If there is a universal truth, it is that crickets, spiders and ants belong outside, not in our homes.

Crickets hop in quick and random order and are hard to catch, and they are endlessly chirping in hidden locations. Spiders weave webs in corners and other places in order to trap and hold what feeds them. And ants! Showing up unexpectedly in long trails going everywhere and nowhere.

All of which is very good out of doors. When they are in our homes and we feel helpless to remove them — now, that can be a problem.

They have disrupted our plans, our way of living and our peace. We may even think they have interrupted our real life. What if we could simply train them to leave when we tell them to? Wouldn’t that make our lives easier?

Have you noticed that sometimes our thinking can match the activity of those pests as they hop, chirp and trap us in endless rumination going nowhere beneficial?

That is our “real life.” It is not the events that happen around us but the thoughts and emotions we have inside that makes us happy or unhappy.

When we let our thoughts run wild, it can lead us to what some people call insanity – doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Many people are quoted for the phrase, “If you always think the way you have always thought, you’ll always get what you always got.” Not very good grammar but a good way of viewing our lives

Just as we would not let the spiders, crickets and ants live in our home without removing them, we can sweep those pesty thoughts from occupying our mind and making us unhappy.

Disruption is in the natural order of life. With disruption comes our opportunity to create something new. Whether we recognize it or not, we are all creative.

It is good to remember that no matter how difficult our life experiences get, it’s important not to create catastrophes in our head.

Ann Landers is quoted as saying, If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.”

We are bigger than the thoughts we have. We are able to take a deep breath and say, “This thought, these thoughts, are not beneficial to me. Let them be gone.”

We may just be able more peacefully to deal with the pests, in our homes or in our minds.

The Rev. Linda McNamar is a Laguna Woods Village resident.