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I was reminded of this classic Apple advertisement today. It always struck sort of a chord with me – not necessarily to buy Apple products (which I do) but more for its optimism about thinking creatively. Here it is:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different

It’s interesting to me that we often think that we have no choice.  “He makes me so mad” we say, rather than “he behaves badly and I choose to hold on to the anger that causes.”  OK, it’s not as emotional – but it is valid.  We may not choose our initial reactions, but we choose our long term emotions.

Here’s some proof…

Have you ever had a day when you look back on it and say something like “I should not have been that angry with her” or “I really was too hard on him”?  Just this thought says that you have some control over those emotions that you expressed.  Now we may rationalize it away with “well she brings out the worst in me” or “he was really arrogant” or other such nonsense, but the reality is out in the open with that first thought and nothing that we can pile on top of it will change it in any way.  Thus, if we can realize that we emotionally over-reacted, it logically follows that we can control that reaction, and if we have control then we can choose to control ourselves or not.  It’s that simple.

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Mark 3:3 – Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

For some reason, this bible verse struck me this morning. Jesus is about to heal this man. He’s about to do something to show the powers-that-be that they’re out of touch. Something really powerful is about to happen. But to get there, the man has to show his weakness in front of everyone. He needed to step out and show everyone his weakest part for something great to happen.

How often do we think that the only way to greatness is to hide weaknesses? I know that I notice the weaknesses in others, even if they try to hide them, so I’m sure that people see mine. It’s only when we’re candid about our weaknesses that we can let others come alongside us and form a powerful team. If I’m weak and someone else is strong, we both gain from working together and the result can be awesome.

Just think of what would have happened to that man if he had stuck his hand in his pocket and denied that it was crippled. And think about what happened when he admitted his weakness.