I just read that “vinyl” is back in style–just after I donated a big stack of my 80s classic rock albums! Oh well, I always welcome the opportunity to practice non-attachment.
More importantly, though, it reminded me of a story I’d heard about a Film Studies course at UCLA. The professor showed the students a short silent film. It was a simple film clip of a snake chasing a gopher. At first, the class watched the film without sound. Non-eventful. Then they watched the film with heavy, dark music in the background. This gave a tangible feeling of suspense and terror to the film (a wicked snake going after its prey!). The next soundtrack was playful music, which gave a whole different feeling and changed the movie entirely, giving it a feeling of a comedy and even eliciting laughter from the class! The obvious lesson: the soundtrack sets the whole tone of the movie!
Well, when we compare this to our own lives, we can say that each one of us is starring in our own movies. The movie’s called “My Life”. And our inner thoughts are the soundtrack. That soundtrack determines the flavor and feel of our whole life experience. Is our soundtrack dark and heavy? Or are we setting ourselves up for a feel-good film?
Beautifully expressed by Paramahansa Yogananda on positive thinking:
“You have power, and you don’t use it. There is nothing greater than the power of the mind. Change your thoughts if you wish to change your circumstances. Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them. And you will want to change your thoughts when you realize that each thought creates according to its own nature. Remember, that the law works at all times, and you are always demonstrating according to the thoughts you habitually entertain. So start now to think only thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.”
Here’s a question you may be thinking: How can I be positive when seemingly everything around me seems negative? Well, more important than any outer environment, is the inner environment, and that’s your inner soundtrack. We don’t always have control over what happens in the movie, but we DO have a great deal of control over the soundtrack, and the thoughts that we think.
Positive thinking doesn’t mean you deny when there’s a problem. You still need to acknowledge and address issues. Positive thinking means to keep consciously trying to improve a situation. It’s about finding opportunity in failure.
Here’s a true story about Kevin Costner (the actor) that portrays this. After Costner finished his very first film, the Director reluctantly called him into his office with some news: “I’m SO sorry, Kevin, but we just finished the final edits, and your part has been completely cut out.” (If you’re wondering what the film was, it was the Big Chill, an 80’s classic!). Anyway, Costner didn’t get upset. Instead he sincerely said “Please don’t apologize! I want to thank you for the amazing opportunity. I learned so much from the whole experience and I now know what kind of actor I want to be!” Well, this made a big impression on the Director. As he was already in the planning stages of his next film, he decided to write Costner into the script, which was also a huge hit (Silverado!) And this was Costner’s first big break and claim to fame. Costner’s inner soundtrack turned failure into success.
Million-dollar-question: What will YOUR inner soundtrack be, now that you know what you know?
Abundance, health and happiness always.
