Photo © D. Paul Graham, “On the Road to Essaouira”, Morocco circa 2004

“Monday 5 Things”™ ….. Labo(u)red Thought …..

Have you ever wondered why you think about the things you do? Do you take time to think through your actions, your motives, your challenges, your habits, your dreams? Do you find your inner voice is filled with negativity instead of positive thoughts? With today being a day to celebrate labor here in the land of the Red, White, and Blue, labour north of the 49^th — or just simply a day off to grill out and drink some libations, this morning’s M5T’s labo(u)rs through thinking about thought.

1.Why am I thinking this?

What is the message you are giving yourself? Is your message positive or negative? The voices of our past and present, our families and friends, the media, and marketers all clamor for our attention to plant a voice within us. What will you choose to focus your thoughts on? Will you choose to think about respect over reproach, goodness over guilt, or redemption over retribution?

2. What am I doing this for?

What are your motives for doing the things you do? Honor and pride? Entitlement or humility? Habit or innovation? Abstinence or self-indulgence? Altruism or ego? Will you choose to think through balancing your actions with the foundations of your beliefs?

3. Am I the person I want to be?

Hands up if this is a thought that you grapple with. I know I do. A lot. Sixty plus years of life have made a few things clear to me; at any given time we can be one person outwardly and another person inwardly. We can appear emotionally strong yet crushed and insecure inside. We can either love ourselves or hate ourselves. We change. We dream. Today, right now, will you choose to think about who you are when you are at your best?

4. Will this make me content?

How often we get caught up thinking about “things” we just “know” will make us happy if we have them? How often do we express genuine gratitude for the things and people in our lives that truly do make us happy? When is the last time you simply focused on and thought about what and who you are grateful for? Grateful thinking creates an upward spiral of emotions that counters the downward spiral of desperate thinking. Will you choose to think about being grateful for what you have and accepting what you can control in your life rather than focusing on things you may never have and the things you can’t control? Will you choose to think about what is truly best for your life?

5. Is this thinking beneficial?

Thank goodness other people can’t read our minds. We can think some pretty irrational, outlandish, and/or frightening things about ourselves and others. We might even sound “crazy” if anyone could see the dark thoughts that can encroach the grey matter between our ears. Are the deliberations in your mind dependable or deceptive? Are you able to identify and label what you are feeling? Are you thinking and wallowing in worry or consciously changing your thoughts in a positive direction? Will you choose to think about the things that benefit your life and your dreams?

Here’s to a day of celebrating your labo(u)r and to a week of laboring over positive thoughts.

© 2023 D. Paul Graham, all rights reserved.

For over 11 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as M5T.