It's Always Good to Check the Price Tag

Throughout life you come across words or phrases that stick with you.  There's always that one quote or a special saying that pops up in our mind every now and again with some sort of mind altering wisdom behind it.  For me, those words of wisdom have been:

"Everything in life has a price."

As I type these six very powerful words of truth, I get goosebumps -- it happens all the time I am reminded of these words.  I still remember the first time I heard the aphorism.  I was 17 years old.  And I was crying, hurt and angry.  I was being accused of something I had not done, but had done before -- just not on that particular day.  It so happens THAT, on THAT particular day, THAT I was being accused of something, THAT yes, I had done before, I really hadn't done it.  I had chosen to do the right thing that day, and how cruel and unreasonable, I thought, that I should be punished rather than be commended for my honorable behavior.

Well, you know the old adage about crying wolf so many times, the day you do really mean it, no one is going to believe you.  That was me.  I was telling the truth, but I wasn't being believed because I had already done it so many times.  In my mind however, I was being punished for something I didn't do! And I didn't understand it! So I was in my bedroom, crying on my bed, feeling oh-so-sorry-for-myself.  Violins playing to the melodramatic tune of:  How unfair life was with me.  I couldn't help but to think:  I may as well have done it, I was being punished for it anyway!

Then she walked in. She was a very kind, gentle-speaking woman in her mid-30's at the time. Even though she was very down to earth she had about her an air of grace and beauty, and she was always dressed so elegantly.  She sat down next to me on the bed and gently rubbed my arm with her hand as she asked me, "Did you do it?"  When I replied, "No. I swear I didn't." She answered back, "I believe you."  Huh?  Did I just hear right? I was confused at what those words were making me feel. I was being believed, and that was rare for me, if at all.  I cried with even more emotion when I heard she actually believed me and because of her empathy towards me. But what she said to me after that, amidst her trying to explain why I was being punished and where everyone else was coming from, awakened me to a realization that I would carry with me throughout my life from that day forward. 

Every decision you make will have it's price.  Some prices are not as hefty as others and so it's very important to weigh the cost of our choices.  I had been making choices that were adding up to a pretty hefty ticket item -- I was losing the trust of the people who I needed to love and support me.  Were my choices worth it?  No. 

I wish I could say that after my ah-ha moment on that day I lived the rest of my life making nothing but good price selections when confronted with tempting choices.  That didn't quite happen.  While I understood the magnitude of the point she was making, and it made perfect sense to me, I still continued to disappoint the people I loved and I'm pretty sure I didn't live up to their expectations most of the time.   However, it was different after that day because now every time I suffered the consequences of my mistakes, I always remembered that I had chosen to pay the price.  I always came back to that day when I was given a life lesson; words worth their weight in gold. 

Interestingly, I stumbled  upon a similar reflection many years later which refers to our thoughts as currency and to be mindful of how we spend our thoughts.  Would you walk into a store and buy junk that when you took home with you would be useless and serve to only create aversion in your own living space? That is how we should look upon our every day use of our thoughts -- do not waste them on things that do not serve your highest good. 

Think of your thoughts as currency when making a decision.  Is it worth paying the price shown on the price tag? 

I believe that those ah-ha moments happen to us when the time has come for us to take notice of a lesson we must learn. Perhaps one that we keep repeating over and over again and just cannot seem to pass the test.  Then, it is shown to us in a perfect dimension, at a perfect time, and within a perfect space (or frame of mind).  We may have heard the reasoning before and simply never made sense of it because the perception of a situation is one-sided until we change our mind about it -- that's when the price we pay changes, in a positive effect the price we pay becomes lower, for choosing to look at it a different way. 

Now, with hindsight, I can look back and fit the lesson perfectly in the puzzle of my life and understand in depth how precise was the price I paid for some of my actions, and for others the price paid was precisely worth it. And so it is that I carry these words in my heart and I share them with my kids, my young nieces and nephews and when given an opportunity even with friends of theirs. To me the advice was so incredibly valuable. 

Everything comes with a price tag.  The woman who shared her words of wisdom with me so many years ago probably doesn't know the impact it made in my life . . . not only on that day, but in the days and years to come as well.  She was a friend of the family, a partner and soul mate to my uncle, and an inspiration to me.   Wherever she is now I would hope that she could know just how much she meant to me -- she believed me, she understood me and she took the time to care. 

On This Note: If you have ever been graced by someone's advice and have learned a life lesson from them, make sure you pay it forward by being there for a person in need and sharing with them the gift of such wisdom you've acquired. You too could make a positive impact on someone else's life.

I hope this blog motivates at least one person to find their courage and start moving toward making their dream come true!

Please feel free to leave me a comment below and provide your feedback. I would love to hear from you.