Here’s a wonderful little story …
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days, weeks and months passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall!
Epilogue: There are so many beautiful teachings in this story! First is the wisdom of the ‘blind’ man. I have to wonder, was he really blind? Regardless of his circumstances he chose to see. By describing to his companion what he was seeing (in his own mind), so clearly and descriptively, means that his mind was actually experiencing the images. He was in fact seeing these images, just without needing his physical eyes! Reading this story really touched me because there are so many people in the world, ‘with sight’, who don’t see all the beauty around them; they are often sad and depressed. I love to be reminded not to be one of those people 
(Another important point above is that the blind man used very descriptive words to portray the scenes to his companion. When using visualization and affirmation to re-program your subconscious mind always be as clear and specific as possible. The subconscious mind is exacting and will go to work on creating exactly what you input – see Mastering Your Goals for more on this).
The story also asks the question, “what could have compelled the deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window”. To me this represents the love and compassion of the ‘blind’ man. Knowing that the other man was ill he decided to help him heal. He understood the power of positive visualization and how to use it as an extraordinary way to improve physical health. His little vignettes gave the other man images to hold within his subconscious mind – images of love, beauty and inspiration – which turned into positive feelings that helped him to heal. (Today we have a term for this phenomenon – it’s called Psychoneuroimmunology). To me this was pure love. Even though he was blind, and could have spent his days complaining, he chose to embrace life and in doing so gave his companion more life.
Here’s one last insight: In the story the companion would close his eyes and imagine these picturesque scenes while the blind man described them to him. These ‘visualization sessions’ would go on for hours on a regular basis – and that’s an important detail. The way to engage and change the mind is through consistency. The mind is like a hungry child that requires consistent positive input to digest, otherwise it will look for things to complain and worry about. (Why? Let’s just call it the nature of the ego – perhaps another article sometime). With regular conversation the blind man was able to visually program his companion’s mind and that’s exactly what we need to do to change our lives … regularly inundate our minds with pure positivity. (I recommend a blend of meditation, affirmation and visualization – keep your eyes on what John Assaraf and I are up to with iGrasshopper – soon we’ll have an awesome tool for you to use).
So in times when we are forgetting to see the positive in our circumstances, let’s just remember this story and this beautiful blind man’s example.
Warmly,
Tristan
