Smoke gets in your eyes.

I love this photo. I love its ambiguity. It is timeless and genderless . It tells you things that may not be true.

What do you see? What is being looked at? Really?

Do you ever doubt your reality? If I am right, does that make you wrong? Can we both 'know' different 'facts' about the same thing?

How can we both be so convinced we are 'right' when we stand on opposite sides of the room?

Why don't you also see that what I tell you is the 'truth'.

If only you could see that I am right, we wouldn't be having this argument. How can you think that when clearly it is something different? If I know black is black, how can you think it is white? Why can't you just see sense?

We can only see the world from our own perspective. We filter what we see through the sieve of our culture, our upbringing, our beliefs and what we saw on TV last night. It is the filters that confuse us, not our eyes.

It is other people who make us see evil were there is no threat; who blind us to the evils they perpetrate and the hate they peddle; who create moral panic when there is just human existence in all its messy glory. They are threatened by mess, by ambiguity. What are they really afraid of? Themselves.

I love the ambiguity in this photo even though I know exactly its who, what, where, where and why. Suspending your reality opens your eyes to the possibilities. Embrace the mess.

One good thing...

I read an opinion column over the weekend in which the writer expounded the benefits of a 'gratitude' list. That's a list in which you note all the things you have to be grateful for each day. It could be the smallest thing. For example, today I am grateful the course participants liked my presentation even though I messed up; I am grateful my daffodils and roses are still alive, etc. The idea is that the more you focus on the positive, the less room there is for the negative. Easy!

What bothered me about this concept is that some US self-help guru has trademarked the idea! Now call me vain, but I have evidence I came up with this idea some years ago, as 'One good thing...' i.e. at the end of each day you think of at least one good thing that has happened and that is what you will remember. B Has been using the concept for years to fight depression on the premise that if you say you feel well when someone asks, you will feel well.

Positive thinking should be free. It is free here. The Doctor is In and says, try it here for free. Don't waste money on the book. Spend it on someone who needs it to feel even better! Then just smile at the checkout operator and say, "I'm really well, thanks." Keep practicing, go to sleep remembering one good thing, and gradually the world will be a happier place.