Driving on autopilot through light traffic, I ran the list of items I needed from the grocery in my mind--grape jelly for the orioles, bananas for breakfast, dish soap for (well that’s obvious, isn’t it?), and ice cream for my monster.
Since I was passing the sandwich shop first, I pulled in, hopped out, and entered through the glass door.
“Welcome to Jimmy John’s--What can we get you?”
I placed my order and browsed the walls while waiting. The brain is a wonderful thing isn’t it? filtered through my eyes, wrapped around my cerebrum, and squeezed until I agreed to take its picture.
WOW! wow, wow wow!
That explains why I so often miss typos when editing my stories and emails.
As I kneeled on the booth’s red, hard seat, angling my camera this way and that to work with reflections, I told myself a story: The cashier, sandwich makers, and patrons must think I’m a journalist, photographer or executive from Jimmy John’s corporate. Nothing strange about a woman randomly kneeling on a booth seat and snapping pictures of the walls at the sandwich store. Nothing strange at all.
One of my monsters likes to keep us small and unnoticed. She’s not gullible enough to fall for the old, I don’t care what people think line. She knows humans are social animals who long to fit in, so...I’ve started telling myself stories to loosen us up.
Have you ever seen a diagram of conscious - unconscious mind processing? The picture I’ve seen shows an iceberg, 10% above and 90% below the waterline. Using The brain is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? as a guide, I thought...Similar to the iceberg, the first and last letters are like conscious thought, with unconscious processes filling in the middle.
Do you ever find yourself picking at a cuticle? Standing in front of an open pantry door, nibbling from a bag of chips? Vacuuming the living room instead of acting on an idea hand delivered by inspiration herself?
Too hard, not good enough, waste of time, somebody else is already doing it, don’t make waves, too dumb, too short, too fat, too old, too weak, mama said, my teacher said, that show on tv said…..Does any of that play between your first and last letters?
Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to my monster.
No doubt you have one of your own?
The human brain is like some kind of hi-tech supercomputer. It is believed to generate around 50,000 thoughts per day and it can move information at up to speeds of 268mph. However, unlike the RAM in an expensive laptop, the storage capacity of the human brain is considered to be illimitable. There are no boundaries to what you could learn if you put your mind to it. What’s more, you brain is not only capable of updating the information it stores, but also of physically rebuilding itself to support new ideas. No computer can do that. ~Hazel Gale
Hazel Gale inspires me. She’s a Master Practitioner of Cognitive Hypnotherapy and the author of The Mind Monster Solution.
I’d love for her work to inspire you, too!