Jumping The Stream: When Thoughts Make Life A Problem

By Joe Woods

From the Editor's Notes: "EDITOR'S NOTE TO THE AUTHOR
Jumping the Stream
MAY 2020

Jumping the Stream is an inspirational guide that addresses the challenges and anxiety that sometimes accompany change. Through the telling of a fable-like tale, the author outlines the different possible emotional responses to change.
In the story, a boy brings his cat and his hamster across a stream to his treehouse in the woods, but he is called away and unintentionally leaves them there. When the boy does not immediately return, the cat and hamster set about trying to find their way back. They are small and incapable of crossing the stream as the boy had. In their growing panic, they go through different emotional stages: they feel sorry for themselves; they blame each other for their predicament; and they blame themselves. They meet a variety of animals during their adventure: a vulture, who urges them to stick together; a mildly-threatening snake, who urges them to stay on the woodland side of the stream; a deer, who teaches them to conquer their anxiety; and a wise roach, who teaches them to live in the moment and who, finally, brings them across the stream on a floating log. The story ends with the boy returning for his small friends, who have learned to master their fear.
The book ends with the author's memoir-based, personal reflections about his battle with anxiety, in which the author further identifies each character in the story as representing his varying responses to change and life circumstances.
The author's style is straightforward and conversational. He inserts psychological analyses within the story, indicating that, though it is a story about talking animals, it is not intended for children. Instead, it is a therapeutic tool for adult readers to use while working through their own emotional challenges."
This manuscript has been edited according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, except where idiomatic language has been retained to preserve the colloquial nature of the text. Extensive editing of grammar, spelling, and punctuation was needed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098319984

Book preview

Jumping The Stream

When Thoughts Make Life A Problem

Joe Woods

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-09831-997-7

ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-09831-998-4

© 2020. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contents

The Story

The Beginning

Stuck

Buying In

Question

Flow

Direction

Fullness

The Story

This simple story will hopefully inspire and shed light on some observational truths. We begin, simply, with our emotional state of feeling stuck during times of change. Most of us think we’re in control of our lives, but life just happens, and every single decision that we make as it unfolds shapes how we experience it. Like a stream, life is always in flow, continually changing and evolving. We try to navigate our lives, making choices as we’re faced with different experiences. In most cases, we don’t because our negative thinking and our long-lived unconscious stories rule us. We would all love to know how our life will unfold. Like a stream, it encounters obstacles, it changes its course, and it does not resist or fight the change. The fighting takes place in our minds, leading us on an emotional rollercoaster of identification with our thoughts and emotions whether right or wrong. In Jumping the Stream , I’m hoping to encourage us to question our thoughts about our limitations and identifications and to begin taking the necessary steps to change not only these thoughts but circumstances—because life will always introduce us to our true selves.

In this story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, they embrace life and make it home. This story is comprised of six characters. Two of these characters are from the other side of the bush, while four other characters are from the bush, just over the magic stream. The two main characters are Cat and Hamster. Each of these characters will have the human experiences of thought and emotion. These two main characters were developed over the past five years with my son Bryson. Our characters would take many different journeys every night during bedtime. This story is just one of those journeys. During one of those nights, while telling a story about Cat and Hamster, I had a personal health challenge that the end of this book will detail.

The Beginning

It was a warm, breezy July in the South. The foliage was beautiful, and the grass was a wonderful lush green with beautiful lines mowed in the same direction, while the early morning dew was still settling on the grass. A sound filled the air with the pitter-patter of little feet snapping twigs and the sound of breathing! It was a little boy running through the bushes, jumping little tree branches beneath his feet, while being very careful with each leap! Wrapped tightly in the little boy’s right arm were two little, furry animals. One was a cat and the other a hamster. In his left arm was a little box with science for today written in bold letters! He was on his way to his tree house hidden in the woods. He wanted to place his science kit in his tree house. On his way, he had to cross the magic stream. In his mind, that stream was the magic passage he had to cross to get to his tree house. Still running with his little furry friends while holding the science kit, the little guy preceded to jump the stream. The little furry animals were holding on for dear life, watching from his arms as he leaped with force to jump the stream. Looking down while they were airborne, they noticed a big rock with speckled green moss on its side! Clinging tightly was all their paws could do! Once over, he landed, holding onto his little friends and the science kit. As he came upon the tree house, he placed his little friends on the