Who Moved My Cheese: A Story About Handling Change, Lecture notes of Psychology

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Who

Moved

My

Cheese?

An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In Your Work & In Your Life DR SPENCER JOHNSON

“Cheese” – a metaphor for what we want to have in life, whether it is a job, a relationship, money, a big house, freedom, health, recognition, spiritual peace, or even an activity like jogging or golf. Each of us has our own idea of what Cheese is, and we pursue it because we believe it makes us happy. If we get it, we often become attached to it. And if we lose it, or it’s taken away, it can be traumatic.

Every morning, the mice & the little people dressed in their running gear & headed over to Cheese Station C where they found their own kind of cheese. It was a large store of Cheese that Hem & Haw eventually moved their homes to be closer to it & built a social life around it. To make themselves feel more at home, Hem & Haw decorated the walls with sayings. One read:

Having Cheese

Makes You

Happy

The More Important

Your Cheese is To

You, The More You

Want To Hold Onto

It.

The next day Hem & Haw left their homes, & returned to Cheese Station C. But situation hadn’t changed. Haw asked, “Where are Sniff & Scurry? Do you think they know something we don’t?” Hem scoffed, “What would they know? They’re just simple mice. They just respond to what happens. We’re little people. We’re smarter.” Haw suggested, “Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation so much and just get going & find some New Cheese. Haw decided to leave Cheese Station C while Hem was more comfortable staying in the cheeseless Station C. Haw announced, “It’s MAZE time!” and wrote:

Meanwhile, Sniff & Scurry went farther into the maze until they found Cheese Station N. They found what they had been looking for: a great supply of New Cheese. It was the biggest store of cheese the mice had ever seen. Haw on the other hand become more anxious & wondered if he really wanted to go out into the Maze. He wrote a saying on the wall ahead of him & stared at it for some time:

What Would You Do

If You Weren’t

Afraid?

Smell The Cheese

Often So You Know

When It Is Getting

Old.

Haw wondered if Hem had moved on, or if he was still paralyzed by his own fears. Then, Haw remembered the times when he had felt his best in the Maze. It was when he was moving along. He wrote:

As Haw started running down the dark corridor, he began to smile. Haw didn’t realize it yet, but he was discovering what nourished his soul. He was letting go & trusting what lay ahead for him, even though he did not know exactly what it was. To his surprise, Haw started to enjoy himself more & more. He stopped to write again on the wall:

When You Move

Beyond Your Fear,

You Feel Free.

Imagining Myself

Enjoying New

Cheese, Even Before

I Find It, Leads Me

To It.

Haw wondered why he had always thought that a change would lead to something worse. Now he realized that change could lead to something better. Then he raced through the Maze with greater strength & agility. Until he found bits of New Cheese. He entered the Cheese Station but it was empty. Someone had already been there. He stopped & wrote on the wall: