Can We Choose Our Thoughts?

Can we choose our thoughts or actions? A man wants to know if he chose to ask Rupert a question or if asking just happened.

Rupert says: ‘When you say “Did I choose to ask you a question?”, what “I” are you referring to? We have to answer that before we can explore whether or not that “I” chooses. If you know that the “I” is a dream character, then that question is moot.

‘But if you want to explore for yourself whether or not this “I” can choose, you can do this experiment: Make the decision to only have happy thoughts for a week. If the “I” can choose your next thought, it should be able to choose happy thoughts all the time.

Realising that you don’t choose anything is deeply liberating – but it doesn’t mean that we justify inappropriate behaviour. What’s important is to realise that, if we don’t choose our thoughts and actions, then nobody else does either. It has a profound effect on the way we think of other people – particularly people that are unkind or unjust to us.’

*This video is from one of Rupert’s weekly webinars, 17 April 2024. You can join or learn more about upcoming webinars here:

▸ https://rupertspira.com/events/webinar