Thinking ...

I watched The Iron Lady on a recent flight to Bangalore. Brilliant movie around the intriguing personality of Margaret Thatcher (played by Meryl Streep). Love her or hate her, she was a character and several of her quotes are still being used today. There was a specific exchange, where the ageing Baroness Thatcher (born in 1925, still alive today), suffering from hallucinations about her diseased husband, is being examined by her doctor (from www.twcguilds.com/assets/screenplay/the-iron-lady.pdf).

DOCTOR

Still it must be a bit disorientating. You are bound to be feeling.

MARGARET

 What? What am I ‘bound to be feeling’?

 

The DOCTOR looks up from his note taking, hearing the quiet challenge in MARGARET’s voice.

 

MARGARET (CONT’D)

People don’t ‘think’ any more. They ‘feel’. ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘Oh I don’t feel comfortable with that’ ‘Oh, I’m so sorry but we, the group were feeling...’ D’you know, one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than thoughts and ideas. Now thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I am thinking

 

The DOCTOR hesitates, letting MARGARET settle until

 

DOCTOR

What are you thinking, Margaret?

 

MARGARET looks at the DOCTOR, quietly struggling with a fury, threatening to unleash

 

MARGARET

 Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that. And I think I am fine. But I do so appreciate your kind concern.

 

 

 

The Thinker (1902), Rodin

From Wikipedia.org, thinking, or thought, generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Thinking allows beings to make sense of or model the world in different ways, and to represent or interpret it in ways that are significant to them, or which accord with their needs, attachments, objectivces, plans, commitments, ends and desires.

What we think, we become. So what have YOU been thinking about lately ? I mean thinking. Not emailing. Or tweeting. Not SMS-ing or Facebook-ing. No, not all that. But thinking. Do you actually know what you have been thinking about ? You'd better, because if She is correct, it is what you will become.