Susan Thom

The Mind Is A Fragile Thing To Waste


Posted: Sunday, October 14, 2007

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Our mind is our most important asset. It has the capability to push us when nothing else could make us move. Miners going down into those shafts, not wanting to go, I would think, but doing so because their mind tells them to. Soldiers crawling on their stomachs in mud, with rifles pointed, moving toward the enemy, what could make them do that, but their mind? Doctors having their hands around bloody organs, thankfully, their minds tell them to do that.

The mind can do good, and it can do bad, it’s up to us which scenario we want to take. It can make us run, when we want to lie down, it can make us sit when we want to stand, it can do anything it wants, but we still have the final say on how we deal with what our brain is telling us. You go to the dry cleaners, and they have a basket of little stuffed animals for each child to take. The girl goes to get your clothes, and you want to take five, for each of your nephews? You know you’re not supposed to. Do you? It depends on what side of your mind you listen to.

There are no parking spaces, and you just need to run in the pharmacy for a second, so you park in the handicapped. Or do you? It depends what side of your brain you listen to. You want to shoot your neighbor’s cat with a BB gun because it keeps getting in your garbage. Do you? It’s your choice. Your mind will make whatever decision you choose. That’s why there really can be no excuses, but "my mind made me do it." No one forces our decisions, but ourselves. No one controls us but our minds.

We can be having a bad day, and decide to turn it around, and feel good instead of miserable. We can decide to go for a walk or sit on our swing or go down to the lake, or whatever we allow our mind to tell us what to do. When we stop it from doing things, we are either stopping good energy or bad. If we stop going for a walk, or for a swim, that’s blocking positive energy, if we stop ourselves from shooting the cat, or yelling at the neighbor, we’re blocking negative energy.

The more we listen to our mind, the better off we are, unless, of course, we don’t think in a very altruistic, caring, and honest way, but the mind should tell us to steer clear of that negative energy. If we don’t listen, it doesn’t ever add up to good results. People’s minds tell them to be good, and respectful and responsible and compassionate and caring and trustworthy and concerned with humankind. If they don’t, there is something wrong, and should be fixed.

When people are alcoholics, and can’t stop drinking, they can get help and stop. I haven’t had a drink in thirteen and a half years. If someone is hooked on drugs, they can go to a rehab and get help, when someone’s mind doesn’t tell it the right things, they should go for therapy and have the chance to grow and change and understand more what this world is all about, and it’s not fighting and being mean, it just isn’t. Peace, love, and understanding. Why are those who are mean spirited ignoring that part of their mind that is telling them not to act that way? When someone is happy all the time, and makes everyone around them feel happy, why are they listening to that part of their brain that is telling them to do so?

Is it genetic? Or learned behavior? Or environment? Or a mixture?

I think we should listen to our minds more, and our feelings and emotions less.

Susan Thom is the mother of three children, two sons, 20 and 23, and a daughter 25. Her older son is in the air force in Germany right now, and her daughter is in the army in Tacoma, Washington.

Writing calms her, and gives her a place to go by herself! Clears the head and gets it out. She lives in a rural area, with a lake and mountains, and her partner, and has loved writing since she was a child.

She has been on a journey of self discovery for twenty years, and has learned many things about the human mind, and how to maintain some semblance of calm and peace within.

If someone reads one of her stories, and relates to her feelings, and gets a suggestion on how she dealt with them in a positive way, that would be the ultimate gift of her writing.

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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Dave Tanguay
 4 years 93 days ago.
A positive part of the mind Susan is your conscience. A quote of mine, "Let your conscience be your guide and your heart be your voice" A mind can be dangerous if it's not motivated by the heart.
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» left by Anonymous 4 years 93 days ago.
good point David. thanks for responding and reading my article. best regards, sue thom
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