Yesterday I had an appointment for a full body massage.
The day before I was in a BBQ and had two glasses of wine, which threw my body off balance and I woke up grumpy, bloated, and moody.
The appointment was at 5pm and so I used the day to drink lots of water, rest, and try to detox my body form the alcohol.
Around 3pm I started hearing my brain saying:
‘You should cancel. Look how you look. You are totally bloated. This will be embarrassing. Just make up an excuse and cancel it.’
I realized I could feel worse if I cancelled last minute and so I sat down and run a model:
UNINTENTIONAL
C= Drank alcohol yesterday
T= I look and feel terrible, I should cancel the appointment
F= Depressed, shame, ugly
A= Cancel the appointment last minute
R= Hurt the business and feeling more shame
INTENTIONAL
C= Drank alcohol yesterday
T= I rested and replenished my body all day. I will feel even better after the massage.
F= Excited, positive, energized.
A= Going to the appointment as scheduled
R= Enjoying the body massage and feeling good in giving business to the local spa.
So I did go and it felt great and when I was about to go to sleep I passed by my desk and found there the model I did few hours before and smiled.
The power of running a model and how we get to experience the day and our life differently is immense.
But its ripple effect is not less profound in the sense that I would hurt the business of the spa and my massage therapist who counted on my appointment for his part-time income, so canceling last minute just because of a thought error would hurt three people – the business owner, massage therapist and myself.
Thinking the right thought benefits us all yesterday. And so we go about our lives, little by little, either bettering ourselves and the world, or worsening it. Totally our choice, right?