Cogito ergo sum

No, this isn't what Michael Rennie told Patricia Neal to say to his robot, Gort,  in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"; that was "Klaatu barada nikto", which probably means "Don't kill me or destroy the Earth".

Cogito ergo sum is Latin for "I think, therefore I am" which is from French philosopher and mathematician, Rene Descartes, who is responsible for giving us the Cartesian coordinate system...remember those x and y coordinates we used when we drew graphs in math class?

 

If you exist because you think you exist, does that mean that you are what you think? I don't think so. At least not totally. We think so many random thoughts that we can't control, but I think our thoughts form the basis of who we are. The thoughts that we think about ourselves over and over again, and that we believe about ourselves, are the start of who we are, not the end result.

Our beliefs, whether true or false, get closer to who we are. Our core values make up part of these beliefs. They don't define us but we are getting closer.

What about the things that we say or do?  I think a lot of our actions and the things we say come in large part from who we are but we still have a lot of choice in what we say or do.

I think that our habits, the things we say or do automatically, come the closest to who we truly are...at the current moment. Our habits are the things that we've repeated so much that we do them without thinking.

 

This pretty much goes along with what I've just said.

But the good news for most of us is that all of these things can be changed. And the best place to start is at the beginning...with your thoughts. Be careful about what you put into your brain. If you feed it with negative words and images, you'll tend to develop negative thoughts. And if you feed it with positive words and images, you'll tend to develop positive thoughts.

About 20 years ago a woman I worked with told me that I was the most negative person that she knew. I don't really know how I got to be that way, but she was right. She gave me a bunch of books, like "I'm OK, You're OK" and a bunch of Wayne Dyer's books...among others. And she told me to read them. So I did, And it helped. But it's something you have to keep up with constantly. About 87% of the inputs we receive on a daily basis are negative. It's up to us to tune as much of that stuff out and to replace it with positive inputs.

My older son, Danny, read Stephen King novels non-stop for several years. He filled his mind with those words and mental images and he played violent video games. In fact, I happened to catch one of the games he was playing and one of the players got his arm cut off by a sword. And he wondered why he had a nightmare a day or two later where he and his friends were heroes in a game and one of his friends had her arm cut off by a sword.

 

Not only can you change your thoughts by putting new words and images in your mind, but you can also change your habits. Check out this blog post from August of last year.

So, turn off the news (especially the presidential debates) and read an inspirational or motivating book. Listen to uplifting music. And become the best you that you can be!

Interesting days

Today - World Porridge Day, SHIFT10 Day, World Mental Health Day, Native American Day, Handbag Day, Cake Decorating Day, World Homeless Day and Hug A Drummer Day

Tomorrow - Face Your Fears Day, Coming Out Day and Ada Lovelace Day

Next Monday - Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day, Boss' Day, Mulligan Day, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Spreadsheet Day and Wear Something Gaudy Day This sounds like an awesome opportunity to wear my official first day of summer shirt again!

November 10 - Sesame Street Day and Area Code Day Does anyone know the area code for Sesame Street?