A Summary of Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, MD.
By Chris Ross, LICSW, PIP
Adult Therapist at Foundations Counseling Center
Several years ago, I read a great self-help book entitled Who Moved My Cheese? Although the book is quite short, it is full of wisdom and encouragement for facing the reality of change in our lives. It remains to this day-a book whose teaching I can remember AND still use. Who Moved My Cheese? is a brief ninety-two page story about the benefits of handling change well by best selling author Spencer Johnson, MD. It follows the physical and emotional journeys of four fictitious characters – Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw – as they look for, find, lose, and reclaim their cheese in a meandering twisty maze. I highly recommend anyone with an inclination to check this book out at your earliest convenience. It is well worth your time.
Nine primary chapter takeaways from Who Moved My Cheese?
1. Having cheese makes us happy.
The “cheese” is a metaphor for what we are striving to attain. It could be a career, an education, or a relationship. The “cheese” is what is most important to us. What is your cheese right now?
2. If we do not change, we can become extinct.
In the book, some of the characters gave up and ceased to be. They were simply too afraid to do anything different and things changed without them. I call this the 8-Track cassette principle. Eight-track cassettes were once a viable way to listen to music. Things changed, they did not. They are gone. We must change to grow.
3. Smell the cheese often, so that we know when it is getting old.
Contentment can breed complacency. Have you ever clung to something too long and then realized you should have let it go sooner? This can happen with anything, relationships, careers, or hobbies, and it can happen to anyone.
4. Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.
New directions of change in life can be fear-provoking, but they can also open up new options and rewarding possibilities for us.
5. When you stop being afraid, you feel good.
Fear is normal. The problem manifests when we allow fear to dictate our decisions. Letting go of fear is liberating to us as individuals when we can catch even a glimpse that our worst fears almost never come true. We create additional fear in ourselves when we resist and avoid the object of our fear. It is like the old adage of the smaller kid standing up to the bully in the lunchroom. The bully tends to back down when the small guy stops being afraid.
6. Imagining yourself enjoying the new cheese leads you to achieve it.
Somewhere along the road of life many of us lose our ability and desire to daydream. We get too caught up in what is right in front of us that we give up emotionally and spiritually. In the counseling work that I do, I talk to many people who know that they want to be happy but cannot define what this looks like. This internal spiritual and mental dying process can happen to any of us. We need to relearn the gift of imagining what life can be like. Giving ourselves permission to dream is therapy in itself. You can try it right now…go ahead, close your eyes and imagine some really awesome good stuff for the next minute or so.
7. Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.
There is a saying that goes something like..:”we cannot solve today’s problems with the same thinking that got us here.” Beliefs, habits, thoughts, and choices are major influencers in the results and outcomes in life. Change of any sort can be uncomfortable and quite difficult to say the least. Changing core beliefs about ourselves and our world can be just as challenging. However, change is always possible for all of us. This is very important for us to remember.
8. When you see that you can find and enjoy new cheese, you can change course.
Do you recall the day that you went from believing you couldn't ride a bike to the day that you learned you could? Can you recollect the freedom that seemingly and magically opened up for you on that day in that moment? Think about it. When you learned you could ride a bike without training wheels, you immediately and fully became aware that you were no longer trapped on the driveway. Once riding was mastered, you knew that you could not only change your course, you could change your directions and your destinations. Your mind began to project all the new possible places you could travel. We can still have these “bike” moments at any point in life. What would you do right now if you were not afraid to fail?
9. Move with the cheese and enjoy it.
This is the final point of Dr. Spencer’s book, and it ends up in what I refer to as the maintenance phase of managing change positively in life. Living life at this vantage point offers us and others enthusiasm, hope, and a balance between accepting the unwanted changes of life and regularly achieving the changes that we do desire. Living life in this spot allows us to experience more peace and more happiness.
Are you ready for some change?
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