In this week's Parsha we read the ten commandments which include the prohibition of coveting that which is belongs to our neighbor. The commentators struggle with how the Torah commands a person to prevent a feeling that they have. The Chinuch explains that in fact a person is commanded to control his thoughts. I think the understanding is that a person has fleeting thoughts and desires, these thoughts and desires originate deeply from within a person. It is not this thought which needs to be prevented, but when these thoughts come up do we dwell upon them? Do we expound upon them and make them greater? It is this secondary process which is what we are commanded against.

Likewise, any improper or harmful thought needs to be dealt with in the same manner. We need to divert or re-frame or remove the thought from our minds and in this way we can align our thinking with the way's of Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath