Read Gerri's Leaf Story
ON THE PATH...
thoughts along the way
Oh what a beautiful morning Oh what a beautiful day. I’ve got a wonderful feeling, everything’s going my way.
How do you feel when things are going just the way you want them to? Great, huh?
Each and every event or situation in our lives brings with it a gift, just for us. We have to be open and consciously aware to be able to receive this gift.
Recently at the office, I was talking with Vicki, a new advertiser who I had just met that day. We were finishing up when Sandra, who is part of the phenomeNEWS staff stood at the doorway of my office. “These are my grandchildren... they are twins,” she said. At that moment, putting her hand over her heart, Vicki gasped, “I’m a twin!” Then I exclaimed, “I’m a twin, too!” Here we were, three sets of twins, caught up in this moment in time. Sandra’s two grandchildren were fraternal twins. Renee is a pretty little girl with red hair. Her twin brother Soros has curly blonde hair. They are ten years old. Vicki told us that she and her sister, Nikki, are also fraternal twins. Fraternal twins usually look different from each other. My twin sister Gloria and I are identical twins, we look alike. But the more you know us, the more you see our individual personalities come through. Vicki said that she and Nikki were four minutes apart. Gloria and I were also born four minutes apart. Then, amazingly, Renee and Soros told us they were also born four minutes apart! We had made an immediate connection. This was truly a synchronistically orchestrated moment in time. We were all in synch with each other. This event was a special gift to us, guided by spirit. We were all in the right place at the right time for this to happen. We were tuned in, tapped in and turned on. This was in divine order.
We can tell when we are in alignment with the whole universe when so-called coincidences magically occur and are unplanned.
There is a flip side to having everything go the way you want.
My friend Anna had a boyfriend, Joey. They had been together for at least twenty years. Joey really liked his beer and cigarettes. Over the years, things accelerated. He didn’t know how to stop. It had become an uncontrollable habit. As time went on he started to have continuous choking and coughing and eventually passing out. This continued until he finally was unable to walk steadily. Anna, who was no longer his girlfriend, remained his friend. She still cared about him. She tried to guide him in life but he only did what his body was crying out for, his addictions. Joey told me that he now realizes the choices he made in life were not the right ones for him. He had hit rock bottom and wanted to change his life. Two weeks ago, it got so bad that Anna had to take him to the emergency room. They found out that Joey has lung and liver cancer. Anna and Joey were shocked. Joey hasn’t had a beer or smoked since he’s been out of the hospital. Joey told me he doesn’t want to die. When I last saw him, he looked like he had aged twenty years and had lost a lot of weight.
I recalled reading a poignant poem that reminded me of the situation Joey was going through. I searched high and low for the poem I had cut out years earlier and finally gave up looking. Then one day my eyes settled on a book in my office. I casually picked it up and started thumbing through it to where it just stopped on a page. Lo and behold, there was the exact poem I had been searching for. And here it is.
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Chapter One I walk down the street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I fall in.I am lost.... I am helpless.It isn’t my fault.It takes forever to find my way out. Chapter Two I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I pretend I don't see it.I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place.But it isn’t my fault.It still takes a long time to get out. Chapter Three I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I see it is there.I still fall in... it’s a habit...but,my eyes are open.I know where I am.It is my fault.I get out immediately. Chapter Four I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I walk around it. Chapter Five I walk down another street.Portia Nelson Joey wants to live. He told me that when he prays, he prays for all of us who know him. He prays for us. Imagine that. And we are all praying for him. Joey’s stumbling blocks have been revealed to him. He now has the willingness to change. He is now back on track, taking it one day at a time, wanting to be in alignment as he once was so many years ago. Joey has begun thinking seriously about his life. What choices are we making in our lives? If we were given the diagnosis of a life threatening illness how would we react? What would we do differently? What changes would we make? I think we would really appreciate life and begin living each day to the fullest. We are always given choices. We can choose to keep falling into the same hole or we can choose to walk down another street. It’s our choice. Each day is a gift.
Chapter One I walk down the street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I fall in.I am lost.... I am helpless.It isn’t my fault.It takes forever to find my way out. Chapter Two I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I pretend I don't see it.I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place.But it isn’t my fault.It still takes a long time to get out. Chapter Three I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I see it is there.I still fall in... it’s a habit...but,my eyes are open.I know where I am.It is my fault.I get out immediately. Chapter Four I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I walk around it. Chapter Five I walk down another street.Portia Nelson
Chapter One
I walk down the street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I fall in.I am lost.... I am helpless.It isn’t my fault.It takes forever to find my way out.
Chapter Two
I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I pretend I don't see it.I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place.But it isn’t my fault.It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three
I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I see it is there.I still fall in... it’s a habit...but,my eyes are open.I know where I am.It is my fault.I get out immediately.
Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I walk around it.
Chapter Five
I walk down another street.Portia Nelson
Joey wants to live. He told me that when he prays, he prays for all of us who know him. He prays for us. Imagine that. And we are all praying for him. Joey’s stumbling blocks have been revealed to him. He now has the willingness to change. He is now back on track, taking it one day at a time, wanting to be in alignment as he once was so many years ago. Joey has begun thinking seriously about his life.
What choices are we making in our lives? If we were given the diagnosis of a life threatening illness how would we react? What would we do differently? What changes would we make?
I think we would really appreciate life and begin living each day to the fullest. We are always given choices. We can choose to keep falling into the same hole or we can choose to walk down another street. It’s our choice. Each day is a gift.
Gerri Magee is director of advertising and public relations and assistant to the editor of phenomeNEWS. She continues to share her thoughts “On The Path” in this column. She can be reached at gerri@phenomenews.com.
