I drove through Burger King the other day to get a salad and water 🙄. While sitting in line I saw the most interesting thing. Let me see if I can truly describe it.
An old man pulled it up in the last spot in the back of the restaurant. This guy looked like he lived out of his van. He was dirty and actually really matched his van. He pulled in quickly, threw it in to park, and opened the door. Out jumped a little dog and he ran into the grass. He used the bathroom and looked around for a few seconds. The dog walked back to the van, the old man opened the door, and the dog jumped back in. The van backed up and sped away. It was amazing.
How many times do you think that dog has done that? I mean really!? How was he trained to jump out, do his business, and jump back in? I was truly impressed.
What really struck me as odd was when the thought seeped into my head that we are the same way. We do the same things over and over each day. Not only do we repeat them we also repeat them exactly.
Average people have wishes and hopes. Confident people have goals and plans.
Let me make my point. Cross your fingers like you are praying. Now look down at your fingers. You see your two thumbs then your index fingers. Which one is on top? Mine is my left. What is yours? Ok now change it. For me it will be putting my right index finger on top. That feels horrible and wrong. I have been doing it the other way for so long one little change throws it in to chaos.
Ok, last point. Do you know that you dry off, from the shower, the exact same way each time? Oh yes you do. I promise. Just to show you I am right next time you dry off go a different direction. Be prepared to have your mind blown.
Is this good? We do the same things the same way every day. I don’t think it is good. I think when we get into a groove (or a ditch) and we tend to miss out on the unusual things in life. I saw this very clearly today as I drove from Nashville to Tuscaloosa, a different way. I took all back roads. Yes it was a little longer and I wasn’t use to it but it was so cool. I saw things I would never have seen before. No, I am not saying that if you cross your fingers differently or you dry off differently you will witness new things but I am saying that if you will change things up every once in a while you may be surprised on what you are missing.
This idea works all throughout life. I get it. I know that we do many things because it feels safe. We are insecure beings. Taking the way we know works and has the least amount of stress is the easy path. My point though is not security but happiness. Think of the happiness we may miss out on because we take the easy road.
Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to. We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.
Joseph B. Wirthlin
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