Think a happy thought.

Belle only gets knots in her ears.

Notorious for overthinking and working myself into frequent unnecessary knots, my sister gave me a book for Christmas: 'Stop thinking, start living' by Richard Carlson. In her inscription on the inside cover, she told me not to be offended. Actually on the contrary, I thought it was a perfectly appropriate present and couldn't wait to discover this new philosophy that was going to allow me to make pretty bows in my head rather than tangled, impossible knots. The very simple foundation for the magic is based on the fact that our thoughts control our emotions. It is only when we think about and focus on negative things in our lives that negative emotions emerge. Every life is full of problems, but the person who dwells on them and overtalks them through will never have a clear enough mind to be easily able to come to a resolution for them. The most superb gem of wisdom, though really very obvious when pointed out, is that we have complete control over our thoughts. When thoughts pop into our heads that arouse frustration or sadness or annoyance we can just as easily pop their little bubble and choose not to think about them.
I'm summarising very simply and briefly but it's probably the most sensible book I've come across in the 'Make your life wonderful' genre. I've noticed such a change in my little head, simply from the realisation that I don't have to allow myself to be controlled by my thoughts. I can choose what I want to think about and very pleasantly feel empowered to be able to live in the moment and not constantly focusing on tomorrow or a year ago. There's been no miracle and life's problems still exist but not allowing my thoughts to complicate, means I can wade through them instead of getting hopelessly stuck in the middle. I have a choice to be happy or the opposite of it. Thanks to my little sister I'm determined to make thinking less my new year's resolution. I'm pretty sure my family and friends and certainly I, will appreciate even a 50% reduction in tangles inside Karen. Better to catch the thread before knots snarl and while bows are still possible*

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.