Drawing Positive Thoughts from the Well

First…Fill the Well

As a young boy, on Saturdays I would take the bus downtown and sit in the window seat of the local bookstore. There I would read books on the foreign concept of “positive thinking”. My mother said I was filling my head with crazy thoughts. Life was hard and it was not supposed to be easy. Positive thinking would only lead to disappointment and frustration.

I disagreed.

For 50 years I kept reading books and studying the positive effects of a positive mind.

When I was diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkins disease and given the smallest chance of living, I went to the well where I’d been storing positive thoughts and drew them out to sate my parched spirit. They refreshed me and gave me the confidence to go on. Cancer did not beat me.

A year into remission, my dear wife of 36 years was diagnosed with a pernicious form of cancer that took her life after 15 months of fighting. Again I went to the well to find succour in the positive thoughts I found there.

A few months ago, as I lay in the intensive care ward recovering from a severe heart attack, I found myself at the water’s edge, drawing positive thoughts upon which to focus my mind.

50+ years of reading, studying and applying the principles of positive thinking filled the well to the brim. There was no scant supply but instead a deep resevoir to access.

I continue to fill my well on a regular basis, as who can say when I will need to draw from it again.