Most everybody knows Big Bird. But have you ever really listened to what the Bird says?
One day, years ago when my kids were little, I was fixing lunch while they watched Sesame Street. Looking up from flipping the grilled cheese, I was just in time to hear Big Bird say, "Asking questions is a good way of finding things out."
I about dropped the spatula. The Bird had nailed it.
One day, years ago when my kids were little, I was fixing lunch while they watched Sesame Street. Looking up from flipping the grilled cheese, I was just in time to hear Big Bird say, "Asking questions is a good way of finding things out."
I about dropped the spatula. The Bird had nailed it.
How many times have do people (you, me, anybody) go round and round in our own heads about something - some worry, some belief about what another person is doing/thinking/feeling/intending or has done/thought/felt/intended, some assumption about what's going to happen in the future that's not going to turn out well? Without actually investigating whether or not what we are thinking is accurate, even a little? Frequently. Freeeequently. All the time.
And, how many times do we later find out that the situation was different from what we'd thought it was?
Frequently. Freeeequently. All the time.
Ever noticed how hard it is to remember to ask, to check out what you're thinking before getting all wound up about it? Ever think, "If I had only realized, if I had only thought to ask..."
Us human beings often fail to realize - or if we do know, often forget - that what we think and thus worry about is based on our perceptions and our interpretations of those perceptions, NOT on any kind of objective reality. Nobody's fault, it's just the way we're made.
So, without going into a big lecture on cognitive distortions, or how to look at whatever is worrying us from a more rational and compassionate POV (all manner of insightful and useful things about this topic can be easily found by a quick search), maybe, just maybe, when we are worried, angry or distressed, it would be easier to simply bring to mind that large yellow feathered creature with funny-looking orange legs. The one who says,
"Asking questions is a good way of finding things out."
Word, Big Bird.
And, how many times do we later find out that the situation was different from what we'd thought it was?
Frequently. Freeeequently. All the time.
Ever noticed how hard it is to remember to ask, to check out what you're thinking before getting all wound up about it? Ever think, "If I had only realized, if I had only thought to ask..."
Us human beings often fail to realize - or if we do know, often forget - that what we think and thus worry about is based on our perceptions and our interpretations of those perceptions, NOT on any kind of objective reality. Nobody's fault, it's just the way we're made.
So, without going into a big lecture on cognitive distortions, or how to look at whatever is worrying us from a more rational and compassionate POV (all manner of insightful and useful things about this topic can be easily found by a quick search), maybe, just maybe, when we are worried, angry or distressed, it would be easier to simply bring to mind that large yellow feathered creature with funny-looking orange legs. The one who says,
"Asking questions is a good way of finding things out."
Word, Big Bird.
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