The Hamlet Secret

There is nothing either good or bad but

thinking makes it so.

Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

Everything depends on your interpretation.

I like crossword puzzles. I like them because they remind me to think in a non-linear way. When I put on my beret and someone says ‘Nice hat’, I can think of the NY Times crossword puzzle and the 7-letter clue following ‘Nice hat’. Of course, they are not saying ‘nice’ hat which could be a ‘brougham’ but that’s 8 letters, or ‘bowler’ but that’s 5. However, if I think of the city in France named ‘Nice’ (pronounced NIECE) then I realize they are asking me for the French word for ‘hat’: chapeau – 7 letters.

Now some people don’t like my hat so when they say ‘nice hat’ they’re not speaking geographically; they’re making fun of me. I can take their ribbing to heart, be embarrassed, and maybe shoot back a nasty retort or I can make my choice, turn to them and say, ‘Thank you, I like it too. It’s the most practical hat I’ve ever owned. I bought it in Paris’.

This phrase, ‘but thinking makes it so’, gives you more power over your life and your circumstances than almost any other phrase. This phrase has rumbled around in my brain for 20 years and I use it again and again. This is the filter I apply to EVERYTHING. In business you can see a breakdown, a problem, a screw up, a huge loss as a challenge, an opportunity for a breakthrough or a wake up call that you’ve been on ‘automatic’ or just ignoring the warning signs. You can make the choice to take the worst event and turn it into a lesson and it will, could and might very well be the best thing that ever happened to you!

I heard a Persian story about a man who loved his beautiful pony almost as much as his young son. One day the pony ran off and the man was devastated. A few days later when the pony returned with a beautiful wild horse as a companion the man was overjoyed. The next day when the man’s son fell off the wild horse and broke his leg the man was ready to kill the horse. That is until the emperor’s men came through to conscript every able-bodied young man in the village for the army. Because his son had a broken leg the soldiers left him behind. The man learned to stop judging whether he liked or disliked every single event that occurred in a microcosm but to accept all things as lessons from the universe; some more easily understood than others but all put there to move him along in his journey of enlightenment.

We can all choose to see things as they happen, as factual occurrences in the world and not attach the meanings that give us childlike joy when we get what we want like a hoped for birthday gift. When we master our choices, we master our existence and when we master our existence – well then fate comes and kicks our feet out from under us to remind us to be humble and to make sure we get over ourselves and take care of the world and others!