Denny Strecker’s Blog

Have you ever been driving and some other driver nearly knocks you off the road—maybe even comes within a foot or two of killing you? It’s happened to me a few times in the almost 30 years that I’ve been driving. Whether it has ever happened to you or not, pretend for a minute that it did.

Imagine the thoughts that would be running through your mind while you were still heated. I can imagine the thought “I should kill that guy,” being one of your thoughts, or something similar, relating to some sort of revenge. Now the question becomes, “would you do it?” I mean it. Would you kill the driver? Of course you wouldn’t.

And other than the fact that it’s against the law and that you’re a moral person, why wouldn’t you act on that thought? The reason is simple: The thought was just a thought—like the thousands of other thoughts that run through your mind every single day. You realize it was just a thought and you promptly dismiss it.

This doesn’t mean you aren’t a little spooked or that you don’t care—of course you do. But by dismissing the thought, you put the event behind you, opening the door for you to move into the present moment and be happy in this moment instead of caught up in a thought that is just a thought, like all other thoughts—including the thought of the baseball player dropping the ball.

Today, as we live our life, that event is merely a thought carried through time, via our own thinking As long as you see it, not as a reality to contend with, but as a simple thought, you are free to live right now, in this moment. Because thoughts are just thoughts (all of them) you have the power to drop any thought, at any time. You are absolutely in charge and have the last say! This is the ultimate in taking responsibility for your own thoughts and feelings.

Here’s a little more food for thought. Let me ask you a funny question. Would you ever, even for a moment, consider writing yourself a nasty, mean-spirited letter and then mailing that letter to yourself? Then, when you get the letter you open it and you’re immediately offended by the mean and obnoxious content! You storm around the room and act all out of sorts!

Of course this would never happen in a million years, but why? The reason is that you would be aware that it was you who wrote the letter. How silly would it be to write a letter and then become upset by that very letter?

Well that’s the exact same logic we can apply to our thinking. Think about it carefully. Why would you ever have a thought—any thought, no matter how negative or scary—and then become nervous, reactive, angry or in some other way bothered by it? Remember, it’s just a thought you’re having, just like all the others. And what’s more important, you’re the one who produced the thought to begin with.

Being upset by your own thoughts is a little like smashing your head against a wall and wondering why your head hurts. Remember, you wouldn’t act on a scary thought like killing another driver, no matter how bad he or she was—why? Because it was just a thought. The secret to a happy life is to realize that all of our thoughts are just thoughts. True things happen all the time, but once they are over—or if they haven’t happened yet, they are just thoughts.

Before I close, take one last look at that ball player who dropped the ball. Regardless of how high the stakes were, it’s now, today, right now, nothing more than a thought—no more or less important than any others! Try applying this logic to all of the thoughts that run through your mind and, pretty soon, you’ll be dropping any negativity you’ve been burdening yourself with—and what you’ll be left with is, you’ve got it—happiness!

About the Author
Richard Carlson, PhD, was considered one of the world’s foremost experts on happiness and stress reduction. As the author of thirty popular books, which have sold more than 26 million copies worldwide, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, he showed millions of people how to not let the small things get the best of them.

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