Thoughts Generated by the Mind

All of our behavior results from the thoughts that preceded it. So the thing to work on is not your behavior but the thing that caused your behavior, your thoughts.

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

 There are many different ways by which cognitive scientists try to understand and explain mind functioning. Underlying these different approaches is the assumption that any mind activity involves the transformation of information through a series of processes – procedures and operations – that draw upon existing mental patterns or knowledge representations.

            The analogy is often made between the human mind and the computer, one of the many possible metaphors and the most commonly used for it. They even say that the mind is a super-computer – greater, better, and more efficient than any computer there is. Just as any computer can run many different programs, the human can perform many different behaviors, as well. Both the computer and the human mind store their files and programs in their memory until they are needed. In computers, these programs are those that let you write documents such as letters, reports, or books like this, surf the internet, play music or videos, and many more. By analogy, programs being stored in the human mind are those that tell us how to cook, play tennis, wash dishes, sing and dance, and a lot more, too.

                        Computers generate thousands and thousands of information through processing the raw data the user inputs. The human mind is not at all different from this. For a clearer view, let’s take for example the process by which a search engine in the internet undergoes. In cyberspace, one can look for a particular subject without even standing up from his seat. All he has to do is open a search engine, type the subject matter he is looking for, and wait for the results to be produced by the engine. Simple and common topics like love, the Earth, McDonald’s, etc. that you might key in may produce millions of results. Some are relevant and may conform to what you are really looking for, while others are insignificant and do not focus mainly on the topic – that they may only mention the word once or twice.

            Like computers, particularly search engines in the internet, the mind also generates thoughts and ideas this way – quick and easy, provides plentiful results, yet with complications. We can never ask a search engine to list only the ones we need, the appropriate ones, and to neglect those that hardly match what we are looking for. Likewise, relevant and irrelevant thoughts will also always pop up in our minds. We can never avoid it, but we can always check them one by one and classify as to positive or negative thoughts.

            Consider the situation where you want to buy a present for your grandmother’s birthday but you have no money to afford one. And so, using your mind, you think of possible ways to acquire money. After some time, this is what you have come up with:

-         Run errands for somebody to pay you

-         Ask money from Mom and Dad

-         Steal money from Mom and Dad

-         Sell your things you don’t use anymore

-         Sell brothers and sisters’ things

-         Beg money from strangers

-         Apply for a part-time job

-         Ask money from friends

-         Borrow money from friends

-         Join contests with cash money as prize

-         Gamble