Today I want to share with you an inspirational short story written by Dr. Christian Guenette from Vancouver, Canada.
He has given me the kind permission to publish it here on my blog. For more about him and his web sites; see below.
“There once was an old man who lived in my town.
I would often see him trundling about, limping awkwardly,
Helped along by a gnarled, ancient-looking staff of wood.
Every time I passed him by, he would smile, and give me a nod.
Regardless of the weather,
He always made a point of greeting me
As if the sun was shining down brightly on us both.
One day, while meandering through our central park,
I ran into the old man again.
This time, instead of making my way past him,
I chose to stop and ask him a question:
“Excuse me, sir –
Why is it that you always seem so cheerful?
I mean, you don’t even know me,
Yet you often take the time to stop what you are doing to say hi to me.”
He smiled.
“Young man” he replied, “it is because I spend my life climbing mountains.”
I gave him a puzzled look. “Climbing?”
It was obvious that this man had trouble negotiating a flight of stairs,
Let alone a mountain.
“Yes,” he added. “And it brings me so much joy,
I cannot help but share it with others.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “How do you climb?”
I was perplexed.
“We can all climb, my boy,” he said with a wink and a grin.
“Some of us just aren’t aware of our abilities.
When we are taught to ascend above
What we’ve been conditioned to believe is possible,
We experience in our everyday lives
Something very extraordinary,
And it puts everything into a different perspective.”
“I still don’t get it”, I admitted,
“But if you can climb, maybe there’s hope for me, too.
Will you teach me how you do it?”
“Ahhh, now that’s the spirit” he said, slapping his knee.
“By golly, looks like you’ve just taken the first step.”
And so he began to teach me to climb.
We gathered ourselves near the trunk of a fallen tree.
He propped up his weathered cane, leaning it against the stump,
And then he rolled up his sleeves as if to suggest the task ahead
Was going to be an arduous one.
“First of all,” he explained,
“You must always remember that no mountain is insurmountable.
Realize that no matter how tall, wide, steep or rocky it is,
Each attempt to climb a mountain begins with the same first step.
And that step is taken when one makes it his desire to climb it.”
As he spoke, I observed the man’s expressions,
And I could sense the man had a great deal of passion in his message.
“Most people avoid climbing the mountains that they find in front of them,
Because they tend to focus on the obstacles instead of the opportunities.
Obstacles only become limiting when one thinks that a mountain
Is too difficult to climb,
Or when one’s fear prevents him from seeing anything else.”
“If negative thoughts or fears cause you to doubt
Your original intention to climb,
This may prevent you from reaching your goals,
Before having even begun.”
“But I am not afraid,” I announced boldly.
“I’m glad,” he said with a wry grin. “Let’s continue.”
“Once you have taken the first step,
Such that the desire is felt, and the will to climb is well established,
The next step involves much planning.
For nobody wants to get half-way up a mountain,
Only to discover that they have forgotten something
Essential for them to reach the peak.
So, be diligent in your preparations.”
There was a long pause as the man rubbed his chin.
Then, speaking in a lowered voice, he said,
“Rest assured, however, that planning alone will not suffice.
For all the greatest planning and preparations
Do not climb the mountain for you.
The goal that you strive for will never be realized unless
The plan is actualized.”
He gave me another wink, and smiled.
“For to obtain anything that is worth your effort,
You must first apply the effort — through your actions.
There is no other way.”
He reached for his cane, and with its narrowed tip
He proceeded to draw a large inverted ‘V’
On the ground in front of us.
Motioning with the end of his cane, he pointed to the ‘uphill’ side of the image.
Illustrating his last point, he asked me the following rhetorical question:
“Does it take more energy to climb from the bottom of a mountain to its summit,
Or would it require more energy to fall down the other side?”
Without pausing for the answer, he continued with his analogy.
“All of life is a challenge.
If you expect it to be easy, you will oft be disappointed.
However, if instead you look forward to the task ahead,
Plan well, and commit to the journey,
All of life can be full of joy – very much worth your efforts.”
In emphasizing his last sentence, he spread his arms wide,
As if to embrace the totality of the park around us.
We sat silently for a few moments,
Reflecting upon the profound nature of these words,
Feeling the warm caresses of the sunlight on our skin,
Listening to the songbirds in the trees above our heads, reminding us of
Mother Nature’s beautiful bounty.
Then, after taking a deep breath, he broke the silence:
“Once you begin your ardent climb,
You are advised to stay focused on your next step ahead.
If each of your steps are well-placed, one after the other,
Your progress toward the goal will be assured.
However, if you haphazardly meander forward, with no apparent purpose,
There is a greater chance that you will slip,
And your progress will naturally be interrupted.”
With another nod from me, he grinned and continued on.
“With proper focus, you pay attention to each opportunity
As it appears to you on your ascent.
You must learn to appreciate the present moment,
As it is only in each of your present moments that all of life is realized.
Once planning has been done, and decisions made,
It is no longer time to think of the past, or to worry about the future.
All the knowledge accumulated to date will remain simply that – knowledge –
Until applied as your next chosen action step.”
Pausing again to gather his thoughts, the old man continued:
“That being said, forward progress is not always essential.
If the resources are low, or your energy drained,
A deserved rest will keep you closer to your goal
Than a careless step taken when the call for rest is not heeded.”
He looked into my eyes and proceeded to tell me an ageless secret
That would assist me in following this last principle:
“It is important to listen to the body.
For it is only the body that truly knows
What you need at all times.”
“My body?
But what if I don’t speak the same language as my body?”
I giggled with youthful ignorance.
Without skipping a beat, the old man expanded on his mind-body lesson:
“If the needs of the body are heard but not respected,
A painful lesson will be forthcoming.
Your progress is sure to be delayed
While you recover from your mistake.
Then, while you are injured, all the body will grant you
Is the time necessary to take in the lesson that you mindlessly ignored.”
As he paused to take a breath,
I took the opportunity to interject;
“Excuse me, sir, but how is anyone supposed to really know
When the time is right to move forward, and
When the time is more appropriate to rest?”
He chuckled lightly as if he was amused with the naivety of my question.
“Oh child,” he began,
“It is obvious that you have much to learn.”
Noticing my shameful reaction, he added,
“I am not mocking you with my laughter,
But I remember asking a very similar question when I was your age.”
I found this very hard to believe.
Given the wisdom in his words,
I could not imagine him faltering
Even a single step on any planned excursion.
“The answer to your question, my friend, is quite simple.”
“Trust.”
The old man left this one word hanging
Like a climber holding on with only one hand from a rocky ledge,
Suspended in animation while a crowd of onlookers
Pondered his fate.
“Trust?” I asked, bewildered. “Trust what?”
He calmly waited a moment longer before continuing,
As if he himself was the dangling man, surveying the surrounding cliff,
Looking for the best opportunity for a foothold.
Then, focusing intently on his words, he said,
“Trust what you feel in your body.
These are your instincts.
And when you come to trust these feelings,
The path ahead, whether straight or full of switch-backs,
Is the path that will always lead you toward your destination.”
Before he began the next sentence, he took his finger and poked it into my abdomen.
“Haven’t you ever had a gut feeling about something?
To feel the truth here means infinitely more than to think it here.”
Upon this second gesture, his index finger became firmly planted on my temple.
“Ouch, that hurt.” I groaned.
“Precisely,” he said. “That’s the point.”
“When you come to a fork in your path,
Faced with a dilemma that you know is significant,
This is when your instincts are most important.
You may feel uneasy about the possible consequences of your choices,
Causing you to doubt yourself, considering suggestions that
Are in direct opposition to your gut feelings.”
“Ahh yes, there is a temptation to listen to others,
In order to avoid the scrutiny of personal beliefs.”
But if you deny what feels right for you,
It will lead you to regret your life decisions,
And your present day experience
Will be filled with remorse for yesterday’s blunders.”
As he looked up at me, our eyes met.
There was a saddened expression on the face of a man
Who had experienced this lesson more than once before.
He quickly took his eyes away from mine and looked down at the ground,
As if to shield me from the painful regrets of his past.
Then, as if to be stirred from a dream,
His head popped back up, and the familiar grin began to make its way
Into the corners of his mouth,
And I could tell that he was back
Into his positive train of thought.
“So, when contemplating your next move,
Do not say ‘I think I should do this or that’.
Check to see if you can say ‘I feel this is right for me’.
When you feel something like this, in your heart or in your gut,
These feelings cannot be denied.
For this is your truth – what is meant for you in this life.”
I was humbled by his obvious conviction, my gaze affixed to his.
There was another pregnant pause before he continued.
“Although there are an infinite number of different paths
To the top of every mountain,
The beauty in your climb is that you get to choose
The path that’s right for you.”
“Keep your eye on the goal, your dream –
But do not forget that the experience of the climb,
And the lessons that you get to learn along the way
Are worth much more than you might expect.”
“If your definition of success in this life
Is only to reach the very peak of a mountain,
You are very likely to experience many
Disappointments and feel like a failure.”
“For it is typically only the smallest fraction
Who ever get to realize the pinnacle of human achievement
In any one select area of expertise.
But does only one hundred percent realization of goals define success?
What about those who achieve up to 95% of what they originally set out to do?
Should their life be defined by the 5% of which was not accomplished?”
“Each step taken
In the direction of your desires
Can be seen as a success,
When success in life is measured by units of happiness.
For every person has the same opportunity for success,
When they know they are following their hearts’ desires.
“Remember this:
The very last step you use to reach the peak
Is no more important than the first one leaving the valley.”
As he paused,
I reflected upon my own life’s journey.
And I saw a man
Who had spent far too many days
In an unappreciative blur
Of striving for the things I did not have,
Cursing life for what it had not provided me,
Instead of focusing on the potential joy
Awaiting me in every present moment.
For the past five years,
I have been playing the victim of life.
Following that near-fatal car accident
Five years ago,
It was me who pushed my friends and family away,
Too proud to accept their loving offers for help.
It was me who chose to spend my days being unproductive,
Instead of making the best of every opportunity.
Waves of sadness surged through my body,
And tears welled up in my eyes
As I longed to recover the time I had lost to my ignorance.
As if on cue, the wise old man placed a withered hand on my shoulder
And spoke softly in my ear, “It’s never too late to begin the next climb.”
As he spoke these words,
I remembered his lesson about not hanging on to regrets,
And I realized that if I had not been confined to my wheelchair,
Spending countless hours meandering through the streets of our town,
I probably would not have had the opportunity to meet this wise old man.
And as a result, I would not have experienced
Life’s most blessed gift –
This present moment.
The days, weeks and months that followed
Were like a whirlwind of activity.
I reconnected with my friends, my family,
And all those whom I neglected during my days of self-pity.
I took a career-counseling course, and found out that I had skills
In the most unexpected of areas – teaching.
I got a job as a camp-counselor in a program that was designed to
Teach handicapped kids how to overcome the obstacles of everyday life,
And I’ve come to realize that what I’m really doing
Is teaching each and every one of them to climb.
I still see that old man from time to time,
But we don’t get the chance to sit together and chat very often.
He just winks and nods at me as we pass each other by.
Sometimes I notice him watching me
As I coach the kids in the park,
And the smiles on the children’s faces
Mirroring my own,
Is all the old man ever needs,
To know he’s conquered yet another mountain.”
Dr. Christian Guenette is a holistic chiropractor living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is also an author, lecturer, life-coach, and a devoted husband and father. He has a passion for helping people, and works tirelessly with his clients to find a solution for what he calls ‘unnecessary suffering’. Dr. Guenette’s mission: to enlighten, inspire and empower people to discover inner peace. Read more about Dr. Guenette by visiting his websites: www.back2health.ca and www.thecommonsensecoach.com.
