THE COOP

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

In Which Chicken Admits to Viewing Altogether Too Many TED Talks.....

Hi World,

This morning when I opened my eyes, too early, I was thinking about ripples. 

Not the potato chip kind of ripples, although those are also very good.

No.  I was thinking about what might happen if I did things 10% differently today than I usually do them.  I'm not sure where the 10% came from.  I'm just telling you what I was thinking. 

In fact, what if we ALL did things 10% differently today than we usually do them?  What would happen? 

Maybe, we'd each cause a ripple in the energy around us, and that ripple would travel out away from us, eventually encountering someone else's ripple, resulting in a joint ripple that would go rippling into some other ripples...

That's a lot of ripples, World.  Pretty soon there would be ripples everywhere.  Maybe even a wave.  Maybe a psychic tsunami!

And then what would happen?  Would the world change?

I know you are probably asking....what kind of ripples are we talking about here?  Okay, let's assume that somewhere someone is asking. 

Nothing big-just little 10% ripples.  We all have our routines-let's start there.  For example, what if today you take a different route to work.  Or if you take the bus (how green, I like your attitude!) and you always sit in the front, today you sit in the back.  Next to that person you see sitting in the same seat in the back every day but have never spoken to.

If you always have pepperoni pizza on Friday night, how about having it on Wednesday night.  I know!  Today is indeed Wednesday.  This is working out wonderfully, isn't it? And how about, if you always do the dishes right after dinner, today you take a walk after dinner instead and leave the dishes.  No, those dishes will not wash themselves.  But maybe someone else will wash them and feel good about themselves for giving you a hand.  See?  Already, the ripples are colliding and sloshing and doing their ripply thing.

Talk to a stranger.  Eat cake.  Turn off the news and listen to some music.  Write a letter.  Draw a picture. Play Monopoly. Stand on your head.  If Father William can do it, surely you can, too. 

I think I will write with my right hand today.

You know who excels at doing things differently?  Little kids.  When littleb wakes up and I ask him, "Hey, littleb, what are you going to do differently today", I know for sure he will have an answer and there will be no hesitation, no confusion.  If I ask BigB what he plans to do differently today, he will most likely give me "the look" (you know the one), shake his head, and go in search of a coffee cup.  But he won't find one.  Because they are all in the back seat of his car. 

BigB could cause a ripple just by cleaning the coffee cups from the back seat of his car.  I'd be all, "Hey, what's this?  An abundance of coffee cups?  I feel happy.  Oh look, there's my favorite San Diego cup.  Why come it has a crack, BigB?".  But that is another story for another time.

Back to the ripples.  Let's practice making some.

C'mon.  It'll be fun.  Be 10% different today and then come back and tell me all about it.   Consider it an experiment.

GG, I am not stoned.

I have, possibly, been watching too many TED Talks.  I linked to my favorite TED talk ever on The Chicken Crossing the Road picture over there to the right.  If you have 20 minutes or so, go ahead and listen.  It will change the way you look at things.  Maybe more than 10%.  That's quite a ripple.

Have an unusually great day, World.

Chicken out