As I backed my car out of the garage, focusing on the mirror that was close to the wall … I heard a sickening crunch on the other side of the car.
In my haste to get to the airport and my focus on the mirror side, I had left my driver’s side door wide open … and driven it right into the doorway … Crap!
No damage to the garage entrance thankfully – but I did a real number on my car window. It wouldn’t close properly … a good five-inch gap. No way could I leave it parked at the airport in rainy November weather like that. So, I re-parked it in the garage and called a cab.
My cab arrived in minutes and after commiserating, the friendly cabbie said the most Law of Attraction-based statement to me. “Oh well, you never know why things happen … could be a good reason why that occurred.” I laughed at that and said he was “absolutely right”. I’d been cranky about what I had just done, calling myself “stupid” and “an idiot” in my mind. And, wondering what I had done LOA-wise to cause such a thing. It could have been far worse. And who knows, perhaps I was being protected in some way by not driving my car at that time.
As we drove … I began to get a sense of why it was important for me to be in this cab with this particular driver. “Oscar” began to tell me the most inspiring story. Even though it was pouring rain, he was happily complimenting our city on its virtues. Telling me how much he loved living in Victoria and being self-employed with his cab.
He explained that he had just moved to Victoria a few years before from Vancouver. Before that, he had been in Toronto and before that, Rome. And before that he had been in Saudi Arabia … then, many different locations in Africa. After fleeing his original homeland of Ethiopia as a young man. He had spent many years in assisted refugee camps and moved slowly through the relocation process … meeting his wife in the process. Over their moves, they became parents to four children … in their early teens now.
Oscar went on to tell me how he had sent his children to Ethiopia for their vacation this past summer. That it was important to him that his children see where he came from and understand the contrast for themselves. It was still too dangerous for himself to return but his wife did — and his mother got to meet her grandchildren for the first time. He said he was pleased with the perspective his children came back with.
Wow, suddenly I was looking out at the rainy landscape with a new appreciation and happiness. Oscar explained the sense of freedom and safety that we all take for granted. No night curfews where you are shot on the spot if an emergency drives you out of your home at night. He admits that sometimes he gets frustrated at people in his cab who complain about small things (hmmm … like a busted car window, I thought to myself).
Everything is relative isn’t it? Sometimes having tough things happen can carry wonderful benefits — like a life long appreciation that you are no longer in those circumstances. Appreciation is of the highest vibrational tones. When we appreciate, life opens up for us. Like attracts like.
He dropped me off at the airport, early I might add (the time had flown.. I was so entranced with his story, his positive attitude … and the lift in my own vibration).
Sometimes all it takes is a bit of perspective to lift one’s mood — and alter our personal energy and outlook. Our focus and what we choose to put attention on is so key. We can see rain, hectic morning and crunched windows, or we can see freedom, liberty to pursue an entrepreneurial path, and a safe environment. I thank Oscar for helping me see and appreciate the latter — which is always around me if I choose to see it.
Here are a few Oscar-inspired questions for yourself:
(1) What can you be thankful for in the now?
(2) What challenging situation have you overcome and triumphed from?
(3) How has your present improved, prospered and developed well beyond where you used to be?
(4) How is life evolving through you, your family, and your children (if you have them) compared to your ancestors?
(5) What irritation, inconvenience or problem can be put into proper perspective… when you contemplate all that you do have?
Look for for the Oscars on your path … maybe you can be one for someone else too. A little reminder of just how good things are, right under our every day noses.
© 2008 Christina L. Merkley
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:
Christina Merkley, “The SHIFT-IT Coach” and creator of the SHIFT-IT Method® is a Visioning and Strategic Planning Expert specializing in Graphic Facilitation and Law of Attraction techniques. Based in charming Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, she works deeply with individuals, partners and groups in defining and getting what they really, really want. For more information visit: www.shift-it-coach.com
[tags]Christina Merkley, The SHIFT-IT Coach, SHIFT-IT Coach, SHIFT-IT, Law of Attraction, LOA, Victoria, British Columbia[/tags]
