Michael , The Carpet Cleaner

I am struggling to write my paper on economic learning from plant's intelligence and as usual I ask for guidance from the universe. And the answers appear in the form of Michael , the carpet cleaner mid afternoon !!

Last weekend had the carpet shampooing and cleaning activity taken at the place where I live. Michael was the cleaner , cleaning the carpets. My aunty invited him to join us for a cup of tea and that's how I started the conversation with him.

Michael , a very ordinary looking , African origin man taught me a few valuable lessons in the short 30 minutes chat I had with him. It turns out that every person I connect with has a beautiful triumph story to tell and Michael was no exception.

He suffered from a throat cancer and the doctors had given him 6 months to live . This was 3 yrs ago and as on today he stands completely cured of cancer , smiling and teaching me and others some very important life lessons.

So what did Michael teach me on that Sunday afternoon ?

1) Look at every challenge in life as a gift :

Michael had this inkling before being diagnosed with cancer to slow down and review his life. But he carried on till life chose cancer to show him this message and this time he listened. He asked a very critical question . In my world empowering , quality question. What gift does this cancer have for me ? And the answer was : I need to learn self expression and channel my creativity. And so he did. In the spare time he had because he was off sick and in bed , he started making hats of all sorts. This way he channelled his creativity. He chose to look at cancer as a gift and learn the message the challenge had for him.

2) We are connected and one :

Michael got into a self healing mode and got introduced to alternative healing techniques like Reiki. He told me about his experiments with self healing using Reiki and how all is just pure energy. Behind our colours , our personalities we are connected beautiful souls and that we have forgotten this and now trying to remember. I shared with him what my study has been on oneness and interconnectedness and that I want to bring this perspective into ways we do business and the way we structure organisations . He reaffirmed the necessity of this new idea and inspired me to continue working on my paper and not give up !!

3) Prayers do get answered , only if we are ready to listen :

My conditioning taught me something about people from his origin. My conditioning also taught me about poor people probably do not have the intelligence to understand me and so it is below my dignity to connect. How wrong was I ? Had I believed and acted based on my conditioning I would have missed the answer to my call from the Universe in the form of Michael. Had I chosen to not chat with him and my cup of tea to my room to drink would have needed a new lesson to be learnt there. I am glad I chose to listen beyond my belief system and I am glad so did Michael !! I learnt to be humble . I learnt that I am on the right path of writing my paper and that I need to be patient with my self. Ask the question and wait for the answers !!

I hugged Michael and he hugged me back. He inspired me that day and I thanked him for being who has been in the face of the challenging cancer. He humbly responded. As I have lessons for you, you have lessons for me and this tea chat is synchronicity at it’s best. We both chose to learn and listen.

I am truly blessed and guided is all I know now !!