Shakespeare’s Quote For Re-Framing Anything

authentic.com.au/blog/mindset/monumental-quotes-shakespeare

December 21, 2017

"Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

How To Re-Frame Any Situation Or Thought

Let's look at the first part of that quote. 'Nothing is either good or bad.' It means that
nothing has any intrinsic meaning.

So, as an example, if I say to you something like stock market crash... is that a good event
or a bad event? Some people think it's bad because they've got all their money in there,
and some people think it's good because they can start picking up specials or bargains.

Waiting in line... is that a good or a bad event? Some people think it's bad because it's a
waste of time, but some people think it's good because they get to catch up on a book on
Amazon Kindle that they're reading, or something like that.

So, nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

The second part of the quote is, "thinking makes it so". It means that there needs to
be a human there to think something in order to make it good or bad.

It's kind of like when people say, "If a tree falls in the woods, does it really make a sound?"
Well, I would also say that if something happens like for example, something A crashes
into something B, is that good or bad without a human there to make it so?

And this is really foundational to your own learning - and I believe your
personal development - to realize that we as human beings are "meaning-
making" creatures.

We decide if things are good or bad, and we can either make things empowering for us or
dis-empowering.

The choice is yours.

But I'm not saying that you can turn a really bad thing, like killing, or something like that
into something good. I'm not saying that at all. But for the other 99% of things that
happen in our life, we can ask ourselves this question: What else could this mean?

Let's take public speaking as an example. Is this a fearful event? Is it something you really
want to avoid? Or can you change the meaning to it being exciting like catching a roller
coaster?

Carrying groceries home... is this a really laborious thing that you want to avoid? Or as
guys sometimes do, you turn it into a fun thing like bicep curls or something like that?

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So, I remember a really big example that happened to me when I was 31 because at the
time I was kind of at a crossroads in my life.

I didn't really know what I was doing. I was really lost, confused, sad, and I wouldn't say
depressed, but it's depressing.

That's because I had tried so many things in life. I was working in the bank, I did IT, I
worked for Anthony Robbins for two years, did multi-level marketing, and then switched
again and decided to do personal training, and switched again and then back to another
personal development company...

And I just thought to myself, "What are we doing, Cham? We're just going around in
circles!"

And it got worse because I'd look at my friends and they've actually got good careers, good
money, they're making a good path... And here I am just tinkering with all these things
and doing sales which is like a low-level job as well as personal training which I thought I
wasn't really making an impact in people's lives too much.

Then I remember asking myself, what else could this mean? Just like William
Shakespeare said. And I thought, maybe it means that I'm having my mid-life crisis early
at 30 years old instead of having it at 45 or 50.

And I also drew strength from another quote from Thomas Edison. When a reporter
asked him, "You've tried 1,000 ways and failed at making a light bulb. How does that
make you feel?"

He said, "It's not that I've failed 1,000 times. I've succeeded in how NOT to make a light
bulb." And I thought, wow, that's pretty good. It's a good change of meaning.

So instead, I chose to give myself that empowering meaning as well. And I chose
for it to mean that I've done five ways now how NOT to have a fulfilling career as well.

I would also tell myself, we're getting closer. We're getting closer, Cham, to what we
actually truly desire doing. Just keep persisting. And that gave me the strength to
continue instead of giving up.

So, I hope that really helps you a lot. If you've got thoughts on this post, whatever you're
thinking right now, just pop it in the message box below, or pop it in the comments
section below so I know that you're out there. We can have a two-way conversation. If you
liked it, I'd appreciate it if you'd hit the Like button, and if you want to share it and just
help others, pay it forward as well, just hit the Share button below.

And, until the next time, just remember, when something seemingly bad happens, just
remember Shakespeare's words: There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking
makes it so.

Cham Tang

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Cham is the CEO and Head of Marketing at Authentic Education since
co-founding it in 2009. He is passionate about productivity,
empowering people, marketing and is creator of Digital Marketing Made
Easy.
He has worked for Anthony Robbins, Chris Howard and Dr John
Demartini from "The Secret" and has featured in BRW magazine,
News.com.au and newspapers such as Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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