When I learned to drive, I remember being told to keep my eyes focused on the center of the road straight ahead, and that will keep my steering centered; that if my eyes wandered off to the side, my car would start veering that way.

When my thoughts go in a certain direction, same thing. When they are wobbly, I’m wobbly. When they are clear, I’m clear. When they are tired, I’m tired.

But I am not my thoughts. When I start to think that I am, I can’t think beyond them, and I obey them despite knowing better.

When I realize I am more than my thoughts, that’s when I can break free from its tyranny and its limitations. The part of me that can observe my own thoughts can override them and make different choices so that my thoughts begin to obey me instead. If my navigation goes to where my thoughts go, then I need to understand that I can have command over my thoughts to set the navigation straight. On Google Maps, we put the address in. We input the “thought” to go where we want to go. We decide on the direction and then the navigation takes us there. An address doesn’t just pop up for us to follow.

This morning I woke up feeling like an hour more of sleep would be really great. Boy that would feel good. Obeying it would be to hit the snooze button. I got up. I override my thought with another one because I know that that’s what I really want. That would give me the experience of having a step up in my day. It would keep me on track and sustain my energy level, and I could give myself permission to nap if I want to later in the day. The irony is, I tend to need a nap when I hit the snooze button in the morning.