A friend of mine who lacks a spiritual outlook on life once asked what the foundation of mine is. So I explained to him that my foundation had three feet, like a tripod or the Holy Trinity, if you prefer.
The first is about humility. The Dalai Lama once said something to the effect of: “The greatest that is in me is in everybody else and the worst that is in anybody else is also in me.” This thought helps me to check my ego in every way necessary and also keeps my self-righteousness, a trait my family and I suffer from, somewhat in check.
The second is about getting back what you put out. It’s a lesson that my mom taught me. Somewhere in the Bible it says that what you give to the universe you will get back ten fold. When I was a young girl, Mom and I went to Sloan’s Market to buy a gift basket for a lady in our neighborhood who was moving away. Sloan’s was an old market not too far from our house, with ancient wood floors and an interior so dimly lit that it took the eyes a couple of minutes to adjust. It sold mostly fruits and vegetables and had a cooler full of dairy products and ice cream treats that you could buy one at a time. Mom told me I could get a popsicle and, if memory serves me, I had picked out a banana one. Banana popsicles are still my favorite.
When we got to the counter, it ended up that mom didn’t have enough cash for the fruit basket she had picked out and my popsicle. She was a dollar short – which happened to be what my popsicle cost. We had a choice. She could get a smaller fruit basket or I could give up my popsicle and get the one she had picked out. And she let me decide, but gave me the encouragement to make the right choice. She told me that whatever I put out to the universe would come back to me ten-fold. So I mulled it over, then gave her the dollar and gave up my popsicle. Later that day I was headed down a couple doors to my neighbor’s house. We never walked on the road, always through the two yards that separated our houses. And there in the Hancock’s yard, was a $10 bill. It never occurred to me that it must have dropped out of Mr. Hancock’s pocket when he was getting out of his car. To me, it was proof that what Mom had told me was true. Here it was, a reward exactly ten times the amount that I had given up. I picked it up and raced home to show her. And that was when I became a believer.
Today the universe again gave me back what I put out into it. Sitting there throwing the ball for my beastie, I felt economic fear begin to creep into my heart. And I banished it, saying out loud, ‘cause that’s the kind of eccentric I am, “NO I will NOT be afraid.” Ten minutes later a client called to book. Ten minutes after that, a lady who I’m going to do some awesome part-time work for called to set up our training because she now had worked lined up for me. The law of attraction is a real and powerful thing. And the Universe, or God as some choose to call it, wants to support us. I know this to be true.
What is the third leg of my tripod, you might ask? The last piece of my Holy Trinity? For the life of me, I can’t remember. That was many years ago and who knows if I would even value it anymore (though I suspect I would). However, I will do some figuring on it and see if I can’t remember, ‘cause I KNOW you’re dying to know what it was.
Peace and good things.