"Don't always believe what you think!"
- Bumper Sticker
Lost in Thought
I'm driving in the car and my daughter wants to play the
guessing game. We play this game while
driving quite often. The game is a
focused on the identification of a selected mammal, bird, insect, reptile or
even a microbe from time to time. It's
my turn to think of a guessing target.
I clutch the steering wheel and look at the road ahead. I'm thinking.
I'm still thinking.
She's waiting.
She finally says, "Are you still thinking?'
I respond, "Yes. I'm
still thinking."
The thing about this game is that sometimes the most simple
selection is the most difficult one to guess.
And, sometimes the most simple selection is the simplest one to
guess. It all just depends on the
thought process going on within the person who is guessing!
I'm still thinking; I
remember a bumper sticker I saw the week before.
"Don't always believe what you think!"
I know its good advice.
I spend lots of time imagining the worst case of everything that can
happen. I plan for responses to lots of
things that never, ever happen. I have
spent my entire life thinking about the imaginary. I've even made myself sick by worrying about
the fictitious before. Maybe that's the
way I'm built. Perhaps you can relate to
this. Have you ever lost yourself to
imaginary fears?
Don't get me wrong.
Imagination is a wonderful thing.
It can be used to accomplish many great and productive things. However, Imagination is only a tool.
I've learned that tools can be used to build and tear
down. In either case, they're very
powerful and allow you to be much more productive than you otherwise would
be. But, it's also important to use any
tool correctly; or else you won't be as productive, or worse, you could be
injured or even killed. The improper use
of one's imagination has one more possible side-effect.
Letting imagined fears rule one's life can hamper living
life itself. And, that is tantamount to a
fettered existence. A life in chains is
not the "good life." I want you to live
the best life you can possibly live or imagine so here are the steps I've been
taking to foster a freer mind.
Don't wait. If you
find yourself thinking that the worst is going to happen relieve your mind by
following through as soon as possible.
Doing so lets you deal with the truth rather than your imagined "truth."
File the true experience away. Doing so allows you to recognize that you
shouldn't always believe what you think.
A little evidence will go a long way to convincing an unruly mind.
Imagine the best case.
Walt Disney called this process "imagineering." He's a great example of a person who learned
to use his imagination as a productive tool.
You and I can do the same!
"Are you ready yet?" my daughter asks.
"Yes." I respond.