Take no thought:
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life.” (Matthew 6:25)
In order to help us grasp what the mystical writers of the Bible are trying to tell us here, we can read the verse like this “Therefore I say unto you, Take no NEGATIVE thought for your life.
The other interesting thing about this verse is the word “take.” In order to take something, then the thing has to already be. It’s like this, if you were to take a new job, the job has to have already been created. Only created things can be taken. We take our time, we take opportunities, we take turns, “taking” denotes a choice. If you were to “take” a nap, then you made a choice to do so; you certainly don’t have to, you could do something else entirely.
When we understand that thoughts are simply things that we can take or not take, this gives us a strong sense of personal agency, it gives us power. Thoughts are not forced upon us, they are presented to us, and we have a choice to take them or leave them. Take it or leave it.
A great piece of advice is to think about what you’re thinking about, this simple practice will help you see what thoughts you have taken for your life, and all thoughts positive or negative are in fact “for your life.” Positive thoughts pertain to your higher self, negative thoughts pertain to your lower self, or we could say positive thoughts are from our spirit, negative thoughts are from our flesh (ego).
“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)
Our spirit is willing to take only positive thoughts for our life, but our flesh likes to wallow in the negative ones; this is why it’s so important to spend time each day in the spirit, and we do this by simply being still and quiet in meditation. When we meditate we have the opportunity to observe the thoughts that constantly bombard us in life. Try it. Sit still and quiet for a few minutes and just watch all the thoughts that seem to arise out of nowhere. It’s really amazing. Just observe, don't “take” any of them by dwelling on them, just observe them; and know this, you are not alone, everyone single person on the face of the earth is constantly being bombarded by thoughts.
The more you practice stillness, the better you will become at taking the right thoughts for your life. If a thought makes you feel bad, don’t take it; you can observe it without it affecting your life, but if you take it, and dwell on it, it will make you feel worse and worse. On the flip side, when you take positive thoughts you start to feel better and better.
“Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” (Colossians 3:2) Heaven = higher self, positive thoughts, Earth = lower self, negative thoughts (ego).
Thoughts are kind of like clothing. You know how when you have your favorite outfit on, you feel good and confident? Yeah, it’s like that.
You look best in positive thoughts for your life.
In love and light,
-J
