Changing Your Mind By Deanna Joseph
	Many of us have heard about the importance of monitoring our thoughts.   “We are what we think,” or “as a man thinketh, so he is.”  I can remember reading about this for the first time about 10 years ago when I bought Louise Hay’s book, “You Can Heal Your Life.”   I found it to be an amazing book, but putting its principles into practice in my own life was another story.   Now there are many books available on how our thoughts affect our lives, and I’m proud to say I have read many of them.   Yet I still find myself wondering why I don’t have “this,” or when will I get “that.”   I try to change my perspective and be appreciative, but also find great difficulty in this maneuver sometimes.   Luckily I had an “Aha” moment with my children one evening as we drove around looking at holiday homes decorated with bright lights, glitter, happy santas and snowmen.   As I drove down one street after another, searching for the most decorated and lit up house I could find, I listened to my children “oooh” and “ahhh” at each brightly lit home.  I found myself reliving the magic of my own childhood Christmases through the eyes of my children as I searched for the brightest lights and the biggest santas.    Then we happened to drive down a street that was particularly devoid of lights and holiday décor, except for one house.  This one house had only a single strand of lights around it.   No Santa.  No baby Jesus.  No reindeer.   No snowman.   Not even a light up California style palm tree.  Just a single strand of lights.  I was disappointed, but my children “ooohed” and “ahhhhed” at this house like it was a parade at Disneyland.   At that moment a light went off in my head.   I had chosen to see this house as plain and rather boring.  I mean really, one strand of lights?   Why bother at all?  But my children saw this house as just as beautiful as the other decorated homes.   Their perspective was simply to see it as beautiful and appreciate its beauty.   How many times during the day have we missed seeing the beauty in something simply because it fell below our expectations?   How many moments of appreciation have we missed because we have been so busy focusing on what we are lacking?      I truly believe it is very important to monitor our thoughts, and sometimes this means changing our minds about our perspective on things.   Really, our perspective is only a perspective, and not real at all except to us in that moment.   But we can change our mind at any time.    A single strand of lights on a home may seem rather dull and boring compared to homes with thousands of lights and flying reindeer.   Yet where no one has any lights that single strand of lights can seem pretty impressive.   Changing our minds can lead to finding a greater enjoyment in life.   My goal?   Simply to see the world as one giant parade at Disneyland.
	© Deanna Joseph 2005
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