I’ve been thinking a lot about the following quote:
Each thought has a negative and positive polarity, just like electricity. If you have the negative pole, on the other side a positive pole is created. It is automatic…
If you can remain in the right state – that is, undistracted, silent, just a witness to everything, to whatsoever is happening, with no idea arising in you – then no idea will arise in others around you… Think and you will see: if you think of enemies you will create them, if you think of friends they will appear. If you love, love appears all around you; if you hate, hate appears.
Whatsoever you go on thinking is being fulfilled by a certain law. If you don’t think anything, then nothing happens to you…
…if you want to “do” you will live in the ego… If you drop the ego, if you drop the idea of being a doer and you simply relax into life and are in a let-go… Then things happen.”
—OSHO, Ancient Music in the Pines
I’ve always struggled to believe how powerful thought is in everyday life. So many people talk about how “you attract what you fear”, or the “power of positive thinking”, or “creating your own reality”, that it can be quite confusing to sort through what is genuine. I’ve seen far too many people “create” their way into self-deception.
The way Osho puts it is the simplest and most straightforward version of this idea I’ve read. The idea that my thoughts create polarity is very compelling. It doesn’t take a lot of life experience to tell me that when I’m always negative, all I see is negativity. When I complain, all I see are things to complain about. When I regularly express gratitude, I’m happier and more content.
I think that’s what I’m ultimately attempting with these daily “sketches”. These last six days I’ve been happier. Because instead of complaining about work that brings me little joy, I’m choosing to do something I enjoy. While the caption of these daily posts on social media is “Day __ of composing everyday until I can quit corporate America and create full-time,” honestly, that’s not the end goal. I would love it if that became possible. But I’m enjoying myself so much, it doesn’t really matter.
Photo credit: Me. I saw these billowy clouds outside my front door the other day and thought it was captivating!