SPRING
CLEANING
YOU'RE LIVING IN
A ZOO!
WHY NOT SET SOME ANIMALS
FREE?
In the Spring,
people often feel so good that they want to go TOTALLY wild! But what
about all the possessions and responsibilities that you've collected
all winter to give yourself something to do and someone to be? You
will want to lighten up and get rid of them so you can be a free traveling
spirit before spring hits.
People clean their
houses when spring hits, but what about all the junk cluttering up
your brain. Its easy to go through the day never noticing the beauty
of life because YOU ARE NOT REALLY THERE. YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP in the
real world because you were busy bouncing around in the living room
of your mind trying to take care of all the junk lying around in there.
Cleaning your
mind is a little like going to sleep. All you can do is make a space
and time for it to happen. Did you ever try ordering yourself to go
to sleep RIGHT NOW? It doesn't work. It's one of those things
that only happens when you're not looking.
YOUR
PRIVATE ZOO
Every time you
decide to do something you create a creature in your mind. It may
be a Panther created to stalk and catch a beautiful woman in a crowded
singles bar. It may be a Donkey trying to carry you through your day
at work while you ride effortlessly along on it's back daydreaming
about things that make you feel great.
Some of these
creatures resent being thrown away when their task is done. They may
leave the living room of your mind and go into another room to avoid
detection. Without you knowing it the panther you created may get
out of his cage and turn up while you are working at your job. Instead
of riding through your day on the back of a well trained donkey, which
is always a pleasure, you will find yourself mentally stalking every
woman you see. Creatures you created years ago may be making you think
and do things that can get you into big trouble.
How can you
get rid of this Zoo?
Unfortunately,
you can't get rid of all the creatures. Luckily, there are ways to
clean out a lot of them.
STOP PUTTING
NEW STUFF IN!
If you stop stuffing
junk into your brain for a while the creatures inside will start to
poke their noses out the front door. Once they are out in the open
some may just wander off. You need to be doing something a little
bit boring for this to happen. The mind feeds on entertainment and
if there's nothing to do it gets hungry and starts entertaining itself.
Once these little creatures get out in the open they can be sent back
to their proper places or just dissolved on the spot. Every time you
laugh you are dissolving a small creature in your mind, a creature
that has run out of things you needed done and is going around inside
promoting absurd ideas in the hopes of making itself useful. So you
need to find comfortable boring things to do to get your mind ready
for SPRING.
Here are a few
examples of things that may help to put your mind in order. Sometimes
we put the most pleasant things at the bottom of our list, thinking
that they are not important, when actually they are vital to our health
and happiness. Don't make this mistake!
Other Ways
to Set the Creatures Free
-
CLIMB A TREE
IN THE MORNING AND SIT IN IT ALL DAY.
-
GET IN YOUR
CAR RIGHT NOW AND DRIVE A THOUSAND MILES
-
RELAX ON
A BED AND STARE AT THE CEILING WHILE LISTENING TO CHOPIN'S NOCTURNES
-
THROW PEBBLES
IN A STREAM FOR SEVERAL HOURS AND WATCH THE RIPPLES
-
SIT AROUND
A FIRE ON THE BEACH ALL NIGHT DRINKING WINE WITH A FRIEND
-
SPEND A FEW
HOURS DRAWING A PICTURE, PLAYING A GUITAR, SEWING A QUILT, OR
REBUILDING A CARBURETOR
-
GET DROPPED
OFF BY HELICOPTER ON A REMOTE BEACH ON A TROPICAL ISLAND. WHEN
THE COPTER RETURNS TO PICK YOU UP IN A WEEK YOUR MIND WILL BE
AS CLEAN AS A WET STONE ON THE BEACH. (PROVIDED YOU ARE STILL
ALIVE)
-
HAVE A LONG
CONVERSATION WITH A TOTAL STRANGER WHILE CROSSING THE COUNTRY
ON A GREYHOUND BUS
Other
Columns
Getting
Ready For The Digital Decade
What you WON'T have to know!
The
Big Question
You can learn so much about yourself from one tiny detail of your
behavior, like how you answer THE BIG QUESTION.
The
Same Old Thing
YES! You can solve all of your problems by doing the same old thing!
Snap
Out Of It
It's time to make up your mind! Accept the slob you are or become
the slob you want to be!
