I think that we think too much

I think that our society thinks too much….

I was at work today, thinking away about all sorts of things: friends, projects, homework, family, myself, time, God, etc. My thoughts just poured out as a continuous stream of non-stop thoughts, emotions, analysis, predictions, and so on. With each new pondering, my emotions would react to it; sometimes it was good, and other times, it was bad. My nerves or anxiety would go up, and with others, excitement would arise or I’d smile at the thought.

And throughout this entire time, I was just at work, sitting in front of a computer, creating posters and fliers and other campaign materials.

But as the hours went on, one thought that came into my head was “A physical labor job sounds nice. One that requires little thought on my part. One where I can just solely focus on one activity and engulf my entire being into it.” I then sighed, “Man oh man. I’m tired of thinking.”

It’s ironic I know. You say “Wait Hannah. You were actually thinking that you were tired of thinking?” Yes. Yes I was.

And I say this because thinking doesn’t seem to get me anywhere. Well, at last not most of the thoughts I’ve had recently. They usually aren’t related to the activity I’m currently doing. In fact, for most of my school day and such, I can zone in and out of class and occupy myself with facebook or other meandering activities. And while I wish I could say that my brain is not stirring, it feels like it’s moving at a very rapid pace with many thoughts racing through it, nothing to do with class or homework.

Most of my thoughts seem to belong in the worrying category. I worry about my appearance or my conduct, or how to deal with a certain person, how I’m feeling about a situation, various plans, my work/art production, theories, how to go about all sorts of activities, etc. I mean, the list goes on and on, some more important than others.

But alas, I finally got to the point where I was like, “Man! Can’t I just stop thinking?!”

Finally my brain agreed to the halt of nonstop thoughts. I walked outside and sat for a bit in the warm weather. As I sat there, I saw a young man walking along the cracks of the tile. He looked like a man walking a tight rope, with arms high up in the air and attention focus on the thin line. I couldn’t help but be amused. He continued on his way for a while and I was sad to lose sight of him. He seemed to remind me of a lifestyle with little thought. He wasn’t worried about how people were looking at him or trying to analyze the stones he was walking on. He didn’t try to figure out a pattern along the lines, but simply enjoyed walking on top of them, making a game out of the whole situation. I laughed to myself and wished I could view life more how so that man was viewing the lines on the ground: a simple game to enjoy and have fun with. Stop thinking so much and just start walking along the thin cracks, enjoying the challenge but yet, having fun with the silliness of it all.

This is something I feel like God tells me often: to just enjoy being myself and please, please smile and laugh in life. There’s a verse in James where it says “rejoice in all trials”, and I remember thinking “Psh, that’s WAY easier said than done. Does God just want us to lie when we’re obviously upset?” But really, I feel like God is saying “Despite the hardships and all the crap life throws at you, please try to look at the positive side and remember that I love you. It’s going to be rough, but you have hope in Me. I will take care of you. I love seeing you smile and laugh.”

So I hope one day I can put my worries and fruitless predications aside. Nothing can be done about those. Instead, I think I’ll keep my eyes open for the cracks in life that I can stop, lift my arms up high, and enjoy the moment, whether it's difficult or easy, it's going well or not, but trust that in the end, I have the one thing that matters: God, my true love who will always be there for me.