The Ordinary Mystic

Now why would someone want to express gratitude for a sprain? Well, it shows the effect that one viewing of The Secret had on certain members of my family.

I was enjoying a quiet evening at home. Everyone else in my family was out either running errands or hanging out with friends, so I looked forward to some quiet time catching up on some reading. Then the phone rang. It was my teenage son, Aaron. “Dad, I fell down some steps and hurt my wrist pretty bad”, he started. “I don’t think I’m going to go to the movies – can you come get me?”

Except for some swelling around a ligament, his wrist didn’t look critical, so I had him put cold compresses on it on and off for the rest of the evening, then I bandaged it up for the night. The next morning my wife would take him to the clinic to get it checked out.

I had a prior commitment to help a friend work on his house the next morning, so I was unable to accompany them. Later that morning, I got a phone call from my wife. “Good news, Chris! They took x-rays and he just has a sprain.” Great! Then she went on to relate an interesting conversation she had with Aaron on the way to the clinic. Aaron had said “we should recite what Dad would say”. My wife picked up on what he meant. On Father’s Day, as their gift to me, my family watched the movie The Secret with me. This movie explains, in very easy-to-understand terms, the Law of Attraction.

“OK – ‘it’s not a broken wrist’, ‘it’s not a broken wrist’ … “, she started to repeat.

“No, that’s no how we should say it”, Aaron interrupted, “how about ‘thank you for the sprain’, ‘thank you for the sprain’ … ”

So they kept reciting that over and over again all the way to the clinic. I’m not sure how much they really believe in the power of intention, but at this point they were willing to try anything. Probably similar to how a non-religious or non-spiritual person might pray in order to cover all bases. In any case, I was tickled that they thought of it, actually did it, and then made a point to tell me about it.

So did reciting ‘thank you for the sprain’ over and over again really have anything to do with the results of the x-rays? All I can say, is that I am truly grateful, for my son’s sake, that his wrist was not broken. And I am also grateful that, despite my family’s usual attitude that Dad can be a little weird sometimes, they were able to open their minds up enough to the possibility that they can take control of their lives just by exercising the intention and expressing gratitude.

This post has been submitted to the Balanced Life Center’s Season of Gratitude series.

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