If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

– Vincent Van Gogh

We are all garrulous, every single human being on this earth, at least our minds are. Our minds shares it’s opinions with us every single minute, on every single matter, without any effort on our part. This is actually what minds do, and it isn’t a problem, our minds are constantly communicating the perceptions of the material world and external stimuli to us. It is a central processing unit that processes what’s going on in the world, in our environment, in our body and in itself.

This is a good thing in itself actually, especially for those of us well trained in self-awareness, the active mind is our best ally. It can although be very dangerous too, because the mind is fast, and constantly active, it tries to process information at a very fast rate, and employs deduction, induction, memory, experience, ambience, feelings and other tools and sensations in a confusing mixture and then serves us our thoughts. This most times is not entirely logical or methodical.

The mind is also prone to states, perspectives, influence, philosophy and dogma. As humans we trust our minds and rely on it to make decisions and have an outlook on life. We even subject our spirit to the control of our minds sometimes. Unfortunately, because of the methods and ingredients in the production of thoughts, the mind is not to be trusted literally every single time. That’s why I wrote on thinking about thinking.

The mind is to be treated just as a radio that cannot be turned off. When you listen to the radio, you can’t stop yourself from hearing everything, but you can choose to filter off things that are not important to you such as ads. Trying to control the mind by thinking positive thoughts only is futile and very dangerous. If our pre-civilized ancestors thought only positive thoughts and weren’t aware of the dangers of the elements and predators they would have been a delicious meal of ‘manwich’ and the human species wouldn’t have made it to this age.

There is one question to ask. Is what I’m thinking right now helpful and essential? This question is a filter that shows us the thoughts to pay attention to, while we let others drift away with the wind. Focus on thoughts that move you forward, know that like the words of a very loquacious person, falsehood and exaggerations isn’t so far from the lips of the mind. Take a second step in thinking, don’t just accept your thoughts literally, ask further questions to the mind about it’s products, and you’re on your way to having an optimized mind that serves your life purpose.