Chapter 3: Thoughts

Human thought is something incredible to think about. As humans, we have the ability to reason, ponder, think, and plan without words. We can articulate our silent concepts in our own heads. In all cases, emotions and actions start as conscious or unconscious thoughts. We may have thought about what we are going to say before we say it, but something reasonably interesting happens: we stop thinking consciously when we start speaking, and humans stop actively thinking when they start talking.

 Now, this is not entirely true; we can ‘think carefully about what we are going to say’ before we start speaking or choose our words carefully when we are speaking. But to a large degree, active thinking comes to a halt or we can say it slows down tremendously when our mouth starts moving. It can be obvious when someone is ‘speaking naturally’ or ‘speaking for a script’. But for the most part, meditating or actively thinking halts when we start expressing those thoughts with our words and body language. Next time you talk, be aware of how your internal dialogue halts when you begin speaking, and it will become clear that you cannot ‘actively think’ and ‘talk’ at the same time. 

 We are only able to talk in one of two ways: internal or external. If we ‘talk’ externally, we use our mouth, tongue, facial muscles, and body language to express our emotions or thoughts. Even if we are talking about logical subjects such as math or science or giving a lecture, we are still using emotions, fear of embarrassment keeps our words in line with the ‘mood’ in the air, as with many other emotions – perhaps a person we are attracted to is looking at us while we are talking, emotions are very much linked with thoughts and words. 

If we ‘talk’ internally, we call that thinking or meditating. I will not debate whether meditation is silent or if it’s actively thinking…but it’s thinking. Even when you ‘think’ you’re silent when mediating, your brain is still contemplating and thinking. You are always thinking.

Why can it be said that humans are always thinking? Thoughts can be broken down into to basic forms: subconscious thought and conscious thought. We label conscious thoughts as thoughts we can track in our minds. Words, images, and ideas are more recognizable. Keep in mind that I am not a neuroscientist, so you will not get ‘why’ answers here. Subconscious thoughts, though, can be likened to an ocean, or if you are into computers, you can think of this as all the backend code or processing that is going on. Subconscious thoughts are where signals from our brain are doing things like breathing, managing body language, seeing, recognizing shapes, identifying objects, and the list goes on. This is also where the vast portion of our thinking happens – we simply are unaware of these thoughts. 

Returning to the example of our subconscious mind being the ocean, conscious thinking is like being on a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean, we put our line in the water and bring up something that was ‘already there to begin with.’ There is something very spectacular about the human subconscious mind. All inventions, ideas, art, and the creative concepts of humans were processed in their subconscious minds before the fishing line was put in. It makes you think, if we as humans increase our skill in ‘fishing for thoughts’, imagine what the future will look like. 

It is impressive that humans can think and reason this way. If we could access all of our subconscious thoughts, imagine how overwhelmed we would be. We would be ‘thinking’ about all our subconscious thoughts simultaneously. The fact that we have a large processing engine that is the ‘ocean’ in our mind and the ability to go fishing for words, ideas, images, and names is incredibly fascinating. This separation of our mind into distant sections allows us to have a ‘normal life’. Our subconscious mind is processing so much from our day, life, and experience. The separation allows us to have relative control over our mind, accessing items we deem fit at the moment and leaving the rest for our subconscious mind to consider. 

In Chapter 2, we talked about our emotions. These are also connected to our thinking, which is linked to our feelings. They work together, most of the time quietly, sometimes not so quietly. When it comes to thinking, we can imagine that the higher our emotions get, the harder it is to fish properly. As stress and qualities such as anger increase, it actually lowers our ability to fish properly for clear thoughts.

We can imagine an old weight scale; when there are equal weights on each side, the scale is even. As soon as more weight gets put on one side, it becomes unbalanced, and the other side rises. We can link this to our thinking and emotions. As emotions increase in weight, our lack of thinking ability begins to increase.  As we get upset, we end up saying things we may not mean, words and body language seem to come out without being filtered, leading to possible regrets later.  If we have full control or balance over our thinking and feelings, we would be able to fish properly for correctly, and our impact on others would be clear and direct. Being able to regulate our emotions helps us as humans to control our thinking. This still is one of the building blocks to being a stable human. The understanding and self-control of our feelings and emotions which leads to more stable waters in the ocean that is our subconscious. When the boat is not rocking with high seas, the fishing is peaceful and easy. 

On the flip side, as we increase thinking, we may at times push aside emotions, leading to an imbalance—a lack of empathy, care, or concern for the environment, to just name a few. In board rooms, where ‘thinking’ increases, if its members are not aware of the importance of emotions with thinking, they may increase problem-solving and suppress emotions that are vital for good decisions. This, in turn, leads to decisions that may seem ‘good’ in the short term but may have devastating effects in the long term. In all aspects of life, the proper balance of emotions and thinking creates a sable sea, and our thoughts can flow freely and clearly. 

To be able to balance both thinking and emotions in harmony, leads to a clear road for thought. Both women and men have varying degrees of these two aspects. The idea that men are ‘logical’ and women are ‘emotional’ is an overly simple explanation. Both sexes learning to link their individual thinking and emotions creates a more stable and clear environment for communication. Clear communication is a fundamental aspect of human life. It ends wars, builds connections, helps marriages, and is a powerful tool in a human’s arsenal for lasting change.