I love the Think Different Challenge.

I was tagged for this challenge by Jean Browman at Transforming Stress. I read the original post at I Will Change Your Life, and was intrigued and excited. I practice this particular exercise often and have found it really works. When you take the time to stop and re-frame your thoughts you will often find the flip side to your problem.

I’ve learned a lot from many wonderful authors and self help experts. I recently blogged a New Thinking post on this subject. I tried to come up with some recent problems as an example, but most of them are petty are boring. So instead I’m going to recount a few times I’ve used this idea in the past and how it worked for me.

1. Work break. I used to take my break at an office where most of my friends had assigned breaks that were much later than I wanted to wait. As a result I often took a break by myself. This made break time a bit boring and dull. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I made a list of what I’d enjoy doing at break time. Items included taking a walk, reading a book, writing in my journal, meditation and a humor break. Once I had something to do I started looking forward to break time again.
2. Coworker dislike. I used to have coworkers, bosses and other people who would rub me the wrong way or just “push my buttons”. This is what pushed me into humor therapy. I learned that when I was happy with myself, these people did not irritate as much. If I was tired, stressed or sick the behavior always bothered me more. If I felt healthy and good I could laugh off at least half of their antics and good-naturedly deal with the other half.
3. Home arguments. At times my hubby and I will disagree on important issues and fight. Sometimes this turns into name-calling and insults. One of the best ways I have found to deal with this is to say “I am feeling very upset right now, I’d like to take a few minutes to meditate, and we can talk about this again later.” It took awhile to convince him, but when I had rested my mind and thoughts in meditation I was thinking clearly again and my anger had faded away. Problems were solved in half the time this way.
4. Loneliness. Many friends and family are very busy and we don’t talk or see each other as much as I’d like. I used to sit at home bored and a bit sad. Then I started thinking about what I’d like to do. I volunteered as a Big Sister for Big Brothers/Big Sisters for four years. Now in the country it’s a kind of long drive for that, so I started blogging. Using both strategies I have met great people, learned a lot and cured my loneliness, all at the same time.

What kind of new thinking do you use? Do you have a favorite strategy? I love this idea and would love to hear what others think. I’m tagging two of my favorites, Jarkko and Ravi again. Don’t feel pressured, but you guys have great ideas and I’d love to see your take on this. To include some new insight