Once, at a school visit, a child asked me why I always included something about teeth in my books. Astonished, I stood there, mentally ticking through the pages of each of my books published up to that moment. He was right! There were little interactions or dental-related jokes in many, and then, of course, I wrote Mabel the Tooth Fairy and How She Got Her Job, which was chock stocked with fully blown dental humor.
Ah, the psychology of what we write…Okay, I admit it. I am a complete dental phobe. It started with the traumatic childhood dentist, Dr. Gacchione (who knows how he actually spelled it, but my brother and I made a nasty song out of that name) and was exacerbated by hyper-sensitive teeth and lots of dental woes.
So what does this have to do with positive thinking or even writing? Yesterday, as I sat, miserable in the dentist chair (treated by my dds whom I adore, I must admit, despite the tortures he inflicts), I had my Van Morrison blasting in my head in an almost futile attempt to drown out the sound, smell, and drowning sensation of the drilling.
When I focused on the drill, I would start to freak. But then I began to visualize sitting in a small nightclub, front row, listening to Van, who has been my fave since the age of 15, so of course I got front row seats. I listened and imagined, and I went away from the torture chair.
This goes straight in line with my visualization board I’ve written about in the past. Positive thinking at the dentist’s office? YES! It really did help. This positive stuff isn’t funny, but it sure does work. I swear it.
