Man Flips Switch—Comes Back To Life
by Ken West
Ricardo was a formerly homeless man who had overcome alcoholism and went on to lead a successful life. He told the following story.
“I woke up one cold, raw morning, my head in the gutter, in a pool of green vomit with blood in it. It wasn’t the first time. But, this time I knew that I was going to die—unless I did something to save myself.
“It was like a switch in my brain that was stuck. I had to flip it. Didn’t know how to do it or if I could. It was life or death. If I stayed in the gutter I would die. I knew that for sure. So, with the greatest effort of my life I focused on what was in front of me. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. But, it was real.
“Slowly, I rose from the cold pavement. Took my first steps away from the gutter. I needed help. That was for sure. But all the help in the world wouldn’t be enough if I didn’t help myself first. I did. I stumbled in the direction of a local homeless shelter on skid row.
“I was filthy and stinking, and truly a putrid sight. There must have been something in my bloodshot eyes that convinced the guy at the front desk to call the shelter director. When he came down, I told him I needed help. I told him I would stop drinking, that I would work to better myself. He decided to help me.
“It took nine long months before I was employable, could find a job (where I could prove myself), and a place to live. Day-by-day I got back on my feet. I think about it many times. If I hadn’t flipped that switch in my brain I wouldn’t be alive today.”
The switch Ricardo turned on was focus, the first and most essential choice that makes all other choices possible. Without focus—the capacity to turn on your mental awareness—even the simplest actions are out of your control.
Focus is volitional. Before that crucial moment in the gutter, Ricardo was living a life out of focus. He was a straw in the wind, at the mercy of random events. Once he focused—turned on his mental awareness and faced reality—he was ready to become a man again.
“Focus is the readiness to think and as such the precondition of thinking.” —Leonard Peikoff
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Ken West is the author of Get What You Want!: Workbook to Reactivate Your Life, Find Your Passion and Achieve Your Dreams, available worldwide on Amazon.com. Available in the U.S. at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982577702
Good post Ken. You're right that to focus is the first and most fundamental choice one must make, and to live like a man, one must make it.
ReplyDeleteGood post! This principle should have been taught in schools and Universities.
ReplyDeleteWould that this were so, we would be living in a different world. How many lives have been destroyed by the idea of Determinism, whether accepted consciously or sub-consciously? I am afraid that the number is legion.
I was disappointed. You describe a person who decided to get himself some help. How many million others have done the same only to end up back in the gutter. Your identification of "focus" is superficial. Most derelicts can rouse themselves to take the first steps toward finding someone to help them. That kind of focus is frequent and only on the surface. People focus all the time--how to save themselves from many things. It's the long hard persistence that's needed and that requires much more than a oen-time choice. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteA few notes about this post:
ReplyDeleteThe man I wrote about is real. The words spoken are his own. (Ricardo, however, is not his name.)
My intention was to concentrate on this specific life-or-death moment when he chose to focus. In essence, he was turning on his mental awareness. As a previous commenter wrote, “focus is the first and most fundamental choice one must make.”
I had no intention to imply that focus is a one-time choice, and it’s smooth sailing from then on. Obviously, this man had to persist each and every day for the rest of his life.
Many fail in this effort, but Ricardo chose to stay in-focus and to work. He persisted in his daily struggle to lead a productive life. And he succeeded.