Guarding Our Thoughts
I often have dozens of open tabs in my browser. A book I want to review. A product I may want to purchase. An article skimmed three days ago. Many of them are no longer relevant. So why are the tabs still open?
Because closing them feels like losing something. Each one represents a small intention I had, and letting it go means admitting I’m not going to follow through. So they accumulate. And the browser gets slower. And I scroll past them without really seeing them anymore.
We do something remarkably similar with our thoughts. Grief. Resentment. Fear. Continuously running, festering in the background. And we wonder why we feel heavy. Why peace seems so elusive.
A Course in Miracles puts it simply: “It is much more helpful to remind you that you do not guard your thoughts carefully enough.” Not a scolding. A gentle observation. We’re not watching what’s running.
And nobody else can close them for us. The Course is explicit about this. It would “hardly help” to have someone manage our minds, because that would teach us our thinking has no power. That it doesn’t matter what we leave open. But it does. Every open tab draws on something. Every unexamined thought produces effects.
Guarding isn’t a strain. It’s a recognition. This is my browser. These are my thoughts. And they are doing something whether I watch them or not.
The miracle isn’t a faster machine. It’s the moment we notice what we’ve left running, and gently, without judgment, begin to close what no longer serves.
Not by force. By attention.
Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore what it means to guard our thoughts carefully, and discover the freedom that follows. I look forward to seeing you then.