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Thinking deeper

I’m of a certain age where Tarzan was a TV series and Ron Ely was the dude wearing the loincloth. And in almost every episode, someone fell in the quicksand. And they’d struggle like hell in the swampy conditions, sinking deeper and deeper.

Cheetah (who wasn’t a cat, but in fact a chimp, stay with me folks) would throw his arms about and scream his concern.

Tarzan would translate, telling the person to stop struggling. It seems that the act of struggling was actually sinking them deeper? So, now up to their necks in porridge, they’d attempt to stop struggling and Tarzan would throw them a vine that they’d grip with their teeth and our hero would haul them out. Unless they were a baddie in which case they’d keep struggling and go under. I was eight and it was thrilling stuff.

There are several messages, not least, Tarzan isn’t like Jesus, he can’t save baddies. But on a more prosaic level, perhaps we should all just stop struggling? There’s a lot of metaphorical waving our arms and bemoaning our lot and all we seem to be doing is sinking deeper and deeper in to the mire of life. So you can do one of two things. Stop falling into life’s swamps is a pretty cool starting point. Or if you do, stop struggling. It’s your thinking that’s sinking you deeper. I’m working on a new book that will explain this much better. In fact it’s refreshed my thinking and pretty much blown my mind. It’s due out next year but in the meantime, this will help you to stop flailing.

Alternatively, we have two short, sharp Art of Being Brilliant workshops scheduled for the winter. Bristol and London are both very nice places to learn some new habits of mind, or to simply refresh your perspective. Think of it as metaphorically grabbing a vine?

Thank you A x

PS. You’ve got no idea how clever the blog title is until you say it, out loud, with a lisp.