Likutay Moharan - volume 2 - Torah-teaching 50

Likutay Moharan 2:50

Thought [מַחֲשָׁבָה, active mental focus, controllable by will] is in the hands of a person to direct it according to their will to the place they desire. It is impossible for two thoughts to exist together at all. Even if sometimes one’s thought wanders and strays to other, foreign matters, it is in the person’s hands to direct it, against its will, to the proper path [דֶּרֶךְ הַיָּשָׁר, path of righteous thought and action] to think what is appropriate. This is exactly like a horse that turns from the path and veers to another path, where one grabs its reins and brings it back, against its will, to the proper path. So too, one can grab the thought, against its will, to return it to the proper path.