Long time no blog! I know there are people out there that are waiting on every word I say! Laugh. There is something that keeps coming up for me and that is thinking. I’m thinking about thinking! That is, how our thinking affects our happiness. And this is one that I want to take my time on for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a very deep issue, one that I don’t think can be explained in a short blog. Second, I’m sure to offend someone if I simplify it. It keeps coming up with things I see in face book or read about. For example I was reading a great book which talked about forgiveness. The author asserted (through his characters) that our feelings follow our thoughts. This is not the first time I’ve heard this. He said that you have to decide to forgive people. I also remember a book that I myself had never read but someone close to me did has whose author bases his therapy for depressed people on teaching them to think differently. A friend of mine has changed how she feels by listening to hymns in the morning and thinking of the things she is grateful for. I believe this is a true principal. But what I’ve just written only scratches the surface. Because we have thoughts that I don’t think we know we are actually thinking. One might call them our subconscious. This is very hard to describe. And to define what is an actual thought may be even harder. Is it just an analytical thing that comes to my mind? Is it an impulse? Such as when I’m hungry and then think about eating? I can go look for food without ever consciously thinking “I’m hungry” (this is one that comes way too often.) As I write I’m thinking what I’m trying to bring out is that it’s not just conscious analytical thinking that goes on with us as human beings, it’s a spiritual process. We receive some sort of stimuli and our minds start turning, affecting us in some sort of way. If we could be more aware of our thoughts then I believe we could over come so much that brings us down.