Ultimately if “Our Emotions Don’t Rule Us,” page 17 of The Book of Lane, and emotions are expressed feelings, what does rule us?  That would have to be the mind, and the mind produces thoughts. So if we want to be in control (who is we and what do we control?) we have to start with our thoughts. At this point in writing this blog, I referred to a book my dad gave me dated 10/21/70. It is “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen and it was published in 1903. It turns out Mr. Allen was a British philosophical writer who pioneered the self help movement.  This is the first paragraph of the first chapter on “Thought and Character” that is so interesting I quote it for you: “The aphorism, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,’ not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstances of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the sum of all his thoughts.” Now we all know how brilliant the mind is.  And yet we have minds with chemical imbalances, minds the result of strokes, the child’s mind, and the Buddhists’ beginner mind to name a few.  I wrote an excerpt on “Can You Change Your Thoughts” on page 16. Perhaps we want to change our thinking because we don’t want to think about something or our thinking has become excessive. My premise in this chapter is that yes we can change our thoughts. Because after all if we are aware of our thoughts and can rationally evaluate them and form them, that means we should be able to change them. In the question I posed earlier: who is we and who do we control? For this answer I would like to bring to mind one of the self help modern masters. The since passed away Wayne Dyer.  Mr. Dyer spoke of stepping outside of our thoughts and becoming a silent observer or a witness of thought. Not unlike what spiritual leaders of today refer to.  So you see after all we may be more than our thoughts.