a thought has weight...

"Thought is reality, if you think it is beneficial, it will be. If the situation is seen as negative then you will move into that." Continuing, my ancient friend leaned forward and pointed her finger at me, "It is how each one thinks reality is, is how it goes. Thoughts are concrete. As you think, you are."

After talking with her, I wrote in my journal, "Imagine, thoughts being as concrete as the chair I am sitting on. If I can believe that, the implications are enormous. My prayer for another person could be as real as a physical hug. However, my negative thought or judgement might be felt in another's being like a physical punch. That is sobering. (This conversation and journal entry were written several decades ago.)

The idea that a thought is as concrete energetically as an object was shockingly new to me, then.  Today such an awareness is a common fact. Scientists, shamans and my own experience bear witness. Thought has weight, form, and a life force strong enough to create our realities. Just because we can't see it's form, like the kettle on the counter, does not mean it doesn't exist. When I think of biting into a lemon, the mere thought of it causes my saliva glands to start mobilizing for the coming onslaught of sourness. A friend of mine is scared of heights. To merely think of looking down from a high building produces beads of perspiration on her hands.

Thoughts also have the power and weight to change our feelings and our perceptions. When thinking I cannot do something, I generally can't. Playing the piano these past two years after decades of "can't" proved that. However, if I think I can do something the thought leaves me feeling more intelligent, able and accomplished. I might muff some notes but I love playing the keys. Also when experiencing creative, caring and loving thoughts a largeness of spirit often follows and presence waits.

Yet, I am appalled at how often my good nature let's loose a weighty-thought in the form of a judgement, label, or opinion toward someone. And worst still, I do this knowing what I know. The neighbor whose dog barks too often, the relative who is critical and the homeless man on the corner are all in danger of losing their sacredness -- muzzle the dog, the guy is dirty, the relative is destructive. These thoughts sail around as if they owned the air.

Yet the good news is -- no matter how heavy the thought, "The thinker is not who I am."* Humans are much larger than their mental concepts. We have a deeper and vastly more intelligent heart from which to choose, alter or guard-against any thought we produce. An old sign reads, "Be alert, we need more lerts." I will continue to try.

*Eckhart Tolle

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