Nupur Mahajan: To Leave You With A Thought

The day for many of us dawns with negative inbox-ing. Perhaps your son wants to quit college. Or a trusted colleague just can’t do it anymore. It’s that great bliss of being forever connected — nothing is contained anymore. A moment’s doubt. A fleeting fear of failure. Whatever it is, is dashed off, passed on via e-mail, Whatsapp, text message… Often without thought. For you, the receiver of the negative thought, the morning is lost. The day mired in negative light. You try and shake it off. Replace the negative thought with happier thoughts. Sometimes you succeed. Many times you don’t.

Thought.

Thoughts, for most of us, are an involuntary relay the mind runs incessantly. The mind’s quest to be as chiselled as your body. Only with your 14-inch biceps you need Mohit, the trainer, even as your mind runs untamed. Rather, untrained. The most self-assured of us are slaves to our mind – it wanders and you follow. And yet, thoughts are not the mind’s meanderings. Not that involuntary buzz that compels you to be thinking of something else even as you read me. Not escape — that glaze you acquire at long-drawn-out meetings or the wife’s daily offload. That is the mind keeping itself busy. Not thought.

Yes, the mind is that great processor that conjures sunshine on a rainy day. Bestows logic — rationalises, comprehends, retains. And, yet, it runs needlessly. Creating unthought thoughts at all times. Get it to stop… Of course, that is once you assimilate thought and takeover its controls. The mind’s tizzy is not thought. Thought is voluntary. It requires active, and not passive, engagement. Importantly, you are the master of your mind. Never mind your primeval need to be ‘good dog’. You have the power to call your mind to heel; even shush it. And importantly, create and seed thoughts.

For, thought is the root. Right thought leads to right actions and in turn desired destinies… Thoughts are powerful. Thought when backed by will acquires an individual life — a form. A form that goes out of you in a quest to achieve that for what it was created… Yes, thoughts come to fruition. It is only because you think much, unthinkingly, that when a thought materialises it often doesn’t register.

We think nothing of thought because we believe thoughts are involuntary. Second nature, like breathing. And yet, observe your mind. Most of its toils are superfluous. Flights far from fancy. Planning when not: I’ll do this. I’ll do that. I’ll go here. No, there. I’ll eat less. I’ll eat more… Futile musings. All you do is deplete energy, and not focus on the task at hand. Because, if you want to plan — your day, your life or even your diet — stop what you are doing and plan. Think. For thinking is an action. Not inaction.

It all starts with a thought. It often ends with a thought. One thought. Merely one thought determines your day. Your mood. Your outlook. This on a day. But thought is what determines your approach towards the crustiest, most cantankerous situations. You may have tried and tried, your resilience tested, you may have met every obstacle with resolve but now tired. And the thought: I quit. But one thought, one simple thought: “I can do this”. Or, “I will do it this way, and it’ll happen”, can make you hold on. Make day of the darkest night…

Thought is power. Power at your command; lying untapped. It is because our belief system is flawed — the belief that all riches are external acquisitions — that we don’t dig for gold within.
Compel your head to stop. Shush! Train your mind to paths you want to tread. Till it with thoughts you can reap. Lull it to silence and experience peace. And, when it runs, run it on all that’s positive and all that’s good. On all that you desire. Think and envision… I’ll be CEO, I’ll own a pent house, I’ll start the day with prayer, I’ll vacation in Spain… And even, my son may not graduate but he will succeed. He will be happy…

Nupur Mahajan is a sum of many parts. Ideas are her business even as her creative streak sees her straddle television, advertising, publishing, radio and brands.