I know it may sound strange but your thoughts are not YOU.

Consider this. If I ask you to think about a pink elephant most of you would see one in your mind’s eye. What did it look like? Was it large or small? Was it in a field or sitting on a shelf? Was it plain or covered in jewels? Most likely, your mind created an image that became your reality- if even for a split second.

Consider that your thoughts are like an image projected onto a screen. The image projected onto the screen is a rumbling fire. You can see the red, orange, and yellow of the fire. You may even be able to hear the crinkles and pops as it burns. The fire seems real. And yet, the screen is not burned. Why? Because the screen is NOT the fire. It is not consumed even though the fire appears to be real.

Or consider that the image on the screen is a series of phrases. “I am a screen. I am useless. I have no value. I am broken. I cannot go on.”

Even though the screen projects these phrases are they really true of the screen? Is the screen really useless? Is it really broken? Or has it done its job perfectly by reflecting what was projected?

Your mind is like this. Others have projected on to you. What are you reflecting? Are they true of you? Are you really crazy? Are you broken? Are you useless? Are you less than? Are these really the thoughts that you want to have? Or would you like to believe something else? Something truer? Something kinder?

Just like the pink elephant- you can think other thoughts. Other thoughts can become your reality. It just takes practice. Spend time this week building awareness of your mind’s screen. What phrases and images are rotating around? Fire? War? Disease? Hatred? Fear?

What would you like to reflect instead?