Kenzo and I visited a nearby coastal town with a large harbour. As we enjoyed looking at the huge ships slowly making their way to the unloading area, Kenzo pointed to a particularly large ship, “I once met a Captain of a massive ship like that one and we chatted about the challenges of his job. The Captain explained to me that one of the most difficult things about such large ships is that they respond very slowly when you want to change their direction. He told me that large ships can take many miles to change orientation and that one needs to be aware of this if one is to avoid collisions at sea.”
Kenzo aimed his phone and took a picture of the large ship lumbering along the coastline, “In some sense, our minds are like large ships. Years and years of thinking in harmful fixed ways can make our minds very resistant to change. When we want to change the direction of how we think, like the Captain of the big ship, we should not expect the change to fully happen in an instant. Rather, initially, we should be happy even with small changes, provided that they are going in the right direction. In the coming days, as I show you how to be happy, don’t be disheartened if you do not immediately find happiness. Instead, appreciate small changes, and keep working on small further changes. Eventually, you will find yourself facing the right direction towards happiness.”
I also took some pictures of the big ships, “Yes, I understand. After decades of thinking in certain ways, it will take time for me to think differently.