Curious about Thinking: Do Our Thoughts Define Us? How Hard Is It to Change Our Thinking?

Definition of Thinking: Having the faculty of thought; cogitative; capable of a regular train of ideas; as, man is a thinking being. The act of thinking; mode of thinking; imagination; cogitation; judgment.

“How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking.” - David Joseph Schwartz, American businessman

“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.” - Joseph Campbell, American author

I chose this week’s theme of “thinking” because it seems like all of 2008 has had thinking as a focus. Then, this month I was introduced to David Neagle and I know that I am on the right path with the right thinking. I am listening to his 4 CDs and they are definitely the answer!

Yes, I do believe that our thoughts define us. But, I also know – and this is even though all my friends, family, students and others who know me feel that I am the most positive person they know – that it is hard to change our thinking.

Ever since I saw “The Secret” many times, I have worked to erase any thoughts of things I don’t want while taking action to make what I do want to come into existence. We all have years of wrong programming behind us, so changing our thinking can present a challenge. I am up for that challenge. How about you?

How the experts view thinking:

• “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.” - James F. Byrnes, American politician
• “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet
• “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” - Zig Ziglar, American author
• “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” - William James, American philosopher
• “I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.” - Donald Trump, American businessman
• “When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.” – Plato, Greek philosopher

A few more:

• “The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.” - Robert H. Schuller, American clergyman
• “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.” - Bill Gates, American businessman
• “Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet
• “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” - Henry Ford, American businessman
• “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., American leader
• “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein, German physicist

And two of my favorites:

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” - Christopher Morley, American author

“There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.” - Thomas Paine, English writer

So, what are you thinking about?