Try This!

A moving car is much easier to steer than a parked one.

So says the cliché about moving forward in life. But personally, I think it’s a good one.

While some of us thrive on change, others of us would rather get a root canal. That said, it seems all of use can be resistant, closed or even defensive to opportunities for change. Our egos can get in the way.

I firmly believe we all need outside influences to get us moving. On our own we get stuck. We resist. We balk.

Oh how often we miss out because we remain in our comfortable lives. We hang out with the same people, eat the same foods, watch the same TV shows.

I think the following from Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr, is worth sharing.

“The Dalai Lama said it well: “Every change of mind is first of all a change of heart.” I would add: ‘Every change of heart is soon a change of mind.’ This is the urgently needed work of mature spirituality…Many folks over the years, even very good-willed people, have read and listened to my presentations of the Gospel yet have actually done very little–in terms of lifestyle changes, economic or political rearrangements, or naming their own ego or shadow selves. After all, “Isn’t church about believing ideas to be true or false? Isn’t religion about attending services?” Most people just listen to my ideas and judge them to be true or false. They either “like” or “don’t like” them. But thinking about ideas or making judgments about what is moral or immoral seldom leads to a radically new consciousness. Transformative education is not asking you to believe or disbelieve in any doctrines or dogmas. Rather it is challenging you to “Try this!” Then you will know something to be true or false for yourself.”*

Rohr went on (in his emailed devotional) to suggest trying new things. It is similar to advice I read in a creative communication book years ago. When we try new stuff, we open up new physical and emotional channels. We actually reduce the ruts formed in our brains from thinking and doing the same stuff over and over. We also spark creativity and jump start problem-solving skills.

See the previous article, Try New Things.

Take a different route on your walk or commute home. Eat at a different restaurant. Make a new friend or just try hanging out with someone different than you. Even attempt brushing your teeth with your other hand!

There is so much more to life. We need to pour ourselves a big glass of “TRY THIS!”

* Rohr, Richard (August 25, 2015). Every Viewpoint Is a View from One Point

Royalty-free image by Yucel Tellici. Retrieved from: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/water-1322119