Thoughts are just that: thought. Thinking is just that: thinking. Are thoughts and thinking the same thing? Upon reading this book, I had some ideas about what this book would be about. I expected the same old, same old, “control your thoughts, don’t let your thoughts control you” spiel, but this was something different. After reading all 17 chapters, I feel as though I was changed as a person. There are ideas and ideologies in this book that I feel more people should be aware of. This book will transform anyone into being a better human being.
Chapter 1
This chapter focused on discovering the root cause of emotional suffering. Many of us suffer by choice without even realizing we are causing our own psychological suffering. Joseph Nguyen references a Buddhist quote saying, “two arrows fly our way whenever we experience a negative event. Being psychically struck by an arrow is painful. Being struck by a second emotional arrow is even more painful.” I believe this to be nothing but the truth. We are unable to control a negative event, so we will feel that pain regardless, but how we choose to react to that event is up to us. Taking accountability for what you are mentally inflicting on yourself, without any outside sources, is the first step to having a peaceful mind.
Chapter 2
Continuing from chapter one, Nguyen goes into more detail about how what we think contributes to the experiences we have. “We live in a world of thought, not reality.” When analyzing what this sentence means, I began to understand it. What we think is what we believe, therefore it creates our reality. It is the reason that everyone exists on the same planet, but do not see the world the same way. Money is a prime example of this: what some believe to be wealthy, another may believe to be selfish, or some think it is not sufficient. He goes on to say that reality is that an event happens without a meaning, thought or interpretation of it. No one can change reality. Reality is untouched, almost virgin in a sense. Thinking is what taints reality. This is not saying that what we feel is not real. Our perception of reality is real, because we feel whatever we think. However, knowing that what we think is how we feel, we must begin by changing our thinking as a whole. This all can sound a bit confusing, but it’s really simple. By shifting our thinking, we can change our reality to a more desirable one.
Chapter 4
This chapter is what I think the main idea of this book is all about: the difference between thoughts and thinking. Thoughts are raw materials that are used to create everything, but remembering that thought is a noun is important; it is not something that we do, but rather something that we have. People tend to use think and thought interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Thought requires no outside interference; it comes from the universe. However, thinking is expanding on the natural thought we get from the universe itself. Choosing to engage with a negative thought is thinking, it is done at free will. Just because a thought pops up does not mean we have to start thinking about it.
Chapter 5
So, stemming from the topic of thoughts versus thinking, does that mean we have to always think positively? No, sometimes we must think negatively for our safety, like when our intuition tells us when there is danger or trouble. However, when not in a dire situation, we only experience negative emotions when we begin to think. In this chapter, Nguyen asks the reader to think of a time when joy is the sensation felt, and then asks what were you thinking about at that time. I suggest you try it right now! You cannot produce anything can you? Neither could I. This is because you don’t have to have thoughts or think about anything to feel a positive emotion. This makes perfect sense and the exercise above proves it.
Chapter 6
In this chapter Nguyen discusses the three faucets of the human experience which are universal mind, consciousness, and thought. When reading this, I was completely satisfied with what he said. So, what is the universal mind? It’s the intelligence behind everything that is living, the life force and energy, some call it the universe, quantum field, infinite intelligence, God, and other names, and this is where thoughts come from. The universal mind is the connector for all. Thinking clouds the universal mind. Universal consciousness is consciousness collectively of everything. This is why we are aware that we exist, aware of our thoughts, and how we experience anything. Universal thought is raw material from the universe that we can create from. The analogy that Nguyen uses to put all of these together is thought as a DVD that contains all the information for us to watch a show on the TV. The TV and the DVD player are the consciousness, because they allow us to bring the information on the DVD to life, so we can experience the show. The electricity needed to “power on” the DVD and TV is the universal mind. I believe that by putting it like this, all of these things are linked into perspective.
Chapter 8
So, if we limit our thinking, how are we supposed to thrive? This was my main question during this book, and it was answered. Nguyen has another exercise that asks what you are thinking about when you are doing your best work; I suggest trying this too. Once again, nothing came to mind for me, just like in the earlier exercise. This is because when completing your best work, you are in a “state of flow” as the author states. There’s no separation between your work and yourself, and if you have thoughts, they flow right through you; it is a state of non-thinking. What he is saying is that when we are “non-thinking,” we will be at our peak performance because we are not second-guessing ourselves and interfering with the flow. This is something that I believe is essential to understand. We need to just let our creativity flow and not let thinking get in the way.
Chapter 9
This chapter highlights that even with “non-thinking” we can achieve our dreams and goals. According to Nguyen, there are two types of goals: goals created from inspiration and goals created from desperation. Goals created from desperation can make us feel like they must be done because there is something we want out of them. These will feel like an obligation. This is how thinking can run our lives without us even realizing. Goals created from inspiration are spontaneous and we feel deeply moved by a force, which I believe comes from the universal mind and we do not typically do this because we want something from it, we just feel like we are called to do it. Wanting to do something instead of having to do something provides you with beautiful results.
Chapter 11
After we feel peace, joy, and fulfillment, what do we do? Once peace is experienced, anxiety, doubt, and worry may come about. This is because we have let go of what we thought we knew about the world: the personal ego. Because the personal ego is slain, it is trying to fight back–it wants power and it will always be there, but now you know how to control it. I believe controlling the ego is the toughest part.
Chapter 15
Aside from peace, which is what I believe most of us long for, what else arises from this space of non-thinking? For there to be creation, there must be space. The same is true for our minds, if we want new creation, we have to create a space for this to occur. To have a new sense of reality, experiences, and miracles, we can obtain this through non-thinking. Keeping our minds clear helps to obtain peace.
This book is not the typical self-help book. It is not just for a particular group of people; it is for everyone. Everyone who thinks has had bad thoughts and delved into them so deep that it lets their happiness slip right away from them, even if just for a moment. It is more than just controlling your thinking, it is becoming the force that your thinking cannot penetrate. Maintaining “non-thinking” may be difficult, but remembering that you choose the reality you exist in brings everything back into perspective. After all, that’s all reality is, isn’t it?