Doors and Windows

There's an old saying...

I'm sure you're familiar.   It goes something like...

"When one door closes,

another door opens."

Or is it, "When a door closes,

a window opens."?

You're probably wondering if I have a point here, which I actually do.  Some of you may recall my recent post, where I ranted on and on about how much I hate applying for exhibitions.  Well, the rejections have started rolling in, and I could just hear the doors slamming!  I started to feel a little... less than hopeful, I guess you could say.  

But then, yesterday, a strange and unexpected thing happened.  I got an email from a gallery saying that they have chosen me for a solo show!  I'm still not convinced that it's not some sort of mistake.   I hear a voice in my head saying, "This just doesn't happen to me."

As a student of Buddhism and other philosophies, I know that our thoughts do create our reality.  I think we expect what we get used to, and those thoughts can become a habit, a pattern, a self-fulfilling prophecy.  My point is this: when you're busy focusing on the closed door, it's hard to notice the open one.

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
- William James