Sara, Book 1 (18 page)
Sara didn’t actually hear her father saying no to anything, but his words certainly were pointed at what he didn’t want.
Sara’s mind was spinning. She wanted to speak what she
did
want. “I’m okay, Daddy,” she said. “I never fall down.”
Whoops,
Sara thought.
That wasn’t exactly saying yes.
Wanting to be the best example that she could be for her father, Sara stopped and turned directly to her father and said, “Thank you, Daddy, for keeping the walkway clear for us. It makes it easy for me to not fall down.”
Sara laughed right out loud as she heard herself, even when she was deliberately trying to say yes, still talking about not falling down.
Boy,
Sara thought,
this is not going to be easy.
And then again she laughed and then said right out loud, in amazement at herself, “Not going to be easy? Good grief, Solomon, I see what you mean.”
Sara was only about 200 yards from her driveway when she heard the front door of her house slam shut, and she turned to see Jason running at top speed, holding his book bag in one hand and holding his hat on with the other hand, fast approaching Sara. Sara could see, from the fast approach Jason was making, and from the gleam she recognized in his eyes, that he was about to brush Sara from behind, as he had done dozens of times before, just enough to set her off balance and to make her mad. And, in anticipation, Sara shouted, “Jason don’t you dare . . . Jason,
no
, darn you, Jason, don’t doooooo that!” Sara shouted with all her might.
Good grief,
Sara thought.
I’m doing it again. “No” just keeps coming out of me, even when I don’t want it to.
Don’t
want it to? There I go again.
Sara felt almost frantic. She couldn’t seem to control her own words.
Jason brushed past Sara and kept on running, and as he was now over a block ahead of her, Sara began to relax into her own quiet walk to school and to reflect on the amazing events that she had observed over the past ten minutes.
Sara had decided to make a list of the “nos” that she had heard so that she could sort it out later with Solomon. Taking her little notebook from her book bag, Sara wrote:
DON’T BE LATE.
DON’T WANT A MESSY HOUSE.
DON’T LET COLD AIR IN.
DON’T BE LATE FOR SCHOOL.
DON’T WANT TO FALL DOWN.
NOT GOING TO BE EASY.
JASON, DON’T YOU DARE.
Sara heard Mr. Jorgensen shouting at two boys in her classroom, “Don’t run in the hallway!” Sara wrote it in her book. She was leaning up against her locker when another teacher from another classroom walked past her and said, “Hurry up; you’re going to be late.” Sara wrote that down, too.
Sara sat in her seat, trying to settle into another long day in school, when she saw the most amazing sign posted at the front of the classroom. The sign had been there all of this school year, but Sara hadn’t noticed it before. Not like she was noticing it now. She could barely believe her eyes. She took out her notebook and began writing what she was reading:
NO TALKING IN CLASS.
NO GUM CHEWING.
NO FOOD OR DRINK IN THE CLASSROOM.
NO TOYS ALLOWED.
NO SNOW BOOTS IN THE CLASSROOM.
NO STARING OUT THE WINDOW.
NO LATE WORK PERMITTED.
NO PETS ALLOWED IN THE CLASSROOM.
TARDINESS NOT PERMITTED.
Sara sat stunned.
Solomon is right. Most of us do resist our Well-being.
Sara was eager to hear and observe as much as she could that day. During lunchtime, she sat by herself away from the other kids, listening to the conversation two teachers were having at the table behind her. She couldn’t see them, but she could clearly hear them.
“Oh, I don’t know,” one teacher said. “What do you think?”
“Well, I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” the other teacher replied. “You never know. You could end up much worse off than you are now.”
Wow,
Sara thought. She had no idea what they were talking about, but one thing was absolutely clear: The advice was
no
to whatever it was.
Sara added to her list:
I DON’T KNOW.
I WOULDN’T DO IT IF I WERE YOU.
Sara wasn’t halfway through this school day, and she already had two pages of nos to discuss with Solomon.
Sara’s afternoon proved as fruitful as her morning as she added to her list:
DON’T THROW THAT!
STOP THAT!
I SAID NO!
CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME?!
AM I NOT MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?
NO PUSHING!
I’M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU AGAIN!
By the end of the day, Sara was absolutely exhausted. It seemed to Sara that the whole world was resisting its Well-being.
“Boy, Solomon, are you ever right. Most everybody is saying no instead of yes. Even me, Solomon. I know what I’m supposed to do, and I can’t even do it.”
“I CAN’T DO IT.” Sara wrote on her list.
What a day this had been.
That’s quite a list you have there, Sara. You’ve had a busy day.
“Oh, Solomon, you don’t know the half of it. This is only some of what I heard today. People are mostly saying “no,” Solomon. And they don’t even know it! And me, too, Solomon. This is hard.”
Well, Sara, it really isn’t so hard once you know what to look for and once you realize what your goal is. Sara, read something to me from your list, and I’ll show you what I mean.
“DON’T BE LATE.”
Be on time.
“DON’T WANT COMPANY TO VISIT A MESSY HOUSE.”
We want our home to be comfortable for our guests.
“DON’T LET COLD AIR IN.”
Let’s keep our house nice and warm.
“DON’T BE LATE FOR SCHOOL.”
Being on time really feels best.
“DON’T WANT TO FALL DOWN.”
Stay focused and coordinated.
“NOT GOING TO BE EASY.”
I’ll figure this out.
“DON’T RUN IN THE HALLWAY.”
Be considerate of others.
“NO TALKING IN CLASS.”
Let’s discuss and learn together.
“NO STARING OUT THE WINDOW.”
Your full attention will truly be of tremendous benefit to you.
“NO LATE WORK PERMITTED.”
Let’s stay current and work together.
“NO PETS ALLOWED IN THE CLASSROOM.”
Your pets are much happier at home.
“Gosh, Solomon, you’re really good at this.”
Sara, you’ll be good at it, too. It just takes practice. And, Sara, the words that you use are not so very important. It’s the feeling of
pushing against
that is detrimental. When your mother said, “Don’t leave the door open,” she was certainly
pushing
against
what she didn’t want. But even if she had said, “Close the door!” she was still more aware of what she didn’t want, and therefore, still, her vibration would have been one of pushing against.
I’d like you to get the idea of relaxing toward what you do want, rather than pushing against what you do not want.
Certainly, your words are an indicator of your direction, but the way you feel is even a more clear indicator of your allowing or resisting.
Just have fun with this, Sara.
When you push against
saying no, you’re still pushing against. The idea is just
to talk more and more about what you do want.
And as you do that, things will just get better and better. You’ll see.
S
ara walked home on this the last day of school for this year with a strange combination of feelings. Usually, this was the happiest time of her year, having a full summer of near solitude ahead of her, not being forced to mix with a room full of different, and often uncomfortable, classmates. But on this year, the last day felt different to Sara. She had changed so very much in this very short year.
Sara walked briskly, breathing in the wonderful spring air, looking ahead, and then walking backwards for a while. She was eager to see everything and everyone around her. The sky was more beautiful than she had ever remembered seeing it. Bluer. Deeper in color. And the fluffy white clouds, in such stark contrast, were absolutely stunning. Sara could hear the sweet, clear songs of birds that were far enough away that she couldn’t see them, but their perfect songs were reaching her ears anyway. The feel of the wonderful air upon her skin was truly delicious. Sara was walking in a state of true ecstasy.
So you see, Sara, Well-being truly does abound.
“Solomon, it’s you!”
It’s everywhere.
Solomon’s clear words continued in Sara’s head.
“It is everywhere, Solomon. I can see it and feel it!”
In fact, it’s everywhere that it is not disallowed. A constant, steady Stream of Well-being flows to you at all times, and, in any moment, you are allowing it or resisting it. And you’re the only one who can allow or resist this constant, steady Stream of Well-being.
In all of the time that we have been visiting, the most important thing that I have wanted you to learn is the process of reducing, or eliminating, the patterns of resistance that you have learned from other physical people. Because, if it wasn’t for the resistance that you have picked up along this physical trail, the Well-being that is natural to you, certainly the Well-being that you deserve would flow naturally to you. To all of you.
Sara thought back on all of the wonderful conversations she’d had with Solomon. How wonderful their interactions had been! And Sara realized that in every case, with every single conversation they had experienced together, Solomon had been helping Sara to lower resistance.
She thought back on the techniques, or games, that Solomon had offered day after day, and now, from her clearer perspective, she realized that, all along, Solomon had been teaching her processes to lower resistance.
Little by little, Sara had learned to leave her resistance behind.
You, too, are a teacher, Sara.
Sara’s eyes widened, and she felt breathless, as her favorite teacher of all time announced that she, like Solomon, was a teacher. Sara felt that warm feeling of appreciation sweep through her and around her.