A Newspaperman

Today, I was having my usual fruit salad breakfast, overlooking the sea. And there he was, the newspaperman, walking down the beach road, ready for his daily task of bugging everyone in the area to buy his newspapers.

I’ve been visiting this place in India for 14 years, and there he is, not changed in his habits at all, with exactly the same sales pitch: “Newspaper? Newspaper?”.

When the world is moving from physical to digital, nothing of this sort has yet made him reconsider his business strategy. Though every single day people are repelled by him, he’s still doing exactly the same thing as he did years ago.

Most people perceive him as a nuisance, and some – try to tolerate him. I used to perceive him as a nuisance, but now I feel sorry for him. There are so many much easier and profitable occupations around, but with great stubbornness, he continues his grind.

Sometimes, when nobody at all buys his newspapers, he has to resort to begging for money. Even this doesn’t make him think that maybe his business strategy doesn’t work.

He employs the worst sales strategy there is – to approach strangers trying to sell something to them. He gets angry when people are annoyed by him and ask him to go away. But instead of changing what he does, he goes to some corner, prays to Allah, and continues trying to pitch the newspapers nobody wants.

Over the years, people observed some other habits of his. He sometimes talks to himself when he thinks he’s out of earshot, and when he finishes his job, late in the evening, he is seen walking alone and listening to screeching old Hindi music on his old cell phone.

This man has solidified into his habits. Nobody and nothing can get through to him. He’s been this way for years. It’s an extreme example of what happens when life is not analyzed, and one thinks one knows better, though life is unhappy.

It’s easy for those not spiritually smartened up to see this man as a victim. But he’s the cause of his own woes. He wants to have things his own way. He’s totally closed off to any suggestions. He’s the prisoner of his own mind.

Many people are this way, though maybe he’s the example on the more extreme side. They do what doesn’t work, swear by the philosophies that are unsound and bring poor returns, and think they know better than those actually living their dreams.

Such people will live the lives of self-imposed suffering until they realize they are not that smart, and that they don’t really know how to go about life.

Only when the mind starts opening up is the change possible. Only when there’s willingness to be open to the possibility of being wrong can the change happen.

If the cup is full, nothing new can be poured into it. The reason most people don’t change is that they’re unwilling to give up their beliefs, and they don’t try new ways.

Though the sum of their thoughts and actions doesn’t produce positive results, it’s so precious to them that they don’t give up any of it. So it’s not that they are the victims of life – they are the creators of their own woes.

The change doesn’t happen instantly. One has to continue for quite some time so that they get established in that new vibration. And this is yet another reason people stay stuck – they have no strength to continue when the ego reasserts itself, trying to keep its old control over things.

Everything is energy. And energy has a certain sound and feeling. If it’s discordant, you will attract unpleasant things to you. Establish a better vibration, a better tone, and the people, the environment, your financial situation – everything, in fact – will reflect this change.

Don’t be like that old newspaper man, therefore, who is the sum total of deeply entrenched unconscious habits and thoughts. Give up what doesn’t work, assess yourself objectively, ask for Divine Guidance, and listen to those who have achieved what you want.

Continue in this new way, until everything around you starts changing, to reflect your new attraction point.

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