Insights - A Newsletter for Personal Growth and Positive Change

A Client Comment

"The first coaching session with you turned out to be the most important conversation I have ever had in my life."

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What major events in your life, although extremely difficult, ended up producing something positive? Write down the event, and a list of some of the good that has come from it. Now, what are you facing in your life today that is difficult? Make a similar list, guessing about some of the good that could come from this.

When you think of your current difficulty, what action do you need to take this week that will best represent "shaking off the sand"? 

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A free selected audio from "Audios Bytes by Dave", 
dealing with an issue of personal growth and change.

MyBox - YourBox^® - 1. Introduction (4:05 min) 
     Are you ready to reduce  the stress you feel in relationships? In this free AUDIO SERIES you will discover how to do just that, by simply changing the grid through which you view your relationships. As you apply this special formula for boundary setting, you will learn to take responsibility for the stuff in your box, and release responsibility for the stuff that is not in your box. Be careful, this concept may change your life forever. Over the next several issues of Insights Plus, one short audio from this series will be included.

A Lesson in the Sand
by Dave Edwards

A Father is filling in an abandoned well 
even though his twelve-year-old son is trapped inside...

Once upon a time a farmer was working on the far end of his property with his twelve year-old son. They had an old well that needed filling in, and had spent most of the morning carting wheelbarrows from the sand pile nearby, and dumping them into the well. The hard work was a welcome distraction from the grief they each felt surrounding the recent illness and loss of a wife and mother.

 The boy broke the silence, “Dad, why do bad things happen to good people?” He knew that it would take a few wheelbarrows for his Dad to ponder the question and give a response. His Dad never gave pat answers or shallow clichés. But before Dad could formulate a proper answer, it happened.

 The boy lost his balance, and fell twenty feet into the well. Fortunately the sand cushioned the fall just enough to limit his injuries to some scrapes and bruises from the ride down, and he reassured his Dad that he was ok. Of course, there was no way to climb out, so he hollered up the question, “So, what now Dad?”

 “Hang on, I’ll get you out,” came the Dad’s calm reply.

 The boy stood, straining to hear what his Dad might be doing. Whatever it was, he knew that his Dad was good at this type of thing. But what happened next shook the boy to the bone.  

Another wheelbarrow of sand came plummeting into the well. The boy yelled out in panic to his Father as he shook the sand off of himself. There was no reply. A few moments later, there was another load of sand. At the second load, desperation began to grow in his heart, and he became aware that his feet were now covered with sand up to his ankles. He struggled to pull his feet out and regain his footing just as the third load came pouring in upon him.

And then it hit him. And it hit him like a ton of bricks. His Dad was slowly filling in the hole, and with every load of sand, he found himself a few inches closer to his Dad  

The boy spent the next few hours shaking of load after load, and raising farther and farther up. And with each load of sand, the lesson sank deeper into his heart. When he was finally high enough, his father’s strong arm pulled him from the well, and then his strong words cemented the lesson into the boy’s soul, “Son, as best as I can tell, that is why bad things pile onto good people. As long as we keep shaking off the sand and trusting, the bad things will somehow produce good things.”