Your A-MAZING life!
The best laid schemes
o’mice and men
often go astray.
Robert Burns
1759-1796
With the maze as a metaphor for your life, you can examine what choices you have made. Whether the maze you find yourself in is self-made or not, it is one that no doubt has contained a number of false starts, dead ends, forks in the road.
You may have read Spencer Johnson’s simple parable “Who Moved My Cheese?” where the cheese is a metaphor for whatever we want to have in life, be it
- a good job,
- a loving relationship,
- money,
- health or
- peace of mind.
And the maze experienced by the mice represents where we spend our time looking for what we want in life, be it
- the workplace,
- relationships,
- family,
- community.
I like the simple metaphors in life, and this is one of them. I know that each of the major events in life bring us to a fork in the road, to a decision point, sometimes a dead end where we have to backtrack to find our way: graduation, marriage, divorce, bankruptcy, loss of a job, death of a loved one, illness.
Change is the name of the game. Growth is optional!
The Maze is What Life Is!
It is also what makes life (and my personal maze) so interesting. And I know the opportunities for personal growth abound! The following quote makes sense to me.
“Life is no straight and easy corridor along
which we travel free and unhampered,
but a maze of passages,
through which we must seek our way,
lost and confused, now and again
checked in a blind alley.
but always, if we have faith,
a door will open for us,
not perhaps one that we ourselves
would ever have thought of,
but one that will ultimately
prove good for us.”
A. J. Cronin
What about you? Is it possible to view your “trials and tribulations” as just a junction in your own personal maze? Can you believe that however many backtrackings, dead ends, and choices you are faced with, that you will arrive at your “cheese”?
Can you see “the handwriting on the wall”? The messages from those who have gone before?
The Handwriting on the Wall
(from “Who Moved My Cheese?”)
Change Happens
They Keep Moving the Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get Ready for the Cheese to Move
Monitor Change
Smell the Cheese Often so You
Know When It is Getting Old
Adapt to Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese
The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move with the Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor the Adventure and
Enjoy the Taste of New Cheese
Be Ready to Change Quickly
And Enjoy It Again & Again
They Keep Moving the Cheese
I know hindsight can be 20/20, but when I’m in the middle of the maze with the cheese gone, it’s hard to remember that I just need some clarity, some perspective, and awareness of my possible options in order to move on to my new “cheese,” whether be a downsizing from full-time work to part-time after cancer or finding joy as a volunteer for Junior Achievement in the local high school.
In the maze of your life, how do you cope and/or adjust to change?
Does any of the above “handwriting on the wall” particularly resonate with you and, perhaps, one of your past experiences?
How do you prepare? plan? for possible future changes? Can you? Do you find it daunting or exhilarating? I’m curious to know!
12 Comments
We all have a maze to figure out – lots of paths to consider. You end up where you are now because of the choices in the maze. There are always paths to consider which to follow. If you look back on your life you will remember all the choices you had and how you did with the ones you followed. Enjoy where you are and look for tomorrow.
Earl B
Right, Earl! It reminds me of the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” And it’s also why I don’t believe in blaming or allowing ourselves to choose the “victim” mindset.
Thanks for connecting!
Of course,some of the finest cheeses are very well aged!
Ah, Denise, how right you are! So even if sometimes your cheese has been moved, it can still be yours! And, maybe, will be even more appreciated!
Change is the name of the game! How boring our lives would be if our “cheese” never moved!
Tish, that is really true! Change=life. Unchanging=boring. Though sometimes boring looks appealing when I’m either scared or really tired.
Pat: The quote by Cronin reminds me of John Denver’s song:
” Life ain’t no easy freeway, it’s just gravel on the road.”
Mary Kay,
Thanks for sharing! I hadn’t thought of that Denver song, but great thoughts cross all medias!
Suppose that that they really did move your cheese and it wasn’t until later, much later, that you found it again. Would you still want it?
I’m thinking about people who come into our lives for a while and we become very attached to them. Then they leave and later show up again. Am I perceptive enough to recognize their importance in my life and welcome them back.
Meg, I find this question very perceptive! How do we know (perceive) their importance now. What questions would we ask? Thanks for your thought-provoking perspective!
After a life time if constantly moving cheese, it’s interesting to observe in myself, the “moves” that I am able to take in stride vs the “moves” that cause me to “glitch”. Sometimes I observe my responses to these “moves” or even lack thereof, with a sense of humor and sometimes with a writhing agonizing tantrum. Regardless, it is clear that my control of the cheese is limited. Taking charge of the movement vs taking control always seems to produce a more positive result!
Theresa,
For sure, there are always options and choices we can make when confronted with a “moved” cheese, even though we may not be able to control the cheese itself! Thanks for contributing!