There’s something extraordinary about picking up a pen, and allowing our words to leak onto the musty, old pages of a journal. When we seem collected in front of all of our peers, those infrequent moments we take for ourselves are what make us, us. We can toss whatever’s on our minds out into the air. Let them circle us, and us alone. We can spin them, twirl them, intertwine them through our fingers; but, whether they slip through our fingers or constantly linger, our thoughts can’t be avoided, either. They must be addressed, considered carefully and prudently viewed. Our thoughts are ours, and sometimes it’s best to view them in a way we could have never thought imaginable.

One of life’s greatest mottos is that perspective is key. The way we view people — the way we view the world. Our perspective over time changes for better or for worse, and it can be the foundation to changing everything. Sometimes all we need to do is rotate a “doodle,” or to stand somewhere else in a room, but where we are in the moment is where we need to be. It is where we are supposed to be. Thoughts are also a series of perspectives. Any way we think about a certain topic is a various perspective. We may not have a full comprehension of the person’s situation beside us, but approaching matters differently makes a world of difference. Circling back around to our thoughts, when we are thinking about certain things, they can’t be obliterated.

Let’s try something: Think of anything in the world that you want, except for a white bear. It can be something that makes you happy, calm, forlorn — anything; anything but a white bear. What are you thinking of?

A white bear?

Not even a little?

Our best and most gracious thoughts will accompany our darkest, unwanted ones, in a way that’s unprecedented. The way we deal with our thoughts may very well get us through each and every day. There’s something extraordinary about picking up a pen, and allowing our words to sink into the fresh, new pages of a journal — applying our thoughts in a new positive way, every day.