Happy 200th Anniversary! Today marks the 200th weekly
Finding the Gift email in a row. I am so thankful to each one of you for opening my messages and walking this journey with me. I love your email replies and am always grateful to read your posts and comments in our FTG Readers Group when something speaks to you.
Staying in touch with you is an important part of my week and I’m excited to continue.
As I considered which recent experience to share with you on this milestone day, it seems only appropriate to bring another lesson
from the car wash. In my daily meditation book, March 7 features the Car Wash Metaphor. It's always a favorite to re-read and talk about, and it’s one of the first encounters where I began to realize that I see things that perhaps other people don’t, which compelled me to begin writing these lessons down for my own use, and then ultimately to share.
Having a spiritual experience in the car wash has happened three times now. The second one, “The Car Wash, Part Two” was shared with you on March 12, 2019, and focused on the importance of our interior condition, which is easy to overlook. Click here to read it.
To be clear, most of the time I actually go through the car wash and just get my car clean, which admittedly is kind of a let-down. But honestly, I have doubted how much more the car wash could possibly teach me. That is, until last weekend, when I was shown that apparently there is more to learn from this automated wonder, so here goes.
Up until last Saturday, my car was filthy. Filthy! I’ve been intending to go through a car wash for more than a month or two. Although I kept meaning to take care of it, I also felt like it couldn’t get much dirtier, so what would it hurt to go another day or two—or another week or two?
Finally this weekend, my car was as dirty as I can ever remember one being and I went through the car wash. I love shiny clean wheels too, but obviously somewhere along the way, I stopped noticing they were far from shiny anymore. They were so bad, the car wash couldn’t fully restore them and I
had to do a lot of hand-scrubbing and wiping to return their luster.
As soon as I left the car wash and began driving, I enjoyed how clean my windshield was. It felt great to be able to see so clearly. The trouble with
vision that is gradually coated is that we quit seeing the dirt and learn to accept the lesser condition as normal.
My car looks amazing now, but I remember about a month ago when I first noticed that it was getting
dirty, thinking to myself, I should probably wash it soon. The problem is that it didn’t become drastically dirty overnight. Rather, it inched itself into the extreme filthy condition that resulted from me repeatedly putting off my car wash. Had it happened in one day, I would have run to the car wash right away.
I heard a similar analogy recently. If you put a frog in a pot of cold water on the stove and turn it on, he will stay in the pot as the water comes to a boil, even though he has the ability to jump out. As the water gradually gets hot, the incremental change doesn’t seem that different to him and he doesn’t realize he’s in danger until it’s too late, if at all.
My third car wash lesson prompted me to contemplate where I have possibly let things slide in my life, my work, my relationships, or in any other area of my life. Where has a slow, gradual decline over time brought me to a condition that I would have
never tolerated had it happened abruptly?
The good news is that it's seldom too late to take corrective action. It may seem overwhelming to turn things around now, but in the same way that these conditions happened
slowly, so can their turnaround start with a tiny step, followed by another and another.
A minimal action repeated consistently creates a monumental result. This works in our favor, or not. With increased awareness and an
inventory of where each facet of our lives is today, compared to where they once were and where we want them to be, we can decide what needs our attention.
Intention follows attention. What little
thing can you commit to do today to take you closer to the tomorrow you want to create? Share this commitment with someone who can support you and resolve to take a small step today in the direction you want to go.
Next
week, I’m going to walk you through a specific example of how I encounter an ordinary situation, yet walk away with extraordinary perspective. I believe we all have the power to see life with a deeper lens and “find the gift.” If you don’t already, with a little more attention to mindfulness, you can also start seeing lessons every day in your own world. And then you can share them with me!
Thanks again for making this 200th anniversary possible! I am excited to keep sharing what I see with you, life lessons distilled in nature and everyday occurrences.
Going forward, I’m considering what other products and services I can offer that may be of value to you. Some possibilities include FTG merchandise, expanded video content, group chats with Q&A, and group coaching. If you have interest in any of these or something else, I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions. Please reply to
this email. Thanks!
