Only Thinking Makes it So

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” -Shakespeare (Hamlet)

We have been brought up in a society which concentrates on scarcity. Consequently, the basis and assumptions made on how we should live turns into a competitive nature. For those in a corporate environment, it becomes a rat race of who can be the best in a company, or who can get the corner office with glass windows overlooking the city scape below.

Whilst competitiveness is “human nature”, it should be recognised that competition should only serve one purpose: to become better at what we’re doing. The external trigger is the competition, but the inner being should be seeking growth and expansion through the external trigger. Without an understanding of our internal being, we merely become victims of our own chase for the elusive freedom that we seek; for what is freedom but that which comes from within. Freedom is a state of being, not a destination to an end point.

In act 2, scene 2, Hamlet said, “For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me, it is a prison.”

As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. 

Scarcity forms the basis of how we think and behave because it’s how we have been programmed subconsciously since we were young. It is the root of  competitiveness between individuals and companies. It is also the cause of worry and fear in people when something goes wrong for them. Just as “fear is the lack of love”, scarcity is the lack of abundance. 

When we come from a place of abundance, we’d realise that scarcity is only a small portion of abundance.

When we step out of the confines of the box of scarcity, we’d realise the abundance which exists outside the box of confinement. 

We are all gifted with the mental faculty of perception. We can always change how we look at a given situation at any given time. Unfortunately, most of us tend to react rather than respond, particularly to what we generally perceive as “unpleasant” situations. When we react, we use our other mental faculty, the gift of imagination, to (unconsciously) create situations filled with worries and despair, which  leads to confusion, chaos and fear about our future. Reacting means that you give away your power to the external circumstance; you allow it to control you. You give in to scarcity; you’ve lost your connection to the infinite you.

However, when you respond, you are in control of the circumstance. That’s when you start to exercise your mental muscle of perception, of looking at a situation from a different perspective. You’ll also practise your gift of will and intuition as you continually look for the “good in the bad.”

The next time something bad happens to you, push your internal “pause” button. Wait for a few days whilst looking for the good in what seems to be a bad situation for you. Every time you start to panic, bring yourself back in control, and look for the good in the situation. Respond rather than react. The act of practising perception and gratitude will empower you to be aware of how you can be in charge of your thinking, your life, and your destiny.

“Everything can be taken from man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.” – Victor Frankl, Neurologist, Psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor