(Mercury goes direct. Jupiter enters Taurus, squares Pluto. Taurus New Moon. Mars enters Leo. Whoa.)

Swami Yogananda notably defined the term “real” as, “that which changes not.” That which changes not.

For your walks and other reflective moments you might wonder, “What is real?” (You probably will start to laugh at where the investigation leads.)

Certainly not your thoughts. None of them. Not the “bad” ones, nor the “good” ones, nor any of the shades in between.

How can a thought be real if it comes, stays for a time, then goes? If a thought were real, wouldn’t it have a more permanent kind of existence? (The space in between thoughts, that’s something to consider on your walk.)

In this sense, you can’t really claim ownership of your thoughts. If they come and go of their own accord, are you the creator? Highly doubtful.

Like weather, thoughts come to you. How you relate to them is one of the leading causes of either the sustenance or diminishment of your inner peace.

Understanding their ephemeral, non-personal nature will take your far but some thoughts become unruly guests, and cause of considerable consternation.

Professional help can and does help. Medication can and does help. Mindfulness practices can and do help. Look to these if they call out.

And we must also look to the cause of causes. Your belief in a thought.

Believing the truth of a thought, gives it a kind of reality, a more permanent and fixed nature. If you chronically believe the untrue thought that you are unworthy of love (or fill in the blank thought), what do you think will show up in your life? On and on the list can go like that.

If you are dealing with such thoughts that appear to be tying you down, be kind to yourself. Everybody deals with them. Everybody. You are not special in this, nor is the so called problem unique, or new.

If you desire freedom from the thought, you must first inquire, “Do I really want to be free?”

Do I really want to be free?

It might surprise you or it might not, how many of us unconsciously burden ourselves on purpose. In these cases, help or resolution can’t be rendered yet.

If you really want to be free, then it is your belief of the thought you must challenge and confront.

“I am unworthy of love.”

Says who? Where’s the court order? Where’s the proof? How can the thought even be true if it came out of nowhere and returns to nowhere.

More thoughts and thinking to justify, all of which are untrue.

False belief, stacked upon false belief, creating pain and suffering. The pain and suffering is there to let us know we are believing untrue thoughts. How about that.

How about you are neither worthy or unworthy of love. How does that feel? Probably a bit better.

How about the fact that you just are, as everything is. Whole, complete, incapable of being analyzed or dissected. Just like a bully hurling insults, the best thing you can do is laugh at how ridiculously boring and prosaic the strategy is to make you feel bad!

Don’t think about this.

Notice. Observe. Be curious about the thoughts that come to you.

In this way, you create a little space between something that is most certainly real and the unreal thinking.

Rx
Have pen and paper ready. Read this post once. Then read again, a little more slowly. Pause. Reflect. Journal any connections or intentions that come to you. Come back a few days later, and read again. Repeat.

There is no right answer. Only take what resonates. Leave the rest behind, and kindly share if you feel another could be benefited.