February 13th, 2009 by Kevin Ngo
The title says it all, we got robbed! So just a few days after I posted an article about how the type of questions we ask ourselves determines our focus and how we feel, I get tested on whether I will choose to use the stuff I write about or not.
Yesterday evening, I got a call from my mom. Normally she calls to tell me to come over to her house to have dinner so you can imagine how shocked I was when she told me her house was broken into. “We got robbed?” At first I couldn’t believe it since not much ever happens in her neighborhood. So I drove over to her house to make sure everything was okay and called the police.
Turns out, the burglar(s) went through each room pulling stuff out of the drawers and closets. Nothing was broken. My mom lost some jewelry and some electronics. A laptop and some cash was also taken.
In this situation, emotions can vary from person to person. Anger, stress, fear, etc. Surprisingly, we were all in pretty good spirits. We realized that what we lost were replaceable. No one was hurt. We were even making jokes and laughing about the whole situation. It was kind of weird, but what else could’ve we have done? Cry or get furious and break our own stuff?
I asked the police officer how often do burglaries happen in this neighborhood. He said it’s been a long time, so this burglary was pretty unique. We could’ve been angry that of all the homes, ours was hit. We could’ve been sad that we lost a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff. But we weren’t.
The focus was on how lucky we were that no one got hurt and that the things we lost are just things. We could’ve asked ourselves why did this have to happen to us or how can anyone do such a thing or how we must have bad luck to have this happen the day before Friday the 13th, but we didn’t.
I’ve conditioned myself to ask empowering questions so thinking that way is normal to me but seeing my mom in good spirits surprised me. She was able to focus on what was good in a bad situation. As I stated in my previous posts, it’s not what happens that determine how we feel, it’s how we interpret them and how we interpret them is determined by what we focus on.
Things happen to people all the time. Whether or not those things are good or bad depends on you. Yes, we got robbed, but it made for some good laughs. It makes those times when a big fuss is made over unwashed dishes seem incredibly silly doesn’t it?
Until next time…
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
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