You Can Go Only So Fast

I went to a hospital to visit a doctor friend of mine. While waiting for him, I saw a young woman in a wheelchair, both her legs in plaster casts, leaving the examination room. With medical documents on her lap, she’s been left in the waiting room to wait for her husband, who was already on his way to the hospital. The woman cried so hard and so loud that I felt as if I had no choice but talk to her.

“What has happened to you?”

“A car hit me while I was taking out the garbage, breaking both my knees,” she was now yelling through her tears.

At that moment her husband came in, and hastily wheeled her down the hall. I was utterly shocked, not so much at what had happened to her, because I realised a long time ago that everything happened for a reason, but rather because her biofield was completely shattered, full of anger and rage, in addition to a wide array of negative emotions. This is not going to be quick recovery, I thought to myself.

Three months later, when the woman with broken knees was long forgotten, I visited the same friend again. So, I was standing in the hall outside his office, waiting for him to finish his shift. I was reading a brochure I had found on the bench when I heard someone grumbling. The grumbling quickly rose to a loud argument with a male nurse, then came some self-berating, and the voice eventually dropped back to the familiar grumbling again. Next to me was the same young women with broken knees. I smiled at her, and said hello, as if we knew each other. She gave me a dirty look, and turned her head away.

“How’s your recovery going?” I asked.

“How? Not well, that’s for sure! They say I’m their worst case! No progress at all. They’ve just taken off the plaster casts, but I can’t move an inch. As if my legs have been plastered completely! To make matters worse, my husband, the idiot, is late. Again!”

“Have you found the driver who hit you?”

“How do you know that I was hit by a car?”

She got me confused for a second, but a quick glance at her papers told me I was right.

“Well, it’s in your papers.”

“That moron’s gone, and my life’s ruined. I’m in hell, every single day!”

“What you think is what you’ll become, what you feel, you’ll attract, what you imagine, well, that’s what you create.”

“What do you mean?”

“What did you do in the year before the accident?”

“Do you really think I can remember?”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, please. How did you feel before the accident?”

“I’m an ambitious woman, and all I do in my life is explaining to others how they keep me from going faster. It’s a never-ending race, and I can hardly ever do everything on my list, because there’s always a distraction. I’m constantly trying to prove my worth in this slow system.”

“Your key words are ‘speed’ and ‘race’, the rest are synonyms. Do you know why you are here today?”

“What does that have to do with anything? I don’t understand. Please, don’t waste my time, I’m in a hurry!” she flashed an angry glance at her watch.

“Well, you may be in a rush, but there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it right now. I’ll give you a little help, and you just think about it – What is it that you could do before your injury, and can’t do now? You’ll realise where did you go wrong, and why you were stopped.”

“But, I must!” she started to cry.

“Madam, you can go only so fast. A drop in the ocean can’t change the entire ocean. You can’t change the rules of the universe alone.”

Her husband was rather late. Again, everything happens for a reason. From what she had told me I realised that in her mad ambition to succeed, she completely neglected her roles as a wife, a mother, a daughter and a friend, always putting her business first. She drifted apart from everyone, and began to severe a relationship with her soul, fading away. In her crazy race for success, she was no longer able to catch any signals. To save her soul, the universe had to stop her, and her both knees were broken.

What do knees represent? Stiffen your knees and try to walk. You’ll feel that your movements are restricted, and your body inflexible. The knees represent our ability to bend, give and be spontaneous. The knees are connected with recognising a higher authority, and it’s precisely what this woman couldn’t deal with, blaming it for slowing up her progress. The knees is where our humility lies, and haughtiness was all she could share.

In the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, Chinese meditation in motion, the knees are bent throughout the exercise. It releases a flow of energy, as opposed to keeping the knees straight, which would only lock the energy and block its free flow. Reiki uses the same position, allowing energy to flow freely.

“So, what do I do now?” the woman asked.

“Slow down in your head first! Then accept this whole situation as a lesson you need to learn, not as something that someone else did to you. Don’t blame anyone! You are given this time to contemplate what’s behind you. Don’t look at what’s happening to you as a punishment, but rather a blessing, helping you to be a better person. Think very carefully what’s that place you wanted to reach at that unnatural pace, threatening not only yourself, but others, too. Think how it made people close to you feel, and if all that was really necessary? Relying on this experience, decide how to change it all in a positive way, not only for your own good, but for the sake of others, too. Replace the angry look on your face with that of compassion, understanding and love. Take a deep breath, and your recovery will be much quicker than you expect.”

Her husband came in that very moment, with a look on his face so fierce as if to deter an even fiercer attack he had probably seen coming.

“I love you!” she said to her husband.

The look of anger and furious haste disappeared in split second. The fear on his face was gradually replaced by a loving concern and compassion, until a smile of unconditional love radiated out toward her. They left without as much as looking at me.

Her first step was perfect! I know she’ll recovery quickly, and that she’ll never have knee problems again. I believe in her!