Everyday Canvas

Unwanted Thoughts and Columbus Day

Prompt: “It has taken me quite a few years to realize the fact that most of the thoughts in my head are not necessary.”
― Bert McCoy
My question is, how can anyone chase away those unnecessary thoughts? Do you have any ideas?

==============

For writers, there are no unnecessary thoughts because we know how to make use of every single one of them. Yet, any thought even a brilliant one can become a pest when we are trying to concentrate on something specific; therefore, all thoughts can be useful but they may be unwanted at that specific moment. This is because thoughts have their own way of trafficking through our consciousness. They come and go as they please and they don’t like being forced or resisted against.

Decades ago, I practiced mind-emptying meditation with dubious results. Yet, that meditation helped me to focus my attention on the matter at hand with some success. I also find that living a stress-free life (Well, as much as I can) helps my focus.

Those who know more about the mind say that unwanted thoughts are common symptoms of anxiety disorders, especially with obsessive compulsive people, as they may lead the way to negative thinking, self-recrimination, and violent urges. Worse yet, fighting these thoughts brings them back harder.

The one thing I learned in meditation is not to get mad at any of the interrupter thoughts but to watch them sail away slowly. One can do these through imagery or by a smile and a goodbye wave. If a thought is persistent, however, to write it out is the best way to handle it, and this fits the needs of us writers perfectly.

Prompt by Fivesixer : Monday is Columbus Day in the United States- a holiday that some areas are no longer acknowledging, choosing instead to celebrate the heritage of the people Christopher Columbus first encountered. Should we still continue to honor Columbus in the US? And if you're not in the US, does your country celebrate similar holidays, either for the natives of your land or for the person(s) responsible for discovering it?

======

I don’t think one can discover anything if that thing is already discovered. Since people were already living in this continent when Columbus set foot on land in Hispaniola, I wouldn’t count it as a discovery in itself. It might be called, however, a discovery of a place for those who haven’t seen or heard of it. I have never been to Antarctica, but I know it exists. If I go there by some far-out chance, I could only deem it to be a discovery for myself.

As to honoring Columbus, I think we should do that because he opened new vistas for those of us from the other continents. When I lived in NY, Columbus Day was a legal full-fledged state holiday. Here in Florida, too, the state recognizes it, but closings or its being a paid holiday is left to the companies themselves.

Choosing Columbus Day as the celebration of the indigenous people, on the other hand, is as if we are insulting them. They didn’t fare well because of our invasion, did they! Neither would we if our earth were to be invaded by hostile space aliens.