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Life Support

Started by The Purple Fuzzy, December 20, 2011, 10:05:54 PM

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The Purple Fuzzy

WHAT IS YOUR ROPE TIED TO?

You may have heard of the man who decided to repair the roof of his
house. The pitch was steep, and to be safe, he tied a rope around
his waist and threw the other end of it over the top of the house.
He called his son and asked him to tie it to something secure. The
boy fastened the safety rope to the bumper of their car parked in
the driveway. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But a little while later, his wife needed to run a few errands with
the automobile. Unaware of the line securing her husband, she
started the car and proceeded to drive away. The rope immediately
tightened and jerked the man over the roof and into thin air. Now
before you become alarmed, let me assure you that this never really
happened. But I chuckle at the image of the poor guy sailing over
the top of his house like Evel Knievel without a motorcycle.

This story, factual or not, points to a great truth. It is a truth
about where we place our security; about those things to which we've
tied our safety lines. What is your rope tied to?

Think about it. What do you depend on to keep you from disaster? Is
your rope tied to a good job? Is it tied to a relationship with
somebody you rely on? Is it tied to a company or an organization?

In her wise and sensitive audio LESSONS IN LIVING
(http://tinyurl.com/3vyjufo), writer Susan Taylor tells of
discovering how unreliable some of our safety lines really are. She
tells of lying in bed in the early hours of the morning when an
earthquake struck. As her house shook, she tumbled out of bed and
managed to stand underneath an arched door-way in her hall, watching
in horror as her whole house tumbled down around her. Where her bed
had once stood, she later discovered nothing but a pile of rubble.
She lost everything - every button, every dish, her automobile,
every stitch of clothing.

Susan huddled, scared and crying, in the darkness. In the pre-dawn
morning she cried and called out for help.

As exhaustion set in, she thought that maybe she should be listening
for rescuers rather than making so much commotion. So she grew still
and listened. In the silence around her, the only sound she heard
was the beating of her own heart. It occurred to her then that at
least she was still alive and, amazingly enough, unhurt.

She thought about her situation. In the stillness, fear abandoned
her and a feeling of indescribable peace and happiness flooded in,
the likes of which she had never before known. It was an experience
that was to permanently change her life.

In the deepest part of her being, Susan realized a remarkable truth.
She realized she had nothing to fear. Amazingly, whether or not she
was ever rescued, whether she even made it out alive, she sensed she
had nothing to fear.

For the first time in her life she understood that her true security
did not depend on those things in which she had placed her trust. It
lay deep within. And also for the first time, she knew what it was
to be content in all circumstances. She realized that, in an
ultimate sense, whether she had plenty or hardly enough, somehow she
would be all right. She just knew it.

She later wrote, "Before the quake I had all the trappings of
success, but my life was out of balance. I wasn't happy because I
was clinging to things in my life and always wanting more. My home,
my job, my clothes, a relationship - I thought they were my
security. It took an earthquake and losing everything I owned for me
to discover that my security had been with me all along . . .
There's a power within us that we can depend upon no matter what is
happening around us."

She had tied her rope to the wrong things. It took a disaster for
her to understand that those things are untrustworthy. So she let go
of the rope and discovered peace. She found that her true security
was a power within - dependable and sure.

What is your rope tied to? And what would happen if you found the
courage to let go of it?

-- Steve Goodier


The Purple Fuzzy

JUST CHILL

An Appalachian folk story tells of two friends who went coon
hunting. They treed a coon but could not get him down. So one
decided he'd climb the tree and shake the coon loose. To his
surprise, he found it wasn't a coon at all, but a wildcat.

In a little while, his friend heard an awful commotion up in the
tree. Then he heard a voice screaming down at him, "Help! Help!"

"What'll I do?"

"Just shoot up here amongst us," his friend said. "One of us has got
to have some relief."

Does your life ever feel like you're wrestling with a wildcat and
somehow, somewhere, you have to get some relief? If so, you're not
alone.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman asserts that people actually need more
relief now than ever before. We are living more stressful,
faster-paced lives than ever. He cites the results of an
international study conducted in collaboration with the British
Council to measure the speed of life.

The experiment was conducted by researchers who secretly timed how
fast thousands of pedestrians walked in city centers across the
globe, including London, Madrid, Singapore and New York. Granted,
this is not the most scientific experiment, but it is fascinating
nevertheless.

Prof. Richard Wiseman says, "This simple measurement provides a
significant insight into the physical and social health of a city."
Where do the fastest walkers live? In order of speed, they are found
in Singapore (Singapore), Copenhagen (Denmark), Madrid (Spain),
Guangzhou (China) and Dublin (Ireland).

According to this study, we live about 10% faster now than twenty
years ago, when a similar experiment was conducted. The biggest
changes are found in and around Asia, where the pace of life in
Guangzhou (China) increased by over 20% and where Singapore showed a
30% increase.

A common American expression is, "Chill." Are you anxious and
uptight? Chill. Need to de-stress? Just take it easy? Chill.

Chilling is pretty good advice, actually. Especially if the word
"chill" is spelled this way:

C - Calm down. When you're anxious, frenzied or pressed, stop. Take
a deep breath and ask yourself, "Why?"

H - Hold back. Set a reasonable pace. Life is a marathon, not a
sprint. If you want to last, pace yourself. And take time to rest.

I - Indulge your desire for fun. Do something fun everyday and try
to put fun in your usual activities.

L - Learn how to just be. You already know how to DO. Take time to
BE. Don't measure your life by what you accomplish, but by who you
are. Be present. Be attentive. But be.

L - Let it go. You are not responsible for everything and everybody.
In the immortal words of poet Robert Browning, "God's in His Heaven;
all's right with the world." You don't have to do it all yourself;
you don't have to do it all right now. And some of it you may not
have to do at all.

You may feel like you're wrestling with a wildcat. Or maybe you just
feel as if you're living too fast. But if you need some relief,
"chill" is a good word to remember. Spell it right and you just
might get something you don't expect. Happiness.

-- Steve Goodier