Lost in Thought

“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.