 being stuck in a rut like this metaphor of the rut like this hole in the road a warning track in a muddy road that you're going down the road in your cart and the wheel gets stuck in this rut and I guess nobody is riding around in carts anymore but we all know what it means to be stuck in a rut you can imagine this going down the road of life and you just feel like you've stopped and you're just sitting there on the road stuck in a hole and often it seems to express this idea of being stuck in a routine being stuck in this feeling like everything is just repeating everything is predictable and that's one of the worst things that this idea that I can predict everything it's going to happen to me and you know to some degree that's it's good it's nice to know that you know I know where I'm going to sleep tonight I know what I'm going to eat today I you know having these basic things taken care of that kind of predictability is great you can remove so much of the potential chaos that we'd have if we didn't have that kind of predictability but we if we get into the feeling that life itself is predictable that our lives exist within this narrow band and there's nothing else that could possibly happen nothing can change that is really boring you can start to feel like life is going nowhere life is a pointless repetition of events that add up to nothing and so this being stuck in a rut and how do we get out of it how do we how do we get a fresh new look at life and there's all this kind of mindset stuff that we can do we can think about different ways of looking at things have you know your gratitude you know go exercise get some fresh air and you know all these ways of trying to get a new perspective on things but I think there's a limit to how far we can actually think our way out of it especially since a lot of these ruts come from too much thinking too much analyzing and interpreting everything that happens though we interpret oh that's because this and this that's happening because this and this I can't live the way I want because of this and this all these kinds of thoughts and analysis and interpretation can get us twisted into into knots where we can't can't move anymore so sometimes it seems to me like what we really need is a shock we need a slap in the face we need something like a splash of cold water you know dumped over our head we need something that just wakes things up that makes it impossible to continue thinking in the same way so if you're you know if you're in that kind of dumpy state of mind of just sort of analyzing oh how why I'm so limited and these are all the reasons I'm limited and this is how things are always going to be well then you get cold water dumped over your head suddenly you have to think differently it's not going to be a very pleasant thought necessarily but at least you'll be forced to think differently you'll suddenly like whoa suddenly you you're shocked into a new way of thinking where you have to respond in the moment and you can no longer just carry on this routine way of being being forced out of routine now hopefully this kind of shock can be something that's not so terrible it could be the sudden shock of seeing you can see a wonderful sunrise go travel and you know see a view from a mountaintop and then just be this joy of wonder you know seeing a newborn baby seeing the open ocean things that bring out a sense of wonder that can shock you out of the some kind of narrow view of life so that seems like the ideal way to get a get a shock a shock of wonder and what's possible in the world outside what I expect the world to be but then sometimes what you know what what really works is some kind of negative shock we have some kind of a health scare oh suddenly I can't just keep going on and on I got a health scare and suddenly I have to adjust I have to adjust my view of what life is narrow escape from death crossing the street I almost got run over by a truck okay that makes me suddenly get a moment of shock force me out of some kind of routine thinking where I had to have to suddenly process things in a new way now of course I may just go back to the same old way but that shock at least gives a moment of being forced out of the rut and maybe for for some people maybe if our lives are full of chaos if our if our lives are full of shocks everywhere if this is the routine to be shocked by extreme things happening all the time then maybe the shock would be simply a day of peace a day and night where nothing happens nothing interrupts us no drama no surprises just a quiet day go for a walk in the park and have a you know read a book have a quiet day I mean that could be a shock so whatever it is I think there's a value in sometimes if we feel too stuck in a routine to just do anything that results in a shock something to surprise us and jolt us into a new way of processing life so that we can always be reminded that whatever we think life is there's always more outside it and if it takes a heavy shock to remind us of that then maybe that's what we need so I'd be curious to hear what you think about this is it actually a good idea or is a shock just gonna cause more harm than good and what would you recommend as a useful kind of shock that we can use to shake up our routine