Who are you when you are alone? Most importantly, are you able to be alone? Completely alone, without any noise? No television, no radio, no books. Are you able to be completely alone with your thoughts? I’m not talking about when you are alone and busying yourself with cleaning, cooking, reading or working. Can you just sit still by yourself and be with your thoughts?

If you can’t, then that should be your mission this year. Just to be ALONE with your THOUGHTS.

About two years ago I met someone whom I now consider a spiritual mentor. He suggested that I spend al least 20 minutes a day alone. He asked me to listen to my thoughts. I had never been asked to LISTEN to my thoughts. I found it strange but I was willing to try it.

The first time I sat in silence with my thoughts was extremely uncomfortable. It’s not meditation, it’s just being present, in tune with the “movie” playing in my head. We all play movies in our heads. We don’t even know that we are doing it but we do it all the time. We play conversations we’ve had with others. We think about how we could have said things differently. We repeat words of criticism from others or even from ourselves over and over again.

Sit down, with a journal. Spend twenty minutes writing freely. That means write whatever you are thinking without worrying about spelling, punctuation or jumping from one thought to another. Just write continuously for twenty minutes every day for a month. Don’t look at it, just close the journal as soon as you are done writing. After a month, read your journal. That is how you will see what your subconscious is focusing on. You will see the pattern of your thoughts. Once you know what your focusing on,  you can change it by replacing it with positive thoughts.

There, that’s the amazing piece of information I have been given through my religion, my spirituality, my mentor. I hope that it helps you as much as it has helped me and continues to help me.