Sometimes, the spark that shifts our path begins with a jolt. For author Grace McGartland, that jolt arrived in 1984 with a diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease. But from crisis came clarity. She named it Thunderbolt Thinking—a call to rewire the mind and transform obstacles into opportunity.

“You don't need a life-threatening experience to get unstuck,” she wrote. Instead, shake up routine thoughts. Look sideways. See from above. Find new angles. This is the gift of awareness, the power of creative disruption.

McGartland offered five brilliant steps for thinking transformation:

• Expand perspectives: consider every option, even the wild ones.
• Rachet up brainpower: gather resources, spark collaboration.
• Turbocharge the environment: create stimulating spaces that invite invention—from think tanks to kitchen table brainstorms.
• Master the conversation: talk possibility, share vision, dream out loud.
• Be a catalyst: unstick others and help ideas fly.

Thunderbolt thinkers, she said, carry spirit in their stride: courage, awareness, humor, and action. Like lightning, they illuminate what's possible.

Consider singer Ray Charles. Blinded at six, he found strength through imagination. “Regardless how bad things got on the outside,” he said, “I kept a clear picture in my head... I saw myself as a recording star.”

So shake the sky. Reboot your thoughts. Think with joy. Think with lightning.