You Just Got Your Wish!
That’s the last line of my one-minute tune-up adjustment
seminar. Attitude adjustment, that is. I should charge seminar fees.
It goes like this:
When speaking with someone who is obviously unhappy with
their situation, understanding that there may be a thousand justifications for their cloud overhead, dismal and bleak, I often ask them about
themselves. Most people love that subject: themselves. When you speak to them
directly, one on one, really listening, they’ll quickly give you a window into
their lives. Many think that they are unhappy for a good reason, but most simply lack
perspective, so I continue.
Our waitress for lunch was a 23 year-old single mom of two
young kids. Her own mother acted as her built-in babysitter, allowing young Ashley to work. But Ashley didn’t care about food or waitressing. She was just there for a
paycheck. Although it was obvious that she loved her kids to death and her Mom
too, Ashley thought her life sucked. Her baby daddy had dumped her, the Village
Inn waitress job sucked, no money, nobody her age to talk to. All her
girlfriends were out having fun without the responsibilities that were
crippling her.
Many people like Ashley only have one reason to be unhappy
with their lives: it's all in how they choose to view it.They don’t realize that without
changing anything at all, except their perspective, they can be extremely happy, almost ecstatic with the
possibilities of each new day.
It’s all about having a healthy perspective, attitude,
balance, and gratitude.
Starting with perspective, I ask Ashley to just put up with me and listen for one minute.
Me: Ashley, one minute ago, you were an 83-year-old homeless
woman losing a prolonged and agonizing battle with lung cancer. Coughing up
blood, homeless for years, society’s trash, lying on a urine stained stack of
damp cardboard between two large dumpsters. You, and all of society's garbage thrown into back
alleys, out of sight. But as you lie there in agony, you saw a figure approaching. A woman who certainly looked the part said:
Fairy Godmother: I’m your fairy Godmother and I will grant
you any wish you like!
Ashley: Anything?
Fairy Godmother: Yes, anything. Only, you’ll have no memory
of this life.
Ashley: Memory of this life? This life sucked! I don’t want
to remember any of it!
Fairy Godmother: OK then, what’s your wish?
Ashley: Well, I want a new life, a different life. Make me
young again, with children this time, I never had any. I’d like to do it right,
you know, have a job, live in a warm place. I hate New York! Give me a mother
too, I never had one. If you could make all of that come true, I would be the
happiest, and luckiest woman in the world!
Me: And BOOM! Ashley, you just got your wish!
Now you’re only 23 years old, living here in Florida on this
great sunny day. You have a good, steady job, two beautiful children who mean
everything to you, a wonderful supportive mother and lots of girlfriends. You
are healthy, smart, pretty, and strong. That Fairy Godmother really came
through for you!
OH, that’s right, I guess you can’t remember anything about
your past life a few minutes ago…
It makes me very happy to believe that sometimes that story
sinks in. Perspective can be key to having a great attitude, always seeking
balance, and eternally grateful for the opportunity to simply exist in the
moment.
But sometimes I get greedy for myself and I think, Hey! what
about me? I have a wish too! So I contacted my Fairy Godmother and whined
obnoxiously until she granted my wish…my fairy Godmother turned me into Etta
James for a day! This video is me! Check out my rendition of “Something’s Got A
Hold On Me” I’m so good!
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