Recently we wanted to buy a van. We went around and looked at different options. When we finally decided on what, at the time, seemed to be the most suitable one for us, we found out that this particular car had just been sold.
Rudolf was frustrated and out of an old habit almost lost himself and started to blame his partner for the delay and subsequent missing out. But then the message of the mystery man came to mind: “How does it get any better?”
We met him at the Arts Centre while we were on our mission to find the van. He told us that when people were asked, “How are you?” and things were good, a common expression that people use was, “It can’t get any better”. “This in itself,” he continued, “is a negative and limiting thought”.
You might have heard of the power of the mind, that our thinking influences what we experience. “Our thoughts are real forces”, is John Kehoe’s message, and “you are not what you think you are, you are what you think”. Therefore it is so much more useful to focus on what you want than on what you don’t want. You give energy to what you put your mind to.
Books have been written about the power of prayer. It has been found out that praying makes a difference. Research showed that a group of sick people who were prayed over had less pain, used less medication and got better more quickly. You can look at praying as wishing for something, as an act of positive thinking, or as a way of stating positive intentions.
Nobody in their right mind wants their situation to get worse. However, we can get used to a “bad” situation and identify with it: being a victim, unsuccessful, unwanted, unlucky. We will have to give up our feeling miserable if we want to embark on improving our situation.
What thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and others would we have to leave behind in order to move forward? Notice how difficult it can be to drop an idea of who we are. We tend to cling to pictures of who we think we are, even if those are negative, untrue or unhelpful – at least they are familiar.
We usually view a new approach with a little skepticism, cynicism or indifference. Simply saying, “How does it get any better?” seemed a little too easy, but in the spirit of exploration and curiosity, we thought, we try it.
In good or bad times we ask ourselves, “How does it get any better?” and open up to receiving pleasant surprises.
We are now proud owners of a van, that meets all our requirements. It is much better than the one we missed out on. The only question that remains: “How does it get any better?”
Mirjam Busch & Rudolf Jarosewitsch
Copyright © 1/2001 by Rumijabu | Originally published in Southshore Beacon #124, January 2001
Waiora Healing Waters 