Clear your Mind.

If I were my own best friend…

… when I am facing a challenge I would remind myself to read a quote from Samuel Johnson:  “Clear your mind of can’t.”

***First, wouldn’t it be great if we all had “mind-erasers” and when we wanted to get rid of a pesky or pessimistic thought in our heads all we had to do was pull out the “mind-eraser” and go to town?? I know some people would call that meditation or positive thinking or self-control… but sometimes I just want the “easy” route – give me an eraser!

Second, do you remember who Samuel Johnson was?? I will admit, history has never been my strength and I had to look him up and do a little reading. He was English. He lived from 1709 to 1784. He was a very active writer and researcher related to the English language and literature.  He spent nine years writing “Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language,” which was apparently THE dictionary of choice until the “Oxford English Dictionary” was published almost 150 years later! Wow.

I suspect that while he was spending nine years of his life writing a dictionary there were a fair number of people who told him “you can’t do this.” And he went ahead and did it anyway. Good man. I would love to go back in time and ask him how he persevered and ignored all the people who said “you can’t.”