Are We Our Thoughts?

Gautama Buddha said, "What we think, we become."  Is this true?

In my Media Literacy class the other day, my professor Rob Larson asked, "Are we our thoughts?"  It would seem almost simple to just say that we can think many things, but it doesn't matter unless we act upon them.
Does it?
Does it matter if what we think can completely engross our minds to the point that we think about acting upon it?  I think it still matters, but it may or may not be such an extreme issue.  Thoughts are put into our heads every day by our friends, family, teachers, and the media.  The media have such a large influence on us all every day.  It is because of the media that we are able to learn about many of the things that we now know, but didn't before.  So just seeing all of these new issues, products, music, movies, etc. through the media make you think about them all the time.  I can't even think about how many times a catchy commercial jingle, fun fact, or even something disturbing has been burned into my mind.  In my opinion, just because you think about things, doesn't mean that they are what you believe in.

I would never have thought that I would write a blog about thinking.  It is a weird concept to think about thinking: how often you do it, why you think of certain things, etc. Maybe that's the point.  Maybe, one day, I will have understood.