531. Power of a Vow

At age 17, James was having a hard time connecting with people. He was briefly admitted to a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation. The staff explained he was feeling teenage angst and a type of situational depression. “While I was in there I thought, if I have the ability to help people, I’m going to help teenagers get the best care possible. Clearly, I didn’t know what that was, but for me, that was my vow.” Four years later, after earning a degree in psychology, he signed up with a temp agency for a job as a psychiatric technician. “All of a sudden, I find myself in the same unit, in the same room where I was four years earlier when I made my vow!  I remember it was such a powerful moment for me. When you make a vow, you don’t know where it’s going to take you.”

On the day James was celebrating the joy of opening his private practice, he returned home to find his house empty. The person with whom he’d been in a meaningful relationship had packed up and left. At first, he thought he had been robbed. After three or four months of grieving and struggling to understand, he would come to see this devastating blow as, “A gift of goodbye. Sometimes, to reach for the next stage in our lives, we have to be pushed.”

“It was a real spiritual awakening and realization, that I don’t want to go through life without having a strong spiritual connection and a sense that the creative force of the universe is here with me. Whether you believe in God or the Universe or whatever else, at some point in life you will find yourself on your knees, just because life happens.  And when you find yourself on your knees, you look for something to give you strength.”

Hero (The Secret Book 4), by Rhonda Byrne

The Power of Positive Living, by Norman Vincent Peale

1.  We are all self-made people. The choices we make determine who we become.

2.  Always ask yourself, especially in times of pain, “What am I learning about myself right now?”

3.  Focus on finding a source of strength that will carry you through life’s challenges. That source may be God, the Universe, a philosophy or spiritual practice. The choice is yours.