YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK

Where do your emotions come from? Yes, you’re right. It’s your thoughts which create emotions. And, what do emotions cause? You’re spot on again. They cause you to take decisions.

So, your thoughts create emotions, and your emotions lead to decisions.

How about a short story to help understand this better?

Once upon a time, in a small village in south India, there lived a young girl named Pournima. Her father was a very respected Ayurveda doctor and her mother, a typical homemaker. Pournima was their only daughter.

She grew up in a loving home, doted on by her parents. The day came when Pournima got married. According to tradition she left her village and went to live with her husband. She now had a new family. This included her in-laws and other extended relatives. Everything was fine for a month or so, but as is often the case, trouble started brewing between Pournima and her mother-in-law, Kalalakshmi. It soon reached the point where Pournima and Kalalakshmi, couldn’t stand each other. Metaphorically speaking, it seemed like both of them had planted the tree of bitterness and hatred, and were nurturing it so well that it was blossoming every day.

Everyone was aware of the tension, but wisely chose to let them resolve it between themselves. Kalalakshmi was constantly bitching and complaining about Pournima to all her relatives and even to Pournima’s parents.

Whenever Pournima had the opportunity, she would talk to her parents about the conflict.Aware of how stressed she was about the whole thing, they used to console her in the only way they knew; by saying that everything would fall into place over time.

was a living hell for both of them, Kalakshmi and Pornima, and somehow they lived through it for a year. During this period, Pournima fell deeply in love with her husband, who was very affectionate and caring, and treated her like a princess. Every time she seriously considered leaving and going back to her parent’s house,it was only her love for him which prevented her.

Soon the relationship escalated to a stage where Pournima and Kalalakshmi would use every opportunity to get into a fight, always abusing and accusing each other of wrong doing.

Finally, one day Pournima told her father that she was done with Kalalakshmi. She couldn’t take the torture anymore, confessing that there were times she had even considered killing Kalalakshmi. It was clear to her dad that Pournima had reached a point where she might just explode.

Pournima’s father strongly advised her against doing anything at the moment.He asked that she come over and meet him, suggesting that they needed to plot this murder perfectly. As part of the plan, Pournima’s father sent a message to her in-laws. It explained that her mother was ill and requested that they allow Pournima to come over and spend some time with them. Pournima’s in-laws obliged and agreed to send her for a couple of days.

Pournima immediately left for her parent’s house. She was grateful for the opportunity to meet and spend some time with her parents. The day after she arrived, Pournima’s father asked her to accompany him to the nearby temple. He wanted to discuss the plot and make sure that her mother was kept in the dark.

He gave Pournima six different Ayurvedic herbs. All she had to do was secretly mix it in her mother-in-law’smeals everyday. He explained that slowly it would weaken Kalalakshmi’s immune system and in a matter of 5 to 6 months she would be no more.

He,however, warned Pournima to proceed with extreme caution.Everyone in her husband’s family was aware of the bad blood between them. Any suspicion of foul play would fall squarely on her. As a precaution, for the next six months Pournima would have to pretend that everything was fine between the two of them. Ignoring every insult from Kalalakshmi, she had to play along and publicly show that she bears no ill feelings for her mother-in-law anymore.That way, in the event of her death, no one would ever dream that Pournima was involved.

Pournima agreed that it was indeed a wonderful plan. Hopeful, she headed back to her in-laws place, equipped with the ayurvedic poison. Without wasting any time, she began mixing her father’s ingredients in Kalalakshmi’s food everyday. Her mother-in-law experienced some fever, cough and general ailments and Pournima was happy that the plan was working.

In the meanwhile, her behaviour towards Kalalakshmi changed drastically. Gone was the obvious bitterness. In its place, was love, affection and empathy. Over the next few months, her behaviour started having a positive effect on Kalalakshmi. She too reciprocated, with niceness and understanding. As more time passed, there was a sea change; they bonded like mother and daughter.

Pournima, expectedly, was happy with the new direction their relationship had taken. Of course, part of her was also sad. She knew that in a couple of months her mother-in-law would die. Somewhere deep inside, she started to feel the pain of losing Kalalakshmi. Suddenly she realized that she now desperately wanted her mother-in-law to stay alive.

Pournima messaged her father, explaining the situation and begging him to reverse the effects of the poison.

Her father consoled her saying, “My dear, I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were actually vitamins which were meant to improve your mother-in-law’s immune system. The poison was only in your mind, my child.”

TAKE AWAY : Initially Pournima had negative thoughts about her mother-in-law.This led to negative emotions like hatred and anger, and these negative emotions led to decisions, one of which was to kill her mother-in-law. Fortunately for her, she did not take any action based on this emotional decision.

After six months, her feelings changed and she started having positive thoughts about her mother-in-law. She experienced positive emotions like love and compassion, which in turn led to the decision of saving her mother-in-law.

To sum it up in one line:“You are your thoughts”. You can fall sick by thinking you are sick and you can also get well by thinking you are well. You can think and get poor, and you can think and get rich.

Your thought gives birth to emotions, which further lead to decisions based on those emotions, then get converted to actions, and finally take the form of results.