As I look out my window at the 8 inches of snow on my patio table, I am reminded of a philosophy called The Snowball Effect.
Even if you live somewhere where it hasn't snowed this year, or you have grown up in the tropics or Hawaii, you've seen a drawing or picture of a snowman. You know how they are made with three snowballs - one large one on the bottom, a medium one in the middle and a small one on top for the head.
The best way to create these is to pack a good grapefruit sized snowball with your hands and then roll it all over the yard. It will pick up snow as it rolls and gradually become bigger and bigger. A good sort of wet snow like we've just had works the best. And this exercise is guaranteed to result in falling down and giggling. It's great fun!
In much the same way, our minds sometimes take a tiny little thought, or an innocent comment from someone, and begin to roll it until it takes on enormous proportions.
In The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, this is called the Tiddely-Pom Principle which comes from a song by Pooh: (sing along in a sing-songy lilt, please)
The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
On snowing.
Sometimes the effect is positive and sometimes it is not. To quote Hoff, "it can promote cynicism as easily as it can encourage hope. It can build hardened criminals or courageous heroes, stupid vandals or brilliant creators. The important thing is to make it work for yourself and for the benefit of others..."
I find that this happens to me at those times when I wake up in the middle of the night remembering something I forgot to do. As soon as I think about that thing, another pops up and then another and pretty soon I am tossing and turning, unable to shut my brain off to go back to sleep.
I know other people who spend much of their daylight hours creating giant snowballs of worries. They let little concerns grow and expand into nightmarish scenarios until they can't think about anything else.
The trick is to recognize when the Tiddely-Pom Principle is happening and to stop it. Write down the things you need to remember so your brain isn't churning around trying to keep them in front of you. Check out a worrisome thought. Can you do anything about it right now? Is it something you can prevent? Is it something that's only a possibility?
Choose to deal with it right now and put it away.
You do that by taking it out, looking at it, saying " yes, I see you" and then deciding to put off thinking about it until a later date or trashing it all together. In almost all instances, it will go away or fix itself.
So let's work at creating some good snowballs. Start with a seed thought like "I can do _______ and then start adding to it.
- Because I really want to...
- Because I am smart enough to....
- Because I will like doing it once I....
- Because I will be proud of myself when I.....
- Because it will make me happy by giving me....
Just keep rolling those good thoughts around the yard of your mind and build a dream with The Snowball Effect.
Meanwhile, I'm going out to play in the snow with the neighbor kids! They're out there giggling.
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