I sometimes wonder if we ever consider thought as something easy and appropriate to control. I’ll be the first to admit guilt when it comes to blurting out inappropriate things. The blurt is actual speech, but the thought behind it is something else. Is it possible to control thought as much as it is speech?

Thoughts evaporate from the mind as quickly as they enter most of the time. Some thoughts we allow to linger because we have an investment in their growth and development. But day-to-day, ninety percent of what we are thinking enters and leaves our minds in seconds.

It’s easy for our spiritual leaders to tell us to relegate thoughts of hatred, malice, greed, jealousy, anger— thoughts that may linger even though they are not good for us. Heck! It’s easy to tell ourselves such things. But how do we put relegation into practice?

Two of the simplest ways are: prayer and meditation. Both steady the mind in ways that help it to self-reflect; that is, both have a way of tempering the mind’s ability to self-focus. And by exercising the mind’s ability to focus itself on itself, one recognizes the thoughts that pervade it. This kind of self-recognition is the way to understand and control what enters and certainly what leaves the mind.

I know when my mind is clouded by an array of ill thoughts, it perpetuates a bad emotional state. The adage, so within so without, expresses that what we are inside is reflected on the outside. By exercising my mind’s ability to recognize then let go of something not good, I feel better.

When I have an ill thought, I don’t try to ignore it. I acknowledge it then I visualize pushing it away, gently sweeping it out. It may appear again, but I recognize it again then I sweep it out again. This is a technique that I’ve learned through meditation.

I make the effort to control those thoughts that may change my disposition from a good one to a bad one. And I make no claim that I have mastered this, or that what I do is the end-all of techniques. I have seen positive change however, and it has affirmed my belief that thought is possible to control. It just takes some practice.

Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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