Elephant Chasing the Train
Imagine you are in a nonstop train. You are sitting there watching the scenery pass by. What a pleasant image, the cool breeze from the window is refreshing. The whole setup just brings a smile on your face. A station approaches and you see a white elephant, it just shouts at you “STOP!”. Wow, white elephant, cool. Then it strikes to you, the train doesn’t stop, but you also don’t know where the train is going!
A station is approaching, you are not sure if you have to pull the chain to stop the train. You look outside the window, the white elephant is chasing the train. Well, if you are in a non-stop train all alone and being chased by a white elephant, something is definitely wrong. You pull the chain, the train comes to a screeching halt. You get out of the train; the white elephant comes to you and asks,
“Where do you think you are going?”
That non-stop train is your train of thoughts which is always on. And, you my friend, needed something as bizarre as a white elephant to stop it.
We humans have a habitual thinking pattern where most of it is just a replay from past or fantasizing of the future.
What we fail to realize is that a thought is a tool that can be weaponized for intentional problem solving. But, utilizing thought as a tool requires hard work. That explains why day dreaming feels like a cool breeze on a train. Human beings evolved about 2.5 million years ago. Since then every human being is solving problems for himself/herself that concerns them. In fact, you can even wonder if the problems that a human being tries to solve could even be solved in a life time. Because, once you solve one problem, you just have another around the corner waiting to give you a heads up. The general understanding of this is that problems are never ending. No, this means that humans never stop looking for problems to solve. May be (this is a wild thought), this unending need to solve problems has what kept our species thrive and survive for so long — Solving one problem after another and passing those unsolved problems to the next generations (cliché). Problems are not necessarily bad (unless you are not looking for a solution).
If you could look at it objectively, problem solving involves few steps:
- Stating the problem clearly
- Understanding what it is about
- Plot a path that you can take to ultimately solve the problem (Thought)
- Take action
In this entire process, thinking comes just before taking action. It precedes all actions, hence ultimately influencing our behavior. Without intentions of solving a problem thinking is just junk food for your brain, it is like watching a TV series in a loop. The next time you catch yourself thinking aimlessly, remember the white elephant which made you stop and ask yourself:
where are you going? what problem are you solving?
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