How Are You Thinking?

Too often we ask,

How are you doing?

And more often than not we receive a lie.

I’m fine

Good

Okay, how about you?

We can’t help but lie.

Feelings are fleeting fragments of the soul.

But thoughts,

thoughts are continuous.

I believe a better question to ask is,

How are you thinking?

Are your thoughts manic?

Ragefully pondering revenge?

Flighty?

Peaceful as a willow tree in the heat of August?

Logical and rational?

Wishful dreaming?

Obsessing?

Thoughts monitor behavior,

are you thinking rashly or overcationly?

When we are upset we yell,

What were you thinking!?

It’s not the what I’m concerned about,

I wonder how are you thinking.

 

So how are you thinking?

Pixabay/user:jbmacros67

How Are You?

How are you?

A simple question

And most of us answer with a simple answer

But our lives are so much more than

“Good”

“Fine”

“Great!”

“Okay”

It’s a question that everyone asks

but do not truly need the complete answer to

It’s a phrase

not a question

It’s a saying

not a wondering

It’s a custom

not a need

It’s a habit

And

What’s up

is no better

and simply saying ‘Hello’ will lead you back to the question again

So I want to instead ask

How is life

as a whole

with the joys

and troubles

and fears

and stress

and sunsets

and doubts

and smiles

Yes, this may take time

and bring unwanted problems

but sometimes

it’s worth it.

But what is hard

with this culture we have grown into

is that it is bad to not be OK

it is bad to struggle

it is bad to be vulnerable

So we say that we are well

and that we are not depressed

having marriage troubles

or stress at work

or in a broken family

or can’t pay the bills

or do not know what to do

or just want to give up

We say that we are well

and smile

Eccedentesiast – one who fakes a smile

I ask

How are you, truly?

Me,

personally,

right now,

this instant.

I am lovely.

And that is not faking.