“When crossing marshes, your only concern should be to get over them quickly, without delay”. (Sonshi/Sun Tzu)
I was cheated out of a great deal of money in business by people I had trusted.
I had worked hard an entire year on a handshake, and now I had nothing to show for it. I had a wife and four children to support, and now there was no money with which to pay the bills. Devastated, I quickly fell into a depression; it was almost impossible for me to get up in the morning and I couldn’t sleep at night. I had not only lost the money, I had lost my faith in mankind. Is man’s greed so complete and is he so hopelessly selfish and that he will take the food out of another man’s mouth? I could not fathom such cruelty.
In that dark mood those dreary days, I could not make myself spend time with the family I love so much, didn’t feel like seeing friends, didn’t feel like leaving the house at all, didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to walk my dear dog, didn’t want to water my plants, didn’t feel like getting dressed.
I am a reader, so one day I left the house and went searching for a book that would help me resurrect my damaged spirit and get me back on my feet and fully functioning again. All my life I have had what I call my “Research Angel”–some unknown factor that I trust to guide me to the solutions to my problems. When I need something, my Research Angel takes me to it.
I went downtown to a book store where I had once been a sales clerk and walked around from floor to floor, looking at book covers, reading titles, and thumbing through book after book until I found one that seemed almost to glow with a bright light there on the shelf. I picked it up and it seems to me now that simply holding it was the start of a new energy, a new focus, a new purpose.
I bought it, took it home, went upstairs to my office, turned on the desk light, and read it. Immediately I knew that book would lead me to writing the book I had been dreaming of writing for some time but could not clearly conceptualize in my mind–and it was.
I have written about how my sister Sharon’s death fueled my purpose and made me indefatigable until I had achieved it.
I wrote my book–Fighting to Win–and it changed everything about my life. After its success a major publisher told me, “We will give you a contract to write your next book.”
I asked, “What do you want me to write about?” and I heard the words every author dreams of hearing: “Write about anything you want to write about.”
And so I wrote another book that became popular: Waging Business Warfare.
That led to public speaking engagements in North America and Europe–and the realization that standing at a podium speaking to a thousand people or two or three thousand or five had been my destiny–shinjin in Japanese–the real me, the true person.
So you see, if I hadn’t been cheated by unscrupulous men I might never have gotten on the path that I was designed to follow all along.
The Research Angel
I think many people have discovered during their lives—particularly when going through tough, discouraging times–that they too have a Research Angel, whatever they call it. A Research Angel is, I think, a powerful and undeniable intuition, a kind of unshakable knowing what’s best for you–most healthy for you–that comes from within, and an internal compass leading you over, around, or through obstacles, and out of difficulty. All that’s necessary is to relax and free your mind and have trust in your Research Angel. And to follow where it leads.
Two Questions for You
Do you have some kind of what I call a Research Angel that helps you out of crises? What difficulties has it led you out of? I would love to hear your story.
© 2014 David J. Rogers
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More than 25 years ago, I lost my job in the private R & D sector. Then I applied for a State-funded research position. So I initiated contact with a research team in the local university, the one where I had studied as undergraduate, in order to plan my integration into it if my application was successful. On my first visit, as soon as I approached the building, I felt my abdomen being compressed, while I was overwhelmed with a sensation of misery. Indeed, this team gave me the impresssion of being rather miserable.
Although everyone said me that my application should be successful, that I was the only candidate for my university and that my resume was very good, it completely derailed. The representitives of my university failed to defend my application in front of those of rival universities, and some of the latter used dishonest and insulting arguments against me. So I had to move to another country and finally got a position there. Although I felt some sadness because I only got my second choice, and indeed I experienced some difficulties there, I have never felt that compression of my abdomen; indeed my career has globally been successful.
I trust my intuition. When I read or hear some idea or opinion, if it makes me depressed or negative, I know that it is bad; if it gives me energy and enthusiasm, I know that it must be interesting.
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Hello Christian, I find it so interesting that your stomach tightened and you were overcome by the sensation of misery the very first time you visited the research team. I wonder why you felt that and wonder why you felt the team felt miserable too. I wonder what that signified and what clues were working in your mind.
What happened to you after that is sad and appalling and terrible to read about. I’m so sorry it happened to you, but you’ve recovered and things worked out well. I think you have devised a great system for judging negative or positive vibes or energy or whatever those clues are. Thank you for your comment.
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In fact, the compression was not in the stomach, but just below the navel, where Easterners locate the “khi”. The team looked to me miserable because they did not seem scientifically brilliant and they were not offering me a good work environment. The feeling of misery and compression on approaching their building was in some way an anticipating intuition that my application for that research position to join that team was not the way forward that people told me and that I had believed.
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It seems your intuitions are very sharp and helpful. What a wonderful facility to have.
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