Remember last week when we were talking about observing what is around you without classifying it, naming it or describing it as relative to other things? Did you see things about common objects that you hadn’t seen before? Are you willing to take this concept one step further?

OK. Here we go…

Imagine you pick up a round object that you can hold in your hand. It has some depth to it, it is made of a solid material and it has an opening into which you can put something. Now, if it is Monday morning and you are getting ready for work, you may put coffee in it. Thus it becomes a coffee cup.

Now, think about the same object, except that you pick it up on a beautiful spring Saturday morning. You have gardening on your mind and you take this object outside, fill it with rich dirt and plant seeds in it. It has now become a plant container.

Same object. Two different uses. What makes it what it is?

YOU! You get to call it! The same object can be lots of things. It becomes what it is because YOU decide what it is. You choose what something is according to your perspective, frame of mind, experiences and current priorities.

So, if that is true of the round object, I wonder how many other things are what they are because we choose them to be that? (One guess…..)

Everything. That’s right. Everything. You have the power of choice about everything. How you will use it. Whether it is “good” or “bad.” Whether it is an opportunity or a hindrance. Whether you feel you have to do something or want to do it. Whether it is a coffee cup or a plant container.

So, are you ready to give your power to choose a try? Let’s start with something small…

Pick something that is near you right now – on your desk, in the same room, etc – that you have been using for some specific purpose for a long enough time so that it has become almost unnoticeable to you. It is just there, doing what it has been doing for a while. (Hint: Even if something is decorative, it is still being used as a decoration.)

Now, use it for something else. (Don’t worry - - you can switch it back if you want to…just give this a try.) Dump out what is in it. Clean it out. Unhook it. Move it from where it is to another place. Find something else you can to do with it…. and leave it there, doing its new “thing”… until tomorrow…

What! An overnight assignment?

Well, sure! Why not? There are some important things you can learn by seeing how you react to changing what you think something is and how you use it.

Today, pay attention to your thoughts, feelings and actions about the switch, and you may find out something you didn’t know before….

Just Imagine That!