example:

Thought #1: “This computer is driving me crazy, and I feel like throwing it out that window over there.”

Thought #2: “This computer is driving me crazy, but I am going to remain calm and use it to accomplish something useful.”

Okay, most people reading this would not likely pick up their laptop, etc. and launch it in the direction of an open window because of the high cost associated with that decision. So this may not be the best illustration. But thinking about that exciting possibility, and meditating on it day after day, might push a few over the edge. After all, the brain is the control center for the body.

If I may offer another more personal example:

A number of years ago I was living in Vancouver, BC, and driving along in the city one day with my wife. We came around a corner and right there before us was a wide-open stretch of highway; this did not happen very often, if ever, in this crowded and congested urban environment. With the rain softly falling on the asphalt, it instantly felt like a great day for a motor car race.

Foolishly, I quickly turned to my wife and grandly declared my intention to wind the car out on this beautiful stretch of road. Before she had a chance to respond, we went blazing over the hill like contestants in the Indy 500 and of course someone was waiting patiently on the other side. The bill for that thrilling 30-second adventure came in at around $140.

Was it worth it? Probably not.

It is old wisdom that there is no freedom except under the law.

Both scenarios briefly highlight the potentially costs associated with failing to carefully control our thoughts and amounts to stating the obvious. But while the costs may be clear, the core problem is that human thoughts are notoriously difficult to control at the best of times. Blame it on biology, hormones, emotions, genetics, life history, world history, gender, the latest election results, cultural propaganda, too much coffee, the government, or whatever you like.

The problem remains.

Despite the clear benefits, controlling personal thoughts remains essentially in the same category as herding cats. Why attempt to do what is practically impossible? Those confounded furry creatures are just going to do what they want anyway. In saying this, the point is not to communicate wholesale condemnation but rather to openly acknowledge an enduring problem many face.

But of course I am also using exaggerated language here. The nature of human existence may be complicated but most people still have a sense that despite daily internal struggles a measure of self-control is within reach. Barring serious medical and spiritual conditions, thought control and self-control is usually always possible – at least to some extent.

If an unsuspecting ASUS laptop is flung out an open window on the fourteen floor, disturbing a flock of Canadian geese passing by and landing abruptly in the open sunroof of an Audi Q7 SUV; knocking the owner on the noggin and causing her to swerve wildly, crashing through a barrier and then suddenly dropping down fifteen feet into a lake…my police friends may think this pandemonium could have been prevented. Likewise, the stunned owner may feel she was not absolutely destined to be flailing around in the cold water that day swimming with the ducks.

There was another viable option involving intentional thought control.

But how exactly should we attempt to control our thoughts? What type or form of thought control is the ideal? If it is dangerous to be controlled by our thoughts, is it not just as dangerous to control our thoughts if this statement lacks any definition? This would amount to doing whatever you individually or collectively decide you want to do.

To borrow Peter F. Drucker’s words, “It is old wisdom that there is no freedom except under the law. Freedom without law is licence, which soon degenerates into anarchy, and shortly thereafter into tyranny.” Just laws as opposed to arbitrary and oppressive external controls allow a society to thrive. Similar internal guidance also benefits individuals and communities.

Thought control and self-control is desirable and necessary. But it only works if a clear and inspiring standard exists beyond limited personal, cultural, and establishment perspectives.