Destiny

You Get Nothing if it’s Not on Paper

Six years ago today, January 14th 2013, I started to write.

And it has been one of the most fulfilling experiences in all my life.

Something deep down had been gnawing at my soul for a while to write back then.

My catalyst to start writing was when I truly trusted that the Universe played out simultaneous events that were designed to enlighten and lead you in your life.

Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.

When I trusted this belief, I acted on my intuition and started to write.

Here’s the course of events that made me put pen to paper six years ago.


January 14th, 2013

It’s time to listen to my inner voice.

So here is how my brain works.

Yoalnda Vega appears on my TV the other night to pull the Lottery numbers. My wife is in the other room – so I yell out “Here are my numbers

(That I didn’t play) for tonights Lottery – 9 7 6 12.

I started to say my 6 numbers thinking that it was Lotto.

After I yelled out my first four numbers the first ball goes up the shoot:

9

Wow that’s weird.

Second ball 7

You got to be kidding me.

I yell to BettyJane come here – she does but she thinks I am playing a joke on her by delaying the broadcast and that I already know the numbers.

I’m not.

Third Ball – 6

“Please don’t do this to me,” is my first thought.

My relief is that I currently realize that this drawing is not for Lotto but it is for the pick 4 and pick 3 drawings.

Fourth Ball – 1

Wow, that makes me feel a little better.

“Now for the pick 3 numbers,”

I hear from the TV:

First ball – 2

The chill goes through my body as I just realized that I, on the spur of the moment, just picked 9 7 6 12 as my numbers and the first 5 numbers that went up that shoot were 9 7 6 1 2.

I look at BettyJane, she is still 50/50 on whether she thinks that I am pulling one over on her.

I convince her that I’m not.

She bluntly states, “You get nothing if its not on paper.”

A few hours go by and it dawns on me.

I just got my answer.

You see inside my head for the longest time, I have been wanting to write. I always knew since I was 6 that I would write.

Now its time.

Most people would be mad that they got nothing for picking 5 numbers.

I look at it that I got my answer.

Write.

“You get nothing if its not on paper.”


I now play the lottery by subscription mostly because I never check the winning numbers and it is my way of making sure that if I win the lottery that I would know about it (There would be nothing worse than winning and not knowing).

A yearly subscription costs $2 a week or $104 dollars a year.

Playing the lottery by subscription is amazing, I really don’t have to win the big prize to win, because every once in a while I will get an email from NY State Lottery with the headline – “NY Lottery Subscription Prize Notification” and for that brief moment my mind plays the “What if” game.

This email always comes when I need it the most, when my mind is stuck in what Zig Ziglar would call some “Stinkin thinking”.

These emails arrive just at the right time and are like bumpers keeping me out of the gutter of life – they get me back on track.

They have always been notifications to me that I won $1 or $2 dollars, but they have always been the most valuable $1 or $2 dollars that I have ever won.

A new spinoff from this phenomenon has proved to be even more valuable to me and I believe it is what I originally wrote when I said,

“You get nothing if its not on paper.”

Here it is, every once in a while I receive an email from someone who has read “6 Minutes Wrestling With Life” and what they share with me touches me so deeply and it rejuvenates my soul.

These emails always come when I need them the most and now I realize that the “You get nothing if its not on paper” refers not to the riches of the lottery but the riches of the human spirit.

I have met such wonderful people in this journey and each of them in their own way has made me richer.

At first when I started to write I thought the


They say writing is cathartic, I totally agree.

Writing is also clarity.

It helps me understand what I don’t understand.

It makes me recognize there are forces at work bigger than I have ever imagined.

It makes me connect the dots.

And somehow, it has connected my soul to other souls.

And that is something.

Something, that has been one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life.


4 replies »

  1. I recently read your post on knowing the moment when a wrestler quits in a match vs the wrestler that never quits. It was an amazing post as it literally hit every belief I hsve on the subject and your observations are spot on. I shared your post with everyone and especially my daughters high school coach. I shared the post with some boys on the team and explained that this article explains why I love watching you wrestle. I am reinforcing what I want more of. The never quit mentality. It is ok to not win. It is never ok to quit.

    Thank you for your insights. I look forward to reading your book that just arrived.

    Thought you might like to hear from a fan.

    Sincerely,

    Keith Staebler, MBA Dad of Brianna Staebler (180# cadet & junior) Whitewater, WI Keithstaebler@gmail.com

    Like

  2. John it is definitely NO ACCIDENT that you have listened to that small inner voice and starting writing six years ago! I have picked up one of your books or read them on my iPad at certain times over the last six years and through your writings God has spoken LOUD and CLEAR to me regarding certain situations
    in my life that I have been going through. It amazes me to see how people’s lives intersect! Words are spoken or life events are shared in the written word, and they touch others in ways that you may never know. I have been BLESSED to read all of your books and blogs and look forward to reading many more!!!

    Like

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