Thought Changer

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Welcome! If this is your first visit or if you’ve been here before but haven’t had a chance to subscribe, would love to have you as a part of the Thought Changer community which has moved to Substack! Just sign up in the box to the left. You’ll get a welcome email from me at Substack. Don’t forget to click the confirmation link. Thought Changer looks at everyday life metaphors. We explore new ways to think about what we do, improve our mindset and live more consciously. And, if something moves you, please share! Thank you and enjoy this Thought Changer.

A spider dangling from the ceiling. That’s what I woke up to on the first day of 2012. My first instinct was to grab a magazine nearby and eliminate the unsuspecting offender, which is what I would have unconsciously done in the past. But, based on the title of this article, I decided to take said magazine and guide the daddy-longlegs outside, releasing it to the wonders beyond. But, this cousin of Charlotte was having no part of it. I lost track of it and found it scrambling back up its invisible web strand toward the ceiling. There was something frantic about the way it ran for its life so I let it go as its spindly legs carried it off into the catacombs of my house. We made a silent agreement to live and let live. It got me thinking about how bold and fresh 2012 is going to… Read more →

By Cindy Yantis I don’t know about you but I went through another holiday season completely overbooked. And, if history repeats itself, by the time the day of celebration actually arrives, I’m exhausted and have thoughts that I’m sure echo those of many others: too many shoppers, too many commitments, too much commercialization, not enough time. And, then the holidays whiz by and you’re in the middle of January before you realize it. Maybe you can relate. Well, it hit me yesterday that this didn’t happen this year. Sure, I was still overbooked with all of the above and then some, but somehow time felt slower this year, more joyful. It got me thinking about why that might be. To my summation, here’s the difference… I took control of my time this year, rather than the other way around. And, what really slowed things down for me were what I… Read more →

By Cindy Yantis It was announced in Variety last week that the Tony Award winning play, The Normal Heart, is finally being made into a film, and with no less than the brilliant Ryan Murphy directing. I found this news particularly exciting because I witnessed firsthand the very beginning of the fast moving surge that’s culminating with the film. My friend, actor and producer David Youse, had the spark of an idea to bring Larry Kramer’s 1985 masterpiece back to life for its 25th Anniversary. He had Mr. Kramer’s blessing, then hired Oscar & Tony winner Joel Grey (that’s David and Joel to the right) to direct a star studded reading at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles which has raised over $175,000 benefiting several AIDS organizations. A New York reading starring Glenn Close followed which really created a buzz. Broadway producer Daryl Roth took the play to Broadway and… Read more →

by Cindy Yantis I recently pulled the classic film, “Pride and Prejudice,” off my shelf to watch it again. To say the story is infused with entangled connections is an understatement. In fact, in the days of Jane Austen, people’s lives were all about relationships; they were the number one rule of the time, making the right connections and nurturing those ties that bind. It got me thinking about my own relationships, which had already been on the top of my mind because I have been on the receiving end time and time again of such meaningful connections, particularly as of late. It also got me thinking about what it means to build and sustain relationships in our lives. This article could have just have easily been entitled, “Want a Friend? Be a Friend,” because in order for the connection to be true and lasting, it’s important to give as… Read more →

Our stories live in our bones. In our cells. In our hearts. In our minds. In our guts. In our memorys. In our mothers. In our fathers. This Father’s Day week, as I was picking out a card for my dad, one that will honor him and what he means to me, it got me thinking about how entrenched he is in my own story, and about how our actions, decisions, attitudes, beliefs and our very lives, are a culmination of all of our stories as well the tales of our greatest influencers, including the good, bad and ugly. My dear friend Tina Alexis Allen has done more than buy a card in honoring her dad with her “one-man” show, “Secrets of a Holy Father,” which she wrote and stars in. By transforming herself into him, Tina takes her father’s journey through life and the afterlife, confronting and embracing the… Read more →

When Madonna appeared on one of Oprah’s last shows this week, that’s what she said we’ve learned from Oprah, “Never. Ever. Give. Up.” Ironically, I’ve been gathering notes for this article for the last few days because this phrase has been popping into my consciousness a lot lately. A profile in MORE Magazine on first time novelist, Kathryn Stockett, The Help, carried as its theme, “Don’t Give Up.” Stockett received, amazingly, 60 rejections over a three-year period until a wise agent picked up her manuscript and proceeded to sell it in three weeks time! People told her she was crazy, to move on to something else. But, she never gave up. Ever. She kept revising, submitting, revising, and submitting. There are numerous stories like this, from Thomas Edison to Henry Ford, to Diane von Furstenberg, to J.K. Rowling, where the odds were stacked against success, and success still came after… Read more →

I’ve been through it all, baby, I’m mother courage. ~ Elizabeth Taylor Mother’s Day. Days like this can’t help but bring reflection, whether you’re a mother or not. In fact, in my close community there is a good number of women are not mothers, in the sense that they have birthed a child. There was a time when there was a pretty big stigma that came along with a woman who didn’t have children, whether it was by her own choosing or not. And, there still is a certain level of judgment or event pity in some minds, in some circles. Me with my Mom (pregnant with my sister) and my Grandmas I have so much admiration for mothers who are dedicated to raising and nurturing, loving their offspring. I have a fabulous mother whose priorities and dedication never wavered as I struggled through painful adolescence into adulthood. She rocks!… Read more →

The blooming lilies beckoned from my back yard this morning. I answered with my coffee cup in hand as I perused the outstretched buds, which live in seeming peace with a sprout of weeds and dying patch of grass nearby. Usually, when I pay a too seldom visit to my little piece of LA, I focus on the weeds, the dead grass and the wilting flowers. The upkeep seems never-ending. Of course the metaphor hit me over the head this Easter morning. And, it got me thinking about now much easier, and safer, it is to focus on the areas in life that aren’t working. The good stuff is right there in plain sight, but the clouds of negativity, judgment and doubt hover so heavily that we can’t see the opportunity, grace and beauty waiting for us to experience. Re-birth follows death. Thinking about the process as the natural course… Read more →

“The President’s in town.” Seems a simple enough statement. But, when you live in Los Angeles, it sparks a murmur — more often a roar — about something that can bring on blood-boiling discussions in the lives of Los Angelinos. Traffic. Roads are closed. Detours abound. And, at times tempers needlessly flare. Traffic flow stops flowing. Or does it? If you stop to think about for a sec, doesn’t the flow just… change direction? And, if that is true, will those who actually “go with the flow”, planning for and accepting what is, be able to deal with the new traffic flow with reasonable ease and diminished aggravation? It reminded me of a Colorado whitewater rafting trip I took a few years ago. During the mini-prep session prior to the romp down the rapids, our guide helped us don our life jackets, coaching us as much as possible on what might confront us: “lean… Read more →

It had been raining for days in Los Angeles. On one such afternoon, when the rain took a breath, I looked out my kitchen window and saw something you don’t see very often. A red balloon. A red balloon that hovered mid-air as it’s white string tapped hopefully on the patio cement. A red balloon that had survived the storm. How did it wander into my yard? Did it feel safer there? Was it hiding under my olive tree, hoping the storm wouldn’t find it there? For me it created a sense of wonder which I sort of think red balloons were put on this earth to do, to create in us a sense of wonder, of what’s possible. So, I’ve been noodling that around for a few days. And, then last night I went to my nephew’s basketball game. Kirk’s team, Walled Lake Northern, played cross-town rival Lakeland for… Read more →