Our Private Thoughts Part 1
August 18, 2025
Our Private Thoughts Part 1
Welcome to this week’s series of Daily Reflections on the subject of “Our Private Thoughts.”
Have you ever considered how much time and energy go into your private thoughts? They are ever-present. Our inner voice narrates the movie of our lives, and we listen to the soundtrack all day long.
All our thoughts are private unless we disclose them. But there are some private thoughts that we do not disclose for various reasons. We tell some of our private thoughts only to those we trust. Yet sometimes we voice them to whoever we think must hear them.
A large preponderance of our private thoughts is within the ego’s chatter. Such chatter is replete with categorizations, judgments, projections, comparisons, strivings, resentments, longings, admirations, and confirmations of our world views, individual stories, and opinions. We can be oblivious to this chatter, which in a large part determines our emotions.
Or we can become sensitive to the fact that the chatter comes from the ego, a mental structure that is not who we are, most primarily. Just knowing that many of our thoughts are ego driven lessens their grip on us. Once we recognize our ego’s thoughts, we can say to ourselves, “That is only my ego chatter; it is not from my soul.” The ego chatter that most disturbs us comes from its illusions, judgments, fixations, avoidances, and strategies.
But when the ego is allied with the soul, our thoughts have a different quality. Resentments, comparisons, and judgments are considered in the light of love. This includes our ego’s beliefs about ourselves. If we are over-inflated, love helps us come down to size. When our ego demeans us, in the light of love, we see ourselves more positively and with grace.
The soul transcends the ego, so our private thoughts are more hopeful and forgiving when we amalgamate with the soul. We are less self-absorbed and more other-centric. We allow that our judgments could be in error and that our ego’s worldview is not always correct. Our surety no longer comes from the ego, but from grounded truth revealed in the Divine and the present moment.
This week, we will learn more about our private thoughts and how they can help us heal and become whole.
Spiritual practice: Journal about your private thoughts and how you manage them.
Self-inquiry: What are some reasons why you would amalgamate your ego into your soul?
Dear God, Purify my thoughts for they make me who I am. When I think ill of myself or others, I am not at peace. I pray for the grace that gives me constructive and positive thoughts. Amen
