Why Bother To Sow Good Thoughts?

Recently, I strapped on my snowshoes and walked along the frozen lake. I enjoy this particular route—the expansive view of sky and water as well as the solitude and silence. Tromping down the deep snow to make my own trail, my body warmed with the exertion. To make my own path, I told myself, would be hard work, but following it back would be easy. 

Happy to be outside in the cold, clear air, I suddenly caught a whiff of cigarette smoke. I wondered who would be smoking and then I saw them—three teenage girls in a little huddle. They looked up, a little startled by my sudden appearance and stared. I didn’t stop to chat with them but instead, chuckled and asked, “Why are you girls smoking?” I didn’t expect them to answer, but one of the girls stepped away from the others and said, 

“Because everyone has a bad habit.” 

“Yeah,” I said. “But you don’t have to,” 

      Promote Good Thinking

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with the idea that when we sow a thought, we reap an action. When we sow an action, we reap a habit. When we sow a habit we reap a character and sowing a character reaps a destiny. Our futures, it appears, are launched by our thoughts. 

The young lady who believes that everyone has a bad habit, is only defending her bad habit by those words. But, here is the real clencher of her belief: the longer she adheres to her idea, the longer she will continue her habit. And over the long haul, smoking only erodes a person’s physical and mental well being. It does nothing to add goodness to our health, and quitting is a grueling chore. 

Our thoughts come and go, but how we think about ourselves, others, and our circumstances form familiar patterns. Then these patterns become our norm. It is only when we become conscious of our thinking or someone throws a cog in our pattern, that we actually make any changes. Becoming conscious makes us aware of our choices. If we want to, we can alter our way of thinking about something. 

So, I hope my words to that young lady were a cog in her thinking pattern. I hope someday, she will know that just because people have bad habits does not mean she has to join the club of people with bad habits. She has a choice to make different choices. I hope, for her sake, she sows better thoughts than the one she is presently sowing. 

Why bother to sow good thoughts? It is worth it to sow good thoughts since those thoughts have the power to shape our futures.