How a Welder and a Physicist Changed My Life (Not Albert, Another One)
It’s November 2010. I’m gazing up at the dull apartment blocks as I walk through the streets of Vancouver on an overcast afternoon.
It’s such a dreary city. What am I doing here?
I lost my job around a month ago and haven’t looked for another one.
I planned to come here for a year at least, explore the country, have fun, and experience a new life abroad.
I landed an apartment quickly after arriving. Despite my official jobless status, I have dollars in the bank.
And I can make more. I have even started freelancing with a client in the dreamy Boracay Islands, far from this bleak city.
I can go places. I can still stay! Losing a job means nothing.
But I don’t see all that. Instead, I plan to pack my bags at Christmas and head home for good, back to my family and friends.
“What am I doing over here anyway, without them all?” I ask myself over and over.
I’m going to leave this grey, bleak town where it’s hard to meet new friends.
Or is it?
The physicist
“Thought creates our world and then says, I didn’t do it”
— David Bohm
Fast forward to 2018, and I’m reading the words of the late quantum physicist. It’s a total eye-opener.
I’ve also discovered The Three Principles, where I learn that circumstances didn’t create my Vancouver experience.
It wasn’t losing my job that made me down on that city. It wasn’t that Vancouver was bleak. The streets weren’t grey, and the people weren’t unfriendly (OK, Vancouverites may be more aloof than some!).
What created my experience of Vancouver?
The thoughts creating my world.
And you know, thoughts (and feelings) are neutral. They are like vapor, like floaters crossing your field of vision. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Or not. It’s all good.
Thoughts and feelings are like birds taking off before swooping down.
Fleeting. Impersonal.
Unless you fill them with meaning, energy, and interest.
That’s when they create your world.
That’s when you dismiss an entire vibrant city and give up on a potentially unique new experience.
The welder
“If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.”
— Sydney Banks
Syd Banks was a welder from Scotland with a ninth-grade education.
Funnily enough, he spent most of his life in Canada — Salt Spring Island. Not far from “dreary old Vancouver”!
Syd had so many discoveries and insights during his fantastic life. But his core message was beautifully simple, and I would love you to muse on it — you don’t need to fear your experience.
What’s coming up for you is safe to experience. You can feel it.
You can feel it and know it isn’t the whole picture. Or even a truthful one. We feel stuff, and we get scared. We take action where we mightn’t need to.
We say and do stuff we might regret later.
Instead, what if we allow ourselves to feel what we’re feeling, knowing it’s safe? Simply observing it instead. (Trust me, that part is key). You don’t need to get caught up in the waves. You can always watch them break on the shore.
And from that sandy beach, we can live our lives regardless of our feelings.
I now know what I think and feel is not the “real me.” Thoughts and feelings are not where the game of life unfolds.
Fast forward to 2023
Now, I live my life, enjoying it all the way, no matter what the squeaky voice of the narrator might say occasionally.
Squeaky is harmless. Squeaky can even sound silly or funny after a while.
And the real you? It’s much bigger than any experience you might be having right now.
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