Thinking Makes It So

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." Shakespeare

Are you familiar with those art prints that have an embedded image? Initially, you see lines and colors. If you adjust your perception, though, you can see a different image within it. Amazing. The object itself doesn't change, but if you adjust your perspective the image appears new. I like to apply this to my problems.

If I have a situation that I do not like but can't change, I challenge myself to adjust my perspective. I think we all do this to some extent all the time. Imagine someone cutting you off in traffic. That's a source of aggravation. Imagine how your feelings might change, however, if you learned that person had a sick child they were rushing to the hospital. With that shift of perspective, my sense of aggravation would immediately dissolve. I've learned to do this daily.

In most adverse situations, I can choose to imagine an alternative cause. Doing so helps me change my own emotional state. The problem has not changed, but my relationship to it has changed. I can psych myself into feeling less agitated and more compassionate. Since my situations bear the flavor of the thoughts with which I season them, I make conscious decisions about which thoughts to cultivate.

May I choose to see alternative causes for the aggravating situations I may face today. May I choose to give people the benefit of the doubt so that I can continue to treat them with compassion even while being wise enough not to let their problems consume me.

Practice makes better.

Copyright © 2011 by QT McGrue