I love positive derangement. Feeling so good, experiencing life so positively that people label you “crazy”, feels wonderful. The sweet spot of Positively Focused is that perspective. From there, the extraordinary shows itself nearly all the time.
This morning proves that assertion in abundance. It looks like coincidence to the uninitiated eye. But to the Positively Focused, what happened happened because that’s what happens when a person finds their grace and worthiness.
In other words, when a person finds they stand at the center of the Universe. There, life’s an adventure. I love sharing this story. I know it offers inspiration for others. That’s why I started this blog: to inspire others into a new reality. One where they get everything they want, the life I call a Charmed Life.
A wonderful day awaited
I woke up this morning super positive. Amazing dreams, an amazing “meditation” session, and an eagerness about the day fueled my rising. As usual when I wake these days, my higher knowing, my Broader Perspective, serves me a list of things it knows will inspire me.
That list included going grocery shopping. I planned a Safeway trip today, Friday, followed by a Trader Joe’s trip Saturday. But my my Broader Perspective said do both today.
I follow such guidance more quickly and often these days. Because I know following such guidance always leads to extraordinary experiences. I write about these every week in this blog.
I don’t have a car. Instead I get around by foot or my bike. A bike ride in the cool morning air this morning sounded great. By the afternoon, Portlanders expected temperatures in the low hundreds, so I felt eager about getting these trips in early.
Safeway was easy and fun. I enjoyed a nice chat with Tammy, the checkout person who usually rings my groceries. While checking out my groceries, I shared my excitement over how much food I got for so little money, thanks to Safeway’s loyalty program. Tammy agreed laughing. I’m sure she though me crazy.
Then I rode home with my panniers full of wonderful food. When it was all either in the fridge or pantry, I realized, I forgot toilet paper I bought. Rather than disappointment about that, I felt excitement about another ride to Safeway. That’s how much I like riding my bike. đ
Getting the toilet paper happened quick. After putting it away, I prepared for my TJ run. Little did I know, while I prepared, the day had ready awesome delights prepared.
Good and bad here, now
It was a lovely ride to TJs. Before leaving home, I sat a few moments. In those moments I savored how good I felt, how wonderful it is owning the bike I own, how awesome it is living where I live and how much fun the ride to TJs would be.
I took an alternative path just to amplify the fun. Nearly everyone I passed greeted me with a smile. Cars stopped on main streets so I could cross. A young woman walking her dog sported a lovely hat and I told her so. She smiled in return. Fellow bike riders greeted me as I passed.
Everything went in a way indicating I had aligned with all that is good. My Broader Perspective and the Universe showed me all the way to TJs evidence of my alignment.
As Trader Joe’s approached, I saw a homeless person. Now in the past, when I ride by a homeless person on the way to Trader Joe’s, I have, again, in the past, worried about him going into my bike bags while I shop. So I lock my bike bags to my bike. I also leave nothing valuable in them.
This time, when I saw the homeless person, I imagined the homeless person trying to take my bags. Then he did some sort of vandalism because he couldn’t get them off my bike.
Slight insecurity accompanied that imagined scenario. That’s when I caught myself. Emotions tell me something important, I know. What was I doing? Creating a reality I didn’t want. That’s what my emotions told me. So I dropped that imagined scenario as quickly as I could. My positive feelings returned and, for a few moments that imagined scenario disappeared.
It would return a bit later. Thankfully, not in as big a manifestation as it could have!
“Good” and “bad” exist in every universal particle, in every scenario, in every moment. I know how I focus shapes how much of each fills my experiences. That’s why I practice a positive focus. It maximizes the former and excludes all of the latter.
Let the fun…continue?
Leaving that scenario behind, I locked my bike, went into the store, followed my intuition and got everything I wanted in about 10 minutes. I checked out and while doing so the wonderful checker greeted me with a smile and a nice little conversation.
Then, when I walked out the door I looked towards my bike. My attention went right to my rear tire. It was flat as a pancake!
For a brief second, that scenario I thought before returned. Did some homeless guy slash my tire? Slowly, I approached my bike. Again, I dropped that scenario. After all, no matter how it happened, it happened. My bike had a flat. Brooding about it wouldn’t fix my tire!
After loading the pannier with what I bought, I put them aside, then detached the tire, and opened my accessories bag. That’s when I noticed my repair kit was missing! The patch kit was there, but other tools I needed werenât. I couldnât repair the flat!
At that point, I stopped myself, took a breath and assessed my situation. This wasn’t what it looked like. Something brewed here, ready to be enjoyed. I didn’t know what though. Still, I know this flat wasnât random or an accident.
So instead of jumping into action, I took a moment and reframed the situation.
âBoy, something really great is going to happen because of this,” I thought to myself. “This is going to be fun!” And I meant it!
Just then, another biker passed by riding an electric bike. Two people passed after that. Meanwhile I started putting my bike back together, figuring I would have to push my bike to a repair shop, call a Lyft or an Uber.
Bring on the wonder!
Minutes later, that electric bike rider returned. He asked me if everything was OK. I explained what happened, that I planned a walk to a repair shop. He mentioned The Bike Gallery, a major bike chain here in Portland.
Under his breath he said that if I took my bike there, and knocked on the door, the staff would let me in and fix my bike.
“I actually work there,” he added in an even lower tone.
Right then, I knew something amazing had come together. My spidey sense told me this was the Universe unfolding a continuous stream of extremely positive outcomes in response to my chronic positive focus. That stream started from my dreams. And with this flat, that stream continued. Hereâs what happened next:
The guy left, I got my bike back together, then started walking from 43rd Ave. to the Bike Gallery located on 53rd Ave. I enjoyed the walk. It was good exercise. I enjoyed the increasing heat on my face and body while walking. A light sweat started on my skin, which evaporated in the light, heating breeze, cooling me in the process. The weight of my panniers full of food pushed down on the flat. That made it easy to push my bike even with no air in the tire.
Two-thirds of the way to the Bike Gallery, I looked up the street and saw a biker who looked like the same guy who helped me at Trader Joe’s. When he saw me he turned my way. It was the guy.
“You walk fast,â He said then pointed to the pannier latched to his bike. A huge manual air pump extended out of its open top. “I packed some repair tools and was coming back to rescue you,â He added. “I’ll meet you back at the store.â
The joy keeps coming
He greeted me when I arrived, then ushered me to the maintenance department. There he took my bike, disassembled it, took apart the flat tire and showed me what the problem was: the rim tape slipped causing the innertube to dip into one of the spoke dimples. That, combined with the pressure of the air in the tube, cut the tube open.
âYou would not have been able to repair that.” He said. “And even if you tried with a new tube, that tube probably wouldâve gotten punctured too.â
Obviously, my Broader Perspective, the Universe and All That Is orchestrated this uncommon, uncanny flat tire situation. Responding the way I did, my blessed path unfolded, opening doors to a cavalcade of wonderful outcomes.
I could have got angry about the flat, railed at the sucky timing, or felt sorry for myself. Doing that would have opened different circumstances. Imagine, were I pissed, the guy who helped me may not have felt comfortable approaching me. Or maybe in my frustration I might have said something rude.
But by reframing the situation and seeing it as an adventure, the whole situation unfolded in this wonderful way. I aligned myself with those positive outcomes, which continued even while this guy repaired my tire.
While he repaired it, I noticed another bike repair guy grinning ear-to-ear while fiddling with the cash register. I felt inspired to compliment him, so I did.
“You’re having a great time,” I said. “I can tell by your smile.”
“I love what I do,” he said. “Bikes are the best.”
I agreed while noticing his name, Tim, on his name tag. While my bike got fixed, Tim and I enjoyed a great conversation. He worked at the Bike Gallery for many years and has been working on bikes all his life. This store was short-staffed, so his manager at the store where he usually works dispatched him here to help out. Imagine that! Another synchronicity!
Had that not happened, we wouldn’t have enjoyed what happened next.
The full monty brought to life
Tim said he’s lived in Portland all his life, repaired bikes all his life and feels he’s living his dream. Thus the smile. He lives in a place called Hillsboro, here in Oregon. His family lives in other local cities called Portland, Forest Grove and Salem.
He and I also talked about bicycle motocross, a passion of his, about my heroes from my bicycle motocross days whenI was a child. I loved watching real motocross while growing up in Southern California too. I told Tim that and Tim told me a great story where he met one of my number one heroes of that time. Tim and I both got more excited the more we talked. Did I say it was a great conversation?
Meanwhile the guy who rescued me, whose name was Randall, replaced the original fabric rim tape with an upgraded rubber version, put the bike back together, then rolled it over to me.
âHow much do I owe you?â I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. âEnjoy the rest of your day.â
That’s when I really knew this flat tire offered tremendous opportunity, which I stepped into by framing it as a positive adventure instead of a mishap. That opened the door to this awesome experience.
Think about it. The flat itself was uncommon. I couldn’t have repaired it had I tried. The universe didn’t want me too. It and my Broader Perspective wanted me to witness how much they love me by orchestrating all that unfolded. So cool!
By way of explanation, I told Randall about the Positively Focused blog and how I write about these kinds of wonderful synchronicities that happen in my life all the time. Then I asked if I could take his picture. He said yes.
This is Randall and I:
Randall lives in Woodstock and rides his electric bike to The Bike Gallery every day unless work demands something different.
Something different and delightful always awaits the Positively Focused person. Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens on purpose. Being Positively Focused brings that purpose into focus. The purpose everything means to give us all is joyful recognition that the Universe is always on our side.
But if one doesn’t line up with that love, that joyful acknowledgment of this joyful purpose, they get struggle, pain, disappointment and more.
I prefer joy, love and happy results. So I do everything I can to foster and amplify those results. It’s easy, once I got the hang of it. As a result of that, even an unfixable bike flat serves up a great big heaping pile of joyful experience.
That’s the Charmed Life. There’s nothing better.