Between two thoughts: A most revealing walk. Dale, a slightly greying shortish man in his early 50s. He left his home bright and early to take in a sun filled morning walk in a nearby park. It was one of those days when walking company was scarce, which was generally not the case. Later on in the morning, the park becomes cluttered with walkers, baby strollers and frisbee throwers. Occasionally, in the high-traffic areas, you could find a shabbily dressed man, standing on a box, pontificating on just about any subject you care to listen to. These park philosophers have much to say, but most often, they are wrapped in glib stories about damnation and repentance. The true philosophers are busy writing and selling self-help books on Amazon; raking in the dough from distressed people looking for answers to improve their psychological lot in life.
Dale was not much different than all those looking for a way to reprogram their thinking. Early morning walks provided a respite from the ups and downs of his usually scattered thoughts. One thought would come racing in, filled with possibilities and bolstered his self-esteem. The next thought gummed up the works, by jamming in negative thoughts, some were even deeply hurtful thoughts of past experiences. The life we live has a way of bringing forth historys that are better forgotten. Dale thought to himself, “Why does my mind race so much? Just when I start feeling really good… all of a sudden another thought appears almost as if it were being served up by a demon, sitting on my shoulder forking this junk in.”
Dale’s mind operates and functions pretty much like all of ours. This happens day in and day out, hour for hour, minute by minute. We all have periods of joy and unfortunately sometimes those become dampened or tamped down by well crafted negative thinking.
“An internal thought comes with the magic to launch blessings from within, that leads to positive ideas, bringing joy and blessings to others.”
Refocusing on the nature that Dale saw around him, provided a respite from those racing thoughts. He now began to focus his attention to the simple things that anyone can easily see and find in almost every park. There was a maple tree standing before him in all of its seasoned glory. He came to a full stop and visually explored its colorful grandeur. This refocusing replaced the random thinking that was plaguing him since he started his solitary walk. As he moved closer to that colossal gift from nature, he then visually zoomed in on various elements of its architecture. There were a million leaves some of which were starting to change color indicating the fall season was quickly going to arrive.
A single leaf in his hand, forced Dale to become a human microscope, exploring virtually every visual treat that leave had to offer. By focusing and refocusing and musing on nature’s complexities, that from a distance showed grandeur, but quickly became even more grand when one takes the time to look deeper. Something magical was happening inside his head, his thinking became more relaxed and less cluttered.
“A thought can only be a thought when
another one shows up to take its place.”
When two thoughts go walking inside our head, they cannot equally occupy the same space. A transition takes place as one thought comes in… it generally sets up room for the arrival of another thought. But something takes place that virtually no one pays attention to, or can even acknowledge its reality.
Between two thoughts, there is a space— it may be microscopic, measured only in a millisecond of time; or as I like to say, less than a heartbeat, much less in fact. What do you think you will find there: maybe answers?
“A wholesome thought shared by two people at the same time, connects their souls.”
When your first thought is positive and it’s followed by a second thought that is negative, something takes place, after all they both cannot occupy the same space in your brain at the same time. What is this transitory space? We all know it happens to be there, even Einstein would never deny this. What can we do with it? What really resides in there? Is it controllable? I don’t think anyone really knows, and for that matter probably most people don’t care.
What if you could see into that mysterious gap? What if you could program that space with something profoundly meaningful and positive? Maybe in that incredibly brief amount of time, that lives between those two thoughts, you could listen in. Something’s going on in there. Is it good or is it bad? I don’t know for certain, but I do know it creates a transition for better or worse, and it seems to be the element that sways our thinking in productive and in non-productive ways.
Metaphorically? Between two thoughts you may find a cosmic dimension. No, it’s not the Twilight Zone unfortunately, where unexplainable things happen; or maybe it does, the only way to know for sure is if you take the time to peer over one of your thoughts, and quickly take a look to see before the next thought comes racing in. You won’t have much time, the dilemma becomes your own thinking it will automatically fill in that gap with justifications and thoughts and attitudes of which we are currently experiencing. You cannot remove a thought, they are fiercely permanent, they can reappear decades later, uninvited, some of which are negative ones others are happy remembrances. Conversantley only the positive ones can lift your spirits and bring on joy.
As I mentioned before, no two thoughts can occupy the same space in your mind at the same time. There needs to be a bridge. Our own thinking patterns prevent us from staying neutral and engaged in the space between two thoughts. Time is constantly in motion. When there is an end, there is always a beginning. But in order for there to be a beginning, there has to be a space, one that is long enough to allow closure and provides the opportunity for a new beginning. How long is that space, and what can we find in there?
Seeing into the future. Thoughts follow thoughts, they have a nondiscretionary supernatural ability to clutter the mind. Coupling the two, is a space which we must dare to go… make it a mission of exploration. It most likely will be a wild ride, muddling your senses and especially the patterns of your thinking, is it foreboding or ominous? Let me know what you discover. I’m still deep within my own venture… while I continue to wonder what happened to Dale’s thinking as he continued to swap thoughts with nature’s grandeur.
“Please pardon me, I was thinking a thought that had a beginning and it had an ending, but I could not find the middle, I know it has to be there, but that space must be owned by the unexplored universe.”
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