In this reflection we separate thinking from believing.
A thought appears in your mind. Intrusive. Unwanted. Something dark or strange or shameful. And suddenly you are spiraling. What kind of person thinks this? What does this mean about me? If I had this thought, does that mean I want it?
No. It does not. A thought is not a wish. It is not a command. It is not evidence of your character. It is just a thought. Your brain produces thousands of them every day. Most of them are random, contradictory, absurd.
The brain is a thought-generating machine. It does not filter for quality. It does not distinguish between useful and useless, meaningful and meaningless. It just produces. Like a river that carries whatever falls into it.
You are not responsible for every thought that passes through. You are responsible for what you do with it. What you act on. What you feed. What you believe.
The thought that says you are worthless is not evidence that you are worthless. The thought that says you should do something harmful is not a command you must follow. The thought that terrifies you does not mean the terror is justified.
You can observe the thought without becoming it. Watch it appear. Watch it pass. Like a cloud moving across the sky. Present, but not permanent. Visible, but not solid.
This takes practice. The brain wants you to engage. To argue with the thought, to push it away, to make it mean something. But engagement gives it power. Sometimes the most radical act is to simply let it be there. Uninvestigated. Unbelieved. Just another thought in the river.
You are not your thoughts. You are the one watching them.