Once upon a school assignment dreary!
When Salinger passed away in early 2010, a peculiar guilt filled my head for never having read this famous novel. I felt an enormous hunger to free that guilt. A friend lent me her dusty volume and I began consuming the pages. 
Halfway through the book, I was challenged with a sense of anger. Stems from the main character, Holden Caulfield, being a downer with repetitive thought. He also believes most people are “phony.” My dreary thought, I hope this paperback gets better.
Why do I feel a sensation of annoyance, maybe it’s the realization that I can and do relate to Holden’s insane behavior of repetitive thinking. Found myself shaking the book and saying aloud to Holden, “snap out of it. How will you ever make something of yourself?” I came to realize that Holden is not a confused young man; he’s processing his life’s journey, as am I. At times, one has to rethink, process and ponder over significant decisions.
Repetitive thinking is not a bad attribute if you take that same thought and add, bend, delete or grow the subject thought. Successes throughout one’s life come from diligent consideration to other options with an open mind. The path to your own success is to stay engaged, be productive and give to others.
On average, we have as many as 60,000 conscious thoughts per day. Often mindless chatter, but once you recognize a repetitive thought, only then can you begin to change it, or learn to stop it before completion or dismiss it altogether.
Reading tools to aid brain babble:
- HBR’s 10 Must Reads, On Managing Yourself.
- Whose Thought Is It Anyway?
- Law of Attraction, by Gary Evans
- The Tao of Music, by John M. Ortiz, page 330 one sound idea; begin with stopping one thought at a time! See the four thought-stopping techniques.
As I age, my thought-count per day is noticeably down, I’m sure of it. However, my thoughts are sweeter and gentler. I roll with positive thinking which means I’m staying away from Salinger.
“Only one thing registers on the subconscious mind: repetitive application – practice. What you practice is what you manifest.” - Fay Weldon.
