Is This Necessary?
Often, we just let thoughts go on without truly questioning them or what they create. It is easy to forget to discern what thoughts are necessary and which are not.
Yesterday and early today, I was overtaken by an army of thoughts – or rather, I allowed them the space to speak; I gave them permission to continue unchecked. I didn’t set boundaries to protect my inner peace and instead fell into the obsessive pursuit of the “perfect” answer.
I didn’t know what to think, and as the questions repeated, alternatives rained down on me, and I caught myself comparing scenarios from one end to the other.
This process took up close to all my mental capacity, and I found myself drained with little to show for it.
Now I realise that not only did I waste my time in unnecessary mind games, but I was also, by default, not focusing my attention on what was necessary and beneficial.
This led me to ask myself, what thoughts are actually necessary?
Balancing Perfection
Then there was a situation that was crying out for my attention. Had I given it my full presence, I could have solved it quickly; the need would have been met and my day could have continued with flow. Instead, I looked away, and it stayed with me for days.
Unresolved things linger in our minds, and if we want to feel lighter as we most certainly do — it’s not only about letting go but tending to what calls for our care.
Though on course, it was not a waste of time — nothing is — because through this experience and the observation that followed, I am learning about mind and thoughts, energy and attention.
On one hand, I can see how unnecessary this is, how I am spending so much of my mental energy on the details, trying to perfect every grain, which distracts me from the bigger picture of what I am here to create. Overthinking possibilities and weighing alternatives in search of the “best” and “most perfect” solution might be what actually limits the optimal outcome, as it blocks the current of creation from unfolding.
On another level, I can see that it was necessary because I didn’t make a decision – and a decision needed to be made. As such, with my lack of clarity, I was struggling, trying to figure out from a place of confusion. And because of that, it was necessary to think unnecessarily much — does that make sense?
“I think overthinking is thinking too much.”
I am seeing how overthinking keeps me stuck in a rut and how the flow of life opens up as decisions are being committed upon. When we reach a conclusion, accept our decision and honour it through action, new possibilities and opportunities emerge.
Practising Discernment
This is a core practice of self-mastery: Learning to discern between thoughts and focus our creative potential towards our life’s purpose — it is in the everyday experiences that we are being tested and grow.
It is important not to make rash decisions — to weigh the pros and cons against each other so that we can move ahead with an awareness of potential outcomes. But to an extent. Not too much and not too little. Finding the sweet spot of what is necessary.
Instead of having something wobble in the periphery of our awareness — nagging from the back of our mind — it serves us to simply sit down and concentrate our attention on the issue at hand.
When we address the situation, we can close that chapter, return to the present moment, and focus fully on the next endeavour.
Does This Serve?
Later in the day, I gave myself the space to sit with what had moved, and a broader question surfaced.
What is the message today? — What is this experience teaching me?
The answer came directly and clearly as a question, a reminder of the importance of my attention:
Is this Necessary?
What is Necessary?
Necessary in regard to what? What is necessary is both individual and situational. It depends entirely on the person — their values, dreams, desires, preferences and, based on that: what priorities they have in this specific period and moment of their life.
In my current case, it is about being fully present and appreciating life. Learning to discern between the thoughts that distract and pull me down and those that serve and lift me up. It is learning to navigate and optimise my energetic state of being — honouring my chosen path and what I truly want out of life.
And so I ask myself:
Does this serve my mental, physical, and spiritual health and wealth?
Does this add to the quality of my life?
Does this — attitude, narrative, story, response, belief, or intention — bring me closer to inner peace and harmony?
And if the YES rings true in my chest, the guidance is to proceed. If there is a NO, then I observe and let it go — I am too old to entertain what only brings me down without a value to be found.
Asking. Feeling. Listening. Allowing. Obeying.
Because I know that looking at the bigger picture — not only what is comfortable or tasty now but what effect it echoes into the future — the more vital I am, the higher my capacity is.
And the higher my capacity, the higher my potential to receive, live, and give.
The healthier and happier I am, the more so are my surroundings — and the higher the quality of my surroundings, the higher the quality of my life and on and on it goes — as within, as without.
Am I the Director, or Am I Being Directed?
Now, our mental capacity is limited. When we focus on one area, our attention is allocated to one thing over another. Each train of thought takes space on the track, blocking the potential presence of another. When we think about what we don’t like or want, we are not investing our conscious attention – our creative and creational potential – on what we truly want in alignment with our soul.
Either we choose the thoughts and the direction of our life, or the thoughts play by default and define our place in this life.
And what is the ultimate cost, all things considered?
Mulling around and thinking back and forth might save me a few bucks in the end, but what did it cost in time and energy during that period?
And beyond that, what could I have focused on instead?
What could I have done, enjoyed, learned, or created?
The Nature of Necessity
“Things are necessary until they are not necessary and more.”
Just because it was necessary doesn’t mean that it always will be. This concept is in a constant flux and flow; things are neither black nor white — nothing is necessary forever.
For example, I stink, and I feel dull, so a shower is necessary to lift my spirit and remove the fog. But once I am clean, a shower is no longer necessary. What is necessary changes with times and moments throughout our days.
It is a simple metaphor, yet it makes the principle easy to see: all things have their time and place, and things are necessary until they are not anymore. Not even breathing is ultimately required. Only as long as we are here in this body and flesh do we fill our lungs with this air that is here. But once we transcend, even that necessity goes away with us.
Now we are taking this concept to its limit, yet the truth of it remains, and applying this question in everyday life allows us to see things from a broader perspective.
The Pause Between
Between every reaction and action lies a pause. And the more we breathe into it, the more agency we have to respond consciously instead of automatically reacting. It is here that awareness expands and has the opportunity to guide us.
There are moments to “speak our truth” and “share our feelings” about something or someone, and it is crucial that we allow ourselves to be honest.
But before we carelessly share without reflection, it serves us and those around us that we reflect, so that our expression is conscious. Considering not only our inner world but external consequences and the experience and emotions of other beings.
This pause reveals something else when we stay with it long enough. We become aware of the inner dialogue that is constantly occurring in the back of our mind.
Conscious observation and practising detachment create distance between ourselves and our thoughts — and in that distance, we become more self-aware.
Patterns and deeper layers begin to reveal themselves, and as we notice the same narrative playing on repeat, something is there, asking to be seen.
The Rock on My Path
And so… things are necessary until they no longer are…
We stay in class until we pass the test. If we want to advance, we better “pay attention” to what is said and learn to “listen in between the lines”.
Pay extra care to patterns and narratives that keep on repeating.
What is this energy?
What message is it bringing with it?
How can I see or meet this differently?
Meditation, observation, reflection, and contemplation expand our awareness of the inner dialogue and what it is creating.
When something keeps on reappearing, it is calling for closure — in one way or another. Sometimes the invitation is to forgive. Sometimes to let go. How do we integrate, transmute, or grow through the experience?
This is something we have to discover for ourselves — only we can know what each moment is asking of us.
Something is calling for our attention, and so we listen and open up to what is there — to what is here. Everything holds the potential for meaning, and it is up to each one of us to discover, or perhaps even assign it.
What insights, wisdom, or transformation might this experience bring?
As we close one chapter, the energetic channels unblock, inspiration unlocks, and creation flows.
If there is a rock on our path, it is necessary to remove it, climb over it, or go around it. It might not be the first idea that reaches our awareness, but something is necessary, and when we live with openness, direction, and a curious mind — anything is possible.
