To judge or not to judge

[Anders Lindman]

We have to judge oftentimes. But do we have to judge ALL THE TIME? When I think of my thinking, what hits me is that my thinking is essentially a non-stop churning of judgments. All the time! And many of the thoughts are repetitions of previous judgments, just rehashed. Wouldn't it be better to judge only when needed? Repetitive thinking is like the mind being at the gym all the time, or like a hamster running and running in the same treadmill. It seems like such a waste of effort. And my thinking mind is blind to its own running around in circles, like a hamster that doesn't know anything except the treadmill. And wouldn't my judgments be far more efficient if I only judged when needed? Instead of judging 100.000 times per day to judge only 10.000 times per day, and that would remove much of the redundant and repetitive and wasteful thoughts and leave in the efficient, powerful and potent thoughts and judgments.

[tru3]

We have to judge oftentimes. But do we have to judge ALL THE TIME? When I think of my thinking, what hits me is that my thinking is essentially a non-stop churning of judgments. All the time! And many of the thoughts are repetitions of previous judgments, just rehashed. Wouldn't it be better to judge only when needed? Repetitive thinking is like the mind being at the gym all the time, or like a hamster running and running in the same treadmill. It seems like such a waste of effort. And my thinking mind is blind to its own running around in circles, like a hamster that doesn't know anything except the treadmill. And wouldn't my judgments be far more efficient if I only judged when needed? Instead of judging 100.000 times per day to judge only 10.000 times per day, and that would remove much of the redundant and repetitive and wasteful thoughts and leave in the efficient, powerful and potent thoughts and judgments.

the mind is the mind. one can't really stop the mentation process.

don't think of an elephant-- i dare ya! :D

i have read that the average person has 50,000 thoughts per day. most are completely unconcious, and old programming loops (race consciousness, mommy/daddy programming, saturation with advertising impressions). it's pernicious and pervasive. simple awareness of the power of symbols and the intention of public communication would seem to nuetralize all but the most subtle patterns. so it appears to me.

we can discern the source of these electrical impulses, with mindfulness. Conscious Awareness is Who we are, not solely these things called thoughts. thoughts arise and dissolve within is, they are not us.

ime, the difference is seen in the "gap" between thoughts. judgement becomes discernment. :)

[Anders Lindman]

Ok, let's say 50,000 thoughts per day. And very repetitive and redundant thoughts most of them. The first step must be to recognize one's own thought stream. This is a bit tricky since the "me" who is observing my thoughts is itself a part of the same thought stream. But I believe it's possible to train oneself to be better at catching wasteful thought patterns and steer the mind into less strugglesome (if that is an English word :)) behaviour.