Just Think Differently

Just Think Differently. A simple statement, but not so simple to achieve. It’s not so much a mindset as a daily practice to keep the mind flexible and open while swimming in the warm, entropic waters of daily life.

What am I talking about? It’s an idea that’s been kicking around my head for some time. It reflects my own efforts to counteract my knee-jerk responses to life’s ephemeral demons (most of my own making). It’s the warning sign that reminds me to stop and reconsider my first reactions to those three-in-the-morning noises that go bump in the night, when everyone is most vulnerable. Oh yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Everything is SO much worse at 3:00 a.m.

Come 7:00 a.m. and the light of a new morning, and you find yourself wondering, “WTF?” The bogeys dissolve in sunlight and insoluble problems become minor action items on a day’s agenda. Or maybe not, and the little devils follow you through the day, skirting around the periphery and sucking the joy and color out of your life.

I’m going to explore the ways in which I’ve turned the high beams on those life-leeching, negative, self-nullifying ideas and thoughts. It’s such fun to feel like absolute, low-down, hopeless dog-stuff on my shoe and suddenly discover my inner joy and power again as I dance round the bonfire I’ve made of my personal demons.

The source of ignition? It should be obvious since it’s well within reach all the time. Perhaps it’s hard to see because we stand too close to the bark to see the inspirational acorn hanging overhead, ready to fall. More likely, it’s a case of inertia crushing the motive force that could set us free. It seems to take a massive force of will to get going, but when we do, we can’t imagine standing still. The force? Oh yeah. It’s simple, really. Just Think Differently.