After Joe

What would it take to have a brand new thought? To get knocked out of the rut of patterned response?

A new environment? New input? New stimulus?

It would be cheaper to recombine experience and interpret it in a different light.

I did a funny exercise.

• So, at first blush of rewatching “When Harry Met Sally”, I cast myself as Sally (of course), and I cast C as Harry.
• Then I thought of myself as Sally’s friend and C as the married man that she was trying to get over.
• I definitely was Harry in what I now consider my reasonable sexual awakening phase – or as the sad promiscuous time as I used to think about it.
• My latest thought is that C is Joe, and I am Sally pretending I am over it. And I did have that night of tears, “It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be married. He just didn’t want to marry me…he didn’t love me.”

Each varied lens gives rise to different interpretation and response. I actually think the last is probably the most truthful…today. Maybe I’ll get around to being Kirby.

Anyway, this recent recasting is immensely helpful, because Sally goes on. It implies I haven’t met Harry yet. Or maybe I have, but don’t realize it as yet. Different lens.