Thinking of important stuff like money - and underpants

Much of the writing on this site - mine included - can get pretty serious. Often, the topics seem to demand or justify that. But it can really help to lighten up - even about important stuff like our personal growth and achievement.

In her article Infinite Underpants!, Rebecca Fine asks, "Quick! What's the very first thing that springs into your mind when you read or hear the M-word? (M-o-n-e-y.)

"For many people that first thing isn't necessarily pleasant. And for others there's a fleeting flicker of delight as they imagine having plenty of it, winning the lottery or the like, which just as quickly fades into a more familiar ‘not enough’ feeling instead.... And it's all just so SERIOUS and HEAVY and ... ugh.”

She suggests a strategy to deflate some of this over-seriousness: “I have decided that whenever the M-word comes up in conversation or my own thinking in any way that doesn't thoroughly delight me, I am going to quietly, secretly substitute another word — a silly word that has NONE of those negative connotations."

Here are some examples she gives of playing with the idea on the topic of money - which can also work for other "serious" issues in our lives:

* "I'd like to have a new car, but I don't have enough underpants."
* "Do you think underpants grow on trees?"
* "I like the job but the underpants are awful."
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photo: Julia Roberts from book Herb Ritts: Work

Rebecca Fine is founder of The Science of Getting Rich Network
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