Lesson 8 – My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts

I was actually able to understand today’s lesson, straight from the original book (go me!), and it really gets you thinking! But today I will kick off with Pam Grout’s explanation, which simplifies it beautifully!

She refers to an online store she buys her shoes from. She knows that she wears a size 9 shoe from that store, because she’s odered from there before. She’s going by what she remembers from the past when placing a new order. She also remembers from past memory that the big octoganal sign in front of her as she’s driving down the road, is a stop sign and she should stop to avoid a collision!

This makes sense! I used to order Tony Bianco shoes in a size 8 because I knew they would fit, and this was based on what I already knew about that brand of shoe! Interesting…

So those are the upsides of being preoccupied with past thoughts because they can save us time. Now we will get into stuff that’s a little more confusing.

What the Course says

The Course states (in not so many words) that the past does not actually exist. What we define as our “past” is purely based on memories and meaning we’ve placed on past events – we’ve again literally made things up!

When “remembering” the past or anticipating the future, we are not actually thinking – we are instead placing meaning on an event that’s happened or we’re imagining what may or may not happen in the future. What this means is that our focus is not on what’s real. And what’s real? What’s real is this very moment.

From the Course it says (hopefully this will help what I’m saying to make sense):

The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognise when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognising that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.

I remember once being taught by a coach that when we are attempting to come up with solutions with our “thinking” mind, we’re drawing only on our own experience – which is what we remember from the past. But when we clear our mind completely and let go of thoughts of the past or worries about the future, the answers will come, because they are not based on what we already know.

Today’s exercise

Today’s exercise requires you to close your eyes, so make sure you’re not driving when you do this one ok? The reason they want you to do this with closed eyes is so that your mind isn’t preoccupied with what you’re seeing. It’s therefore easier to recognise that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not actually “seeing” anything. So here goes:

With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. Introduce the practice period by saying:

I seem to be thinking about _____

Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:

“I seem to be thinking about [name of object, emotion, or thing], but my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

Repeat this process four or five times during the day, and if you get sick of this process, notice the irritation and apply this lesson to those irritating thoughts!

Final words

Becoming more aware of our thoughts is an eye-opener as you’re about to see (pun intended!). If you’re afraid to try something new for example, examine why you have that fear. Why are you afraid? What experience from the past are you drawing from in order to have that fear?

I shall leave you with that!