Once upon a time . . .
Thursday, April 10th, 2008Boy, do I have a story for you. It’s a story about the power of perception.
Today while I was driving my husband’s truck, the brakes failed. And I do mean failed - from one instant to the next I had brakes and then no brakes at all. I called my husband at work and told him about it, and after he made sure I was okay he immediately launched into a tirade about how his truck is a piece of junk (actually he used a more colorful word), and how we don’t need a big car repair bill right now, and how inconvenient this was because he had to leave work to come get me — on and on he went. I let him get it all off his chest, then we hung up so I could call a tow truck.
My husband arrived before the tow truck did and he was still ranting and raving about how aggravating this was, blah, blah, blah. I don’t blame him, I’ve done plenty of my own raving at times when something gets under my skin!
But today I was calm. Totally calm and detached about the whole thing. In fact, I felt blessed.
Finally in the midst of his rant he noticed my unusal calm and asked if I was really okay. I said I was, and then told him why I was so peaceful.
Every Thursday I do a ton of driving. It’s the day I do the majority of errand-running for the household, including trips to the grocery store, bank, post office, pharmacy and more - usually spending 3 to 5 hours driving through multiple cities. I also drive an extra 50 miles to visit my sister-in-law, nephew and niece for a couple of hours. All in all I probably travel close to 100 miles every Thursday.
Today was no different. I did all my errands and stopped to visit sis and the kids like usual. During the whole trip the brakes were fine. No weirdness, no hint of imminent failure. When I left their house is when the brakes failed.
I had just pulled away from the curb and coasted slowly toward a stop sign at the next cross street. Because the distance is so short I had been traveling maybe 10mph. So even when the brakes failed, there was still barely enough pressure for me to step hard on the pedal and force the truck to stop. Then I just put it in reverse and crept slowly backwards to the front of their house again and used the emergency brake to stop.
After I told all this to my husband, he still didn’t get why I thought this was a good thing. So I explained further - for the 75 or so miles I had been driving before that, I had gone up and down some very steep, winding roads. I had traveled through very busy city streets, and over crowded bridges. I had stopped for children in crosswalks. If the brakes had failed during any of those moments, this situation could have been thousands of times worse. I or someone else could have been seriously injured or killed.
You can bet that all of this crossed my mind in a flash when the brakes failed as I was coasting along at 10mph on a flat, deserted stretch of road. THEN he got what I was saying. Immediate shift in perception. “You’re right,” he said, “this could have been REALLY BAD if it happened anywhere else.” And he hugged me. Yep, that’s what I thought too! 
Did I attract a brake failure today? Actually, I think I did. (whoopsie!) For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about the brakes on my car and wondering if it’s time to have them replaced. It keeps popping into my mind but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Since I had to drive such a long way today I asked my husband if we could swap cars. (There’s another blessing - if the brakes had failed while my husband was driving, you can bet he would have been driving a LOT faster than I was! :-))
So my point with this story is simple. By NOT overreacting or focusing on the negative aspects of the situation, I can virtually guarantee that something positive will come out of it. Actually, I already feel that the most positive outcome possible has been achieved. I’m still safe, and so is everyone I encountered while driving today. The truck can be repaired or replaced. So can my car. No big deal.
That’s the true power of perception! Like I say in my Law of Attraction ebook, the Law of Attraction is not meant to be a “magic cure” for everything that we think is wrong with our lives. We may still have moments when things go wrong. But if we make an effort to keep our thoughts and emotions in order, we can drastically minimize their impact and probably prevent even worse things from happening later on.
Either way, I just feel good. Great, actually. Like a loving hand is guiding me away from danger and toward all the good things I want. I may not get them all when I hope to, but I do believe they’re coming. And maybe they might not all be in the packaging I expect to see, but they’ll still be beautiful and inspiring. I couldn’t ask for anything more! 
Wendy
CreationThoughts.com
WingsfortheHeart.com
Posted in Emotions, Gratitude, Law of Attraction, Positive Thinking | 2 Comments »
