What Are You Waiting For? Start Now — Part 2

 

Thoughts are like trees growing beside the water of the mind.

Some trees grow only a little.
Some grow to a medium size.
Some grow very large.

Among the large trees, some bear only a little fruit, while others bear much fruit.
Among the medium-sized trees, some may bear no fruit at all, some may bear only a little, and some may bear a great deal.
Even small trees may sometimes bear much fruit, or only a little, or they may quickly weaken and wither away.

Our thoughts are very much like this.

Some thoughts enter the mind and grow well.
Some produce fruit.
Some become weak.
Some disappear.
Some begin to produce a little fruit and then stop.
In the same way, these kinds of changes are constantly taking place within our mind.

Then why do some trees become large, some remain small, and some stay in the middle?

I believe this is similar to the way thoughts develop according to necessity.

A large tree is like a thought that has a strong need to grow.
A medium-sized tree is like a thought that only needs to develop to a certain level.
A small tree is like a thought that only needs a small amount of attention before it stops.

When a certain standard of necessity is formed within us, our thoughts begin to grow according to that necessity.

Thoughts that feel very necessary receive more of our attention.
We think about them more, we make more changes around them, and we allow them to grow more deeply.

But thoughts that seem less necessary receive only a little attention.
We think about them only briefly, and sometimes we stop in the middle and leave them unfinished.

The principle is the same.

That is why it is important for us to understand this.
If we want to distinguish the flow of our thoughts, and if we want to keep from being led around by wrong thoughts and instead go in the right direction, then we need to understand ideas like the ones we are talking about now.

What kind of beautiful flowers are growing in your heart?”