September 2019: Who Moved My Cheese, by Dr Spencer Johnson

The following are point-form notes from the book. Obviously they are concise and really intended as an appendix to the book itself. If you’d like some further discussion please have a listen to our September FB Live, or spark up a discussion in The Clique.

This book is a fun parable about having and not. About the way we adapt to change. The cheese is what you want from life, the maze is where you look for what you want. (There are four characters: Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw.)

• Having cheese makes us happy, and it means different things to different people.

• After a while we think we deserve the cheese.

• We can get lazy when it’s all cheesy-easy. (And miss the signs of changes ahead).

• When the cheese is moved we can get on with finding more cheese, or cry that it’s not fair.

• The more important your cheese is to you ,the more you want to hold onto it.

• We may prefer to stay comfortable (without moving) than to go and find new cheese.

• Sometimes we deny reality and pretend that tomorrow the cheese will be back.

• Haw: “Sometimes things change and they are never the same again. This looks like one of those times. That’s life! Life moves on. And so should we.”

• If you do not change you can become extinct.

• Ask yourself, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

• Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.

• Let go and trust, even if you don’t know what is ahead. It’s invigorating- when you move beyond your fear ,you feel free.

• If you imagine yourself enjoying new cheese it leads you to it.

• The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

• If we carry on about wanting the old cheese back, we miss the chance for new cheese.

• Reality is not usually as bad as what you imagine.

• Change is inevitable (and fun).

• Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.

• When you change what you believe, you change what you do.

• The fastest way to shift yourself is to laugh at your folly, let go quickly and move on.

• Keep it simple, be flexible and move quickly (move with the cheese).

• The biggest inhibitor to change is within you.

• There is always more cheese (YUM) just waiting to be found.