I don't control my thoughts but I control how I express them (both to myself and to the outside world) The reason I do that is because of the ease of being misunderstood. Communication is a two way situation: There is transmitter and receiver both. I have to keep in mind the receiver as well as myself, the transmitter, if I want to successfully communicate. I used to express my every thought as I thought them when I was a little boy. But I was always misunderstood because I communicated in a way they didn't understand. Hence, always feeling like an alien plopped on earth, trying to figure out this strange human being that I am and this world of humans I inhabit. So, I'm in a continual state of translation. Whatever is internal, I translate, and then express. I listen, translate, process. I'm always conscious of the translation process. Sometimes it's not always easy.