[To listen to an audio version of this blog post please click here: http://bit.ly/2m8r2tC]

"Don't flush the loo!" the shout comes up the stairs. This goes against decades of mental-programming as a kid growing up: "Flush the toilet, put the lid down, wash your hands – there's a good boy!"

She-who-ought-to-be-obeyed likes to save water. Great plan. What she doesn't realise is that I have a glitch in my programming. My brain can't cope with 'Don't'.

I've tried to explain this to her but she persists. My ears hear, "Don't flush the loo!" My mouth answers back, "OK!" My brain says, "Do not flush the toilet; I must not flush the toilet!" And I flush the loo!

I can show why this works in an instant. Don't think of a Pink Elephant wearing a tutu and roller-blades!

What did you think of? Exactly.

In order NOT to do something, we have to imagine what it would be like to DO something.

This blog thus flows on from last Monday's one on "Would you rather." What a great response there was to that blog – I'm very grateful.

Today's blog is intended to help you fall in love with the delight of "Don't!" Why? Because "Don't!" is your friend. It's like a signal that pops up to warn you to think again!

When you don't want to do something, it's a flag waving at you to use what we shared last week, "What would you rather...?"

When you don't like something, it's a flare that's been sent up high into your sky of awareness asking you, "What would you prefer instead?"

My main theme today is simple: "Don't doesn't work!" Well, not very well.

What are the "Don'ts" in your life?

What would happen if you did?

What would you rather do instead?

My dream is that we turn our thinking around every time we catch ourselves flowing towards the negative. Don't is the call-sign of negative thinking. When we focus on what we'd prefer to do instead, wonderful things can happen.

I'll close with a deeper thought about happiness. Many people I know focus on what they don't have. Whole industries in Sales and Marketing, Publishing and Fashion, focus on what you are missing in your life – what you don't have. I am very slowly learning that what the eye sees (i.e. what you DO have) is far better than what the heart yearns for (what you don't have.) Therefore, I ask, "What are grateful for today that you DO have?"

Don't be shy now... lol

Lex

A Moodscope member.