Countless maxims stress the importance of thinking. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” Or, as the Buddha famously put it, “What we think, we become.” Despite the plethora of aphorisms on the art of thinking. Thinking well is a skill that must be cultivated, and most of us have limited knowledge of how to work with and train our minds.
The Art of Thinking
How would you describe the mind? Could you explain how the mind works to a friend? Paradoxically, the mind can be the cause of great suffering or the path to peace. The Buddha declared, “I do not see even one other thing that, when untamed, unguarded, unprotected, and unrestrained, leads to such great harm as the mind.” But there is good news. We can intentionally choose to work with our minds to let go of unskillful thought habits.
As the Buddha concluded,
I do not see even one other thing that, when tamed, guarded, protected, and restrained, leads to such great good as the mind.
When we understand how our minds work, writes Shaila Catherine (author of Beyond Distraction and guest on In Search of Wisdom), we can strengthen focused attention, clear away trivial distractions, and reduce the destructive forces of craving, aversion, and delusion. Training the mind begins by recognizing that a thought is just that — a thought, a creation of our own minds. From this recognition, we distinguish what is skillful and unskillful.
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