No one has ever been able to say from whence a thought comes, or what that thought is made up of. It’s generally accepted that we think up things and we make up all of our own thoughts. To be perfectly honest, for a large portion of my life, I held these same views on thoughts originating with each individual. But at this juncture I tend to see the entire process as more of an act of observation, contemplation, and choice. I enjoy noticing that I have a continuous stream of thoughts that come from—who knows where? They have no boundaries or forms to examine, and apparently are unlimited in number and permutation! I think of the stock market ticker that runs along the bottom of a screen, with each stock price representing a simple thought.

You are capable of thinking many opposing thoughts in just a few moments, jumping helter-skelter from one idea to another—exhilaration, frustration, fear, ecstasy, worry, and so forth. Unguided and unguarded, you serve up an endless array of thoughts continuously from waking to falling asleep. Even while sound asleep, your mind continues observing, grabbing, and contemplating these omnipresent thoughts. There’s very little respite from this mental thought-producing process throughout your entire lifetime. If you really believe that you are the creator of all of your thoughts and control the entire process, then simply stop. That’s right, just try to stop thinking. You may be able to slow the stream of thoughts down considerably, but to simply stop thinking all day and stay in a thoughtless state is quite impossible.

I’m suggesting you open your thought processes to a new idea that will help you as you begin changing your concept of yourself. You can think of yourself as a Divine limitless being rather than a person who doesn’t have choice when it comes to your thoughts. Think of yourself as an observer, contemplating and selecting thoughts that you choose from that never-ending stream of thoughts on your inner screen, 24/7/365.

Watch thoughts stream by from wherever they originate, and observe them rapidly transitioning and combining and appearing and disappearing. Snatch a thought from the running ribbon of thoughts and contemplate it. As you toss it around notice how you feel—sad, depressed, happy, frightened, and so on. Every thought going by has an imprint on your concept of yourself. First be the observer, and then the contemplator. Now become the choice maker who can consciously decide to put that thought back into the running stream and pick a different one, a thought that perhaps allows you to feel better.

I am okay, I look fine, I will lose a few pounds, I am loved, I am Divine. . . these and millions more like them are thoughts that you can opt for rather than the ones you’ve become accustomed to choosing in the past. This is how you begin a new process to change your concept of yourself. You accept as irrevocable that it is not you setting the stream of thoughts into motion, and that stopping thinking isn’t possible at this stage of your evolution. At this stage the essence of your being is to observe, contemplate, and then choose. This can all be done in a fraction of a nanosecond. The thoughts will keep appearing on your mental TV screen just like the stock quotations. But you’ll now be choosing the ones you want to focus on, gather, retain, or let go. 

I’m encouraging you to initiate a habit of choosing thoughts and ideas that support feeling good and powerful, and that elevate you to a higher level of consciousness where your self-concept welcomes your higher self.