Thought

Do you really believe your thoughts belong to you?

If they do, can you control them? Can you stop thinking about the past? The future? Can you stop imagining your next holiday while working—or stop thinking about work while on holiday?

I believe our thoughts belong to us, but our ability to control them varies. Think of thoughts like a dog—you own the dog, but how well you control it depends on how well you’ve trained it.

You can train your dog to stay with you in the present, not to run off chasing everything it sees. You can train it to wait before crossing the road, to stay calm around other dogs at the park. Love and patience are the keys.

Here’s the interesting part: you own the dog, but the dog isn’t you. The same goes for thoughts—you own them, but they aren’t you. Every day, your mind produces countless thoughts, good and bad alike—depending on how well you’ve trained it. You don’t have to believe every single one.

The body is a great instrument for observing a thought. I’ve learned to notice the subtle physical shifts that come with different kinds of thoughts—the tension, the ease, the warmth, the chill, the gut feeling.

Over time, these sensations form patterns that help me recognise—more clearly and more quickly—how my body responds to constructive or destructive ideas, so I can choose how to respond before I act.

Perhaps that’s what it means to own a thought—to observe before you act.