I was home one afternoon and a gentleman came by to clean my windows. I had seen him in the cul-de-sac many times before, and felt safe having him do the work. I needed my windows cleaned, and he needed the job. He started the work, I paid him and he never finished. In fact, he vanished before completing the job and even, left all of his equipment. It appeared he was helping other neighbors and told me he would be back later. He never returned. Initially, I was very upset. It was not cheap and he promised to clean my garage door, seal it, clean the windows and put rain protection on them. My first reaction, which lasted for a day or so, when he never returned, was one of “feeling taken”. Then, one day, I reframed and thought “maybe he needed the money for his family and the holidays, etc. Maybe he needed it more than I did?” I realized that I needed to think about this from a positive perspective. It was hurting me and really, it is only money. Money is energy that goes in and out. I truly believe that people are good.Maybe this man did not have a clue how to conduct himself and felt like he deserved this money for some reason. I don’t know. I just know that I had to think about this differently. I had to surrender to what is and know, in an odd way, I was helping him.
I thought about “Thank Forward” and I realized that it was my gift to him. It maybe was not packaged in a nice box or handled the way that it normally would be when presenting someone with a gift, but in my mind, it still worked. I looked at the card deck and felt like this really pertained to having gratitude for positive thoughts and action. It was a reframing of something that felt negative into a more positive place. It made me feel better, and I am sure the money helped that man.
