There’s nothing to fix

“No exercise is urged except a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up the mind, and makes it deaf to reason, sanity and simple truth.”—A Course in Miracles

Since 2012, Jimmy Kimmel has run a “Mean Tweets” segment on his late night talk show.

Celebrities ranging from Julia Roberts to Bette Midler to Barack Obama read aloud tweets sent by real internet trolls. George Clooney, for example, read, “If that gross, ratty old man can get a girl, the rest of you regular guys must be swimming in…” well, the tweet in question used a synonym for a small cat.

I use the same approach for the “mean tweets” in my head. Laughing is the only way to deal.

Because if I try to fix a “problem” I’m ragging to myself about (say, I notice my ego telling me I’m being lazy or getting fat or some other such nonsense), I only make it real. It gives my brain the message “this is dangerous,” “this is wrong.”

It actually takes a temporary reality and turns it into a problem. In quantum speak, it collapses the wave of a particular superposition, turns it into a material particle, makes it true.

When I believe some jerk “done me wrong” or that I’m in danger in some way, I literally pitch a tent in a “field” that’s not in my best interest. When I decide I’d better “fix this thing,” I add heft to the reality that something’s wrong.

Self-help, as it turns out, is anything but helpful.

If, like George Clooney, I read the “tweet” out loud and poke fun at its ridiculousness, it deactivates the brain’s danger signal. It says, “oh, that’s interesting,” allowing me to remain free, flexible, open and available for a more pleasant reality.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.