You Are What You Think

Recently, the Midwest has consistently been under air quality alerts. Air quality first became something I thought about in December of 2019 and January of 2020. Even though at that time this crazy little virus had popped up in China, it hadn’t spread yet – or so we thought – and you know, maybe it was like a cold or the flu, not such a big thing.

At the time I had a new job managing student health and safety for overseas programs and we had students in Australia. The fire map made it look like the entire continent was aflame and the purple air quality map seemed to indicate a country gasping for air. Parents were worried. I learned about masks and masks with respirators and air purifiers. Everything about that job was a crash course.

I never thought that this knowledge would be relevant in the Midwest. But, just like that weird little cold or flu in China, the world is such that all things spread. So maybe, just maybe we should give a poop about what happens in other parts of it. And think about how what happens here, well, it happens everywhere.

It bothers me, this us vs. them, me vs. you artificial boundary people construct.

Yes folks, We. Are. One.

Recently I’ve felt like my vision of the future, of who I am and where I should be going has been covered by a haze, just like the midwestern sky (from Canadian wildfires). This morning, I forced myself to meditate, then i did that thing where I say a little prayer – to God, to the universe or whoever is listening. And I tell God to help me figure out how to show up in the world, what I’m supposed to be or be doing, how to prioritize, to clear a path, because I feel so lost.

But this morning, I thought, I know who I want to be and how I want to show up in the world, this isn’t the question. The haze, it’s making it hard for me to see how to be that person. What I need to do is think about that person, state how that person is and ask god, the universe or whoever is listening for the strength and courage to be.

Yes. Just. To Be.

We are what we think. (and also words matter.)

28. Tajjapas tadartta bhavanam.

To repeat it with reflection upon its meaning is an aid.

This sutra is about the practice of japa – or repetition – and essentially points to how the repetition of words or phrases, like OM or mantras, or the call and response of liturgy, has the effect of tethering your mind to God or to the intention of the words.

Patanjali explains though that mantras and words don’t have to be spoken, necessarily, they exist inside of you, just like om is the manifests all sounds, like anahata is the “unstruck sound”, thoughts also have a sound, they create noise, they become reality. “As you think, so you become,” he says.

So maybe try to catch yourself in the negative loop next time, if you are a person who goes on negative loops (like I can be). Maybe it feels goofy to think I am kind, I am bountiful, I am beautiful. But you are. And because we are all one and our thoughts and words and actions affect everyone, it’s actually critical that you do think this way. That I think this way.

But what of humility? Yep, stay humble. But humility doesn’t mean self-flagellation.

Words, Patanjali reminds us, are powerful and can be used for good or for evil. Politicians, he says, get elected based on their words. This may be an oversimplification, but rhetoric is real. Remember the old saying, “sticks and stone will break my bones, but words will never hurt me”?

Not true.

But through repetition we can form the habit of thoughts and words that heal rather than harm. We can cultivate, as Patanjali says, “purity of the mind” to accompany the repetition of words and by doing this – by practicing – we can become closer to the divine.

Or, as the Indigo Girls say, at least Closer to Fine.