Feb 14
27
There’s More Where That Came From
Didn't we resolve this issue already?
More what …and for what purpose? Now we get to a bit of: “which came first the chicken or the egg” silliness. It isn’t silly, however, if the conundrum leads us to getting more of both the object and the purpose for it.
After all, for what purpose did a chicken evolve from the egg other than to produce more eggs and for what purpose?
Without a somewhat defined purpose can you really get more? Okay, let’s get down to it.
I’m at the gym about a week ago and after getting through a five-plus mile stint on the treadmill and some other invigorating stuff – and feeling totally energized, I’m returning to my locker and this “old guy” was sitting on a bench nearby bemoaning the fact that he had just turned 69 and was “feeling every day of it.”
These were a lot easier when I was 79.
“Really,” I said, after asking silently if I should say anything, “what’s the matter?”
“I never thought I’d get to the point where I felt so much pain.”
Out of my mouth came something I regretted saying immediately: “Well, I’m going on ninety and feeling younger every day.”
The look on his face indicated that he regretted my saying it even more than I. Somewhere between a frown and a non-verbal growl he wagged his head in disgust, I had assumed, at my insensitivity, as he picked up his gym bag and walked out of the locker room.
He finished his expression of disapproval by responding to my forced cheery, “have a nice day,” with a grunted, “yeah, right.”
Why did I say anything, I thought, more than a bit chagrined at blurting such a thoughtless remark in the first place.
Instead of speaking out...ask Source.
“You asked, didn’t you?”
Oops, “yes I did,” was my thought out response.
“I’ll make it perfect, you asked, I gave, it takes lack of thought to do what you just did, and it will take lack of thought to create perfection out of it.”
…and I thought no more about the incident until a repeat performance this morning. Again, feeling grateful and full of energy after my workout, the same guy is sitting in almost the same spot as he was at our previous encounter.
“Should I apologize,” I asked silently?
The man looked up and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking about you ever since the last time I saw you.”
Time is yours, do what you wish.
“Oh-oh,” I said in as noncommittal a tone as I could muster, not wanting to repeat the previous faux pas and forgetting the instruction I had received about not being able to create perfection by thinking.
I shut off any further cognitive reaction and felt a sense of love and care for the guy come over me.
“What on earth do you have?” He asked this with a rather wide expanse of white false teeth displayed.
“What do you mean?” I responded lamely, asking silently, what now?
“You’re almost twenty years older than me,” he said almost plaintively, “how come you feel so good? I don’t know what you got, but I want some of it.”
Outer appearances don't express what's going on inside.
I laughed and sat down next to him, “Well, first of all, let’s set the record straight, the fact is that I’m not quite fifteen years older than you” (somewhat amazed at the glibness surrounding my not being totally forthcoming about my exact age). I introduced myself and found out his name was Wayne.
“Tell me about you, Wayne, why on earth would you want anything that I have? …you look pretty good on the outside,” which was quite true, other than whatever pain about which he was looking as though he might be putting on a layer of drama for the sake of sympathy. He was quite well-dressed and still had a look of good health about him.
The story he told revealed a lack of purpose and meaning in his life, having recently retired after selling his business he’d operated for thirty years.
“It sounds to me, my friend, as though you may want to consider going back into business or helping younger business people who might value your experience – is that something in which you might be interested?”
You are as old as you do.
“Ah, who’d listen to an old fart like me, I’m a has-been. Business has changed so much . . .” and so on, as he grumbled negatively about everything from government regulations to the lack of work ethic and summarized his feelings by saying, “No way, do I want to have anything more with doing business in today’s environment.”
“Well,” I mused, almost to myself, “it was just a thought; tell me, though, how would you like to feel better, you know, less pain and all that?”
“Now you’re talking, he visibly brightened, “if I could live another fifteen or twenty years saying, ‘I was going on ninety and feeling younger every day,’ nothing would make me happier.”
“Well, Wayne, you’re a pretty straight-forward kinda guy, you might have to learn to lie a bit, for starters. I’m going to give you two suggestions that have helped me enormously. First I read a book several years ago by a physician in France who got amazing results in his free clinic by teaching his patients to say over and over, ‘day by day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.’
Write the story of your success. Read it often.
“The other suggestion is to realize that you can have an ever-increasing amount of faith to accomplish all kinds of things, by merely lying to yourself that it is one of the things that is getting better and better. I woke up one day after repeating it for several months, realizing that I no longer had any joint pain and that I had more faith than I’d ever had before.”
Seeing that the word “faith” was making him a bit uneasy, I said: “You look as though you’re reacting to my use of the term faith, I’m not using it in any religious sense – just a belief that with faith I can accomplish all kinds of things that I used to think were impossible – such as getting younger and younger every day. If you want to talk about it someday, maybe we can get a cup of coffee or something. I come here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday around this time” …I left my words hanging there.
“Hey,” he said, quietly, but thoughtfully, I might like that. I gotta go, good meeting you” …abruptly getting up and sauntering out.
“What now,” I asked silently, knowing that it didn’t make any difference, I’d been given what to say, just as if I knew what I was talking about …now that’s faith and there’s more where that came from and I’ve been given a way to get it.