Page 39 - Cityview May-June 2017

URING MY TIME RUNNING AND
owning a whitewater rafting company, I had the opportunity to lease a beautiful piece of land at the base of Devil’s Looking Glass on the banks of the Nolichucky River.
I was to meet the owner to discuss the location of our base camp building and to go over operation of some heavy equipment. Having arrived that day courtesy of an avocado green 1963 Plymouth Valiant, I certainly didn’t look like my vision of a successful man. The Valiant was a reliable car to ramble about in, but about the farthest thing from sporty or pow- erful. I yearned for one of those cool, four-wheel drive trucks. So, I told myself that I “needed” a new truck, because I would never be stuck, it would be great for hauling things, and it would make me more efficient. I had changed my own viewpoint, or PARAdigm, in a DYNAMIC way—by turning my emotional “want” for a new truck, into a “need.”
I call this mental ability to transform emotional “wants” into logical “needs,” Paradynamics. In this case, I had now built a “need” for a truck and transformed it into a goal to get one. What I did not know at the time was that to get the proper result from this ability, I would need to add positive thought, prayer, meditation, and actively listening to intuition. Did I really need that truck? No. Did I have the money to buy the truck? No. Was I willing to go into debt to achieve the instant gratification of owning something that I had not earned? Yes. Would this be bad for me? Yes, but I was blinded by the shiny thing. I thought, “But doesn’t almost everyone have a car loan?” Sure! But what may be right for others should not be a guidepost for me.
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