Where is your mystical park bench?
Copyright 2005 Paul Bunting
Jose often wondered when his life was going to take off.
Throughout schooling Jose's teachers has always given him praise
and complements. Jose excelled in sports and was even rewarded a
college scholarship. As you can imagine, Jose developed great
expectations throughout this period of time.
Jose used to daydream of being a successful businessman who made
a lot of money and had a lot of power. He was going to be well
known and well liked in whatever industry he chose. Jose
sometimes thought of the fingers he may have to step on, and in
his mind played out many possible scenarios of his eventual rise
to power.
As we all know, sometimes things don't go as we would like them
to go. This just so happened to be the case for Jose. After
graduating college with honors Jose successfully interviewed for
a promising new job.
Jose's promising new job lasted for around eight years before he
was released from his responsibilities with no explanation. Of
course, this came as a great shock to Jose. He was young,
possessed a sharp mind, and he was highly ambitious. He was
headed straight for the top, and he made sure to let everyone at
work know. Incidentally, his talk was backed by actions - Jose
performed. So why did they let him go? Better yet, what next?
Jose did not come from a wealthy family, and now he was in a
financial mess. The new BMW he had recently leased was not going
to pay for itself. His upper west side apartment was not going
to pay for itself, nor were any of Jose's other mounting
expenses going to pay for themselves.
Determined to keep moving forward Jose went searching for work.
We had many interviews and he even had some offers. Jose chose
not to accept the offers he received because they had offered
him what he considered "insulting pay for a person of his
ability". Jose was determined to pick up where he left off
before.
That didn't happen. Rent didn't happen. Car payments didn't
happen. Credit card debt kept growing. Time kept marching
forward and Jose was still not working. This was all very
disappointing and confusing at the same time. Jose was a big
believer in the power of the mind, as he had demonstrated in
sports and schooling. He was very smart and he knew what he was
able to do, and now this?!?
Time kept marching forward and things happened. Throughout the
course of the next year Jose's BMW was repossessed. He also
received an eviction notice and had to be out in 30 days. His
credit cards were just about maxed out and there was nowhere to
go. Now in desperation, Jose thought about the jobs he turned
down. He would have been willing to accept them now, and now he
did not even have the resources to make it to a job. At that
point Jose decided to become willing to accept any job he could
find to put food in his stomach and a roof over his head. Just
as he had that thought he felt a small shift. A slight feeling
of peace came over him. In fact, he was feeling better than he
had felt in the past year leading him to where he was at that
moment. Jose decided to take a walk and not worry about work for
the day.
As he was walking he was drawn in a direction he had previously
not ever walked, or even drove for that matter. The scenery was
unfamiliar, yet beautiful. The breeze felt refreshing, and Jose
felt lightness in his step. Just then Jose started noticing
things he had not noticed for as long as he could remember.
He heard birds singing. He smelled the sweet smell of a bakery.
He heard children playing and he saw people smiling. This all
felt so good. As Jose continued to walk he noticed a clearing
that looked to be an apparent ending to the city where a lush
green park greeted him. This park looked amazing. It seemed to
be something out a childhood book. There were tall trees swaying
in the wind. The grass was soft as velvet. There was an old
baseball diamond that appeared to be abandoned for quite some
time as it was overgrown.
Deciding to walk through the park Jose headed towards the trees
in the rear of the park and walked into the shadowy canopy they
offered. Here he discovered an old park bench facing a stream.
Jose was not even thinking about work, or any other situation
that he worried about for the past year. He decided to sit and
watch the stream. This has a hypnotizing effect on him as he
felt the internal pressures he clung so tightly to releasing and
traveling far away from him.
What was life anyways? Was it supposed to be about being
ambitious and climbing a corporate pyramid? Was it supposed to
be a struggle to balance all aspects of work and home life? Was
he put on this earth to apply his mind to a job of some sort and
black everything else out? At that moment he decided not. It did
not matter how bad things looked, Jose was not going to worry,
or even try like he had so aggressively done before.
He stayed at the park until the sun started hung low in the sky
before starting back to his soon to be vacated apartment
(although he did not even give that part any thought). Realizing
he was hungry Jose gave way to the pleasant smells of the bakery
he passed on his way to the park.
Coincidentally, once inside he ran into one of the people who
offered him work that he turned down. Letting by gones be by
gones, Jose said hello and smiled at the woman who at one time
sat behind a desk with an opportunity for him. She said hello
back and they started small talk.
Turned out the firm she was working for was still hiring and if
Jose wanted the job she was willing to arrange transportation
for him and give him a signing bonus so that he could get caught
up with rent.
Amazed at how life can work sometimes Jose graciously accepted
the position and reflected thought of his life before retiring
to sleep that evening. The day he decided to let go of the
beliefs he held to tightly to that prevented him from even
seeing, was the day things started happening as if by an
invisible force beyond his control. It was also the day Jose
discovered he could be happy and enjoy life!