That Reminds Me Of A Story....

Today I got an email from a gentleman who said he had had run across the Law of Attraction 15 years ago, but couldn't understand it at the time.

"That reminds me of a story," I thought.

When I was about 13 years old, I was suicidal.

(Not the way you expected this story to start, is it?)

It's OK, I can talk about it now. And people deserve to hear this -- because people who are suicidal are just sitting there, having their own private dark and brooding thoughts, and not talking to anyone. That's what makes things worse. So c'mon, let's talk about it now. If I had been successful in my attempts to kill myself, you wouldn't even be reading this right now. So indulge me.

As I was saying, I tried to kill myself at age 13.

Nothing seemed to be working, and I was so damn confused about who I was, and the people in my life didnt' seem to be much help.

I was looking for a way out -- a way to escape the pain of adolescence. The pain of life, I suppose.

I was talkin' to God, but I didn't hear him sayin' anything back
(probably because I wasn't really talking, I was just whining).

Then I was watching TV one day, and I saw a commercial that changed my life.

Norman Vincent Peale (now deceased) was offering to send me a FREE copy of one of his books.

Was it The Power of Positive Thinking? I don't recall. But I remember watching the commercial and thinking I had to have that book.

(Free copies of a book, with free shipping? Promoted on a commercial on national television? Do you have any idea how much that must have cost? Do you think that man was out to make a difference in the world, or what?)

My skepticism immediately kicked in -- there must be a catch. Surely there's a charge for shipping, or they'll bill me later. It's a recurring payment kind of thing. They'll put me on a dreaded "list." Something's gotta be "wrong" with this offer.

But the commercial was so appealing to me, I picked up the phone and called the 800# to order my copy. No one asked me for any credit card info, just my name and address to mail the book to.

And when it arrived, I devoured it. That book changed everything for me.

It also had a lot of information in it about teen suicides, and I cried and cried to read the stories of parents who had lost their children to suicide. I cried to read the stories their friends told, about how they should have know, how they should have done something.

And I thought, how could they know? Surely my friends had no idea. I had become a master at disguising the pain. My parents probably thought I was "just going through a phase."

But that book was so powerful. I believed what he said -- that I could do anything, ANYTHING I wanted with my life. What an empowering concept!

I don't recall that he ever used the phrase "Law of Attraction" but it's definitely what he was talking about.

I distinctly recall a story about basketball players -- this was based on a scientific study. A group of basketball players were divided into 2 groups. One group did layups for a specified amount of time each day. The other group did layups for the same amount of time, but they ALSO spent 15 minutes a day visualizing themselves doing layups and making EVERY shot.

Which group do you think did better? Of course, the visualizing group was far better (adn more consistent) than the group taht only practiced.

I was in shock when I read that.

At the time, I played ball with my youth group (an odd New Orleans game called cabbageball. Think softball wtih a larger, softer ball, and no mitts. It was designed to be played on smaller fields, since land is at such a premium in New Orleans) and I SUCKED. I mean it, I was terrible.

But this was youth group sports, and everyone got to (had to) play, even sucky kids like me.

I struck out almost every time at bat. I played right field, prayed the ball wouldn't come to me, and dropped it every time it did.

So I decided to test this little visualization theory for myself.

That season, I caught countless fly balls, and I even got to play left field and 2nd base a couple of times.

Oh, and you should have seen my coach's face when I hit my very first HOME RUN.

Interestingly enough, it didn't occur to me that this would work for something other than sports.

So I sort of forgot about the whole thing, until about 3 1/2 years ago when my husband got into network marketing adn I was "re-introduced" to the Law of ATtraction.

So what's my point?

I don't have one, really. Like the title says, that reminds me of a story.

But I suppose all good stories should have a moral, right?

If that's true, then the moral of this story is this:

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

So there's no point in my beating myself up mentally for having this amazing secret -- 20 YEARS ago -- and not using it until lately. When I was ready, it appeared to me again.

And this time, I'm not brushing it off quite so nonchalantly. And I'm testing it on EVERYTHING this time around.

Your QoD is simple:
What lesson does this story hold for YOU?