Who moved my Cheese

Who moved my Cheese? Is written by 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.

ONCE, long ago, there lived 4 little characters 

who ran through a maze looking for cheese to 

nourish them & make them happy.

Two were mice named “Sniff” & “Scurry” and 

two were little people named “Hem” & 

“Haw”.

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.

One morning, Sniff & Scurry arrived at 

Cheese Station C & discovered there was no 

cheese.

They weren’t surprised. Since they had noticed 

the supply of cheese had been getting smaller 

every day, they were prepared for the 

inevitable & knew instinctively what to do. 

They were quickly off in search of New 

Cheese.

Later that same day, Hem & Haw arrived. 

“What! No Cheese? Who moved my Cheese? 

It’s not fair!”, Hem yelled. They went home 

that night hungry & discouraged. But before 

they left, Haw wrote on the wall:

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 

Haw was more comfortable staying in the 

cheeseless Station C. Hem announced, “It’s 

MAZE time!” and wrote: 

If You Do Not 

Change, You Can 

Become Extinct.

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?

Haw now realized that the change probably 

would not have taken him by surprise if he had 

been watching what was happening all along 

and if he had anticipated change. He stopped 

for a rest & wrote on the wall of the Maze:

Smell The Cheese

Often So You Know 

When It Is Getting 

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:

Movement In A New 

Direction Helps You 

Find New Cheese.

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.

To make things even better, Haw started to 

paint a picture in his mind again. He saw 

himself in great realistic detail, sitting in the 

middle of a pile of all his favorite cheeses￾from Cheddar to Brie! He saw himself eating 

the many cheeses he liked, & he enjoyed what 

he saw. 

The more clearly he saw the image of himself 

enjoying New Cheese, the more real & 

believable it became. He wrote:

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:

The Quicker You Let

Go Of Old Cheese, 

The Sooner you Find 

New Cheese.

Haw made his way back to Cheese Station C 

to offer Hem bits of New Cheese but was 

turned down. Hem wanted his own Cheese 

back. Haw just shook his head in 

disappointment but this does not stop him from 

finding New Cheese. He smiled as he realized:

 Is Safer To Search

In The Maze Than

Remain In The

Cheeseless 

Situation.

Haw realized again, that what you are afraid of 

is never as bad as what you imagine. The fear 

you let build up in your mind is worse than the 

situation that actually exists.

He realizes it was natural for change to 

continually occur, whether you expect it or 

not. Change could surprise you only if you 

didn’t expect it & weren’t looking for it.

When he realized he had changed his beliefs, 

he paused to write on the wall: 

Old Beliefs Do Not 

Lead You To New 

Cheese.

Haw now realized that his new beliefs were 

encouraging him to behave in a new way. He 

was behaving differently from the way he had 

when he had kept returning to the same 

cheeseless station. 

It all depends on what you choose to believe. 

He wrote on the wall:

When You See That 

You Can Find And 

Enjoy New Cheese, 

You Change Course.

Haw just hoped he was heading in the right 

direction. He thought about the possibility that 

Hem would read The Handwriting On The 

Wall & find his way.

He wrote on the wall what he had been 

thinking about for some time:

Noticing Small 

Changes Early Helps 

You Adapt To The

Bigger Changes That 

Are To Come.

He continued on through the Maze with 

greater strength & speed. He proceeded along 

a corridor that was new to him, rounded a 

corner, & found New Cheese at Cheese Station 

N where he saw the greatest supply of Cheese 

he had ever seen.Sniff & Scurry welcomed 

him.

“Hooray for Change!”

“Hooray for Change!”

Haw wrote down a summary of what he had 

learned on the largest wall of Cheese Station N 

& smiled as he looked at what he had learned:

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

Change Happens

Anticipate Change

Monitor Change

Adapt To Change Quickly

Change

Enjoy Change !

Be Ready To Change Quickly & Enjoy 

It Again.

It .

Move with cheese & enjoy it