Where Is Your Mystical Park Bench?
by: Paul Bunting
Jose often wondered when his life was going to take off. Throughout schooling Jose’s teachers has always given him praise and complements. Jose excelled in sports and was even rewarded a college scholarship. As you can imagine, Jose developed great expectations throughout this period of time.
Jose used to daydream of being a successful businessman who made a lot of money and had a lot of power. He was going to be well known and well liked in whatever industry he chose. Jose sometimes thought of the fingers he may have to step on, and in his mind played out many possible scenarios of his eventual rise to power.
As we all know, sometimes things don’t go as we would like them to go. This just so happened to be the case for Jose. After graduating college with honors Jose successfully interviewed for a promising new job.
Jose’s promising new job lasted for around eight years before he was released from his responsibilities with no explanation. Of course, this came as a great shock to Jose. He was young, possessed a sharp mind, and he was highly ambitious. He was headed straight for the top, and he made sure to let everyone at work know. Incidentally, his talk was backed by actions – Jose performed. So why did they let him go? Better yet, what next?
Jose did not come from a wealthy family, and now he was in a financial mess. The new BMW he had recently leased was not going to pay for itself. His upper west side apartment was not going to pay for itself, nor were any of Jose’s other mounting expenses going to pay for themselves.
Determined to keep moving forward Jose went searching for work. We had many interviews and he even had some offers. Jose chose not to accept the offers he received because they had offered him what he considered “insulting pay for a person of his ability”. Jose was determined to pick up where he left off before.
That didn’t happen. Rent didn’t happen. Car payments didn’t happen. Credit card debt kept growing. Time kept marching forward and Jose was still not working. This was all very disappointing and confusing at the same time. Jose was a big believer in the power of the mind, as he had demonstrated in sports and schooling. He was very smart and he knew what he was able to do, and now this?!?
Time kept marching forward and things happened. Throughout the course of the next year Jose’s BMW was repossessed. He also received an eviction notice and had to be out in 30 days. His credit cards were just about maxed out and there was nowhere to go. Now in desperation, Jose thought about the jobs he turned down. He would have been willing to accept them now, and now he did not even have the resources to make it to a job. At that point Jose decided to become willing to accept any job he could find to put food in his stomach and a roof over his head. Just as he had that thought he felt a small shift. A slight feeling of peace came over him. In fact, he was feeling better than he had felt in the past year leading him to where he was at that moment. Jose decided to take a walk and not worry about work for the day.
(continued...)
Where Is Your Mystical Park Bench?
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About The Author
Paul Bunting founded the Bryn Marr Institute. For additional information or to contact the author please visit http://www.brynmarrinstitute.com.
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