Pink

When someone comes up to me and says, “Don’t freak out.” All other options have been taken off the table.

At the convenience store, the credit card reader shows, “Don’t remove your card.” I read 75% of the message and “remove” my card.

I want to call Kobi “Kolbi” and Colby “Coby.” My friend has a daughter, Kobi, and the other’s husband is Colby. They laughed because Kobi gets called Colby and Colby is called Coby/Kobi. Both names of both people are planted in my mind. Ever since that day, both names have blurred.

I struggle to remember names, but I certainly won’t be successful with wrong answers planted in my head. My brain gets hijacked by focusing on the wrong thing. A classic psychology experiment highlights the issue. First, clear your mind. Then, whatever you do, don’t think about a pink elephant. There is a high likelihood that you pictured a pink elephant. You might have followed up with thinking, “Okay, now stop thinking about that pink elephant.”

It also shows up in 1863 when Dostoevsky wrote, “Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”

When I am trying to lose weight, I focus on the foods I am not supposed to have. When I am trying to avoid wasting time, I think about all the things I am not going to waste time on. When I want to work on something important, I think about all the unimportant things, too.

Once a thought is planted, it’s stuck. I can’t focus on the obstacles. I must focus on the path, otherwise, all I will see are the obstacles.

Do I acknowledge the elephant in the room? What do I accidentally reinforce by trying to avoid? Can I reframe the situation to focus on the path versus the trees?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.