Think You Can Imagine - Grasshopper

There is tremendous value in interrupting our thinking, especially when it's taking us down a dusty trail. The question then becomes "How do I go about interrupting?"

I wrote a whole book on Interruption describing how to interrupt our thinking. The main way is to observe your thinking as an interested onlooker rather than a participant.

 

Observing opens up spaces in our thinking that allow fresh thinking to come through. But there is another way to transition away from stale thinking once you observe it. That way is imagining.

 

Once you catch yourself thinking, a wonderful way to escape it is to start imagining - anything. Your imaginings can be fanciful or fantasy or even based in reality. It really doesn't matter. Just the act of imagining countermands thinking. They both can't occupy the same space.

 

The next time you catch yourself caught up in some troubling thoughts, start imagining - the more absurd the better. Pretend you're a rodeo clown in Afghanistan, a multi-billionaire haggling for a lower price from a street vendor, or being cast in a movie with your favorite actor.

 

These flights of fancy add color to our thinking so it's not so black and white. The best news is, you're on a new track leading away from the fray.

 

You have an imagination; you may as well use it. It's an escape hatch from being trapped in your thinking.

 

All the best,
John