I want to tell you a little story. It happened during my first
year in college. I was sitting in my room, late one night,
studying for a chemistry test.
Tests seemed to be a major part of my life in those days. I
longed for the time when I would never have to take another
quiz, study for one more test or await the results of final
exams.
I took a break from the chemistry book to reflect on the
injustices of life. The food in the cafeteria seemed designed
for nutrition and not enjoyment. The professors were unfair, so
many projects, too much homework, too little time, too much this
and too little that.
Shaking my head, I reached for a book a frien*d had dropped off
the day before, leaned back in my chair, and switched my
attention away from studying, at least for a short while. I
looked at the title of the book. It was “The Night They Burned
the Mountain, by Dr. Thomas Anthony Dooley.
I casually flipped it open and thought Id skim a few pages. My
eyes settled on a sentence that was to determine, to a great
extent, the path my life would take. The words read, “It”s
better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
I looked once more at the words. They seemed to burn into my
mind. I closed the book, went back to studying for another hour
or so and then went to bed.
Before falling asleep, I looked at my professors in a different
light. Instead of seeing them as demons intent on making my life
miserable, I now saw them as dedicated teachers trying to impart
their knowledge and wisdom to me. Perhaps the cafeteria food was
not so bad after all. Tests were there so that we could measure
ourselves of today against ourselves of yesterday.
What Dr. Dooley said to me on that night long ago was this:
Bring light into the situation, don”t berate the darkness; be
grateful for what you have, don”t be angry at what you don”t
have; change the way you look at events and the events will
change the way they appear to you.
I took the test the next day and got an “A”. From that day on,
I realized that the circumstances and events around us somehow
reflected our inner landscape. That perspective is important and
by changing the way I look at my world, I could change my very
world.
Decades have come and gone since that first year in college. I
have acquired various degrees in chemistry, mathematics and
business and have worked in the hallowed halls of corporate
America. I have written best-selling books and have lectured
from Sydney, Australia to San Francisco, California; from Bali,
Indonesia to Bombay, India.
There are many things I have done and still many more I have
left undone. Yet, wherever I go or whatever I do, I use as one
of my guideposts in life, “It”s better to light one candle
than to curse the darkness.” Those words have stood me in good
stead through the darkest nights of my soul.
I heard again Dr. Dooley”s voice when I stood at the deathbed
of my wife. It kept my company through the loss of my business.
It was with me when my car was repossessed and when they
foreclosed on my house.
Times have changed dramatically since my journeys through the
“Valley of the Shadow.” But have times really changed or have
I changed the way I look at things? Life is a lot more pleasant
now or could it be that I have learned how to look at life
differently?
Change the way you look at life and life will appear the way you
look at it. Look for the good in everything and the good in
everything will look right back at you. The way I figure it, you
could berate the thorns on the rosebush or tenderly pick a rose
and enjoy its beauty.
Perspective, choose it and use it. Use it or lose it. The
Universe is biased on your side. Trust the process.
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