I Learned To Live

"You know I almost died once," he said.

"Really? What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing!" he said. "Except I learned to live."

We create what we want in our lives. I am sure you've heard it all before. "What you think about the most manifests in your life." "You reap what you sow." "If you believe it you can achieve it."

Out of all the principles of success and happiness, that one singular concept is the absolute truth. It is the key to all success in life.

But it can also be the key to failure and even death.

Pete is a friend of mine. One of those people you call "friend" but you really don't know everything about them. Just when you think you have him figured out, he tells you something completely surprising. Something even brilliant.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I thought I was going to die?" he asked.

"No, I don't think I heard that one," I replied.

"In reality I almost caused my death. You see I went through a period in my life when it seemed everything went wrong physically. It seemed to be one thing after another. Some of the things were identifiable. The doctor knew just what to do and he did it. But he had "concerns", as he put it. It was those concerns that nearly killed me," he said.

Pete is one of those people who are rarely serious. I mean, it's not that he tells jokes all the time, he's just happy. So hearing and seeing this side really caught my attention.

"Bob, I went through a series of tests that started me on a down hill slide. One after another revealed more and more possibilities. It was like when you take your car in because you hear a noise and the mechanic tells you, "It could be any number of things. It could cost you fifty bucks or we may need to drop your engine. Now you're talk big bucks." What is it that always happens? It costs you big bucks."

"Boy I can relate to that," I told him.

"Well, because of that belief system, the facts were staring me in the face. This was the end of my life," he said.

"What do you think happened to me? My whole world came to a halt. I became depressed. The world looked dark and gloomy. The more I thought that way, the more it became a reality. I was in fact creating the world I imagined. I became so physically sick and mentally depressed thinking that I was going to die, that I was in fact dying. My body suffered terribly. So much so that I ended up in the hospital malnourished and depressed."

"So what changed you? What did you do to turn things around?" I asked.

"A young man. A teen who had been in a car accident. He must of had every bone in his body broken. His face was so badly damaged that they operated on him at least a dozen times. When I was in the hospital I met him. One day he asked me what was wrong with me and I couldn't explain it. I kept saying "they aren't sure."

He said, "Well that's stupid. How can you fix something that isn't broken? Now me, I had a lot of fixing 'cause everything was broken. The only thing that wasn't broken was my will to live."

Pete stopped for a moment and just looked around.

"That's what was broken on me. My will to live. I had chosen to believe that I was dying and so I created it. I made it a reality. It was the one thing that all the doctors in the world couldn't fix. It was the one thing, the ultimate thing, that only I was in control of. It was the answer."

"So what happened to this young man?" I asked.

"He went on to college, graduated and owns his own company. He teaches safety in the work place to large corporations around the world. And from what I understand he tells his story to high school students as a way of giving something back."

"And you my friend? How did you ever pull out of it?" I asked.

"I willed it to be so. The very next day I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and had a good talk with the guy I knew was inside. We both agreed that life was too precious to waste. I made up this phrase and hung it every where I lived."

He reached in his wallet and handed me a note that read:

"Today I take control of my life. I will permit nothing to interfere with my full enjoyment of each and every moment that God has granted me. I am deserving of all the joy and happiness that this day has to offer. There is nothing that God and I can't accomplish. I will nourish my body with the best and purest food. I will nourish my mind with nothing but the most positive thoughts. I will feed my soul the Word of God and know that when my time on this earth is over I will have lived purely, fully and faithfully."

So what life have you created? Are you living fully or dying slowly?

Begin to live again. Take control of your life

"The only thing that wasn't broken was my will to live!" he said.

"Learn to Live!"