My thoughts are coming
from the outside, not from the inside

They find their way
from my eyes, ears, nose, tongue
and hands to my brain
where they look for a place
among the perceptions

that came in earlier on
and together they give me an idea
who I am as their sum:
an empirical device
that remembers what it experiences

and sometimes feels good with it
satisfied, happy, glad
or angry, afraid, sad
just as it has learned
from the outside world

I think, therefore I am
able to tell the difference

between judgmental thoughts and
feelings, which lock me
in old experiences
when I'm angry again
afraid again, sad again

and feelings that connect me
with everything around me, and nothing
confines me
to the system of learned
thoughts and feelings