Riding the Thermals

Dylan Jack James
Legacy Magazine Scout

I was in a hurry the other day to get to the bank to make a deposit. It was close to 90 degrees. I grimaced as I got into my 20-year-old car, rolled down all the windows and raced to the bank with a half hour to spare before they closed. “This old clunker sucks!” I shouted out loud to myself at a red light, sweat pouring off me due to the air conditioner breaking down in my old jalopy once again.

The woman in the car next to me gave me a dirty look and sped ahead of me when the light turned green. The air conditioning in the bank cooled me down, but I soon regressed into a negative thinking pattern again over the heat outside and my dread of the ride home in my silver sweatbox. My anger rose; I dropped my money on the floor and muttered an expletive while bending down to retrieve my cash. The elderly woman ahead of me in line noticed my irritation. She turned toward me. I sensed a complaint forming on her lips.

“This teller is so slow! I have to be home to cook dinner for my husband before 5 o’clock.”

“I know, why don’t they get another teller over here, these other employees are just sitting at their desks doing nothing!” I chimed in, annoyed.

The line started moving and then another delay occurred. The elderly woman with the purple-tinted hair and I fired off a myriad of complaints between us. I left the bank more miserable than when I entered. I knew better! I’ve practiced the law of attraction for many years and am aware that “like attracts like” and “thoughts manifest.”

The negative energy I expressed that day was like a snowball rolling down a hill that got bigger and bigger as it rolled. Walking to my car, something in the sky caught my eye. Two hawks gliding gracefully, riding the warm air currents. I watched as two other hawks joined them in riding the same thermal.

All four were preserving their energy as they scoured the ground below searching for prey. My intolerance for the heat ceased in that moment of sheer beauty. I stepped into my hot car and my mind immediately shifted gears.

What if I had been like one of the hawks overhead, soaring effortlessly, each one welcoming the other into their ease?

What if I would have said to the elderly woman at the bank, “Hello, long line, but such a beautiful day today, how’s your day going so far?”

I’ll bet the conversation would have gone a bit differently and I’d have made her day and my day better.

I was grateful the hawks appeared that day when they did. My mind shifted gears again.

“Thank you, universe, for the wisdom of the hawks. Thank you for my car which still runs. Thank you for the heat of the sun which warms our planet.”

I relaxed into gratitude and let the hot breeze envelop me as I drove home.

My bottle of water sat in the cup holder. I raised it to my lips and guzzled it down, the cool liquid quenching my parched throat. I thought of the drought in the world and how very fortunate we are in this country to have the resources we have. I pulled into my driveway and looked at my little house which pales in comparison to the quarter million-dollar house beside mine.

I could attract a bigger-better house, a bigger-better car, a bigger-better anything I want. But you know what?

I’m content with my little house, my hot old jalopy, and how sometimes nature is there to keep me in check, just when I need it most.