There is a pandemic disease in our country—thought pollution. Thought pollution is the random and continuous stream of negative thoughts that fill our head. It’s the over-thinking, repeatedly analyzing, excessive talking about the problems, issues, concerns, worries that plague our lives. The idea is that by thinking, talking, analyzing a problem, a solution will be found.  But what is really happening, is that we are giving so much attention to the problem or worry that we are encouraging it to develop into an even bigger problem—this is thought pollution.

Focusing and rehashing troubles produces negative thoughts. The negative thoughts create emotional “trash” that pollute your life and cause you to become unhappy. To see what I mean, take a problem and discuss it at great length. You may initially feel a sense of relief from the unloading of the problem—that sense of relief comes from getting something off your chest—but you will find as you continue to talk about the problem, your mood will shift to an unhappy state. Thought pollution will cause you to become emotionally distraught—even though the problem hasn’t gotten any worse except in your mind. Your excessive thinking about it made it seem worse.

Thought pollution is highly contagious and dangerous to the wellbeing of each of us. But little if anything is being done to stop the spread of it. In fact, if you look around, you’ll probably see evidence of it everywhere and in nearly everyone. It presents itself as worry, fear, envy, hatred, anxiety, stress, unhappiness, anger—it takes away joy and causes the inflicted to live outside of the present moment because their minds are polluted with thoughts about things that have already occurred or have not yet happened.

Through my desire to unearth happy moments—free from thought pollution—I found the real answer is in being at peace and living in the present moment. As trite as that may sound—that is where true happiness is revealed. It’s not found, made, or produced by someone or something. Happiness is uncovered when we take away the worry, the anxiety, the stress, the over-thinking—the thought pollution—only then does happiness exist in each and every one of us.

The problem is that most of us have too much in our heads. The thoughts that are disserving to a person are what I refer to as “trash”. Taking Out the Trash (that negative and self-defeating thought pollution) allows a person to make room for empowering messages and peaceful living. But, if you simply Take Out the Trash and then continue to make more trash, peaceful and happy living will escape you—as it did me until I started living in the present.

Living in the present takes you out of yesterday, keeps you from attempting to experience tomorrow, today and instead let’s you enjoy this moment right now, free from thought pollution. In order to keep the garbage out, you have to stay here, in the present moment. But thought pollution masks itself as "the right path" to happiness. People erroneously believe that if they "think more" about their worries or troubles they will discover a solution and create happiness in their lives. However, the solution, really comes when we are relaxed, free of worries and open to receive new ideas. That is also where peace and happiness are revealed--from that natural state of letting the mind take a rest from thought pollution--then happiness surfaces from within.

I was having dinner the other night with a client of mine and an attorney. We were discussing the social changes of our world. In this day and age, people are uniting in a way that they never have before and talking about topics that once were perhaps taboo or at least considered a bit “out there”. In fact, the conversation likely wouldn’t have happened even just several years ago.

We were talking about the power of thoughts, the power of grass root efforts to connect a nation, the power of a meditative state to create peace, goodwill, and understanding, and the power of reshaping a nation through online social networking. Never before in history have so many people of different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and socio-economic statuses come together and shared their thoughts, their hopes, and beliefs. There is power and greatness in that kind of togetherness. Perhaps, a perceived level of anonymity creates courage and freedom of expression online. It seems to help even those who in the past weren’t inclined to get involved, to participate. Today, thoughts, expressions, and ideas are being spread by people via coffeehouse conversations, TV, print, email, and—maybe the fastest source—the World Wide Web.

Significant numbers of people gathered around TVs to watch our 44^th President of the United States take office earlier this month. But, many others watched online and networked as the inauguration took place. It reminds us of how President Obama campaigned to reach this high level of accomplishment. He grew his support through viral marketing and online social networking sites. Thus, we witnessed the first African-American to be sworn in to the country’s highest office and we heard these words from him: “This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”

When our new President took office, an instant change occurred online: the swapping out of the White House Web site. The tech-savvy site makes use of rapidly growing technology and social-connectivity—giving opportunity to all online visitors to join in the effort to make America better. President Obama’s “Citizen’s Briefing Book” invites Americans to submit ideas about an issue facing the government. The site’s contact page states, “President Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in American history.” More than 125,000 users have submitted over 44,000 ideas and cast 1.4 million votes. The site states that, “The best rated ideas will be gathered into a Citizen’s Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama after he is sworn in.”

The power of social networking via the Internet is creating a new way to reach out to those people we’ve never met and may never meet face-to-face—to hear their voices, understand their concerns, and, with hope and perseverance, create a better America.