Walking through Central Park the other day – another dog story – I passed by a Great Dane and a Husky playing together. One of the dogs – I don’t know which one – growled as he played. Once upon a time, a growling dog would have sent my body into a heightened state of alert and anxiety and, as I walked by this time, hearing the growling continue behind me, it struck me that I was pretty relaxed. Somehow, over the years, my body has learned that a growling dog isn’t necessarily a source of danger, and that growling can also signal play.

As I walked on, I began to think about the fact that I haven’t realized, consciously, what a major change has taken place in me, that I’ve shifted so thoroughly from someone who used to be afraid of dogs to someone who experiences them as a source of fun. I’ve noticed some shifts over the years, but this particular time my awareness was even more focused on the ease in my body. My body came by its fear of dogs from early experiences of being chased by a neighborhood dog, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned in earlier experiments. Now, my body-mind response to dogs no longer goes only to the early times of fear.

I also noticed that my accompanying thoughts about the growling have shifted. When I hear growling, now, I become curious and look around to see what’s up. In earlier years, I would have assumed there was something wrong, and would have looked around in tension and fear, rather than curiosity.

All this got me to thinking about the organic nature of change and how often we move in a positive direction without realizing that this has happened. Because our thinking automatically affects how we move through any given experience, I was especially aware of how different my thoughts were as the dogs played. In the past, I would have had spontaneous images of snarling dogs, or had thoughts about what terrible or scary thing might happen next. This time, the quality of my thinking was accompanied by curiosity and amusement, and no fearful thoughts got in the way of my direct experience of the dogs playing.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to notice things you’ve outgrown – old ways of thinking that no longer burden you, fears that have melted away or have shifted enough that you notice a real difference in your responses, or any other constricting or stress-inducing responses you may have had over the years.

I also invite you to notice the kinds of experiences that elicit fear or tension and to notice your thinking during these times. Chances are that your thoughts add to your fear or tension and generate a kind of spiraling escalation of the uncomfortable response. When you do notice how your thoughts intensify these uncomfortable experiences, I encourage you to play with substituting the upsetting thoughts with thoughts that may help you shift away from the fear or tension. And, please do let this be play. Experiment with what kinds of thoughts allow you to shift gears and notice which kinds of thoughts don’t help you with that. There are no right answers here – just an opportunity to notice what may help you generate changes that support an ever-increasing comfort in being you, here and now.