"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell

I took my guitars to the local luthier the other day. Got the fretboard polished, new strings attached, pickups and other electronics checked. I do this routinely every couple of months as soon as I notice rust beginning to settle on the strings. I could just leave the rust-addled strings alone, considering I hardly ever play my guitars. But it just doesn’t feel right. I’m by no means a great guitar player. Not even a good one. But that doesn’t stop me from having wild fantasies of ripping a jaw-dropping guitar solo in the comfort of my own home. I can’t be bothered to perform in front of a large crowd if I’m being very honest. Ultimately, however, the habit firm in place is for me to keep my guitars from ‘ decaying’ while I sit and continue to THINK about what could be. While positive fantasizing may seem harmless at first glance, further self-inquiry and analysis point to a more systemic and insidious problem in the way that I live my life. Which brings me to the first of many reflections -

1. Thinking without knowing you’re thinking

If you’ve done any form of self-inquiry in the past, you may have caught yourself in the act. I catch myself doing it all the time. It’s now clear that thinking is the hobby I devote most time to. It’s the equivalent of someone saying that their favorite hobby is sleeping. Science has a lot to say about the benefits of getting enough and good sleep. I doubt you’ll get scientific backing for the benefits of being stuck in your head. With thinking and more thinking, you simply have nothing to show for it. That sucks.

Depending on your relationship with your thoughts, you have to decide if it is a pursuit that is overrated, underrated or both.

2. Thinkers block

“ The state in which one starts to question his/ her ability to have an original thought.”

I’d like to think that I made that up. But since I consume so much ‘intellectual’ content online daily, how the fuck can I be sure of anything? I can’t remember the last time I said or thought something that didn’t make me question if I was just parroting something I’d previously heard from someone else.
I’m not sure if I can trust what I think from moment to moment anymore, because while it’s easy to say “ We are what we are”, the reality is that “ We are what we are conditioned (or even unknowingly condition ourselves) to be”. Consuming online content leads to conditioning, for better or worse. The only takeaway is to be careful of what you consume online.

3. Inability to lose ourselves

Thinking gets in the way of us being able to lose ourselves while performing a task we otherwise find enjoyable. I’m going to leave this one at that. I’m happy to hear what you have to say.

4. Analysis of negative thoughts

I’m sure you’ve had moments in life when you found it easier to conjure up memories of negative interactions with people in your life, regardless of what they mean to you. For most of us, it's easier to replay negative experiences in our heads than positive ones. Most of the time, thinking and rethinking seldom help you find solutions to problems. In the off chance that it does, the event is probably way in the past and any effort to rectify it would only lead to more harm than good. Letting go becomes the only way to move forward.

5. What would you rather risk? - Over-thinking vs under-thinking

At any given moment, for any person picked at random, it’s worth considering the following

• [ ] Overthinking - Analysis paralysis

• [ ] Underthinking - Being vulnerable without realizing it

• [ ] The value in picking your losses

For some of the reflections above, I’ve spewed more verbal diarrhoea than for others. This was intentional. While each of the headers above merit their own piece of in depth writing and analysis, I’m not convinced that any more time spent thinking is the way to go for me. If you’re reading this ( or if I’m re-reading this, for that matter) it is imperative that you reflect and reconsider your own relationship with them, from time to time, depending on the context of your own life.

Ultimately, thinking is just another tool in your toolbox. While the quality of your tools is important, it simply doesn’t mean diddly squat if you don’t use them in the right way, at the right time and with the right intention.