Monday, March 06, 2006

Impoverished Thinking

On an average day, the average person runs about sixty thousand thoughts through his mind. What really amazes me is that ninety five percent of those thoughts were the same as the ones you thought the day before.This is the tyranny of impoverished thinking.

hmm.. got me thinking....

(An excerpt from 'The Monk who Sold his Ferrari' by Robin S Sharma)

14 comments:

rowdyrascal said...

brilliant book but have read only the half of it.

rowdyrascal said...

We cannot hope to change every single thing that we r accustomed to do. Life wld become very very stressful.Important aspects and mostly harmful habits can be changed but to check the thoughts????????

Balaji said...

just curious... what is the book about? title sounds real interesting...

Naveen said...

The Monk who Sold his Ferrari - A nice book to be read!

Mukund said...

it simply means our mind prefers to think familiar thoughts n not strain too much thinking something new :)

Hermit Chords said...

All thoughts of yours are a function of previous experiences and previous thoughts. Nothing is new or original: a new exerience only connects files from your archives in a new way, leading to another thought perceived as 'new'...And thus, to a random universe, our mind responds, connnection by connection, with a network of thought for a network of experiences.

cosmicblob said...

The outcome of the thought is more important than the thought itself.

And - Uniqueness of thought from the masses is more important than uniqueness of thought within oneself. JMHO.

I used to have this saying up in my office where I would never miss it-
"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity."

Sujit said...

oh! really... did not know that.. yes we tend to remember about yesterday!.. would that count as though?..may be its the learning cycle that takes yesterday into account improve today?

Vidya said...

@RR: Yes it is .. I am reading it..It is very interesting.. It is a concise text of the beliefs and values of Hinduism.. if u look at it closely. After all, Hinduism is not a religion it is "A way of life"

@Balaji - This is a self help book.. Read it when u find time.. interesting read if you are spiritually inclined

@Naven - ya ..

@DD - I was wondering too why the author had written it to be impoverished Thinking.. Well kaushik Ramu give a very nice explanation there..

@Mukund - Maybe what the author wanted to convey was that these familiar thoughts bog us down and we shut overselves from other thought???

@Kaushik Ramu - true.. very well put. But I was just thinking about why the author might have thought it to be impoverished thinking...AS you say thinking itself is a process of connecting files from archive... I was amazed..U too think of your mind as a big storage device and refer to experiences as files :) -nice

@CosmicBlob - Thats a really nice thought...It definitely bad for the mind to be part of unanimity :) .. Just one question.. why do u hide ur blog site on your profile?

@Sujit - Definitely... Thinking is not just conscious thinking.. remembering is also a form of thinking.. u r just thinking about your past..true it does.. Now Let me complete the rest of the article.. maybe then it may make sense..

I do this sometimes .. take a thread out from a sari and analyze it completely and try to fit it back in.. But it wont go in coz the sari is weaved....

Here it goes

On an average day, the average person runs about sixty thousand thoughts through his mind. What really amazes me is that ninety five percent of those thoughts were the same as the ones you thought the day before.This is the tyranny of impoverished thinking. Those people who think of the same thought everyday, most of them negative, have fallen into bad mental habits. Rather than thinking of all the good in their lives and thinking of ways to make things even better, they are captives of their past. Some of them worry about failed relationships or financial problems. Others fret over their less than perfect childhoods. Still others brood over more trifling matters, the way a store clerk might have treated them or the comment of a co-worker that smacked off ill-will. Those who run their minds in this fashion are allowing worry to rob them off their life force. They are blocking the enormous potential of their minds to work magic and deliver into their lives all that they want, emotionally, physically, and, yes even spiritually. These people never realize that mind management is the essence of life management.

Vidya said...

That is such an interesting thought ! But it has me superbly confused right now !

Does repeated thinking make a person a worrier ? Or are they merely forgetful ? It could be either or both ! hmm

Vidya

None... said...

Now I know why my mom keeps refering to stuff that I did the day(sometimes weeks,months and years) before, when she gets totally mad at me :-)!

Known Stranger said...

thatz true . more than robin - paulo makes me think to much more than i could

Known Stranger said...

your profile description makes me to read all your post

cosmicblob said...

Ans. No particular reason. I hv changed the settings now - no particular reason ! :)