What we think, we become

“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it.
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.”

– Buddha –

It’s a pretty simple one today. It’s very easy to fill our heads with bad things, worry, sadness, fear, anxiety, nervousness, anger, pain and hatred, especially as a result of watching or reading the news everyday or scanning our day for all the bad things happening in the world and around us.

It is equally as easy to fill our heads with peace, love, joy, happiness, warmth, kindness, compassion and empathy. Essentially it boils down to what we want to think and feel in every moment.

I choose to look for the silver linings, to have a glass that is not only half full, but overflowing  with water, and I choose to see love in as many things and people as possible. So much so, I tattooed it onto my body as a constant reminder.

You can watch this fantastic clip from ‘What the Bleep Do We (K)now!?’ about an experiment that was done with water, and what affects its molecular structure. The question posed at the end of the clip asks ‘If thoughts do that to water, imagine what our thoughts can do to us’.

So I guess the question for today is, what would you like to be, and are you thinking the right thoughts in order to achieve that in your life?

Inspiration for this post

The film What the Bleep Do We (K)now!?

We have nothing to fear

“Lately I’ve found
When I start to think aloud
There’s a longing in the sound
There is more I could be
In darkness I leave
For a place I’ve never seen
It’s been calling out to me
That is where I should be”

Birds of Tokyo – ‘Lanterns’ 

My boyfriend Darren and I went to see Birds of Tokyo in Sydney this weekend, which was a real treat as it was the first time I had ever been to the Enmore Theatre. Better still, we rocked up about 5 minutes before the band were on, had found a parking spot super easily, sauntered straight into the venue, grabbed a drink and walked right through into the crowd just as the band came on stage. Too easy (as the beautiful Aussie’s would say).

It was a night of effortless grace and fantastic music. The light show that accompanied each and every song lit up the stage and the band and intensified the power and energy of the music they performed.

I was first introduced to Birds of Tokyo, by a lovely guy called Will who I met in 2011 when I was backpacking in Vietnam. We hit it off as soon as we met and within a few hours we were sharing a room with an American girl in Hoi An and swapping music recommendations. He had been living in Australia for a few months and had falled in love with the band and based on my musical tastes thought I would like them too. Which I of course did.

The music from their self titled 2010 album then became the soundtrack of my time in Cambodia, which I travelled to after Vietnam, and they were the very first band that I ever saw in Australia, when I saw them at the Metro in Sep 2011.

So what’s the relevance of them to my blog post? Before I left the UK for my 9 month Round the World backpacking trip on 19th May 2011, there were two things that I was most worried about. 1) Getting malaria and 2) getting an infected insect bite.

According to Susan Jeffers and her bestselling book ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway‘, 90% of the things we worry about never happen, which I agree with. However, I also believe that, even when the things you worry about do happen, everything will be OK and you’ll deal with it. Which is what happened when I got an infected spider bite about 3 months into my trip, while trekking in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

I got very sick indeed and needed emergency surgery, but, in the end, everything worked out fine.

And since then, I have also learnt, from Buddha that ‘We become what we think‘, so if I had in actual fact, not even thought or worried about those two things, not even allowed them into my head, neither would have happened. If I had instead chosen to think, ‘Everything will be fine, I will have a safe, easy, happy and wonderful trip’, I would have had nothing to fear at all. And the next time I go travelling, that is what I will be filling my head with.

Since coming to Australia and achieving the seemingly impossible, by becoming the first person in history to come here and set up my own company from scratch and sponsor myself for a visa through that company (within 6 months of setting it up), I have had to live almost permanently outside my comfort zone.

Obviously it’s called a comfort zone for a reason, and a lot of the time I have felt pretty uncomfortable, but brilliantly, it is also where the magic happens. I have taken risks that most people wouldn’t take. I’ve lost my flat and emptied my bank balance in order to be able to gain a visa through Thought Cloud to live and work in this beautiful country. And the silver lining to all of this discomfort? A visa and the knowledge that I am here on my own terms, working for myself, in control of my own life and career. The greatest gift I could have given myself.

And so, really, in the words of the 32nd President of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt, ‘the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself’. And if you imagine that fear doesn’t really exist, there’s nothing stopping you from achieving some really spectacular things.

So, if you could feel the fear and do it anyway, what would you do in life if you knew you could not fail?

“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it.
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.” – Gautama Buddha

Lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

P.S.

Inspiration for this post –

Video for Birds of Tokyo ‘Lanterns’

Susan Jeffers book ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’

Buddha

Franklin D. Roosevelt