Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life

Leslie DicksonPosted by Leslie Dickson on June 7th, 2010 | 0 Comments

Last weekend I went whitewater rafting with my sister, her husband and another friend. We went on the middle Gauley River in West Virginia. The Gauley is one of the premier whitewater rivers in the country, but the water was on the low side, so we expected an easy day of great weather and beautiful scenery.

Be prepared with clear expectations.

Claire and I were in a boat called a shredder. It has two side tubes that you sit on, with your feet on the “floor” of the boat. With Claire on one side and me on the other, we paddled our way down the river. Claire has boated on the Gauley and New Rivers for 25 years. She guided rafting trips for many of those years, so she knows the twists and turns well. She also knows the power of the rapids—and the danger that goes with it. With that knowledge comes an intense respect for the river—and a lot of dread too.

Me? My boating has been filled with joy and excitement—and total ignorance. I had never been thrown out of a raft and forced to swim through a rapid. Until you do, you have not truly experienced the full impact of a white water river trip, so you might say my brain had only tapped into the positive side of rafting.

My cautious sister, on the other hand, has the negative side of rafting imbedded in her brain. She has swum most of the challenging rapids, and she knows what it’s like to get thrown out of a boat when you least expect it. Boulders and swirling eddies await the unwary swimmer. On that beautiful day, when I looked over at Claire, she would be staring downstream . . . holding her breath. When I looked downstream, it didn’t look all that dreadful to me.

When I asked what was up, she said, “Can’t you hear that?” The sound was the next rapid coming up. This seemed like more fun and excitement to me. For Claire, however, it signaled time to think about what was ahead and how to navigate a rapid that she knew well, but that might have a surprise or two in store. (This is what made my sister a sought-after rafting guide. She knew what she was doing and didn’t take unnecessary chances.)

Turn negatives into positives

On that glorious day of rafting, I did have my first rapid swim. I got thrown out of the boat so fast that I didn’t have time to worry about what might happen to me in the water. The worst part was the egg on my shin where my leg hit a boulder. But I didn’t die. I popped up downstream, got back into the boat and thought, Excellent, now I don’t need to worry about swimming again because I just did. If and when it happens again, I will handle it.

How do you want to move through your life? Check in and monitor your thoughts. Are they positive or negative? Do you want to avoid the experiences of life because of what might happen? Or do you want to enjoy the excitement of what’s coming around the bend? My choice is to deal with what is at hand, and deal with what might happen when it happens. If I spend my life in dread, and the dreadful things don’t happen, what an enormous waste of time. I would much rather be joyful.

Make your choice

How you move through your world can be joyous or full of dread. Experience and knowledge is powerful. It will make you a great boater, as long as it doesn’t paralyze you. My sister doesn’t stop boating because of what might happen. She has too much skill for that. She just needs a gentle reminder to keep breathing.


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