Johnny Duggan had lived a coloured life–at least so he thought. He had been married thrice; filed for bankruptcy twice; and done a stint in jail once. The story of “him” was always uppermost on his mind; it was the mean-looking truck that he drove everywhere he went. At the gym, out on a date, dining at a restaurant–there it was: Johnny’s mean-looking truck. It continuously spewed fumes about itself; and it was so full that Johnny had to beef up the suspension and build up the rear racks to contain all of the dark mental stuff from his past.
One day, Johnny was talking to a guy who claimed to know a little about meditation and the powers of the mind. Johnny told him that he had tried to meditate during his stint in jail (he had certainly had time enough for it) but that it hadn’t done him a lick of good.
“When you meditated,” asked the guy, “did you take your mean-looking truck with you?”
“I sure did,” spat Johnny. “My mind was piled high with all of the junk in my truck. Couldn’t concentrate on nothing else!”
“Uh, huh,” said the guy, as he scratched his chin. “No wonder you’re still having such a hard time.”
“What do you mean?” asked Johnny.
“I mean,” said the guy, “that you’d be wise to check the load that you’re carrying. If you want your life to improve, you gotta offload all of that yuck from your truck!”
“What difference is that gonna make?” asked Johnny.
“Seriously?” said the man. “You really don’t know?”
“Know what?” asked Johnny.
“You don’t know that what you’re impressing into the mind on a habitual basis is going to be expressed as the circumstances of your life? By concentrating your energy on everything that’s bad, you’re actually impregnating your future with more of what’s bad!”
“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s Chihauhau!” exclaimed Johnny.
“If the shoe fits,” said the man. “You have to find the good within before you’ll experience it without. By continuing to rehash the negative events in your life, you’re actually creating more for your future. You’d be wise to focus on what’s good for a change. Andrew Carnegie, who commissioned the book entitled Think and Grow Rich, summed up the principle this way:”
“Any idea that is held in the mind,
that is emphasized, that is either feared or revered,
will begin to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate form available.”
The last we heard, Johnny was at the local dumpsite for toxic waste. He was shovelling off a big load of yuck from his truck before settling into his regular meditation session–hint, hint; nudge, nudge. By offloading the “bad stuff,” he made room for all of the “good stuff” that had previously gone unnoticed. Oh, and Johnny has also improved the quality of his life by practicing gratitude on a daily basis. He discovered that the more grateful he is, the more he attracts circumstances for which to be grateful. Probably just a coincidence–not!
Dare to dream (and care for one another).
With heartfelt regards,
Art
Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell
P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏
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