“I think I will…”

How many times have we repeated that phrase in a day? “I think I’d better get up now and get ready for work.” That casual thought begins the process of our legs moving to get out of bed and begin doing what we normally do to prepare for another day on the job. But as suddenly as that thought enters our mind, another opposing thought quickly replaces it with, “But I think I’ll just lay here for a few more minutes.” Our legs instantly turn to jelly and our body relaxes as if being massaged by its own private masseuse. Our mind is fantastic and fickle.

Thinking begins every action we perform

 Even when we automatically act without a conscious thought, thinking happens first. Scratching an itch, coughing when the inside of our throat is tickled or even laughing at what seems funny, all happen after a thought is produced in our mind. No one acts without thinking! “I wasn’t thinking” is an expression we use to define something dumb we may have done or said. In fact, you were thinking, only about something other than what you should have been thinking of. Remarkably, our mind never stops producing thoughts.

 If we realized how powerful our thoughts were, we would be more discerning about the things we think. We would protect our head, consider what we feed our brain and better control the thoughts that come from our mind. We would use our mind more often to think positive, productive thoughts that would serve us and others well.

 We would send positive, wholesome and helpful thoughts into the universe instead of negative, harmful or counterproductive thoughts. Indeed, the United Negro College Fund’s motto says it all, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste!”