Wednesday, October 19, 2011

8 Dinosaur Thoughts Better Off Extinct



I don’t have a boy so I’ve missed the joy of watching a toddler guy crash two monster dinosaurs into each other and the awe caught up in a wee one’s stare when he stops in his tracks at a museum and gazes at Allosaurus (yep, looked that up) fossils for the first time.


Because I don’t deal much with dinosaurs on a daily basis, I thought I’d invite them here. But here they’re not so awe-inspiring. Today I’m giving you eight dinosaur thoughts that are better off extinct.


I can’t improve
Who says? Sure you can. This one is a lie. Put it to bed.


I’ve never been hurt that badly in my whole life
Pain is an oddity. Physical pain is fleeting, but certain emotional pains might as well have attached to us like an outer layer of skin or scales (for the sake of the running metaphor). It’s worth it to slough off the power of those painful memories. Learn from it. Grow from it. But don’t let emotional pain from the past keep you from living.


This dinosaur thought is classic Velociraptor victim mentality—a way to self validate. A way to tell yourself you really did feel that bad.


I’ll never be that happy again
Again, who says? What are you, Pawpawsaurus (love the name) prophetic? Escort this thought out the doors marked Extinct Exit. Can you tell I’m a fan of the famous “life is what you make it” train of thought?


I’m not supposed to be here
This one makes no sense and it’s futile (a word that always reminds me of reptile…reptile…dinosaur, eh? Eh?) . To quote a line from Horton Hears a Who, “We are here. We are here. We are here.” What we do and say matters.


She’s better at me at everything
This is a Garudimimus (looked that up too) generalization. Sure, she’s better at some things. But we all have our areas of giftedness. Kill this one. It’s dangerous and it breeds little carnivorous babies.


I hate them
One of the most predatory thoughts listed here, this one damages from the inside out. It’s a parasite.


If I just ignore it, it’ll go away
I see this one as belonging to the family of hate’s opposite. The Alectrosaurus apathetic approach has to go. Here’s a truth, most ignored things find a way to surface when you least expect it.


I have no choice, I’m stuck
If you’ve visited ~ thoughts that move ~ say, more than once, you know I’m a mover. I’ve certainly had seasons when I’ve felt stuck, but I also now trust in the reality that I’m never stuck. (I have a living God motivating me to move.) I have choices. These frozen fossils of thought need to dethaw and die.


Can you think of any other T-Rex mind traps?


*photo by flickr

21 comments:

  1. This is sooo good, Wendy. I tend to think "I'm not supposed to be here" more than I probably should. Gotta work on getting some confidence, I guess. :)

    (By the way, while I was reading this post, my son was playing duck-duck-goose. He saw the picture on your post and instead of saying "goose", he said "Dinosaur skeleton!" Gotta love boys. :))

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  2. I absolutely love this Wendy!!

    And if you ever want to see a kid's eyes light with wonder at the sight of a dinosaur, we can always trade a kid for a couple days. :) He's always growling and saying, "I'm t-rex!"

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  3. Loved this! Loved your moving thoughts!

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  4. I like your first one. It makes me think of one of my pet peeves, when someone says that something they've done is "good enough." Good enough seems so inadequate, the bare minimum. I'd rather keep improving until it's the best I can make it.

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  5. See, this is why I like to hang out with you, Wendy!!
    Rounding up my dinosaurs today and shooing them off to extinction one more time!

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  6. I'm constantly slaying dinosaurs! I'm constantly wondering whether I'm in the right spot. Then I feel guilty wondering if I'm just not trusting God's plan.

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  7. I love it when you post! :)

    Go, Dinosaur Hunters!

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  8. Having two sons who both liked dinosaurs (and still sometimes do) I loved this! Great list. Can't think of any to add, but definitely need to remember to keep these "scary" thoughts out of my head. :)

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  9. Hahaa, my boys have dinosaurs. They like crashing cars together too. lol
    Wonderful post! There are some memories I purposefully don't visit because they're painful and don't add anything to my life. IF there's one thing on here that I need to watch out for, it's the sticking my head in the sand. I'm good at that, unfortunately.

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  10. Loved this.

    When my son was young, we lived with dinosaurs, cars, and action figures EVERYWHERE! haha

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  11. Wendy, how about "Who do I think I am to be shooting for this?" I look at how many good writers there are out there and think, how will I possibly be able to compete with them all? How will I stand out?

    And then I want to give up.

    Thanks for reminding me to let go and let God. :P

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  12. Wow, Wendy this blessed me! Thank you!

    I have a T-Rex mind that says, "Things are never going to happen for me."

    It's just good to say that so I can through that lie out the window:)

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  13. Are you ever clever? Wowza, Wendy! This dinosaur has had to slay some stinkin' thinkin' in her day, but I like to believe she's making progress--thanks in part to the wonderful influence of treasured friends like YOU. =)

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  14. Wendy, this is great and would make a wonderful article! More mind traps? Procrastinasorous. :P

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  15. Wendy, two of these hit me in the ouchie bone: "I don't belong here" and "She's better than me at everything".

    These thoughts take hold the longer my publishing "journey", as they say, meanders. I have to remind myself that everything in God's time, and as I look back over my life I can see His hand in much of the timing of events. So why do I fret and worry and agonize?

    *sigh* It's a real battle sometimes.

    Thanks as always for the food for thought!

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  16. Sarah, I love that even your son interacted with my post. ;) Yeah, that I'm not supposed to be here one can trip me up sometimes, too.

    Katie, Oh man, I'd trust you completely with mine, but uh...I'm clueless about how to parent a boy. :D

    Jessica, It's like boots on my brain, they just keep walking (my one bad joke allowed for the evening).

    Joanne, Excellent point. Good enough seems half you know what and I don't really live half of anything.

    Beth, Man, lady (that sounds weird together) do I ever miss you! If we lived close we'd have all night laugh fests!

    Heather, I get that. You know I do.

    Erica, I'm banking on dinosaurs being the next big thing. Oh, right...that was done twenty years ago. Jurrasic Park. Guess I'm no prophet either.

    Stacy, I always thought I'd make a pretty good mom for a boy, but I trust in how it turned out. I can make a great dinosaur noise though. Guess I'll have to save it and use it for something else.

    Jessica, Yeah, I wrote many of these from experience. Life teaches. That's my new T-shirt phrase. :D

    Loree, I bet the tails hurt on the way to the bathroom stumbling in the dark in the middle of the night. Yes?

    Lindsay, This might sound weird, but I don't compete. I just do my own thing. Sure, there are other writers vying for the same editors, etc. but I guess I don't view it as competing as much as being blessed to do what I love and do it all crazy like I do. ;)

    Tamika & Lindsay, I pray it happens for you.

    Keli, You so aren't kidding. My friends chop down limbs and slough off plenty o scales with the way they encourage. Bless you!

    Karen, Love it. I bet it's an actual name, too. Go check out the lists...like the pawpaw one. They've got a little of everything on those lists!

    Gwen, I am praying for your day as well. I wrote these because I knew them well at one point or another. Thanks for being so wonderfully candid. I love your honesty!

    Okay, I cracked a lot of jokes (ones most of the world may not get). It kept it light. As I stated, a lot of these came from stuff I had to overcome and go through to figure out how to slough it off. Thankfully, that living God I mentioned is known as the Prince of Peace. He kills off most of these bad boys. Amen.

    Rest in Him.
    ~ Wendy

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  17. Interesting post Wendy.

    The Diplosaurous ~ I'm not good enough… Anyone got a meteorite?

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  18. Hi friend! Have missed you and I am so excited for you. Mine is "I am not adequate for this." Of course you knew that would be mine!

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  19. I love it, Wendy, especially the "breeds little carnivorous babies." Heh heh.

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  20. In the event that you are wanting to acquire your pet the Halloween party as your number two, Dino costumes would function admirably for them as well.animatronic dinosaur

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